Page 117 of The Sun and the Star

‘This isn’t Will,’ said Nico. ‘He’s not here!’

‘Who’s Will?’ said Amphithemis, scowling at Nico. ‘Who areyou?’

‘What?!’

Amphithemis took a tentative step forward. ‘I’m trying to find the child. I think I lost him. Do you know where he is?’

Nico squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. ‘Am I dreaming? This is a dream, isn’t it?’

‘Do you have him?’ Amphithemis snarled. ‘You have him, don’t you?’

Nico began to back away. ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about!’

The centaur’s eyes widened. ‘I know! I know his name! Dionysus!’

The ground rumbled underneath Nico’s feet, but he remained frozen in place. ‘What did you say?’

‘Dionysus!’ Amphithemis’s tone was more certain. ‘Yes, yes, the baby Dionysus!’

No, no, no, thought Nico. Thisisa dream. This is Nyx! She’s trapped me in another nightmare!

Without a word, Nico turned and ran. He ignored Amphithemis’s shouting and pumped his legs, his boots slapping the dirt. He tried to leap as far as he could from the bank of the Acheron, but both his feet slammed into the water. The voices cried out, first in shock, then in oozing relief, grateful that Nico had returned. They begged him to join the others, to cleanse himself of all he’d done wrong, but he slogged through the current, stumbling and getting a mouthful of the river. He spat it out, but he could still feel the poisonous thoughts slithering down his throat, begging him to stay.

You deserve this.

You are a murderer.

You belong here.

Nico climbed out of the other side of the Acheron, then crawled towards the boat. He was convinced that if he reached it and returned to where he’d woken up, he would somehow break the spell Nyx had cast over him.

He had to wake up.

But as he grabbed the gunwale of the boat and lifted his leg toclimb in, he heard a splash behind him. He spun to see Amphithemis stomping his way.

‘Stop running!’ the Lamian centaur cried. ‘It’s useless!’

‘You’re not real!’ said Nico. ‘This is all a dream!’

Amphithemis stopped short, his face aghast. ‘Excuseyou, but I am very much real!’

‘No, you’re not.’ Nico scooted backwards until his legs hit the boat. ‘None of this is.’

‘Where is Dionysus? Where is he, boy?’

‘Atcamp!’ Nico screamed. ‘And he isn’t a baby!’

Amphithemis scrunched up his eyebrows. ‘That isimpossible. Zeus ordered me to protect the child! It is my sacred duty!’

Nico was at a loss. ‘Amphithemis, he’s grown-up. He’sbeengrown-up for thousands of years! He’s the director of a camp for demigods.’

The centaur shook his head. ‘No. No, he isn’t.’

‘I don’t know what else to tell you. I literallyjustsaw him a few days ago, and he’s very muchnota child.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Amphithemis said, and he grabbed his own horns, then began to pull on them. ‘What you are saying makes no sense.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Nico, full of pity for Amphithemis, who was on a fool’s errand and didn’t even know it. ‘What you’re saying makes no sense to me, either.’

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