LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

III.

AT LEAST THE Camp Jupiter food was good. It was the main reason why Mia went. Well, that and seeing Hazel.

Invisible wind spirits — aurae — waited on the campers and seemed to know exactly what everyone wanted. They blew plates and cups around so quickly, the mess hall looked like a delicious hurricane. If you got up too fast, you were likely to get beaned by beans or potted by a pot roast.

Mia got some pasta and some salmon that reminded her of better times. Percy got a cheeseburger and bright blue soda. Her stomach tightened as he tried it and grinned.

"This makes me happy," he said. "I don't know why . . . but it does."

Just for a moment, one of the aurae became visible — an elfin girl in a white silk dress. She giggled as she topped off Percy's glass, then disappeared in a gust. Mia narrowed her eyes, but she didn't have any right to feel jealous. She and Percy were long broken up by now.

The mess hall seemed especially noisy tonight. Laughter echoed off the walls. War banners rustled from cedar ceiling beams as aurae blew back and forth, keeping everyone's plates full. The campers dined Roman style, sitting on couches around low tables. Kids were constantly getting up and trading places, spreading rumors about who liked whom and all the other gossip.

The Fifth Cohort took the place of least honor. Their tables were at the back of the dining hall next to the kitchen. At Mia's table was Nico, Hazel and Frank, as usual, with Percy and their centurion Dakota, who sat there, Mia figured, because he felt obligated to welcome the new recruit.

Dakota reclined glumly on his couch, mixing sugar into his drink and chugging it. He was a beefy guy with curly black hair and eyes that didn't quite line up straight, so Mia felt like the world was leaning whenever she looked at him.

"So." He burped, waving his goblet. "Welcome to the Percy, party." He frowned. "Party, Percy. Whatever."

"Um, thanks," Percy said, but his attention was focused on Mia and Nico. "I was wondering if we could talk, you know . . . about where I might have seen you both before."

"Sure," Nico said a little too quickly. Mia raised both of her eyebrows, but she couldn't talk, considering she stuffed a shit ton of food in her mouth in order to avoid talking. "The thing is, we spend most of our time in the Underworld. So unless we met you there somehow—"

Dakota belched. "Everyone calls them the Ambassadors from the Underworld. Reyna's never sure what to do with them when they visit. You should have seen her face when they showed up with Hazel, asking Reyna to take her in. Um, no offense."

"None taken." Nico was relieved to change the topic. Mia could see it in his eyes. "Dakota was really helpful, standing for Hazel."

Dakota blushed. "Yeah, well . . . She seemed like a good kid. Turned out I was right. Last month, when she saved me from, uh, you know."

"Oh, man!" Frank looked up from his fish and chips. "Percy, you should have seen her! That's how Hazel got her stripe. The unicorns decided to stampede—"

"It was nothing," Hazel said, delicately sipping at her shrimp gumbo.

"Nothing?" Frank protested. "Dakota would've gotten trampled! You stood right in front of them, shooed them away, saved his hide. I've never seen anything like it."

Hazel bit her lip. Percy studied her.

"Did you, Nico, and Amelia grow up together?" he asked.

"No," Nico answered for Hazel. "I found out that Hazel was my sister only recently, and I've known that Amelia was my sister a little bit before then. Hazel's from New Orleans."