Page 52 of The Sun and the Star

‘I’m glad you’ve made so much progress with the new headquarters,’ said Nico.

‘There is more to do. Our hat-storage room is already overflowing.’

‘Maybe you could collectfewerhats?’ Will suggested.

Screech-Bling stared at him.

‘Or not!’ Will said, adjusting the block of cheese on his head. ‘More hats for everyone!’

Screech-Bling turned back to Nico. ‘Now please – tell me of your journey.’

Nico updated the troglodyte on everything that had transpired so far, from the voices and the repeating prophecy to the fight they’d had with Epiales.

By the end, Screech-Bling was scratching nervously at his powdered wig. ‘We have only been here a few months,’ he said, ‘yet we can sense something has changed in the ground beneath us. Something is stirring.’

‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ said Will.

‘What do you think it is?’ asked Nico.

‘We do not know.’ Screech-Bling clicked his tongue a few times. ‘We lack wisdom of the Underworld and its many strange creatures.’

‘That’s understandable,’ said Will.

‘But I do know this.’ Screech-Bling sniffed the air. ‘The change has a strong smell … And that scent is on you.’

‘I’m sorry,what?’ said Nico.

‘It is on both of you,’ said Screech-Bling. ‘A smell of … I do not know.’

Will sniffed his blue hoodie. ‘Is it from our run-in with Epiales?’

‘No,’ said the troglodyte. ‘I know the scent of demons. This is similar … but stronger. Related? It perplexes me.’ The trog CEO turned to the crowd in the dining area and shouted, ‘Trogs, come and smell these demigods!’

Suddenly Nico and Will were swarmed by other troglodytes pressing their noses against them.

‘Excuse me,’ said Will, trying to push one away who was smelling his knees.

‘Yes, yes!’ The troglodyte grinned up at him from beneath their sideways baseball cap. ‘The smell is all over you.’

‘On you as well!’ said another one, sniffing Nico’s shoes. ‘Very strong. Like fish rot.’

‘No, like truffles,’ said another.

‘Bug goo,’ suggested a third.

‘It is the changey smell!’ said a trog in a cowboy hat, and the others murmured their assent.

‘Yes, the changey smell!’

Nico’s skin crawled. Whatever ‘the changey’ was, he didn’t want to smell like it.

A fierce chorus of clicks and growls broke out nearby, and Screech-Bling excused himself to deal with a group of young troglodytes who were fighting over a set of matching wizard hats.

As he walked away, Nico’s thoughts began to race.

Epiales had mentionedMother.

Screech-Bling said the smell might berelatedto demons.

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