Page 73 of The Court of the Dead
Johan nudged the ropes with his foot. “Is she dead?”
Terminus snorted. “I doubt it. Just retreated into whatever dark sewer she calls home until she can regain her strength. But she won’t be anxious to tangle withmeagain!”
The rest of the group looked too stunned to argue.
“Is everybody okay?” Hazel asked.
There seemed to be no injuries. No one was missing.
Orcus tilted his beak. “Does that mean we won?”
“We stopped Laverna,” Semele corrected. “That is not the same as winning. And we should check on the sentries upstairs. I suspect we will find them fast asleep.”
Oh, great, thought Nico. If Frank had spent all night hanging out with Anger and then fallen asleep on the job anyway, Frank and Anger were basically going to be the same person when they woke up.
He studied Will, whose T-shirt and cargo pants were still steaming.
“Whatwasthat?” Nico demanded. “The light. The fire.”
Will looked embarrassed. “Dunno. I got angry.”
“Well…it was hot.”
Will shrugged. “Iamthe son of the sun god.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Nico.
Hazel knelt next to the pile of rope formerly known as Laverna. She held out her hand to Loneliness, who was still chewing on his plastic prize. “Mind if I see that, buddy?”
Loneliness dropped the laminated card into her palm. The Puff’s smile curled into a perfect half circle under its single eye, like it was enormously pleased with itself.
Hazel brought the card over to Nico. It was an ID, but not any kind that Nico would have expected. He wiped off the Puff drool. Printed on green card stock, glistening in its slightly chewed plastic sleeve, was a court officer’s identification badge.
Laverna’s face stared back at him, though she’d combed her hair and put on a power dress for the photo. Underneath was her name, along with what Nico assumed was a made-up surname:LAVERNA SHIRLIUS.Okay…Next to that, around the seal of California, small block letters read:CALIFORNIA SUPERIOR COURT, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
Nico’s mouth twitched up in a half smile. “Well, gang, I think in the mystery business they call this aclue.”
The entire group had to talk Nico out of leaving for San Francisco immediately. They sat around the desk in the praetors’ office—along with Frank, who had indeed been indistinguishable from Anger when they woke him up—and commiserated about how annoying thief goddesses were, and how much they wanted to find Laverna Shirlius, chain her up, and force her to listen to Vitellius Reticulus’s war stories for the rest of eternity.
“First, we need to get some rest,” said Will. “We can’t go into the city exhausted.”
Hazel examined the laminated ID card. “Plus, the courthouse is not going to be open at four in the morning. I suppose we could sneak in, but it’ll be easier to poke around unnoticed when there are a lot of regular mortals around.”
Nico sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Frank took the ID card from Hazel. He scowled at the goddess’s photo. “So, we think this lady has been stealing our mythics and…what? Taking them to San Francisco Superior Court to try them for misdemeanor trespassing?”
“I don’t know,” Nico admitted. “Laverna said she was bringing them before the judges, hermasters. She said these judges were even more powerful than she was, and they were putting the world to rights.”
Semele drifted behind him, her smoke curling around the legion’s eagle standard. “I have existed for three millennia,” she said. “Anytime someone says they are putting the world to rights…they are not.”
Nico sat back in his chair, and a half-dozen Puffs jumped into his lap. “I don’t like any part of this. I was excited because we’d actually gotten some information. Now I have a thousand more questions.”
Will ran his hand through his blond curls. He seemed to have come through his pyrotechnic outburst with nothing permanently singed or seared. “Later in the morning,” he said, “we’ll head into the city together. We will figure this out.”
“It should be you three,” said Frank. “Hazel, Will, Nico. I’ll stay here and hold the fort.”
Hazel put her hand on his forearm. “Are you sure?”
