𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑓𝑠
𝙷𝙰𝚉𝙴𝙻 𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙽𝙴𝙳 from her trip with Arion, dropping the huge bombshell that she had met Hecate at a crossroads. And she survived. Nico said that most demigods didn't survive them and Lorna decided to take his word for it.
Hazel explained that they had to go through the top of Italy, head east to the seas, then along the western coast of Greece, turn north to Bologna, then to Venice before sailing the Adriatic to Epirus.
When Lorna first saw the path, she, and her other friends disagreed with Hazel. The path was too far out of their way. But Hazel said that Hecate would obscure them, and that Gaia would not expect them to take that route. And, there would be treasures and dwarfs in Bologna. Lorna wasn't sure how it would help them, but Hazel decided that it was important to point out.
As Lorna fussed with her hair, trying to get the tiara out, she was thinking about what Hazel saw at the crossroads. It was obvious that she was shaken by it, but she did not want to worry the crew.
"We are currently crossing the Apennies!" Leo cheered, entering the mess hall. Lorna was sitting at the head of the table, Jason sat beside her, holding her hand. Hazel sat on the other side, with Nico and Frank.
Leo had the mess hall's walls to show real-time scenes from Camp Half-Blood. At first everyone had thought that was a pretty awesome idea. Now they wasn't so sure. The scenes from back home- the campfire sing-alongs, dinners at the pavilion, volleyball games outside the Big House- just seemed to make them sad. Especially with the different time zones: they could feel the distance every time they looked at the walls.
Nico sat forward. "I communed with the dead last night." He just tossed that line out there, like he was saying he got a text from a buddy.
"With McDonalds' Happy Meals again?" Lorna teased, earning a glare from the son of Hades
"I was able to learn more about what we'll face," Nico continued. "In ancient times, the House of Hades was a major site for Greek pilgrims. They would come to speak with the dead and honor their ancestors. A lot of cultures have seasonal traditions to honor the dead, but the House of Hades was open year-round. Pilgrims could actually speak to the ghosts. In Greek, the place was called the Necromanteion, the Oracle of Death. You'd work your way through different levels of tunnels, leaving offerings and drinking special potions. The pilgrims believed that each level of the temple brought you closer to the Underworld, until the dead would appear before you. If they were pleased with your offerings, they would answer your questions, maybe even tell you the future."
Frank tapped his mug of hot chocolate. "And if the spirits weren't pleased?"
"Some pilgrims found nothing," Nico said. "Some went insane, or died after leaving the temple. Others lost their way in the tunnels and were never seen again."
"The point is," Jason said quickly, "Nico found some information that might help us."
"Yeah." Nico didn't sound very enthusiastic. "The ghost I spoke to last night...he was a former priest of Hecate. He confirmed what the goddess told Hazel yesterday at the crossroads. In the first war with the giants, Hecate fought for the gods. She slew one of the giants—one who'd been designed as the anti-Hecate. A guy named Clytius."
"Dark dude," Leo guessed. "Wrapped in shadows."
Hazel turned toward him, her gold eyes narrowing. "Leo, how did you know that?"
"Kind of had a dream."
No one was surprised.
Lorna tried not to look at the wall images of Camp Half-Blood as Leo described the place in ruins. He told them about the dark giant, and the strange woman on Half-Blood Hill, offering him a multiple-choice death.
"So Clytius is waiting for us, guarding the Doors of Death. And the woman in Leo's dream?"
"She's my problem." Hazel passed a diamond between her fingers in a sleight of hand. "Hecate mentioned a formidable enemy in the House of Hades- a witch who couldn't be defeated except by me, using magic."
"Like in Harry Potter?" Lorna genuinely thought that they had to find a wand for Hazel.
"Like controlling the mist." Hazel clarified.
Lorna knew that Chiron and Thalia knew how to control the mist, did that mean they knew magic?
"Do you know magic?" Leo asked.
"Not yet."
"Ah. Any idea who she is?"
Hazel shook her head. "Only that..." She glanced at Nico, and some sort of silent argument happened between them. Lorna got the feeling that the two of them had had private conversations about the House of Hades, and they weren't sharing all the details. "Only that she won't be easy to defeat."
Everyone was quiet. They could all sense that the siblings were hiding something. Usually, Lorna would respect that, when Percy and Annabeth were there, everyone had their secrets. And that did not help them save Percy and Annabeth. So, she cleared her throat and said, "If we want to save the world, then maybe we should start trusting each other."
Nico opened his mouth to say something, but Lorna stopped him. "No matter how bad the news is, or how hopeless and ridiculous your idea is. We lost Percy and Annabeth. We hit rock bottom. We can't go down any further."
"I know you don't want us to worry," Piper added, "But we can help you shoulder the burden. Hazel, can you tell us what you know?"
Hazel sighed. "I don't know who the witch is. But at the Crossroads, Hecate showed me three paths. The first one was the Argo II being destroyed by boulders. The second one was Roman and Greek demigods fighting each other. A civil war. The last one was all of us. We were injured and Percy and Annabeth... " Hazel choked back a sob. "Hecate told me that no matter what choice we make, they wouldn't make it."
The air turned cold. Jason tightened his hold on Lorna's hand. Piper and Frank wiped away stray tears and Leo's hands sparked.
"No." Lorna refused to accept that. "We have to save them."
"Did Poseidon give you any information?" Nico asked.
Lorna shook her head solemnly. "We need to defeat Clytius and the sorceress before we can even think of helping Percy and Annabeth.
Nico agreed. "The ghost I talked to explained how Hecate defeated Clytius in the first war. She burned him to death. In other words, fire is his weakness."
Everybody looked at Leo.
"Oh," Leo said. "Okay."
"It's a good lead," Jason said. "At least we know how to kill the giant. And this sorceress...well, if Hecate believes Hazel can defeat her, then so do I."
Hazel dropped her eyes. "Now we just have to reach the House of Hades, battle our way through Gaea's forces—"
"Plus a bunch of ghosts," Nico added grimly. "The spirits in that temple may not be friendly."
"—and find the Doors of Death," Hazel continued. "Assuming we can somehow arrive at the same time as Percy and Annabeth and rescue them."
Frank smiled a little. "We can do it. We have to."
"So, with this detour," Leo said, "I'm estimating four or five days to arrive at Epirus, assuming no delays for, you know, monster attacks and stuff."
Jason smiled sourly. "Yeah. Those never happen."
Lorna looked at Hazel. "Hecate told you that Gaea was planning her big Wake Up party on August first, right? The Feast of Spes?"
Hazel Nodded. "The goddess of hope."
Jason turned his fork. "Theoretically, that leaves us enough time. It's only July fifth. We should be able to close the Doors of Death, then find the giants' HQ and stop them from waking Gaea before August first."
"Theoretically," Piper agreed. "But I'd still like to know how we make our way through the House of Hades without going insane or dying."
Nobody volunteered any ideas.
Frank looked like he was sick. "It's July fifth. Oh, jeez, I hadn't even thought of that...."
"Hey, man, it's cool," Leo said. "You're Canadian, right? I didn't expect you to get me an Independence Day present or anything...unless you wanted to."
"It's not that. My grandmother...she always told me that seven was an unlucky number. It was a ghost number. And July is the seventh month. Back in China, in the old days, people called the seventh month the ghost month. That's when the spirit world and the human world were closest. The living and the dead could go back and forth. Tell me it's a coincidence we're searching for the Doors of Death during the ghost month."
"Great," Lorna said. She swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat. Stupid superstitions, always freaking her out! "Let's focus on the things we can deal with. We're getting close to Bologna, and I really want to see if the bologna in Bologna is better."
"Or," Jason suggested. "Maybe we'll get more answers once we find these dwarfs that Hecate-"
The ship lurched as if it had hit an iceberg.
"Code Titanic!" Leo screamed.
Nico fell backward out of his chair and banged his head against the sideboard. He collapsed on the floor, with a dozen magic goblets and platters crashing down on top of him.
"Nico!" Hazel ran to help him.
"What—?" Frank tried to stand, but the ship pitched in the other direction. He stumbled into the table and went face-first into a plate of scrambled eggs.
"Look!" Jason pointed at the walls. The images of Camp Half-Blood were flickering and changing.
"Not possible," Leo murmured.
Suddenly a huge, distorted face filled the entire port-side wall: crooked yellow teeth, a scraggly red beard, a warty nose, and two mismatched eyes- one much larger and higher than the other. The face seemed to be trying to eat its way into the room.
The other walls flickered, showing scenes from above deck. At the mainmast, Coach Hedge was bound and gagged, while a bizarre-looking creature- a sort of gnome/chimpanzee combo with poor fashion sense- danced around him, doing the coach's hair in tiny pigtails with pink rubber bands.
On the port-side wall, the huge ugly face receded so that they could see the entire creature- another gnome chimp, in even crazier clothes. This one began leaping around the deck, stuffing things in a burlap bag—Piper's dagger, Leo's Wii controllers. Then he pried the Archimedes sphere out of the command console.
"No!" Leo yelled.
"Uhhh," Nico groaned from the floor.
"Monkey!" Frank yelled.
"Not monkeys," Hazel grumbled. "I think those are dwarfs."
"They're stealing our stuff!" Lorna yelled, and they ran for the stairs.
The situation on deck was even worse than they'd feared. Coach Hedge was struggling against their duct tape bonds while one of the demon monkey dwarfs danced around the deck, picking up whatever wasn't tied down and sticking it in his bag. He was maybe four feet tall, even shorter than Coach Hedge, with bowed legs and chimp-like feet
Lorna was just forming the thought Where's the other dwarf? when she heard a click behind her and realized it was a trap.
"Duck!" Leo yelled and they hit the deck as the explosion blasted their eardrums.
Lorna managed to stand, helping Leo up.
One of the monkeys pranced over to Coach Hedge. He gave the satyr a big smack on the cheek, then skipped to the rail.
He bowed to them and did a backflip over the side.
Frank had turned into a silverback gorilla. He was sprawled on the deck with his tongue hanging out and his gorilla eyes rolled up in his head. Piper lay beside him, her eye becoming more swollen by the minute. Did gorilla Frank punch Piper?
"Go after them!" Lorna yelled to Jason and Leo, pointing in the direction that the monkeys ran off to.
At the mast, Coach Hedge mumbled, "HHHmmmmm-hmmm!"
Easy translation, "KILL THEM!"
Jason gave Leo a ride down to Bologna, turning down Lorna's offer to give him a kiss if he got her Bologna.
"Now," Lorna sighed. She looked between Hedge, Piper, and Frank. "Who do we start with?"