The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Do You Like to Gamble With Your Life?

Percy

The old man was right where we left him, in the middle of the food truck parking lot. He sat on his picnic bench with his bunny slippers propped up, eating a plate of greasy shish kebab. His weed whacker at his side. His bathrobe was smeared with barbeque sauce.

"Welcome back!" he called cheerfully. "I hear the flutter of nervous little wings". You've brought me my harpy.

"She's here" Lani said calmly, but anyone who wasn't blind could see the storm in her eyes. "But she's not yours"

Phineas sucked the grease off his fingers. His milky eyes seemed fixed on a point just above Lani's head. "I see... well, actually, I'm blind, so I don't see. Have you come to kill me, then? If so, good luck completing your quest"

"I've come to gamble" I said.

The old man's mouth twitched. He put down his shish kebab and leaned toward me. "A gamble... how interesting. Information in exchange for the harpy? Winner take all"

"No" Lani and I said in unison. "The harpy isn't part of the deal"

Phineas laughed. "Really? Perhaps you don't understand her value"

"She's a person" I said. "She isn't for sale"

"Oh, please! You're from the Roman camp, aren't you? Rome was built on slavery. Don't get all high and mighty with me. Besides, she isn't even human. She's a monster. A wind spirit. A minion of Jupiter"

Ella squawked. Just getting her into the parking lot had been a major challenge, but now she started backing away, muttering, "Jupiter. Hydrogen and helium. Sixty-three-satellites. No minions. Nope"

Hazel put her arm around Ella's wings. She seemed to be the only one who could touch the harpy without causing lots of screaming and twitching.

Frank stayed at my side. He held his spear ready, as if the old man might charge us.

Lani stood on my other side. We stood shoulder to shoulder as always. Though she seemed slightly dazed, a glossy look in her eyes.

"Are you saying there's another camp? One that isn't Roman?" She asked Phineas, though he ignored her. I put a hand on her shoulder, and she snapped out of her daze.

I brought out the ceramic vials. "I have a different wager. We've got two flasks of gorgon's blood. One kills. One heals. They look exactly the same. Even we don't know which is which. If you choose the right one, it could cure your blindness"

Phineas held out his hands eagerly. "Let me feel them. Let me smell them."

"Not so fast" Lani said a small smirk on her face.

"First you agree to the terms" I added.

"Terms..." Phineas was breathing shallowly. I could tell he was hungry to take the offer. And judging by the growing smirk on her face Lani knew it too. "Prophecy and sight... I'd be unstoppable. I could own this city. I'd build my palace here, surrounded by food trucks. I could capture that harpy myself!"

"N-noo" Ella said nervously. "Nope, nope, nope."

A villainous laugh was hard to pull off when you're wearing pink bunny slippers, but Phineas gave it his best shot. "Very well demigod. What are your terms"

"You get to choose a vial" I said. "No uncorking, no sniffing before you decide"

"That's not fair! I'm blind"

"And I don't have your sense of smell" I countered. "You can hold the vials. And I'll swear on the River Styx that they look identical. They're exactly what I told you: gorgon's blood, one vial from the left side, one from the right. And I swear that none of us knows which is which"