The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5)(75)

Reyna clenched her fists. ‘Octavian has no right –’

‘He has the right of power,’ Bryce said. ‘You forfeited your authority when you ran off to the ancient lands. On August first, your Greek friends at Camp Half-Blood will find out what a powerful enemy Octavian is. I’ve seen the designs for his machines … Even I’m impressed.’

Nico’s bones felt like they were changing into helium, the way they’d felt when the god Favonius turned him into a breeze.

Then he locked eyes with Reyna. Her strength surged through him – a wave of courage and resilience that made him feel substantial again, anchored to the mortal world. Even surrounded by the dead and facing execution, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano had a huge reservoir of bravery to share.

‘Nico,’ she said, ‘do what you need to do. I’ve got your back.’

Bryce chuckled, clearly enjoying himself. ‘Oh, Reyna. You’ve got his back? It’s going to be so fun dragging you before a tribunal, forcing you to confess that you killed your father. I hope they’ll execute you in the ancient way – sewn into a sack with a rabid dog, then thrown into a river. I’ve always wanted to see that. I can’t wait until your little secret comes out.’

Until your little secret comes out.

Bryce flicked the point of his pilum across Reyna’s face, leaving a line of blood.

And Nico’s rage exploded.





XXXI


Nico


LATER, THEY TOLD HIM WHAT HAPPENED. All he remembered was the screaming.

According to Reyna, the air around him dropped to freezing. The ground blackened. In one horrible cry, he unleashed a flood of pain and anger on everyone in the clearing. Reyna and the coach experienced his journey through Tartarus, his capture by the giants, his days wasting away inside that bronze jar. They felt Nico’s anguish from his days on the Argo II and his encounter with Cupid in the ruins of Salona.

They heard his unspoken challenge to Bryce Lawrence, loud and clear: You want secrets? Here.

The spartoi disintegrated into ashes. The rocks of the cairn turned white with frost. Bryce Lawrence stumbled, clutching his head, both nostrils bleeding.

Nico marched towards him. He grabbed Bryce’s probatio tablet and ripped it off his neck.

‘You aren’t worthy of this,’ Nico growled.

The earth split under Bryce’s feet. He sank up to his waist. ‘Stop!’ Bryce clawed at the ground and the plastic bouquets, but his body kept sinking.

‘You took an oath to the legion.’ Nico’s breath steamed in the cold. ‘You broke its rules. You inflicted pain. You killed your own centurion.’

‘I – I didn’t! I –’

‘You should’ve died for your crimes,’ Nico continued. ‘That was the punishment. Instead you got exile. You should have stayed away. Your father Orcus may not approve of broken oaths. But my father Hades really doesn’t approve of those who escape punishment.’

‘Please!’

That word didn’t make sense to Nico. The Underworld had no mercy. It only had justice.

‘You’re already dead,’ Nico said. ‘You’re a ghost with no tongue, no memory. You won’t be sharing any secrets.’

‘No!’ Bryce’s body turned dark and smoky. He slipped into the earth, up to his chest. ‘No, I am Bryce Lawrence! I’m alive!’

‘Who are you?’ Nico asked.

The next sound from Bryce’s mouth was a chattering whisper. His face became indistinct. He could have been anyone – just another nameless spirit among millions.

‘Begone,’ Nico said.

The spirit dissipated. The earth closed.

Nico looked back and saw that his friends were safe. Reyna and the coach stared at him in horror. Reyna’s face was bleeding. Aurum and Argentum turned in circles, as if their mechanical brains had short-circuited.

Nico collapsed.

His dreams made no sense, which was almost a relief.

A flock of ravens circled in a dark sky. Then the ravens turned into horses galloping through the surf.

He saw his sister Bianca sitting in the dining pavilion at Camp Half-Blood with the Hunters of Artemis. She smiled and laughed with her new group of friends. Then Bianca changed into Hazel, who kissed Nico on the cheek and said, ‘I want you to be an exception.’

He saw the harpy Ella with her shaggy red hair and red feathers, her eyes like dark coffee. She perched on the couch of the Big House’s living room. Propped next to her was the magical stuffed leopard head Seymour. Ella rocked back and forth, feeding the leopard Cheetos.

‘Cheese is not good for harpies,’ she muttered. Then she scrunched up her face and chanted one of her memorized lines of prophecy: ‘The fall of the sun, the final verse.’ She fed Seymour more Cheetos. ‘Cheese is good for leopard heads.’

Seymour roared in agreement.

Ella changed into a dark-haired, extremely pregnant cloud nymph, writhing in pain on a camp bunk bed. Clarisse La Rue sat next to her, wiping the nymph’s head with a cool cloth. ‘Mellie, you’ll be fine,’ Clarisse said, though she sounded worried.

‘No, nothing is fine!’ Mellie wailed. ‘Gaia is rising!’

The scene shifted. Nico stood with Hades in the Berkeley Hills on the day Hades first led him to Camp Jupiter. ‘Go to them,’ said the god. ‘Introduce yourself as a child of Pluto. It is important you make this connection.’