Daughter of Wine

Leo

Calli and I spend the night wrestling with a forty-foot tall Athena. 

Ever since we've brought the statue aboard, I've been obsessed with figuring out how it works. I'm sure it has primo powers. There has to be a secret switch or a pressure plate or something. 

We're supposed to be sleeping, but I can't, and I'm sure Calli can't either. We've both been so high-strung, the thought of sleeping seems like a fantasy. She's been so sweet, helping me try and figure out the statue with everything else we have going on. 

We've spent hours crawling over the statue, which takes up most of the lower deck. Athena's feet stick into the sick bay, so you have to squeeze past her ivory toes if you want some Advil. Hey body runs the length of the port corridor, her outstretched hand jutting into the engine room, offering the life-sized figure of Nike that stands in her palm, like Here, have some victory! Athena's serene face takes up most of the aft pegasus stables, which are fortunately unoccupied. If I was a magic horse, I wouldn't want to live in a stall with an oversized goddess of wisdom staring at me. 

The statue is wedged tight in the corridor, so I have to climb over the top and wriggle under her limbs, searching for levers and buttons. As usual, I find nothing. 

Calli and I have done research on the statue. It's made from a hollow wooden frame covered in ivory and gold, which explains why it's so light. It's in pretty good shape, considering it's more than two thousand years old, has been pillaged from Athens, toted to Rome, and secretly stored in a spider's cavern for most of the past two millennia. Magic must have kept it intact, combined with really good craftsmanship. 

Annabeth said... well, I try not to think about Annabeth. I still feel guilty about her and Percy falling into Tartarus. I know it's my fault. I should have gotten everybody safely on board the ship before I started securing the statue. I should have realized the cavern floor was unstable. 

Still, moping around isn't going to get Percy and Annabeth back. I have to focus on fixing the problems I can fix. 

Anyway, Annabeth said the statue is the key to defeating Gaea. It can heal the rift between Greek and Roman demigods. I figure there has to be more to it than just symbolism. Maybe Athena's eyes shoot lasers, or the snake behind her shield can spit poison. Or maybe it's like Calli thinks, and the smaller statue of Nike comes to life and busts out some ninja moves. She's still in the engine room, examining her for me. 

I can think of all kinds of fun things the statue might do if I had designed it, but the more I examine it, the more frustrated I get. The Athena Parthenos radiates magic. Even I can feel that. But it doesn't seem to do anything except look impressive. 

The ship careens to one side, taking evasive maneuvers. Calli pokes her head out of the engine room, locking eyes with me. We have a silent conversation. I have to resist the urge to nod my head to her, and give the green light for us to run to the helm. Jason, Piper, and Frank are on duty with Hazel now. They can handle whatever is going on. Besides, Hazel insisted on taking the wheel to guide us through the secret pass that the magic goddess told her about. 

I hope Hazel is right about the detour north. I don't trust this Hecate lady. I don't see why such a creepy goddess would suddenly decide to be helpful. 

Of course, I don't trust magic in general. That's why I'm having so much trouble with the Athena Parthenos. It has no moving parts. Whatever it does, it apparently operates on pure sorcery... and I don't appreciate that. I want it to make sense, like a machine. 

Finally, I get too exhausted to sleep straight. I climb back to the engine room to get Calli, and see she's curled up on the floor under some blankets, snoring away.