Page 46 of The Court of the Dead
Nico’s headache was coming back. Like most sequels, it was bigger, louder, and more painful. He squinted at the dodecahedron in the legionnaire’s hand. “Johan, did heknowwhat he was asking for?”
“I can’t be sure,” said the blemmyae. “But he was in the process of throwing it at me when he froze this way, so…” The blemmyae’s mouth fell open, exposing his abdominal cavity all the way back to his spine. “Oh, dear. Does that mean he was trying to freezeme? And he got the controls wrong? That really wasn’t very polite at all!”
Nico didn’t know what to say at first. Apparently, this kid had tried to pull a prank on the blemmyae that had ridiculously backfired. Nico was tempted to just leave the demigod frozen there and tell Hazel he was like that when they found him. Maybe the praetors could use him as a toga rack. He doubted Will and Johan would go for that, though. They were both too polite.
“Johan,” Will said, “tell us about dodecahedrons, please. How do they work?”
“Oh!” Despite Johan’s agitation, his eyes lit up at the chance to share his knowledge. “You see, in recent years, humans have been unearthing these devices, unsure what the Romans used them for. But of course, regular mortals wouldn’t understand, would they? Thousands of years ago, Roman demigods designed dodecahedrons to ensnare any mythical creature, or anyone with godly parentage. If you have four or more devices, you can create a perimeter to confine a large number of creatures. If you have a single dodecahedron…well, as you can see, once it is primed, just touching it can trigger paralysis. Which is why this demigod is currently unable to move.”
Nico grimaced. “So I guess you don’t know how toun-trigger it.”
“Of course I do!” Johan looked offended. “One simply has to use all ten fingers to apply pressure simultaneously to ten of the plates, while aligning the remaining two plates toward the target.”
If Will had looked any more confused, he would have been turned into a meme with physics equations floating around his face. “So…if you know how to release him, why haven’t you?”
Johan stared at him blankly. “Do you think that’s what he would want? I’m just so flustered! I thought perhaps he was doing research on what it felt like to be trapped!” He turned to Nico. “I knewyouwould know what to do. Can you please help me? Then we can all have a nice cup of tea!”
Nico imagined Mr. D’s voice in the back of his mind:Breathe, Nico. Do not attempt to strangle the blemmyae. He has no neck.
“Is it safe to touch the dodo-box?” Will asked, examining the device.
“The dodeca—” Johan stopped himself, probably remembering that it wasn’t polite to correct people. “Of course. It’s already been triggered.”
Nico yanked the device from the frozen kid’s hands. It was hollow, probably made of copper, with a hole in the middle of each plate and little knobs wherever the corners of three plates met. It definitely was like the twelve-sided die he used for Mythomagic games, only much bigger. He spread his fingertips until each was covering a different plate. Then he pointed the seam between the two remaining plates at the petrified doofus.
“Like this?” he asked Johan.
“That’s it,” Johan said. “Now if you press…”
Nico did.
The kid unfroze, falling forward onto his outstretched palms.
Nico smiled down at him. “Had a good time, did you?”
“Uhhh…” The camper’s eyes darted from Nico to Will to Johan. “I didn’t…It wasn’t— I was just doing research—”
“On how to play pranks on Johan,” Nico supplied. “You should tell your centurion what you did. Your praetors will know about this soon enough, so…maybe get ahead of it.”
“I—uh—yes,” the kid sputtered. Then he scrambled to his feet and ran from the principia.
“We didn’t even get his name,” said Will.
“Don’t need it.” Nico handed the dodecahedron to Johan. “That kid is so scared I don’t think he’ll cause any more trouble.”
Johan twirled the dodecahedron by two of its knobs, which fortunately did not turn any of them into statues. “How badly have I messed up? Will they ever let me work in the archives again?”
Will placed a comforting hand on the blemmyae’s shoulder, which was also his forehead. “Hey, what that kid did to you was unfair. You shouldn’t have given him anything from the archives, not without Hazel’s or Frank’s written permission. But live and learn. We all make mistakes.”
Johan’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s not just me?”
Nico smiled. He wasn’t sure if Johan was really that naive or if he just had an obtuse sense of humor, but either way, he was starting to appreciate the blemmyae’s style.
“I’m still learning this myself,” he offered, “but it’s actually polite to set boundaries for yourself. Youcantell someone no, and it doesn’t make you rude.”
“Hmm,” Johann said. “I’m not sure I understand that.”
“It’s okay. We can work on it! You can practice with us.”
