Page 27 of Wrath of the Triple Goddess

I imagined dozens of wind spirits carrying Grover’s letters to Camp Half-Blood and beyond, fancy envelopes fluttering into the hands of every demigod we knew.Join us Friday for a party at Hecate’s! Watch us die a painful death! Costumes optional!

I sighed. “Grover…”

“It’s okay.” Annabeth sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as the rest of us. “That just gives us more incentive to fix everything. We know our deadline. We’ve got work to do.”

She brushed her hands on her pants and stood up. “Tomorrow morning, I’m calling in sick.”

My spirits lifted. “Cool. Me, too.”

“No, you don’t,” she said. “I’mahead in my schoolwork.Youneed to go to class.”

“Awww,” I complained.

“Look,” she said, “hellhounds usually only roam at night, right?”

“I guess. But Hecate said we should walk them twice during the d—”

“And polecats are naturally nocturnal too, aren’t they?” She turned to Grover.

“Uh, I think so,” he said.

“Then tomorrow,” Annabeth concluded, “we can assume the pets will be okay sleeping during the day. They won’t be causing trouble. That means I’ll have time to hit Hecate’s library, learn everything I can about Hecuba and Gale. I know they were both human once. Hecuba was the queen of Troy. Gale…I think she was a witch? Anyway, hopefully I’ll find some clues about where they went. Then in the evening, when Percy gets back from school, we can continue the search.”

Grover sniffled. “And I’ll spend the day cleaning.” He gazed across the destroyed furniture and shattered windows. “Though that seems hopeless.…”

“One problem at a time,” Annabeth said. “We’ll figure this out.”

I’m not sure she believed that, but I think we both sensed that Grover’s present state of mind was a sheet of thin ice. It wouldn’t support much weight.

Nope kept gnawing on Grover’s hoof. Maybe it was his way of trying to help, or maybe he was just teething. Grover didn’t seem to mind, but I was kind of worried my friend might wake up in the morning without a left foot.

“Okay, then,” I said. “I’ll go to school tomorrow. At night, we’ll hunt for the pets.”

Nope got tired of gnawing. He yawned, curled up next to Grover, and closed his eyes.

“The pup has the right idea,” Grover said. “I guess…”

And just like that he keeled over and began to snore. I wished I could fall asleep as easily as satyrs and pups. I imagined Grover dreaming of strawberry fields, while Nope dreamed of tasty goat hooves.

I glanced at Annabeth. I could see the exhaustion and anxiety on her face. Used to be, when we were younger, she was better at hiding it, or maybe I just didn’t know her as well then.

“We’re going to get through this,” I said.

She looked surprised—me comforting her, kind of switching things up.

“Yeah,” she said. “We’ve overcome worse, right?”

“For sure.” I didn’t want to say what we were both probably thinking:Eventually, our luck has to run out. You can only flip a coin so many times before it comes up tails, you lose.

But there was no point in dwelling on that. Instead, I cleaned up the pizza, said good night to the eels, and got ready for bed.

Wednesday, I would do the heroic thing and go to school. While I was there, maybe I could do more than just catch up on my work. Perhaps I could attempt something that had rarely been tried in a school environment: I could take a stab at learning useful information—something that might actually help us stay alive.

First, I tried to find Eudora, my supernatural guidance counselor.

Since she was the Nereid in charge of gifts from the sea, I thought maybe she could supply me with a magical fish that attracted hellhounds, or a pirate’s leg bone that acted like catnip for polecats.…I don’t know.Something.

But Eudora was AWOL. Her office was empty. The candy jar on her desk contained no Jolly Ranchers. Bummer. I glanced at Sicky Frog, the purple cartoon wall painting left over from the time when this room used to be an elementary school nurse’s office.

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