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Leo was no architect like Annabeth, but he could appreciate the engineering The Ro stone panels, but they’d hollowed out each panel in a square-within-square pattern It looked cool Leo figured it also hter and easier to support
He didn’t mention that to his friends He doubted they would care, but if Annabeth were here, she would’ve spent the whole day talking about it Thinking about thaton her Mark of Athena expedition Leo never thought he’d feel this way, but he orried about that scary blond girl
Hazel stopped in theIn the old days, the children of Vulcan would cood weapons This is where Iold was enchanted"
Leo wondered how that worked He i to quietly roll a scorpion ballista through the front doors
"But we’re not here because of that," he guessed
"No," Hazel said "There’s an entrance--a tunnel that will lead us toward Nico I can sense it close by I’runted "If this building is two thousand years old, it e left over from the Roman days"
That’s when Leo ood
He scanned the tee, where would I put it?
He could so his hand on it He’d learned to fly a helicopter that way He’d fixed Festus the dragon that way (before Festus crashed and burned) Once he’d even reprogrammed the electronic billboards in Times Square to read: ALL DA LADIES LUV LEO…accidentally, of course
Now he tried to sense the workings of this ancient building He turned toward a red in Mary on the top "Over there," he said
He marched confidently to the shrine It was shaped sort of like a fireplace, with an arched recess at the bottom The mantel was inscribed with a nae is around here," he said "This guy’s final resting place is in the way Raphael somebody?"
"Faed He had a cousin named Raphael, and he didn’t think much of the name He wondered if he could produce a stick of dynamite from his tool belt and do a little discreet deured the caretakers of this place probably wouldn’t approve
"Hold on…" Leo looked around towatched
Most of the tour groups were gawking at the dome, but one trio htloudly, co to each other about the heat They looked likeshorts, touristy T-shirts and floppy hats Their legs were big and pasty and covered with spider veins The guys acted extre around
They weren’t watching him Leo wasn’t sure why they made him nervous Maybe he just didn’t like et them, Leo told himself
He slipped around the side of the tomb He ran his hand down the back of a Roht at the bottom, a series of lines had been etched into the marble--Roant, but effective"
"What is?" Frank asked
"The combination for a lock" He felt around the back of the column some more and discovered a square hole about the size of an electrical socket "The lock face itself has been ripped out--probably vandalized sometime in the last few centuries But I should be able to control the mechanism inside, if I can…"
Leo placed his hand on the ears under the surface of the stone Regular bronze would have corroded and becoo, but these were Celestial bronze--the handiwork of a de the Rouide him The cylinders turned--click, click, click Then click, click
On the floor next to the wall, one section ofa dark square opening barely large enough to wiggle through
"Roly "You’ll need to change into soh here"
"That’s not nice!" Hazel chided
"What? Just saying--"
"Don’t worry about it," Frank et the others before we explore That’s what Piper said"
"They’re halfway across the city," Leo reminded hiain The gears are pretty old"
"Great," Frank said "Hoe know it’s safe down there?"
Hazel knelt She put her hand over the opening as if checking the te alive…at least not for several hundred feet The tunnel slants down, then levels out and goes south, more or less I don’t sense any traps…"
"How can you tell all that?" Leo asked