by Rick Riordan
The Romans bivouacked next to the strawberry fields, where they insisted on building their standard field camp. The Greeks pitched in to help them raise the earthen walls and dig the trenches. Nico had never seen anything stranger or cooler. Dakota shared Kool-Aid with the kids from the Dionysus cabin. The children of Hermes and Mercury laughed and told stories and brazenly stole things from just about everyone. Reyna, Annabeth and Piper were inseparable, roaming the camp as a trio to check on the progress of the repairs. Chiron, escorted by Frank and Hazel, inspected the Roman troops and praised them for their bravery.
By evening, the general mood had improved somewhat. The dining hall pavilion had never been so crowded. The Romans were welcomed like old friends. Coach Hedge roamed among the demigods, beaming and holding his baby boy and saying, ‘Hey, you want to meet Chuck? This is my boy, Chuck!’
The Aphrodite and Athena girls alike cooed over the feisty little satyr baby, who waved his pudgy fists, kicked his tiny hooves and bleated, ‘Baaaa! Baaaa!’
Clarisse, who had been named the baby’s godmother, trailed behind the coach like a bodyguard and occasionally muttered, ‘All right, all right. Give the kid some space.’
At announcement time, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet.
‘Out of every tragedy,’ he said, ‘comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the gods!’
The demigods all joined the toast, but their enthusiasm seemed muted. Nico understood the feeling: We saved the gods again, and now we’re supposed to thank them?
Then Chiron said, ‘And to new friends!’
‘TO NEW FRIENDS!’
Hundreds of demigod voices echoed across the hills.
At the campfire, everyone kept looking at the stars, as if they expected Leo to come back in some dramatic, last-minute surprise. Maybe he’d swoop in, jump off Festus’s back and launch into corny jokes. It didn’t happen.
After a few songs, Reyna and Frank were called to the front. They got a thunderous round of applause from both the Greeks and Romans. Up on Half-Blood Hill, the Athena Parthenos glowed more brightly in moonlight, as if to signal: These kids are all right.
‘Tomorrow,’ Reyna said, ‘we Romans must return home. We appreciate your hospitality, especially since we almost killed you –’
‘You almost got killed,’ Annabeth corrected.
‘Whatever, Chase.’
Oooooohhhhh! the crowd said as one. Then everybody started laughing and pushing each other around. Even Nico had to smile.
‘Anyway,’ Frank took over, ‘Reyna and I agree this marks a new era of friendship between the camps.’
Reyna clapped him on the back. ‘That’s right. For hundreds of years, the gods tried to separate us to keep us from fighting. But there’s a better kind of peace – cooperation.’
Piper stood up from the audience. ‘Are you sure your mom is a war goddess?’
‘Yes, McLean,’ Reyna said. ‘I still intend to fight a lot of battles. But from now on we fight together!’
That got a big cheer.
Zhang raised his hand for quiet. ‘You’ll all be welcome at Camp Jupiter. We’ve come to an agreement with Chiron: a free exchange between the camps – weekend visits, training programmes and, of course, emergency aid in times of need –’
‘And parties?’ asked Dakota.
‘Hear, hear!’ said Conner Stoll.
Reyna spread her arms. ‘That goes without saying. We Romans invented parties.’
Another big Oooohhhhhhhh!
‘So thank you,’ Reyna concluded. ‘All of you. We could’ve chosen hatred and war. Instead we found acceptance and friendship.’
Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.
‘We had one home,’ she said. ‘Now we have two.’
She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn’t feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna’s shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.
LV
Nico
That night, Nico slept in the Hades cabin.
He’d never had any desire to use the place before, but now he shared it with Hazel, which made all the difference.
It made him happy to live with a sister again – even if it was only for a few days, and even if Hazel insisted on partitioning her side of the room with sheets for privacy so it looked like a quarantine zone.
Just before curfew, Frank came to visit and spent a few minutes talking with Hazel in hushed tones.
Nico tried to ignore them. He stretched out in his bunk, which resembled a coffin – a polished mahogany frame, brass railings, blood-red velvet pillows and blankets. Nico hadn’t been present when they built this cabin. He definitely had not suggested these bunks. Apparently somebody thought the children of Hades were vampires, not demigods.
Finally Frank knocked on the wall next to Nico’s bed.
Nico looked over. Zhang stood so tall now. He seemed so … Roman.
‘Hey,’ Frank said. ‘We’ll be leaving in the morning. Just wanted to tell you thanks.’
Nico sat up in his bunk. ‘You did great, Frank. It’s been an honour.’
Frank smiled. ‘Honestly, I’m kind of surprised I lived through it. The whole magic firewood thing …’
Nico nodded. Hazel had told him all about the piece of firewood that controlled Frank’s lifeline. Nico took it as a good sign that Frank could talk about it openly now.
‘I can’t see the future,’ Nico told him, ‘but I can often tell when people are close to death. You’re not. I don’t know when that piece of firewood will burn up. Eventually, we all run out of firewood. But it won’t be soon, Praetor Zhang. You and Hazel … you’ve got a lot more adventures ahead of you. You’re just getting started. Be good to my sister, okay?’
Hazel walked up next to Frank and laced her hand with his. ‘Nico, you’re not threatening my boyfriend, are you?’
The two of them looked so comfortable together it made Nico glad. But it also caused an ache in his heart – a ghostly pain, like an old war wound throbbing in bad weather.
‘No need for threats,’ Nico said. ‘Frank’s a good guy. Or bear. Or bulldog. Or –’
‘Oh, stop.’ Hazel laughed. Then she kissed Frank. ‘See you in the morning.’
‘Yeah,’ Frank said. ‘Nico … you sure you won’t come with us? You’ll always have a place in New Rome.’
‘Thanks, Praetor. Reyna said the same thing. But … no.’
‘I hope I’ll see you again?’
‘Oh, you will,’ Nico promised. ‘I’m going to be the flower boy at your wedding, right?’
‘Um …’ Frank got flustered, cleared his throat and shuffled off, running into the doorjamb on the way out.
Hazel crossed her arms. ‘You just had to tease him about that.’
She sat on Nico’s bunk. For a while they just stayed there in comfortable silence … siblings, children from the past, children of the Underworld.
‘I’m going to miss you,’ Nico said.
Hazel leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘You too, big brother. You will visit.’
He tapped the new officer’s badge that gleamed on her shirt. ‘Centurion of the Fifth Cohort now. Congratulations. Are there rules against centurions dating praetors?’
‘Shhh,’ Hazel said. ‘It’ll be a lot of work getting the legion back in shape, repairing the damage Octavian did. Dating regulations will be the least of my worries.’
‘You’ve come so far. You’re not the same girl I brought to Camp Jupiter. Your power with the Mist, your confidence –’
‘It’s all thanks to you.’
‘No,’ Nico said. ‘Getting a second life is one thing. Making it a better life, that’s the trick.’
As soon as he said it, Nico realized he could’ve been talking about himself.
He decided not to bring that up.
Hazel sighed. ‘A second life. I just wish …’
She didn’t need to finish her thought. For the past two days, Leo’s disappearance had hovered like a cloud over the whole camp. Hazel and Nico had been reluctant to join the speculation about what had happened to him.
‘You felt his death, didn’t you?’ Hazel’s eyes were watery. Her voice was small.
‘Yeah,’ Nico admitted. ‘But I don’t know, Hazel. Something about it was … different.’
‘He couldn’t have taken the physician’s cure. Nothing could have survived that explosion. I thought … I thought I was helping Leo. I messed up.’
‘No. It is not your fault.’ But Nico wasn’t quite so ready to forgive himself. He’d spent the last forty-eight hours replaying the scene with Octavian at the catapult, wondering if he’d done the wrong thing. Perhaps the explosive power of that projectile had helped destroy Gaia. Or perhaps it had unnecessarily cost Leo Valdez his life.
‘I just wish he hadn’t died alone,’ Hazel murmured. ‘There was no one with him, no one to give him that cure. There’s not even a body to bury …’
Her voice broke. Nico put his arm around her.
He held her as she wept. Eventually she fell asleep from exhaustion. Nico tucked her into his own bed and kissed her forehead. Then he went to the shrine of Hades in the corner – a little table decorated with bones and jewels.
‘I suppose,’ he said, ‘there’s a first time for everything.’
He knelt and prayed silently for his father’s guidance.
LVI
Nico
At dawn, he was still awake when someone rapped at the door.
He turned, registering a face with blond hair, and for a split second he thought it was Will Solace. When Nico realized it was Jason, he was disappointed. Then he felt angry with himself for feeling that way.
He hadn’t talked to Will since the battle. The Apollo kids had been too busy with the injured. Besides, Will probably blamed Nico for what happened to Octavian. Why wouldn’t he? Nico had basically permitted … whatever that was. Murder by consensus. A gruesome suicide. By now, Will Solace realized just how creepy and revolting Nico di Angelo was. Of course, Nico didn’t care what he thought. But still …
‘You okay?’ Jason asked. ‘You look –’
‘Fine,’ Nico snapped. Then he softened his tone. ‘If you’re looking for Hazel, she’s still asleep.’
Jason mouthed, Oh, and gestured for Nico to come outside.
Nico stepped into the sunlight, blinking and disoriented. Ugh … Perhaps the cabin’s designers had been right about the children of Hades being like vampires. He was not a morning person.
Jason didn’t look as though he’d slept any better. His hair had a cowlick on one side and his new glasses sat crookedly on his nose. Nico resisted the urge to reach out and straighten them.
Jason pointed to the strawberry fields, where the Romans were breaking camp. ‘It was strange to see them here. Now it’ll be strange not seeing them.’
‘Do you regret not going with them?’ Nico asked.
Jason’s smile was lopsided. ‘A little. But I’ll be going back and forth between the camps a lot. I have some shrines to build.’
‘I heard. The Senate plans to elect you Pontifex Maximus.’
Jason shrugged. ‘I don’t care about the title so much. I do care about making sure the gods are remembered. I don’t want them fighting out of jealousy any more, or taking out their frustrations on demigods.’
‘They’re gods,’ Nico said. ‘That’s their nature.’
‘Maybe, but I can try to make it better. I guess Leo would say I’m acting like a mechanic, doing preventative maintenance.’
Nico sensed Jason’s sorrow like an oncoming storm. ‘You know, you couldn’t have stopped Leo. There’s nothing you could have done differently. He knew what had to happen.’
‘I – I guess. I don’t suppose you can tell if he’s still –’
‘He’s gone,’ Nico said. ‘I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I sensed his death.’
Jason stared into the distance.
Nico felt guilty for squashing his hopes. He was almost tempted to mention his own doubts … what a different sensation Leo’s death had given him, as if Leo’s soul had invented its own way into the Underworld, something that involved lots of gears, levers and steam-powered pistons.
Nevertheless, Nico was sure Leo Valdez had died. And death was death. It wouldn’t be fair to give Jason false expectations.
In the distance, the Romans were picking up their gear and toting it across the hill. On the other side, so Nico had heard, a fleet of black SUVs waited to transport the legion cross-country back to California. Nico guessed that would be an interesting road trip. He imagined the entire Twelfth Legion in the drive-through lane at Burger King. He imagined some hapless monster terrorizing a random demigod in Kansas, only to find itself surrounded by several dozen carloads of heavily armoured Romans.
‘Ella the harpy is going with them, you know,’ Jason said. ‘She and Tyson. Even Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They’re going to work together to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books.’
‘That should be interesting.’
‘Could take years,’ Jason said. ‘But with the voice of Delphi extinguished …’
‘Rachel still can’t see the future?’
Jason shook his head. ‘I wish I knew what happened to Apollo in Athens. Maybe Artemis will get him out of trouble with Zeus and the power of prophecy will work again. But for now those Sibylline Books might be our only way to get guidance for quests.’
‘Personally,’ Nico said, ‘I could do without prophecies or quests for a while.’
‘You’ve got a point.’ He straightened his glasses. ‘Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you … I know what you said back at Auster’s palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I – I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –’
‘I’m staying.’
Jason blinked. ‘What?’
‘At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counsellor. Have you seen the decor? It’s disgusting. I’ll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically.’
‘That’s – that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching. Sorry.’
Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’
Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.
‘Oh, man,’ Jason said. ‘Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I’m all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share a table in the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and –’
‘Are you trying to scare me away?’
‘Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I’m just glad.’
The funny thing was Nico believed him.
Nico happened to glance towards the cabins and saw someone waving at him. Will Solace stood in the doorway of the Apollo cabin, a stern look on his face. He pointed to the ground at his feet, like You. Here. Now.
‘Jason,’ Nico said, ‘would you excuse me?’
‘So where were you?’ Will demanded. He was wearing a green surgeon’s shirt with jeans and flip-flops, which was probably not standard hospital protocol.
‘What do you mean?’ Nico asked.
‘I’ve been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don’t come by. You don’t offer to help.’
‘I … what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room with people you’re trying to heal? Why would anyone want that?’
‘You can’t help out a friend? Maybe cut bandages? Bring me a soda or a snack? Or just a simple How’s it going, Will? You don’t think I could stand to see a friendly face?’
‘What … my face?’
The words simply didn’t make sense together: Friendly face. Nico di
Angelo.
‘You’re so dense,’ Will noted. ‘I hope you got over that nonsense about leaving Camp Half-Blood.’
‘I – yeah. I did. I mean, I’m staying.’
‘Good. So you may be dense, but you’re not an idiot.’
‘How can you even talk to me like that? Don’t you know I can summon zombies and skeletons and –’
‘Right now you couldn’t summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo,’ Will said. ‘I told you, no more Underworldy stuff, doctor’s orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now.’
Nico felt like a hundred skeletal butterflies were resurrecting in his stomach. ‘Three days? I – I suppose that would be okay.’
‘Good. Now –’
A loud whoop! cut through the air.
Over by the hearth in the centre of the common, Percy was grinning at something Annabeth had just told him. Annabeth laughed and playfully slapped his arm.
‘I’ll be right back,’ Nico told Will. ‘Promise on the Styx and everything.’
He walked over to Percy and Annabeth, who were both still grinning like crazy.
‘Hey, man,’ Percy said. ‘Annabeth just told me some good news. Sorry if I got a little loud.’
‘We’re going to spend our senior year together,’ Annabeth explained, ‘here in New York. And after graduation –’
‘College in New Rome!’ Percy pumped his fist like he was blowing a truck horn. ‘Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California –’
‘And after that …’ Annabeth kissed Percy on the cheek. ‘Well, Reyna and Frank said we could live in New Rome as long as we like.’
‘That’s great,’ Nico said. He was a little surprised to find that he meant it. ‘I’m staying too, here at Camp Half-Blood.’
‘Awesome!’ Percy said.
Nico studied his face – his sea-green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on.