Stay Right Here

xxvii

The air grew colder. The crackling of the ice grew louder. As Arion closed the distance, the glacier loomed so large, Hadley nearly got vertigo looking at it. The side was riddled with crevices and caves, spiked with jagged ridges like ax blades. Pieces were constantly crumbling off- some no larger than snowballs, some the size of houses.

Once they got close to the base, a thunderclap rattled Hadley's bones, and a curtain of ice that would've covered Camp Jupiter calved away and fell toward them.

"Look out!" Frank shouted, which seemed a little unnecessary.

Arion was way ahead of him. In a burst of speed, he zig-zagged through the debris, leaping over chunks of ice and clambering up the face of the glacier.

Percy, Hadley, and Frank cussed like horses and tightened their human chain while Hazel wrapped her arms around Arion's neck. Somehow, they managed not to fall off as Arion scaled the cliffs, jumping from foothold to foothold with impossible speed and agility. It was like falling down a mountain in reverse.

Then it was over. Arion stood proudly at the top of a ridge of ice that loomed over the void. The sea was now three hundred feet below them.

Arion whinnied a challenge that echoed off the mountains. Percy didn't translate, but if Hadley was in that position she would have said something along the lines of: Beat that, wannabe craisins!

Then he turned and ran inland across the glacier, leaping a chasm fifty feet across.

"There!" Percy pointed.

The horse stopped. Ahead of them stood a frozen Roman camp like a giant-sized ghastly replica of Camp Jupiter. The trenches bristled with ice spikes. The snow-brick ramparts glared blinding white. Hanging from the guard towers, banners of frozen blue cloth shimmered in the arctic sun.

There was no sign of life. The gates stood wide open. No sentries walked in the walls. Still, the place left Hadley feeling on edge.

Arion trotted skittishly.

"Guys," Percy said, "how about we got on foot from here?"

Frank sighed with relief. "Thought you'd never ask."

Hadley looked down at the ice. "Ground please"

They dismounted and took some tentative steps. Percy held on to Hadley's arm while she steadied her shaking legs. The ice seemed stable, covered with a fine carpet of snow so that it wasn't too slippery.

Hazel urged Arion forward. Percy, Hadley, and Frank walked on either side, weapons ready. They approached the gates without being challenged. Hadley had spent most of her life training for this. Spotting pits, snares, trip lines, and all sorts of traps Roman legions had faced for eons in enemy territory, but she saw nothing- just the yawning ice gates and the frozen banners crackling in the wind.

She could see straight down the Via Praetoria. At the crossroads, in front of the snow-brick pricipia, a tall, dark-robed figure stood, bound in icy chains.

"Thanatos," Hazel murmured. She almost fell off Arion but Frank caught her and propped her upright. 

"We've got you," He promised. "Nobody's taking you away." 

Hazel gripped his hand. "I'm all right."

Percy looked around uneasily. "No defenders? No giants? This has to be a trap."

"Obviously," Frank said. "But I don't think we have a choice."

"I say we spring it," Hadley said, gripping her sword. "Make it our trap."

Hazel urged Arion through the gates. The layout was so familiar- cohort barracks, baths, armory. It was an exact replica of Camp Jupiter, except much bigger. Hadley had never felt so small. Like she was walking through a model city constructed by the gods.