The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5)(77)

Nico wasn’t sure what to say. They’d seen his deepest secrets. They knew who he was, what he was.

But they didn’t seem to care. No … they cared more.

They weren’t judging him. They were concerned. None of it made sense to him.

‘But Bryce. I …’ Nico couldn’t continue.

‘You did what had to be done. I see that now,’ Reyna said. ‘Just promise me: no more turning people into ghosts if we can avoid it.’

‘Yeah,’ Coach said. ‘Unless you let me whale on them first. Besides, it’s not all bad news.’

Reyna nodded. ‘We’ve seen no sign of other Romans, so it appears Bryce didn’t notify anyone else where he was. Also, no sign of Orion. Hopefully that means he was taken down by the Hunters.’

‘And Hylla?’ Nico asked. ‘Thalia?’

The lines tightened around Reyna’s mouth. ‘No word. But I have to believe they’re still alive.’

‘You didn’t tell him the best news,’ the coach prompted.

Reyna frowned. ‘Maybe because it’s so hard to believe. Coach Hedge thinks he’s found another way to transport the statue. It’s all he’s talked about for the past three days. But so far we’ve seen no sign of –’

‘Hey, it’ll happen!’ Coach grinned at Nico. ‘You remember that paper aeroplane I got right before Creepmeister Lawrence showed up? It was a message from one of Mellie’s contacts in the palace of Aeolus. This harpy, Nuggets – she and Mellie go way back. Anyway … she knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a horse who knows a goat who knows another horse –’

‘Coach,’ Reyna chided, ‘you’ll make him sorry he came out of his coma.’

‘Fine,’ the satyr huffed. ‘Long story short, I pulled in a lot of favours. I got word to the right wind-type spirits that we needed help. The letter I ate? Confirmation that the cavalry is coming. They said it would take a while to organize, but he should be here soon – any minute, in fact.’

‘Who’s he?’ Nico asked. ‘What cavalry?’

Reyna stood abruptly. She stared towards the north, her face slack with awe. ‘That cavalry …’

Nico followed her gaze. A flock of birds was approaching – large birds.

They got closer, and Nico realized they were horses with wings – at least half a dozen in V formation, without riders.

Flying on point was a massive stallion with a golden coat and multicoloured plumage like an eagle’s, his wingspan twice as wide as the other horses’.

‘Pegasi,’ Nico said. ‘You summoned enough to carry the statue.’

Coach laughed with delight. ‘Not just any pegasi, kid. You’re in for a real treat.’

‘The stallion in front …’ Reyna shook her head in disbelief. ‘That’s the Pegasus, the immortal lord of horses.’

XXXIII

Leo

TYPICAL.

Just as Leo finished his modifications, a big storm goddess came along and smacked the grommets right out of his ship.

After their encounter with Kymopo-what’s-her-name, the Argo II limped through the Aegean, too damaged to fly, too slow to outrun monsters. They fought hungry sea serpents about every hour. They attracted schools of curious fish. At one point they got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push.

The wheezing sound of the engine made Leo want to cry. Over the course of three long days, he finally got the ship more or less back to working order just as they made port at the island of Mykonos, which probably meant it was time for them to get bashed to pieces again.

Percy and Annabeth went ashore to scout while Leo stayed on the quarterdeck, fine-tuning the control console. He was so engrossed in the wiring that he didn’t notice the landing party was back until Percy said, ‘Hey, man. Gelato.’

Instantly, Leo’s day got better. The whole crew sat on deck, without a storm or a monster attack to worry about for the first time in days, and ate ice cream. Well, except for Frank, who was lactose intolerant. He got an apple.

The day was hot and windy. The sea glittered with chop, but Leo had fixed the stabilizers well enough that Hazel didn’t look too seasick.

Curving off to their starboard side was the town of Mykonos – a collection of white stucco buildings with blue roofs, blue windows and blue doors.

‘We saw these pelicans walking around town,’ Percy reported. ‘Like, just going through the shops, stopping at the bars.’

Hazel frowned. ‘Monsters in disguise?’

‘No,’ Annabeth said, laughing, ‘just regular old pelicans. They’re the town mascots or something. And there’s a “Little Italy” section of town. That’s why the gelato is so good.’

‘Europe is messed up.’ Leo shook his head. ‘First we go to Rome for Spanish steps. Then we go to Greece for Italian ice cream.’

But he couldn’t argue with the gelato. He ate his double chocolate delight and tried to imagine that he and his friends were just chilling on a vacation. Which made him wish Calypso was with him, which made him wish the war was over and everybody was alive … which made him sad. It was 30 July. Less than forty-eight hours until G-Day, when Gaia, the Princess of Potty Sludge, would awaken in all her dirt-faced glory.

The strange thing was, the closer they got to 1 August, the more upbeat his friends acted. Or maybe upbeat wasn’t the right word. They seemed to be pulling together for the final lap – aware that the next two days would make or break them. There was no point moping around when you faced imminent death. The end of the world made gelato taste a lot better.