Chapter 15 - Piper's Knife Needs Antidepressants

The night was much the same as the last one - everyone kept an eye on Jason as well as any possible monsters. I had changed the sheets on both cots in the sick bay so we at least had clean sheets, which still felt amazing to me. I had bagged up several loads of laundry - while Piper and Frank went to find his relatives in Pylos, Percy and I had decided to go find something just as wonderful - a laundromat. Most of us were almost out of clean clothes and Leo hadn't thought to include laundry machines on board. We had magic plates, cups, and bowls, a bronze dragon that could handle all kinds of defense and sailing, a wall that gave us real-time feed of Camp Half-Blood (at least, before some dwarves apparently broke it), but no washing machines. Maybe Leo hadn't realized we would want clean clothes. I wasn't sure. But the next morning we made sure Frank and Piper were prepared to adventure alone, then Percy and I took two large laundry bags each off the ship with us. We found the laundromat just where Leo had said - apparently Festus could now access Google maps and had found us one that took Euros. I made some change at a coffee cart, coming away with two small coffees for Percy and I to enjoy. Then we put in our laundry and sat near the machines to chat and drink our coffee.

"So, after you found Jason, Piper, and Leo?" Percy asked me with an impish smile.

"You want to know how I scoured every corner of the known and mythological worlds for you?" I asked with a grin.

He nodded. "Just trying to catch up on all I missed." He said it so innocently.

I explained my winter break to him while the washing machines hummed in the background. His eyes got misty when I told him about spending Christmas with his parents. "I'm glad you were there." He told me with a sad smile. "I miss them."

I nodded. "They said we could have a second Christmas when you get home."

He smiled at that thought. I could tell he wanted to say more when the washing machine buzzed that it was time to change over the loads. We got distracted while changing the laundry and when we sat back down, Percy told me more about his trip in California from the Wolf House to Camp Jupiter. I teared up thinking about him traveling all that way, only knowing my name and a short memory of me kissing him. He had wanted so badly to find me at Camp Jupiter and have me help fix it all.

"And I wasn't there." I said sadly, after he told me about running across the river with an elderly Hera in his arms.

He shook his head. "No. But I remembered after taking the Gorgon's blood. So we're good now, right?"

I shook my head. "No. I…. I wished I could have found you, and helped you, and -" He cut me off with a kiss. Definitely my favorite way to be told to stop talking.

When he pulled away he said simply, "You gave me a lot of hope, and that was what I needed. And we found each other."

I nodded and leaned against him, looking outside at the Greek landscape in front of the laundromat. "It's weird that we're finally in Greece."

"Yeah. Your dad never got a chance to take you to see the Parthenon, but maybe I can." I smiled, remembering telling Percy about that last summer. We had thought he was going to die during the Titan War. It had felt so hopeless.

"I think I'd prefer to see it sometime when there's not an army of giants in it." I murmured.

He grinned at me. "It's Giants or tourists, take your pick." I laughed at that.

We finished the laundry and stopped at a pharmacy to get some more first aid supplies. I'm sure the mortals were confused as to why two American tourists were buying up all their bandages, antibiotic ointment and pain medication, but after a few confused smiles from Percy and I, they simply bagged up our purchases and accepted our cash. We started to go back to the ship, but then we found a beach. Percy and I had fun running through the sand and the shallow water near the shore. We didn't want to get wet, or leave our new clean clothes and medical supplies too far away from us. But it was nice to spend some time with Percy, doing normal things like walking on the beach together.

Shortly after we had come back (to the cheers of those on board who were thrilled with the clean clothes and sheets), Frank and Piper returned on the boat of some tour guide. Piper paid off their new mortal friend. Frank was looking nice in a new outfit - Piper said they did some emergency shopping after facing down some monsters. Frank looked embarrassed about the new clothes, but they fit him well. Piper gave Frank a hug, which seemed to fluster him even more. I informed them that clean sheets and clothes were now on both of their beds, which earned me big smiles from our returning heroes. We all gathered around the foredeck, since Percy was trying to keep watch on a giant red sea serpent.

"That thing really IS red." Percy muttered. "I wonder if it's cherry flavored."

"Why don't you swim over and find out?" I teased him.

"How about no?" I could tell he was distracted though since he hadn't made a joke about it.

"Anyway," Frank broke in, "according to my Pylos cousins, the chained god we're looking for in Sparta is my dad. Uh, I mean, Ares, not Mars. Apparently the Spartans kept a statue of him chained up in the city, so the Spirit of War would never leave them."

It made sense - Sparta's way of life revolved around warfare.

"Ok…." Leo said, "The Spartans were freaks. Of course, we've got Victory tied up downstairs so I guess we can't talk."

I nearly laughed hard at that one, but I kept my mouth tightly shut. I didn't want Leo getting a bigger head or worse - telling more jokes during war meetings than he usually did.

"Onto Sparta, then." Jason said. He was leaning against the ship, still not doing great, but doing well for someone with a giant hole through their middle. It was all relative, really. "But how does the chained god's heartbeat help us find a cure for death?" Jason winced. He was clearly in a lot of pain still, but he wanted to be involved in the action.

"Didn't you see something in Katoptris?" Hazel asked Piper. Piper didn't answer, looking at Jason with her eyes full of worry. "Piper?" Hazel tried again.

"Sorry, what?" Piper asked, clearly brought back to this conversation.

"I was asking you about the visions. You told me you had seen some stuff in your dagger blade." Hazel explained.

"Uh, right." Piper said, pulling out the knife reluctantly. I couldn't blame her - Katoptris had never been a positive dagger, but lately it was flat out dangerous and depressing. "I, um, I don't see anything right now. But one vision kept popping up. Annabeth and I were exploring some ruins."

I tried not to panic. I hated getting singled out by Piper's blade. It didn't typically foretell happy stuff happening to anyone.

"Ruins? Now we're talking. How many ruins can there be in Greece?" Leo said sarcastically. I knew he was teasing, but I wanted to see some ruins. I loved ruins. Ruins were super cool. I just didn't like the whole being forced to go there because of a knife's prophecy part.

"Quiet, Leo." I told him, not unkindly. "Piper, do you think it was Sparta?"

"Maybe." She replied. "Anyway, suddenly we're in this dark place like a cave, we're staring at this bronze warrior statue. In the vision I touch the statue's face and flames start swirling around us. That's all I saw."

Instinctively, I reached for Percy, then remembered he was focussed on the giant sea serpent. I had had enough fire for one quest, heck, for one lifetime, while I was in Tartarus.

"Flames?" Frank asked, troubled. "I don't like that vision."

"Me neither." Percy was still looking at the sea serpent, but I could tell he was more focussed on me and what this vision could mean. "If the statue engulfs people in fire, we should send Leo."

"I love you too, man." Leo said jokingly.

"You know what I mean - you're immune. Or, heck, give me some of those nice water grenades and I'll go. Ares and I have tangled before."

I stared out at the coast line, remembering that fight between Percy and Ares. It was the first time he decided to fight a god, but not the last. We had been twelve years old. It seemed like so long ago, but also so recent. I had been so scared for him, even though he mostly annoyed me back then. We had started to become good friends on that quest, and he tried to fight the god of war. But I knew what this was really about - Percy was afraid for me. He was trying to spare me from reliving the fire in Tartarus. This wasn't about the fact that Percy was better at fighting Ares, or more immune to fire, or anything like that. Percy was simply trying to protect me, as he often was.

"If Piper saw the two of us going after the statue, then that's who should go. We'll be alright. There's always a way to survive." I said, hoping it would reassure Percy.

"Not always." Hazel warned. As a child of the death god, and the only one on board who had actually died before, I knew she spoke the truth. It didn't exactly help Percy look more happy about me leaving.

Frank held out the tiny bottle of the poison of Pylos. "What about this stuff? After the House of Hades, I kinda hoped we were done drinking poison."

"Store it securely in the hold." I told him, hoping that was the right choice and that Piper and I weren't supposed to bring it with us. "For now, that's all we can do. Once we figure out this chained god situation, we'll head to the island of Delos."

"The Curse of Delos." Hazel mused. "That sounds fun."

"Hopefully Apollo will be there. Delos was his home. He's the God of Medicine. He should be able to advise us." I told the group. It seemed to make everyone sit a little taller, realizing that we did indeed have a plan.

The giant red sea serpent started to blow steam at us. "Yeah, it's definitely checking us out." Percy said, warily. "Maybe we should take to the air for a while."

"Airborne it is!" Leo announced. "Festus, do the honors." I loved that giant dragon. It was like having a second Leo, but one that didn't make bad jokes in serious war meetings. Slowly, the ship creaked and whirred and gently rose into the sky. "We should reach Sparta by morning." Leo said happily. "And remember to come by the mess hall tonight, folks. Cause Chef Leo's making his famous 3-alarm tofu tacos!"

As the group disbanded I caught Jason's eye and mouthed "Sick Bay." He slumped but nodded. Before I followed him I went to Percy and gave him a hug and a kiss. He pulled me snug against him.

"I don't like you going off -"

"I know."

"Especially if there's fire, it'll be like -"

"I know."

"Our lungs aren't used to normal air yet, I don't know what breathing fire again will do to you."

"I know."

His shoulders slumped as he held me. "So you're going anyway?"

"Would you do anything different if you were in my place?"

His silence was answer enough. I held him for another moment, then gave him a kiss. "I'm going to go check on Jason. We need him to be able to walk without support if he's going on a guard shift."

Percy nodded and turned back to the railing. I headed down to sick bay and found Jason sitting on my cot, rather than his own. It seemed to be his silent way of saying that there was no chance I was getting him to lay around while the ship might be in danger.

"I'm doing better, I can -" I held up a hand to stop him.

"I know." I assured him. "And we need you. But we're going to have to do something a little risky, ok?"

He looked confused. I went to the medicine cupboard and pulled out a full square of ambrosia. "It's been a few days since you had a lot of godly food. You should be ok to eat this whole thing. My key word here is 'should'. I'm going to monitor you for half an hour, just in case, ok?"

He nodded, looking both excited and apprehensive. He unwrapped the square and ate it in small bites. I made him take a break after the first half so I could take his vital signs and keep an eye on him. When he finished the square he sat back on the bunk.

"Thanks. I hope you know how much I appreciate your help with all this." He told me.

I grinned at him. "Hey, Nurse Annabeth at your service. Athena Cabin - providing godly medical services aboard the Argo II."

He grinned at me. "Yeah, you should get a promotion. Fight, heal, work your way solo through the catacombs of Rome, then Tartarus…. Something like 'Demigod Supreme'."

I snorted. "That sounds like what Leo would order at Taco Bell."

Jason laughed long and hard. It was good to hear - maybe laughter would be good medicine. "Yeah, ok, I'll work on the name. But, really, Annabeth. You're amazing."

I smiled at him. "Thanks. Ok, timer's started. Half an hour and you should be ok to walk around the ship and even try to fend off minor attacks. I want to make sure that was clear though - I said 'minor' attacks."

Jason grinned at me again. "Yeah, ok, I'll make sure someone else is on guard duty too. But since I've got the air powers and all -"

"I know, but you've also got the stab wound and all." I said, mimicking him. He grinned at me and I handed him a Gatorade. "Hopefully these still taste fine."

He nodded gratefully and started to drink it. "So, on Ithaca, I realized something. You spent months learning about New Rome and about my life there, but I guess I never really got to know you."

I could feel walls going up in my mind and could tell Jason noticed a change in my expression when he said that.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." He said hurriedly. "But I'd like to get to know you better. How about something simple, like… how'd you and Percy meet?"

I smiled at the memory and sat down. "We were twelve and Percy had just arrived at camp. The Minotaur was chasing him, and he took it down with no weapons or training..."