Page 13 of The Court of the Dead
Too late. She touched the top of its…head? Body? Nico wasn’t sure because Loneliness’s whole bodywasits head. It didn’t matter. Hazel’s face went blank. Tears sprang to her eyes.
Nico scooped up Loneliness. More images flooded his mind—his days alone inside a giant bronze jar, his time wandering the dark corridors of the Labyrinth—but he was braced for them. He put the Cocoa Puff aside and turned to Hazel. “Sorry about that.”
She wiped her eyes. “What…what just happened? I was back in the Fields of Asphodel.”
“The cacodemons can trigger your memories,” explained Nico. “While we were in Tartarus, a very old god created them from my psyche. They’re basically personifications of my emotions.”
Hazel blinked. “I’ve heard and seen a lot of things as a demigod, but cacodemons?” She shook her head. “I guess there are still new things to learn in this world.”
“We’re still learning about them too,” Will said. “They seem to be reaching out to other people more often now. We think it’s their way of communicating.”
Next to Nico, Yazan shifted nervously. “I’m sorry, Praetor. Perhaps I shouldn’t have allowed the demons in.”
“No, it’s fine.” Hazel managed a smile. “My brother is welcome, and so are his personified emotions. Yazan, Savannah, you’ve done a good job. You may return to guard duty. And, Arion, thank you, my friend. I can walk back.”
The horse nuzzled the side of Hazel’s head, messing up her hair with a sloppy kiss. Then he disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Yazan hesitated. Maybe he was curious to see what would happen next. But Savannah grabbed his wrist. With a respectful nod to Hazel, and one last suspicious look at Nico, she led Yazan back up the road to the tunnel.
“Those two are new here,” Hazel explained. “Yazan’s father is Vesper, the god of dusk. Savannah is a legacy. Third generation. She’s, um, had a particularly hard time.”
Nico filed that away to ask about later. Demigods all tended to have rough lives, at least until they grew into adulthood, got fully trained, and learned to survive in the mortal world. If Hazel made a point of saying Savannah’s life had been particularly hard…it must’ve been bad indeed.
At the moment, though, he had more burning concerns.
“So, now that we’re here,” he said, “can you tell us what’s going on?”
Hazel grimaced. She looked suddenly weary, as she had on yesterday’s Iris-message. “I think it’s best if I just show you. Come on.”
As they crossed the footbridge over the Little Tiber, Will peppered Hazel with questions: How was Frank, her boyfriend and co-praetor? How had they managed to repair Camp Jupiter so quickly after the Battle of San Francisco Bay? What was her favorite meal in the mess hall?
Hazel laughed. “Wow, I’ve missed you, Will. I always feel so much more interesting in your presence.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I want to know everything.”
She squeezed his arm. “You might regret saying that. Because what I’m about to show you is a lot.” She nodded at the guards at the Decumanian Gate, and led them into the camp.
Nico’s heart began to race—partly because it had been so long since he’d been here, and partly because Hazel was being so cryptic. It wasn’t like her to withhold information.
Demigods in purple shirts crowded the Via Principalis. Some were off-duty, heading to baths or standing in line for coffee at the kiosk of Bombilo, the two-headed barista. A couple of legionnaires were scrubbing graffiti off a barracks wall, a sight that Nico found very strange. Graffiti was a major breach of army discipline. Stranger still, the white paint readNON INIMICOS LICET—Latin forNo enemies allowed.Why would someone write that in the middle of camp?
Will didn’t seem fazed by anything until he saw his firstLar.
Floating toward them was a ghostly purple apparition—an older man in a toga and sandals. When he saw Will, his face turned livid.“Graecus!”he shouted. “Kill the graecus!”
“Theo,” Hazel chided the ghost, “we’ve talked about this. The Greek campers are not our enemies anymore. Will is our guest.”
“Hmph.” Theo sneered. “Back in my day…”
He turned and floated away, grumbling in Latin.
“Sorry about that,” Hazel told Will. “Ancestral spirits. Most of the Lares are nicer than Theo.”
“Fascinating,” Will said. “And I thought it was weird that we have adragon.”
“Oh, there’s much more to come,” Hazel warned.
She led them south, away from the headquarters and shops. Nico smelled the stables before they reached them.Thenhe got a whiff of the latrines.Gross, he thought. Most of Tartarus hadn’t smelled that bad.
