Haunted || Leo Valdez

100 - Surprising Nobody, Rebecca Gets Scary Again and Bryce Gets Rekt

Coach Hedge chose that moment to burst into the clearing, waving a paper airplane and yelling, "Good news, everyone!" He froze when he saw the Roman. "Oh ... never mind."

He quickly crumpled the airplane and ate it.

Reyna and Nico got to their feet. Aurum and Argentum scampered to Reyna's side and growled at the intruder.

How this guy had got so close with none of them noticing, Rebecca didn't understand.

"Bryce Lawrence," Reyna said. "Octavian's newest attack dog."

The Roman inclined his head. His eyes were green, but not sea green like Percy's ... more like pond-scum green.

Disgusting.

"The augur has many attack dogs," Bryce said. "I'm just the lucky one who found you. Your Graecus friends here —" he pointed his chin at Nico and nodded at Rebecca. "— they were easy to track. They stink of the Underworld."

Nico unsheathed his sword. "You know the Underworld?"

Rebecca did the same. "Would you like us to arrange a visit?"

Bryce laughed. His front teeth were two different shades of yellow. "Do you think you can frighten me? I'm a descendant of Orcus, the god of broken vows and eternal punishment. I've heard the screams in the Fields of Punishment firsthand. They're music to my ears. Soon, I'll be adding one more damned soul to the chorus."

Rebecca wondered if he was just trying to creep them out and unbalance them or if he was really just a sadistic creep all the time.

Bryce grinned at Reyna. "Patricide, eh? Octavian will love this news. You are under arrest for multiple violations of Roman law."

"You being here is against Roman law," Reyna said, somehow managing to stay calm and cool. "Romans don't quest alone. A mission has to be led by someone of centurion rank or higher. You're in probatio, and even giving you that rank was a mistake. You have no right to arrest me."

Bryce shrugged. "In times of war, some rules have to be flexible. But don't worry. Once I bring you in for trial, I'll be rewarded with full membership in the legion. I imagine I'll be promoted to centurion, too. Doubtless there will be vacancies after the coming battle. Some officers won't survive, especially if their loyalties aren't in the right place."

Coach Hedge hefted his bat. "I don't know the proper Roman etiquette, but can I bash this kid now?"

"I'm all for it," Rebecca muttered under her breath, her grip on her sword tightening.

"A faun," Bryce said. "Interesting. I heard the Greeks actually trusted their goat men."

Hedge bleated indignantly. "I'm a satyr. And you can trust I'm going to put this bat upside your head, you little punk."

The coach advanced, but as soon as his foot touched the cairn, the stones rumbled like they were coming to a boil. Out of the grave site, skeletal warriors erupted — spartoi in the tattered remains of British redcoat uniforms.

Hedge scrambled away, but the first two skeletons grabbed his arms and lifted him off the ground. The coach dropped his bat and kicked his hooves.

"Lemme go, ya stupid boneheads!" he bellowed.

Rebecca watched, paralyzed, as the grave spewed forth more dead British soldiers — five, ten, twenty, multiplying so quickly that Reyna and her metal dogs were surrounded before Rebecca or Nico could act.

Rebecca stared in shock, unable to believe what was happening. How could neither she nor Nico, both powerful children of the Underworld, not have sensed so many dead, so close at hand?