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xi. to face the pain or die without it?
the hercules guide to the mare nostrum didn't help much with snakes and mosquitoes.
"if this is a magic island," piper grumbled, "why couldn't it be a nice magic island?"
"because everything has to be overly difficult." gale swatted a mosquito away. "so overly difficult."
they tromped up a hill and down into a heavily wooded valley, careful to avoid the black-and-red-striped snakes sunning themselves on the rocks. mosquitoes swarmed over stagnant ponds in the lowest areas. the trees were mostly stunted olives, cypress, and pines. he had never experienced this type of heat in san francisco.
so far they hadn't found any river.
"we could fly," jason suggested again.
"we might miss something," piper insisted. "besides, i'm not sure i want to drop in on an unfriendly god. what was his name? etch-a-sketch?"
"achelous." jason was trying to read the guidebook while they walked, so gale had to keep pulling him back before he bumped into trees and stumbled over rocks. "says here he's a potamus."
"a what?"
"a potamus. a river god. according to this, he's the spirit of some river in greece."
"since we're not in greece, let's assume he's moved," piper said. "doesn't bode well for how useful that book is going to be. anything else?"
"says hercules fought him one time," jason offered.
gale gave him an unimpressed look. "what hasn't the guy fought?"
"you're not wrong. let's see. pillars of hercules..." jason flipped a page. "says here this island has no hotels, no restaurants, no transportation. attractions: hercules and two pillars. huh, this is interesting. supposedly the dollar sign— you know, the S with the two lines through it?— that came from the spanish coat of arms, which showed the pillars of hercules with a banner curling between them."
"anything helpful?" piper asked.
"wait. here's a tiny reference to achelous: this river god fought hercules for the hand of the beautiful deianira. during the struggle, hercules broke off one of the river god's horns, which became the first cornucopia."
"corn of what?"
"it's that thanksgiving decoration," jason said. "the horn with all the goodies spilling out? we have some in the mess hall at camp jupiter. i didn't know the original one was actually some guy's horn."
"and we're supposed to take this other one," piper said. "i'm guessing that won't be so easy. who was deianira?"
"hercules married her," jason explained. "i think.. doesn't say here. but i think something bad happened to her."
