Page 21 of The Court of the Dead
Ouch.Nico’s cheeks burned. To be fair, hewasgawking, and he did have the urge to attack….
“We’re not interested in kicking you out,” he offered. “In fact, we’re here to help you settle in at Camp Jupiter.”
Arielle sneered. “Yeah, right. I know who you are, Nico di Angelo. You met one of my sisters—goes by the human name Kelli?”
Nico suppressed a groan. He’d run into Kelli during his first journey into the Labyrinth. She’d had sharp fangs, a garish cheerleader outfit, and a serious vendetta against Percy Jackson. As Nico recalled, Annabeth had dispatched her to Tartarus with a dagger to the chest.
He held up his hands. “Look, I’m sorry about Kelli, but—”
“You’re a real empousa…” Will interrupted, his voice full of awe. “I’d heard of your beauty, but…wow.”
Arielle gave Will a second appraisal. She flashed him a wicked smile. “Well, at leastyouseem to have some taste.”
“Nope!” Nico stepped between the two of them. “Will, no bisexual chaos allowed today! And you”—he spun on Arielle—“stop using your charmspeak on my boyfriend.”
“She’s not,” said Will. “Come on, you have to admit she’s pretty!”
Nico sputtered. “I mean…yes, but—”
“Your boyfriend is telling the truth.” Arielle glared at the ground. “I couldn’t use charmspeak on him if I wanted to. I—I don’thavethat power. It’s why the other empousai want nothing to do with me.”
The sudden rawness in her voice made Nico feel ashamed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have said that.”
She shrugged glumly. “Whatever. If Hazel believes you can help us, I guess I shouldn’t bite your head off.”
Nico wasn’t sure if she meant that literally or not.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” said Will, ever the diplomat, but Arielle turned her back and returned to her painting.
Nico was about to ask Hazel if all the mythics were so friendly. Then he spotted an enormous set of eyes peering out at him from the nearest bay window.
“Dam!” He stumbled back, knocking right into Will.
“That’s just Johan,” said Hazel. “Come on out, Johan! It’s safe.”
The eyes disappeared from the window. Moments later, the front door squeaked open, and a headless man stepped out.
From the waist down, Johan looked like a postal delivery guy. He wore blue polyester shorts, black tennis shoes, and bright white socks (possibly hand-knitted by the Minotaur). From the waist up, things got weird. Johan was bare-chested, except that his chest was his face. Set into his pectoral muscles was a pair of baby-blue eyes the size of tea saucers. A massive nose protruded from his sternum. His chiseled six-pack abs were split horizontally by a mouth that could have swallowed a pumpkin whole. Between his muscular shoulders, where a neck and head should have been, was a thick mass of dark hair, gelled and carefully parted on the left.
Nico had only seen a blemmyae once before—at a Cheez Whiz factory he’d accidentally shadow-traveled to with Will—but he knew enough to step back. Blemmyae were incredibly strong, tough as titanium, and theyreallydidn’t like it when people trespassed in their Cheez Whiz factory.
“Are—are you sure it’s safe?” Johan asked timidly.
“Very,” Hazel assured him. “These demigods are not here to hurt you.”
“Debatable,” snapped Arielle as she ran her paintbrush up and down the nearest column.
“Hmm, I don’t like debating.” Johan took a tentative step forward. “I would rather have a nice cup of tea. You didn’t happen to bring us any honey, did you?”
Nico stared. He’d forgotten how hypnotizing it was to watch a blemmyae talk—those giant white teeth flashing between ab-muscle lips. How did they have such perfect dental hygiene and a perfect core? Did they floss and do crunches at the same time? Finally, Nico realized that Johan had been talking to him.
“H-honey?” Nico stammered.
“Yes?” Will asked.
“Yes?” Johan asked.
“No, I mean…” Nico rubbed his eyes until he saw stars. “I mean we didn’t bring any honey, sorry.”
