Negotiating with a god sounded terrible.

Emilia tried her best to picture Will Solace, someone much more approachable and less frustrating than Apollo. Though, she did feel bad for him, in the state he was in. She hoped Leo had a plan to deal with him as he was.

"A bargain." Leo's fingers twitched. "Yeah. Absolutely." His hands went to work, pulling things out of the pockets of his magic tool belt– copper wire, some bolts, a brass funnel. Emilia wasn't sure where all this stuff was really coming from or what it was for.

Leo spoke as his hands twisted wire. "So the thing is, Zeus is already pissed off at you, right? If you help us defeat Gaea, you could make it up to him."

Apollo wrinkled his nose. "I suppose that's possible. But it would be easier to smite you."

"What kind of ballad would that make?" Leo's hands worked furiously, attaching levers, fastening the metal funnel to an old gear shaft. "You're the god of music, right? Would you listen to a song called 'Apollo Smites a Runty Little Demigod'? I wouldn't. But 'Apollo Defeats the Earth Mother and Saves the Freaking Universe'... that sounds like a Billboard chart-topper!"

Emilia stood still, trying her best not to make faces. Whatever Leo was doing was stirring something in Apollo, who gazed into the air as if envisioning his name on a marquee. "What do you want exactly? And what do I get out of it?"

"First thing I need: advice." Leo strung some wires across the mouth of the funnel. "I want to know if a plan of mine will work." He glanced at Emilia hesitantly. "Just... hear me out."

She realized then why he seemed to want her gone earlier. He started to tell her things she didn't fully understand, a strange plan formulated from conversations he'd had with Nike. A way of defeating a primordial goddess. A life for a life, one potentially restored by the physician's cure.

It was insane. Emilia wasn't sure she believed it could work. She wasn't sure she wanted to be part of this plan where she, Piper, and Jason helped Leo defeat Gaea just for him to potentially die at the end. No– it was ridiculous. She couldn't just help her brother die.

He pleaded with his eyes, begged her to accept it. To let it be, at least until this conversation was over. Still, he looked afraid. He didn't want this– how could he? He thought he had to, he thought it was the only way. And who was she to deny him that belief if she had nothing else to offer? Who was she to tell him this was wrong, to yell at him that all his time thinking had gone to waste? No, that wasn't what he needed right now, that wasn't why she was here, allowed to listen.

Apollo nodded thoughtfully. "I will give you this advice for free. You might be able to defeat Gaea in the way you describe, similar to the way Ouranos was defeated eons ago. However, any mortal close by would be utterly..." Apollo's voice faltered, "That is, if your friend here doesn't get them out in time. What is that you have made?"

Leo looked down at the contraption in his hands. Emilia couldn't tell what it was. All she saw were layers of copper wires, like multiple sets of guitar strings, crisscrossed inside the funnel. Rows of striking pins were controlled by levers on the outside of the cone, which was fixed to a square metal base with a bunch of crank handles.

"Oh, this?" It was a sort of music box mixed with an old fashioned photograph. "Um, well, this is quite simply the most amazing instrument ever!"

Apollo questioned, "How does it work?"

Leo turned the crank handles. A few clear tones rang out– metallic yet warm. Leo manipulated the levers and gears. It almost sounded like if a machine could sing– if Festus could sing. The melody was familiar and Emilia realized she had heard it before, many times. Xochitl's favorite sad song, Wicked Game by Chris Isaak.

She stood silent as Leo let the song play entirely through. Apollo stared at the instrument in awe. "I must have it. What is it called? What do you want for it?"

Leo glanced awkwardly at Emilia, a blush visible on his cheeks. "This is the Valdezinator, of course!" He puffed out his chest. "It works by, um, translating your feelings into music as you manipulate the gears. It's really meant for me, a child of Hephaestus, to use, though. I don't know if you could–"

"I am the god of music!" cried Apollo. "I can certainly master the Valdezinator. I must! It is my duty!"

"So let's wheel and deal, Music Man," said Leo. "I give you this; you give me the physician's cure."

Apollo bit his lip. "Well, I don't actually have the physician's cure."

"Then who does?" asked Emilia.

"You would need to see a specialist– the only one who has ever successfully cured death: my son Asclepius, the god of healers."

"Great," said Emilia. "So we need to go find another god, strike another bargain, take time out of our schedule..." She trailed off, rubbing her forehead. "Great."

Leo pulled his device back. "That's a shame, Apollo. I was hoping we could make a deal." Leo turned the levers on his Valdezinator, coaxing out an even sadder tune. Another song Xochitl always listened to, 10,000 Miles by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

"Stop!" wailed Apollo. "It's too beautiful! I'll give you directions to Asclepius. He's really very close!"

"Can you guarantee he'll help us?" asked Emilia.

"He'll help!" promised Apollo. "My son is very helpful. Just plead with him in my name. You'll find him at his old temple in Epidaurus."

"What's the catch?" asked Leo.

"Ah... well, nothing. Except, of course, he's guarded."

"Guarded? By what?"

"I don't know!" Apollo spread his hands helplessly. "I only know Zeus is keeping Asclepius under guard so he doesn't go running around the world resurrecting people. The first time Asclepius raised the dead... well, he caused quite an uproar. It's a long story. But I'm sure you can convince him to help."

"This isn't sounding like much of a deal," said Leo. "What about the last ingredient– the curse of Delos. What is it?"

Apollo eyed the Valdezinator greedily, so much so that Emilia worried that she'd have to be ready to keep him away from it. "I can give the last ingredient to you. Then you'll have everything you need for Asclepius to brew the potion."

Leo played another verse. "I dunno. Trading this beautiful Valdezinator for some Delos curse–"

"It's not actually a curse! Look..." Apollo sprinted to the nearest patch of wildflowers and picked a yellow one from a crack between the stones. "This is the curse of Delos."

Leo stared at it. "A cursed daisy?"

Apollo sighed in exasperation. "That's just a nickname. When my mother, Leto, was ready to give birth to Artemis and me, Hera was angry, because Zeus had cheated on her again. So she went around to every single landmass on earth. She made the nature spirits in each place promise to turn my mother away so she couldn't give birth anywhere."

Emilia snorted. "Typical Hera."

"I know, right? Anyway, Hera exacted promises from every land that was rooted on the earth– but not from Delos, because back then Delos was a floating island. The nature spirits of Delos welcomed my mother. She gave birth to my sister and me, and the island was so happy to be our new sacred home it covered itself in these little yellow flowers. The flowers are a blessing, because we're awesome. But they also symbolize a curse, because once we were born Delos got rooted in place and wasn't able to drift around the sea any more. That's why yellow daisies are called the curse of Delos."

"So I could have just picked a daisy myself and walked away," said Leo.

"No, no! Not for the potion you have in mind. The flower would have to be picked by either my sister or me. So what do you say, demigod? Directions to Asclepius and your last magical ingredient in exchange for that new musical instrument– do we have a deal?"

Leo hummed. "You drive a hard bargain, Music Man. Done." They made the exchange.

"Excellent!" Apollo turned the levels of the Valdezinator, which made a sound like a car engine on a cold morning. "Hmm... perhaps it'll take some practice, but I'll get it! Now let us find your friends. The sooner you leave, the better!"

As they walked to find Hazel and Frank, Emilia stuck close to Leo. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. "Leo, I didn't know you'd been thinking about all those things... that plan..."

"I felt safe, making it... real when you were there," he mumbled. "I knew you wouldn't judge me for it."

"I'm scared for you, Leo."

"Don't be. It's... gonna work."

"You're brilliant, I know that, I just... what if–?"

"Hey, you survived Tartarus. The odds are in our favor... right? We're too cool to die. The only two Mexicans in the crew have to stick together."

She stopped for a moment, holding his arm. "Whatever you need... I will see it done. I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Especially not Gaea. She's done enough to us."

He thanked her with a simple smile. As they reached the Delos docks, they saw Hazel and Frank waiting there. Artemis was nowhere in sight. When they turned to say goodbye to Apollo, they saw he was gone, too.

"Man," muttered Leo, "he was really anxious to practice his Valdezinator."

"His what?" asked Hazel.

Leo explained everything briefly. Frank scratched his head, "And in exchange you got a Daisy?"

"It's one of the ingredients, I guess," said Emilia. "What did Artemis say?"

Hazel gazed across the water, where the Argo II bobbed at anchor. "Artemis knows a lot about missile weapons. She told us Octavian has ordered some... surprises for Camp Half-Blood. He's used most of the legion's treasure to purchase Cyclopes-built onagers."

"What the fuck is an onager?" asked Emilia as Leo made faces at the name.

Frank glanced at Leo. "You build machines. How can you not know what an onager is? It's just the biggest, baddest catapult ever used by the Roman army."

"Fine," said Leo, "but onager is a stupid name. They should've called them Valdezapults."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Leo, this is serious. If Artemis is right, six of these machines will be rolling into Long Island tomorrow night. That's what Octavian has been waiting for. At dawn on August first, he'll have enough firepower to completely destroy Camp Half-Blood without a single Roman casualty. He thinks that'll make him a hero."

Frank muttered a Latin curse, which surprisingly didn't make Hazel flinch as much as Emilia's 'fuck' had. "Except he's also summoned so many monstrous 'allies' that the legion is completely surrounded by wild centaurs, tribes of dog-headed cynocephali, and who knows what else. As soon as the legion destroys Camp Half-Blood, the monsters will turn on Octavian and destroy the legion."

Leo's fingers tapped against his leg. "All right... this just makes my plan even more important. Once we get this physician's cure, I'm going to need your help. All of you."

Frank glanced nervously at the cursed yellow daisy. "What kind of help?"

He repeated what he'd told Apollo, this plan that they were just supposed to be fine with. A tear glistened on Hazel's cheek. Even hearing it a second time, Emilia couldn't suppress the pressure that rose in her throat as she tried to keep herself from crying.

"It has to be the way," said Leo. "Nike confirmed it. Apollo confirmed it. The others would never accept it, but you guys... each of you is part Roman. That's why I wanted you to come to Delos with me. Each of you understands the whole sacrifice thing– doing your duty, jumping on your sword."

Frank sniffled. "I think you mean falling on your sword."

"Whatever," said Leo. "You know this has to be the answer. Emilia... when we met, you were all shy and cold and then you accepted me, of all people, as your little brother. You kept me safe and you would have given your life for any of us at any point. I admire you, I learned so much from you, and you've always supported me which is why I trust you'll to accept this and still love me in spite of it."

Emilia's voice broke, "I just wish it didn't have to be this way."

Leo reached out, letting her take his hand. Frank's lip trembled, but Leo told him, "Hey, big guy, I'm counting on you. Remember you told me about that conversation with Mars? Your dad said you'd have to step up, right? You'd have to make the call nobody else was willing to make."

"Or the war would go sideways," remembered Frank. "But still–"

"And Hazel," continued Leo. "Crazy Mist-magicky Hazel, you've got to cover for me. You're the only one who can. My great-granddad Sammy saw how special you were. He blessed me when I was a baby, because I think somehow he knew you were going to come back and help me. Our whole lives, mi amiga, they've been leading up to this."

"Oh, Leo..." She burst into tears, reaching out and hugging him. Emilia joined, then Frank, almost smothering Leo.

"Okay, well..." Leo gently extricated himself. "So we're in agreement?"

"I hate this plan," said Frank.

"I despise it," agreed Hazel.

"It's gonna work and we're going to celebrate Gaea's defeat afterward," said Emilia, trying to convince herself.

Leo nodded. "It's our best shot. Just... remember that. Let's get back to the ship. We have a healer god to find."

Emilia sat beside Leo the entire night as he prepared the ship to fly. Hylla had assured her only a brief check-in was fine– she was busy, too. Orion was about to be defeated, she was sure of it.

She lingered quietly, letting him work. Neither spoke, but it seemed each other's presence was precious anyway. She didn't sleep a wink, because he didn't. And in the morning, she sat on the deck with him as he maneuvered the ship toward Epidaurus. She didn't want to leave his side, especially not after what he'd admitted. Part of her wished he hadn't told her anything at all, while the other part was thankful he could trust her with that.

She could remember being not-so-sure about Leo when they first met. Then she remembered being in the sewers under Medea's mall and trying to calm him down by un-sowing discord because she saw how upset he was. She remembered deciding that she would protect him, that she would support him.

Had she done enough of that, if he still felt that this was the answer? Was there even an alternative?

She wondered if all that she could really do was trust him. And raise hell if anything went astray.

Leo found a secret entrance as soon as they got over Epidaurus. The Argo II wasn't exactly in good shape to fly, but his night of hard work had paid off. Now, they were hovering over the ancient temple complex of the healing god Asclepius, where they could hopefully find the physician's cure.

"That's beautiful," said Leo, staring ahead at something.

On the quarterdeck, Percy peered over the railing. "Looks like more rubble." His face was still green from his underwater poisoning, but at least he wasn't running to the bathroom to upchuck quite so often. Between him and Hazel's seasickness, it had been impossible to find an unoccupied toilet onboard for the past few days.

Annabeth pointed to the disc-shaped structure about fifty yards off their port side. "There."

Leo smiled. "Exactly. See, the architect knows her stuff."

The rest of the crew gathered around. "What are we looking at?" asked Frank.

"Ah, Señor Zhang," said Leo, "you know how you're always saying, 'Leo, you are the only true genius among demigods?'"

"I'm... pretty sure I never said that."

"Well, turns out there are other true geniuses! Because one of them must have made that work of art down there."

"It's a stone circle," said Frank. "Probably the foundation of an old shrine."

Piper shook her head. "No, it's more than that. Look at the ridges and grooves carved around the rim."

"Like the teeth of a gear," offered Jason.

"And those concentric rings." Hazel pointed to the centre of the structure, where curved stones formed a sort of bull's-eye. "The pattern reminds me of Pasiphaë's pendant: the symbol of the Labyrinth."

"It's not that," said Emilia, narrowing her eyes. "Isn't that what the Archimedes lock looked like? Rings within rings?"

Leo nodded, which made Percy snort. "You're telling me that's a massive stone lock? It's, like, fifty feet in diameter."

"Leo might be right," said Annabeth. "In ancient times, the temple of Asclepius was like the General Hospital of Greece. Everybody came here for the best healing. Aboveground, it was the size of a major city, but supposedly the real action happened belowground. That's where the high priests had their intensive-care super-magical-type compound, accessed by a secret passage."

Percy scratched his ear. "So, if that big round thing is the lock, how do we get the key?"

"Way ahead of you, Aquaman," said Leo.

"Okay, do not call me Aquaman. That's even worse than water boy."

"Deal with it! Emilia, Jason, Piper, you guys remember the giant Archimedes grabber arm I told you I was building?"

Emilia snorted. "Remember? I could have nightmares about that thing."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were kidding about that."

"Oh, my friend, I never kid about giant grabber arms!" Leo rubbed his hands in anticipation. "It's time to go fishing for prizes!"

Emilia followed Leo below deck to access the gigantic arm that made her feel like one of those stuffed animals inside a claw machine. When Leo had first told her about this project, she'd remembered horror stories about the Sea of Monsters, of Scylla seizing crew members off of ships.

It had unnerved her each day since he'd shown her his design for it. Archimedes had apparently designed it to pluck enemy ships out of the water, yet Leo still didn't think it was reason for Emilia to be wary of it, because he insisted his new purpose was much more fun. She wasn't sure about a lot of the things he considered 'fun,' these days.

The hull's forward access vent opened to let the arm out, guided by the console monitor and Jason, who flew outside, yelling directions. With a trackpad and turntable controls, Leo and Jason guided the arm's prongs into the grooves of the circular stone structure below.

As soon as he activated the Archimedes sphere, the grabber arm began to turn like a corkscrew. It rotated the outer ring of stone, which ground and rumbled but thankfully didn't shatter. Then the claw detached, fixed itself around the second stone ring and turned it in the opposite direction.

Piper had joined them next to the monitor. She leaned over to kiss Leo on the cheek. "It's working. You're amazing."

Leo grinned, but Emilia saw it filter for a moment. Was he thinking about how Piper knew nothing of his plan? Emilia knew it would devastate Piper when she learned the truth. She'd probably think Leo didn't tell her because he didn't trust her. Really, Emilia was sure that Leo hadn't told her because Piper could charmspeak him away from the plan.

Below them, the last stone ring turned and settled with a deep pneumatic hiss. The entire fifty-foot pedestal telescoped downward into a spiral staircase.

Hazel exhaled once they came back up. "Leo, even from up here, I'm sensing bad stuff at the bottom of those stairs. Something... large and dangerous. You sure you don't want me to come along?"

"Thanks, Hazel, but we'll be good." He patted Piper on the back. "Me, Emilia, Piper, and Jason– we're old pros at large and dangerous."

Frank held out the vial of Pylosian mint. "Don't break it."

Leo nodded gravely. "Don't break the vial of deadly poison. Man, I'm glad you said that. Never would have occurred to me."

"Shut up, Valdez," said Frank, making a face that suggested that he regretted not handing it to Emilia. He gave Leo a bear hug. "And be careful."

"Ribs," squeaked Leo.

"Sorry."

Annabeth and Percy wished them good luck. Then Percy excused himself to go throw up. Jason summoned the winds and whisked the four of them down to the surface.

The stairs spiraled downward about sixty feet before opening into a chamber as large as Bunker Nine. The polished white tiles on the walls and floor reflected the light of Jason's sword so well that Leo didn't need to make a fire for the rest of them. Emilia continued to lead the way, only because she worried what might pop out at them, what it was that Hazel sensed.

Rows of long stone benches filled the entire chamber. At the far end of the room, where the altar would have been, stood a ten-foot-tall statue of pure white alabaster– a young woman in a white robe, a serene smile on her face. In one hand she raised a cup, while a golden serpent coiled around her arm, its head poised over the brim as if ready to drink.

"Large and dangerous," guessed Jason.

Piper scanned the room. "This must have been the sleeping area." Her voice echoed loudly. "The patients stayed here overnight. The god Asclepius was supposed to send them a dream, telling them what cure to ask for." She gestured at the statue. "That's Hygeia, the daughter of Asclepius. She's the goddess of good health. That's where we get the word hygiene."

Jason studied the statue warily. "What's with the snake and the cup?"

"Uh, not sure," admitted Piper. "But back in the day this place– the Asclepeion– was a medical school as well as a hospital. All the best doctor-priests trained here. They would've worshiped both Asclepius and Hygeia."

"Something about her doesn't seem right," said Emilia, glaring at Hygeia's creepy smile. She beckoned them down the center aisle towards the statue, figuring there was no choice but to keep going.

Strewn across the benches were old magazines, as if to entertain people in a reception area. Here and there, piles of dust and scattered bones lay on the floor.

"Check it out." Jason pointed. "Were those signs here when we walked in? And that door?"

On the wall to the right of the statue, above a closed metal door, were two electronic signboards. The top one read: THE DOCTOR IS: INCARCERATED. The sign below that read: NOW SERVING NUMBER: 0000000.

Jason squinted. "I can't read it that far away. The doctor is–?"

"Incarcerated," said Emilia. "All those bonks on the head might've left you needing glasses, Jason..." She waved her hand, figuring they'd handle that after all this. If they made it out in one piece. "Apollo said Asclepius was being guarded, right? But like... is the statue the guardian or something else? What do we do now?"

Leo glanced at the nearest pile of waiting-room dust. "Well... I guess we take a number."