WHEN KARINA opened her eyes, she was not on the the boat laying on percy's shoulder, but instead she was standing in some type of workshop— well, floating, in a way— she couldn't see her body, but she could see everything around her.

the workshop that karina was looking at was huge. giant machines, work tables, old maps and schematics everywhere. and right in the center of the workshop, on a large central table, was the head of a dragon. but not a real dragon, more like a mechanical one. it looked battered and scorched for some reason— like it had been through a battle.

but then, karina finally saw who was sitting at the table, looking over some sort of blue print in front of him, and switching back and forth between the blueprint and a scrap sheet of paper, occasionally writing down notes and bits of pieces of information, and he was working fairly quickly too, like he was working on a time crunch. it was a boy— who looked about fifteen, and he looked sort of like a latino elf. he had grease stains all over his body, and his curly hair was sticking up in all different angles, probably from the grease as well.

the boy was constantly talking to himself, saying weird, and non understandable things to himself as he continued to jot down scattered notes.

". . . now i need to figure out what will make the engine keep the argo II in the air . . . " he muttered to himself again, swiping some loose curls out of his face, which caused him to have a large streak of black grease on his forehead, making karina giggle.

but, why was she here? why was her dreams— or even the gods— showing her this? she has no idea where she is, or who this boy is, so why is it important to her to see this? and what was the argo II? there were a lot of things going through karina's mind as to why she was watching this, when suddenly, the door swung open, revealing someone karina was expecting least to see.

"jason?" karina muttered to herself, her breath getting caught in her throat at the sight of the blonde-haired son of jupiter. he had grown taller in the time he had been gone, and his hair had grown longer, making him seem way more mature than he was before he disappeared. he still had that small smirk that he was always sporting on his face, and he was walking into the workshop with a skip in his step, like he was excited to see what the latino boy was working on.

"how's the argo coming, leo?" jason asked as he strided up to the boy's— leo— side, looking over the messy notes he had previously been taking.

leo sighed and gave shot him a trouble-maker smirk, casting jason a look of annoyance and impatience. "just great! i can't figure out a way to make the engines keep the ship in the air. i'm stuck between using propellers or giant fans at the bottom of it."

jason snorted, and shook his head. "i don't think giant fans would be very efficient, especially in the water."

leo rolled his eyes and sighed, slouching back into his metal chair. "well, do you have any better ideas? i only have a few more months to get this ship ready  in order to get to camp jupiter, and i can't afford to waste any more time."

karina's eyes widened at the sound of this? they were trying to get to camp jupiter? but . . . why, and how? she had no idea where jason and leo were, or who they were working with in order to sail to her camp, but she didn't like the sound of it. but, at the same time, this was jason they were talking about. he had been at camp jupiter his whole life, why would he want to do something bad to it? karina didn't know what to think from this, and she didn't know if she should tell the others when she woke up about what she was seeing.

jason sighed and looked at leo in sympathy. "hey, don't stress about it, leo. you're one of the greatest mechanics i've ever seen in my life. i know you'll figure it out."

leo chuckled and shot jason and smirk, but this one seemed more genuine than the last one. "i know i'm the best, that's why i get this whole workshop to myself! i even set up a makeshift bed and a mini-fridge." he pointed to the far corner of the workshop, and karina saw that he had an old pull-out couch scrunched in the corner, along with a white mini fridge to the side it.

jason laughed and clapped leo on the shoulder. "see man, i know you've got it in you to make this ship work. and i know you do too. because everyone at camp jupiter is going to be in awe when you show up flying that thing."

leo chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, his leg bouncing furiously against the tiled floor. "oh, i know they will. they're going to be like 'oh my gods! who's that sexy man driving that beautiful ship! i want a piece of that hunk of hotness!'" leo said dramatically, making his voice go up an octave, and waving his hands around in dramatic gestures.

jason looked at him in a look of amusement and confusion, but nonetheless smiled. "oh, i bet. and i know karina is going to flip out over the greenhouse you installed in it." after he said that, he seemed to doze off a bit, as if trying to remember more about her.

karina's eyes widened once again at the mention of her name.

he remembered her.

her best friend actually remembered her. she didn't know how to process that, after all this time of karina mourning over the disappearance of him, and hoping for him to return— he actually felt the same. it felt as if a ton of bricks had been removed from her shoulders, and that she could finally breathe easier.

"i miss you so much, jason." karina whispered, reaching out to touch his shoulder, now that she could actually see her body in her dream, and jason suddenly gasped, jumping back a foot.

"did you here that?" he said frantically, looking around the room in surprise.

"hear what?" leo asked strangely, looking at jason, who looked like he'd seen a ghost.

jason swallowed thickly, and touched the part of his arm where karina had laid her hand on. "i . . . i heard someone say something to me. it— it sounded like karina."

leo chuckled and shook his head. "man, i think your head is going loony. you should go take a nap. maybe you'll remember more after it. besides, i gotta finish working out this engine problem, and you hearing voices in my workshop is not helping me. so shoo."

jason stood there for a moment, staring at the exact place karina was standing, their eyes connecting for a moment, before he shook his head, and walked out of the workshop.

karina woke up with a gasp, and it seemed that percy had just woken up to, because he was sitting up with a slightly disgruntled look on his face, as if he'd just had a weird dream as well.

"i thought i slept heavy," hazel said. "welcome to portland."

karina sat and blinked, rain falling on her face. the scene around her was so different from her dream, she wasn't sure which was real. the pax floated on an iron-black river through the middle of a city. heavy clouds hung low overhead. the cold rain was so light, it seemed suspended in the air. on karina's left were industrial warehouses and railroad tracks. to he right was a small downtown area— an almost cozy-looking cluster of towers between the banks of the river and a line of misty forested hills.

percy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as karina yawned. "how did we get here?" he asked.

frank gave him a look like, you won't believe this. "the killer whale took us as far as the columbia river. then he passed the harness to a couple twelve-foot sturgeons."

"twelve-foot what?" karina asked. she thought frank had said surgeons. she had this weird image of giant doctors in scrubs and face masks, pulling their boat upstream. then she realized frank meant sturgeons, like the fish. she suddenly felt quite embarrassed that she said something about it, and turned her head off to the side, watching the water ripple as they sailed through the city.

"anyway," frank continued, "the sturgeons pulled us for a long time. hazel and i took turns sleeping. then we hit this river— "

"the willamette," hazel offered.

"right," frank said. "after that, the boat kind of took over and navigated us here all by itself. you two sleep okay?"

karina decided not to mention her dream to the group at the moment, as percy told them about his. but, she soon started to realize that what he was saying was similar to what she had seen. how a warship might be on the way to help camp jupiter. but, he also said how a friendly cyclops and giant dog were looking for him.

"wait," karina said, interrupting him. "you saw a warship too?"

percy turned to her, a slightly confused look on his face. "uhm, yeah. why?"

"i saw one too— well, i saw someone building it, and they were in some sort of bunker, like a workshop."

percy's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, like he was trying to rack his brain to see if he remembered anything about that. "a workshop? i— i didn't see any workshop."

karina shrugged her shoulders. "i'm not sure why i saw it, but he was trying to make an engine float or something. i don't know." she decided that it would be best to leave out the part about seeing jason. for some reason— she felt as if someone was pulling on her gut, as if advising her that it would not be wise to say anything else.

"make an engine float?" frank asked skeptically, and karina just shrugged her shoulders again, sighing deeply.

after she'd finished, percy went on to explain the roman fort on the ice, and hazel looked troubled.

"so alcyoneus is on a glacier," she said. "that doesn't narrow it down much. alaska has hundreds of those."

percy nodded. "maybe this seer dude phineas can tell us which one."

the boat docked itself at a wharf. the four demigods stared up at the buildings of drizzly downtown portland.

frank wiped the rain off his flat-top hair.

"so now we find a blind man in the rain," frank said. "yay."

it wasn't as hard as they thought. the screaming and the weed whacker helped.

they'd brought lightweight polartec jackets with their supplies, so they bundled up against the cold rain and walked for a few blocks through the mostly deserted streets. this time percy was smart and brought most of their supplies from the boat. he even stuffed the macrobiotic jerky in his coat pocket, which made karina giggle.

they saw some bicycle traffic and a few homeless guys huddled in doorways, but the majority of portlanders seemed to be staying indoors.

as they made their way down glisan street, karina looked longingly at the folks in the cafés enjoying coffee and pastries, and she saw percy doing the same. she was about to suggest that they stop for breakfast when she heard a voice down the street yelling: "HA! TAKE THAT, STUPID CHICKENS!" followed by the revving of a small engine and a lot of squawking.

percy glanced at his friends. "you think— "

"probably," karina agreed.

they ran toward the sounds.

the next block over, they found a big open parking lot with tree-lined sidewalks and rows of food trucks facing the streets on all four sides. karina had seen food trucks before, but never so many in one place. some were simple white metal boxes on wheels, with awnings and serving counters. others were painted blue or purple or polka-dotted, with big banners out front and colorful menu boards and tables like do-it-yourself sidewalk cafés. one advertised korean/brazilian fusion tacos, which sounded like some kind of top-secret radioactive cuisine. another offered sushi on a stick. a third was selling deep-fried ice cream sandwiches. the smell was amazing— dozens of different kitchens cooking at once.

karina's stomach rumbled. most of the food carts were open for business, but there was hardly anyone around. they could get anything they wanted! deep-fried ice cream sandwiches? oh, man, that sounded way better than wheat germ.

unfortunately, there was more happening than just cooking. in the center of the lot, behind all the food trucks, an old man in a bathrobe was running around with a weed whacker, screaming at a flock of bird-ladies who were trying to steal food off a picnic table.

"harpies," hazel said. "which means— "

"that's phineas," frank guessed.

they ran across the street and squeezed between the korean/brazilian truck and a chinese egg roll burrito vendor.

the backs of the food trucks weren't nearly as appetizing as the fronts. they were cluttered with stacks of plastic buckets, overflowing garbage cans, and makeshift clotheslines hung with wet aprons and towels. the parking lot itself was nothing but a square of cracked asphalt, marbled with weeds. in the middle was a picnic table piled high with food from all different trucks.

the guy in the bathrobe was old and fat. he was mostly bald, with scars across his forehead and a rim of stringy white hair. his bathrobe was splattered with ketchup, and he kept stumbling around in fuzzy pink bunny slippers, swinging his gas-powered weed whacker at the half-dozen harpies who were hovering over his picnic table.

he was clearly blind. his eyes were milky white, and usually he missed the harpies by a lot, but he was still doing a pretty good job of fending them off.

"back, dirty chickens!" he bellowed.

karina didn't know why, but she had a vague sense that harpies were supposed to be plump. these looked like they were starving. their human faces had sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. their bodies were covered in molting feathers, and their wings were tipped with tiny, shriveled hands. they wore ragged burlap sacks for dresses. as they dived for the food, they seemed more desperate than angry. karina felt sorry for them.

WHIRRRR! the old man swung his weed whacker. he grazed one of the harpies wings. the harpy yelped in pain and fluttered off, dropping yellow feathers as she flew, making karina's heart sink.

another harpy circled higher than the rest. she looked younger and smaller than the others, with bright-red feathers.

she watched carefully for an opening, and when the old man's back was turned, she made a wild dive for the table. she grabbed a burrito in her clawed feet, but before she could escape, the blind man swung his weed whacker and smacked her in the back so hard, karina winced. the harpy yelped, dropped the burrito, and flew off.

"hey, stop it!" percy yelled.

the harpies took that the wrong way. they glanced over at the three demigods and immediately fled. most of them fluttered away and perched in the trees around the square, staring dejectedly at the picnic table. the red-feathered one with the hurt back flew unsteadily down gilsan street and out of sight.

"ha!" the blind man yelled in triumph and killed the power on his weed whacker. he grinned vacantly in percy's direction. "thank you, strangers! your help is most appreciated."

"we weren't trying to help you," karina grumbled angrily, digging her nails into her palms in anger.

"uh, whatever." percy said, biting back his anger. he approached the old guy, keeping one eye on the weed whacker. "i'm percy jackson. this is— "

"demigods!" the old man said. "i can always smell demigods."

hazel frowned. "do we smell that bad?"

the old man laughed. "of course not, my dear. but you'd be surprised how sharp my other senses became once i was blinded. i'm phineas. and you— wait, don't tell me— "

he reached for percy's face and poked him in the eyes.

"ow!" percy complained.

"son of neptune!" phineas exclaimed. "i thought i smelled the ocean on you, percy jackson. i'm also a son of neptune, you know."

karina snorted into her palm, and percy sent her a death glare.

"hey . . . yeah. okay." percy rubbed his eyes.

phineas turned to karina. "ah, yes . . . oh my, the smell of honeysuckle and earth. karina rhea ashwood, daughter of ceres. and you, my oh my, the smell of gold and deep earth as well. hazel lezesque, daughter of pluto. and next to you— the son of mars. but there's more to your story, frank zhang— "

"ancient blood," frank muttered. "prince of pylos. blah, blah, blah."

"periclymenus, exactly! oh, he was a nice fellow. i loved the argonauts!"

frank's mouth fell open. "w-wait, perry who?"

phineas grinned. "don't worry. i know about your family. that story about your great-grandfather? he didn't really destroy the camp. now, what an interesting group. are you hungry?"

frank looked like he'd been run over by a truck, but phineas had already moved on to other matters. he waved his hand at the picnic table. in the nearby trees, the harpies shrieked miserably. as hungry as karina was, she couldn't stand to think about eating with those poor bird ladies watching her.

"look, i'm confused," percy said. "we need some information. we were told— "

"— that the harpies were keeping my food away from me," phineas finished, "and if you helped me, i'd help you."

"something like that," percy admitted.

phineas laughed. "that's old news. do i look like i'm missing any meals?"

he patted his belly, which was the size of an overinflated basketball.

"um . . . no," percy said.

phineas waved his weed whacker in an expansive gesture. all four of them ducked, percy leaning over karina slightly, gripping her hand out of instinct.

"things have changed, my friends!" he said. "when i first got the gift of prophecy, eons ago, it's true jupiter cursed me. he sent harpies to steal my food. you see, i had a bit of a big mouth. i gave away too many secrets that the gods wanted kept." he turned to hazel. "for instance, you're supposed to be dead. and you— " he turned to karina. "you are technically supposed to be dead too, but you cheated. and finally, you— " he turned to frank. "your life depends on a burned stick."

karina's throat tightened at the sound of phineas saying that. the scar on the back of her neck seemed to burn even more at the memories that resurfaced in her mind, bringing her back to the night she battled krios.

percy frowned, casting a look of concern in karina's direction. "what are you talking about?"

hazel blinked like she'd been slapped. frank looked like the trunk had backed up and run him over again.

"and you," he turned to percy. "well now, you don't even know who you are! i could tell you, of course . . . ha! what fun would that be? and brigid o'shaughnessy shot miles archer in the maltese falcon. and darth vader is actually luke's father. and the winner of the next super bowl will be— "

"got it," frank muttered.

hazel gripped her sword like she was tempted to pommel-whip the old man, and karina didn't feel far from different, her hand gripping percy's tighter than ever, but he didn't budge.

"so, you talked too much, and the gods cursed you. why did they stop?" hazel asked.

"oh, they didn't!" the old man arched his bushy eyebrows like, can you believe it? "i had to make a deal with the argonauts. they wanted information too, you see. i told them to kill the harpies, and i'd cooperate. well, they drove those nasty creatures away, but iris wouldn't let them kill the harpies. an outrage! so this time, when my patron brought me back to life— "

"your patron?" frank asked.

phineas gave him a wicked grin. "why, gaea, of course. who do you think opened the doors of death? you girlfriend here understands. isn't gaea your patron too?"

hazel drew her sword. "i'm not his— i don't— gaea is not my patron!"

phineas looked amused. if he had heard the sword being drawn, he didn't seem concerned. "fine, if you want to be noble and stick with the losing side, that's your business. but gaea is waking. she's already rewritten the rules of life and death! i'm alive again, and in exchange for my help— a prophecy here, a prophecy there— i get my fondest wish. the tables have been turned, so to speak. now i can eat all i want, all day long, and the harpies have to watch and starve."

he revved his weed whacker, and the harpies wailed in the trees.

"they're cursed!" the old man said. "they can eat only food from my table, and they can't leave portland. since the doors of death are open, they can't even die! it's beautiful!"

"beautiful?" frank protested. "they're loving creatures. why are you so mean to them?"

"they're monsters!" phineas said. "and mean? those feather-brained demons tormented me for years!"

"you're the only monster here," karina said, drawing her sword and beginning to walk towards the old man, but percy stopped her, he grabbed her wrist lightly and pulled her back, giving her a look that said not yet. he laced his fingers through hers and then turned back to phineas.

"but it was their duty," he said, trying to control himself as well as karina. "jupiter ordered them to."

"oh, i'm mad at jupiter too," phineas agreed. "in time, gaea will see that the gods are properly punished. horrible job they've done, ruling the world. but for now, i'm enjoying portland. the mortals take no notice of me. they think i'm just a crazy old man shooing away pigeons!"

hazel advanced on the seer. "you're awful!" she told phineas. "you belong in the fields of punishment!"

phineas sneered. "one dead person to another, girlie? i wouldn't be talking. you started this whole thing! if it weren't for you, alcyoneus wouldn't be alive!"

hazel stumbled back.

"what?" karina said in shock, steadying hazel.

"hazel?" frank's eyes got as wide as quarters. "what's he talking about?"

"ha!" phineas said. "you'll find out soon enough, frank zhang. then we'll see if you're still sweet on your girlfriend. but that's not what you're here about, is it? you want to find thanatos. he's being kept at alcyoneus's lair. i can tell you where that is. of course i can. but you'll have to do me a favor."

"forget it," karina snapped. "you're working for the enemy. we should send you back to the underworld ourselves."

"you could try, daughter of ceres." phineas smiled. "but i doubt i'd stay dead very long. you see, gaea has shown me the easy way back. and with thanatos in chains, there's no one to keep me down! besides, if you kill me, you won't get my secrets."

karina was tempted to let hazel use her sword. in fact, she wanted to strangle the old man herself. she could tell percy wanted to do the same.

camp jupiter, she told herself. saving the camp is more important. if they wasted time searching through alaska looking for the giant's lair, gaea'd armies would destroy the romans . . . and jason and his friends, whoever and wherever they were.

percy gritted his teeth. "what's the favor?"

phineas licked his lips greedily. "there's one harpy who's quicker than the rest."

"the red one," percy guessed.

"i'm blind! i don't know colors!" the old man groused. "at any rate, she's the only one i have trouble with. she's wily, that one. always does her thing, never roosts with the others. she gave me these."

he pointed to the scars on his forehead.

"that's a good harpy then," karina said spitefully, glaring at the old man, but he just ignored her.

"capture that harpy," he said. "bring her to me. i want her tied up where i can keep an eye on her . . . ah, so to speak. harpies hate being tied up. it causes them extreme pain. yes, i'll enjoy that. maybe i'll even feed her so that she lasts longer."

percy looked at his friends, and as karina made eye contact with him, they all came to a silent agreement: they would never help this creepy old man. on the other hand, they had to get this information. they needed a plan b.

"oh, go talk among yourselves," phineas said breezily. "i don't care. just remember that without my help, your quest will fail. and everyone you love in the world will die. now, off with you! bring me a harpy!"

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omg karina's getting dreams of jason now,, crazy🤭