The Demigod Diaries (The Heroes of Olympus)(8)

There was more, with plenty more exclamation points, but before I could finish reading, Thalia said, “Hold it. I’ve never seen this bracelet. How could I be the owner? And if your curse is supposed to end now, does that mean the monsters are gone?”

A clack, clack, clack from the hallway answered that question.

I frowned at Hal. “Do you have your voice back?”

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His shoulders slumped.

“Maybe Apollo meant we’re going to rescue you,” Thalia said.

Hal typed a new sentence: Or maybe I die today.

“Thank you, Mr. Cheerful,” I said. “I thought you could tell the future. You don’t know what will happen?”

Hal typed: I can’t look. It’s too dangerous. You can see what happened to me last time I tried to use my powers.

“Sure,” I grumbled. “Don’t take the risk. You might mess up this nice life you’ve got here.”

I knew that was mean. But the old man’s cowardice annoyed me. He’d let the gods use him as a punching bag for too long. It was time he fought back, preferably before Thalia and I became the leucrotae’s next meal.

Hal lowered his head. His chest was shaking, and I realized he was crying silently.

Thalia shot me an irritated look. “It’s okay, Hal. We’re not giving up. This bracelet must be the answer. It’s got to have a special power.”

Hal took a shaky breath. He turned to his keyboard and typed: It’s silver. Even if it turns into a weapon, the monsters can’t be hurt by any metal.

Thalia turned to me with a silent plea in her eyes, like: Your turn for a helpful idea.

I studied the empty enclosure, the metal panel through which the monsters had exited. If the apartment door wouldn’t open again, and the window was covered by man-eating acid drapes, then that panel might be our only exit. We couldn’t use metal weapons. I had a vial of poison, but if I was right about that stuff, it would kill everyone in the room as soon as it dispersed. I ran through another dozen ideas in my head, quickly rejecting them all.

“We’ll have to find a different kind of weapon,” I decided. “Hal, let me borrow your computer.”

Hal looked doubtful, but he gave me his seat.

I stared at the screen. Honestly, I’d never used computers much. Like I said, technology attracts monsters. But Hermes was the god of communication, roadways, and commerce. Maybe that meant he had some power over the Internet. I could really use a divine Google hit right about now.

“Just once,” I muttered to the screen, “cut me some slack. Show me there’s an upside to being your son.”

“What, Luke?” Thalia asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

I opened the Web browser and started typing. I looked up leucrotae, hoping to find their weaknesses. The Internet had almost nothing on them, except that they were legendary animals that lured their prey by imitating human voices.

I searched for “Greek weapons.” I found some great images of swords, spears, and catapults, but I doubted we could kill monsters with low-resolution JPEGs. I typed in a list of things we had in the room—torches, Celestial bronze, poison, Snickers bars, golf club—hoping that some sort of magic formula would pop up for a leucrota death ray. No such luck. I typed in “Help me kill leucrotae.” The closest hit I got was Help me cure leukemia.

My head was throbbing. I didn’t have any concept of how long I’d been searching until I looked at the clock: four in the afternoon. How was that possible?

Meanwhile, Thalia had been trying to activate her new bracelet, with no luck. She’d twisted it, tapped it, shaken it, worn it on her ankle, thrown it against the wall, and swung it over her head yelling “Zeus!” Nothing happened.

We looked at each other, and I knew we were both out of ideas. I thought about what Hal Green had told us. All demigods started off hopeful. All of them had ideas for escape. All of them failed.

I couldn’t let that happen. Thalia and I had survived too much to give up now. But for the life of me (and I mean that literally) I couldn’t think of anything else to try.

Hal walked over and gestured at the keyboard.

“Go ahead,” I said dejectedly.

We changed places.

Running out of time, he typed. I’ll try to read the future.

Thalia frowned. “I thought you said that was too dangerous.”

It doesn’t matter, Hal typed. Luke is right. I’m a cowardly old man, but Apollo can’t punish me any worse than he already has. Perhaps I’ll see something that will help you. Thalia, give me your hands.

He turned to her.

Thalia hesitated.

Outside the apartment, the leucrotae growled and scraped against the corridor. They sounded hungry.

Thalia placed her hands in Halcyon Green’s. The old man closed his eyes and concentrated, the same way I do when I’m reading a complicated lock.

He winced, then took a shaky breath. He looked up at Thalia with an expression of sympathy. He turned to the keyboard and hesitated a long time before starting to type.

You are destined to survive today, Hal typed.

“That’s—that’s good, right?” she asked. “Why do you look so sad?”

Hal stared at the blinking cursor. He typed, Someday soon, you will sacrifice yourself to save your friends. I see things that are…hard to describe. Years of solitude. You will stand tall and still, alive but sleeping. You will change once, and then change again. Your path will be sad and lonely. But someday you will find your family again.