AFTER A SERIES of disasters over the past three days, there was another one.
It all started when Eden went to breakfast for once.
She hadn't been able to catch a break. Fighting continuously was getting a little bit annoying. Of course, she was killing every monster because she's the best fighter in the crew, but still.
Anyway, then she'd realized that yesterday was the fucking Fourth of July, which was a shame. Eden had wanted to kiss Piper under the fireworks instead of looking at them.
And also, she wished that Travis, Connor, and Drew had a good time. After fake dating, Drew and Eden had become very good friends, and especially after epically ruining a rich person party person using the power of gayness, sarcasm, and pretty privilege. There might have been arson involved.
"So," Perfect Jason said, "now that we're here . . ."
He sat at the head of the table, kind of by default. Since they'd lost Annabeth, Perfect Jason had done his best to act as the group's leader. Having been praetor back at Camp Jupiter, he was probably used to that; but Eden could tell he was stressed, because of his horrible skincare. Then again, it was horrible before. His eyes were more sunken than usual. His blond hair was uncharacteristically messy, like he'd forgotten to comb it.
Eden glanced at the others around the table. Leo looked tired. Though what he was doing with his life, she didn't know. He'd probably been staying up experimenting with his machines, as per usual. Ever since he, Hazel, and Frank had been down in that lab thing, he'd been reading scrolls and messing with a sphere.
Speaking of Hazel, she was bleary-eyed, too, but of course she'd been up all night guiding the ship through the mountains. Her curly cinnamon-colored hair was tied back in a bandana, which gave her a commando look.
Next to her sat her boyfriend Frank Zhang, dressed in black workout pants and a Roman tourist T-shirt that said CIAO! ( was that even a word? ) Frank's old centurion badge was pinned to his shirt, despite the fact that the demigods of the Argo II were now Public Enemies Numbers 1 through 8 back at Camp Jupiter. His grim expression just reinforced his unfortunate resemblance to a sumo wrestler.
Then there was Hazel's half brother, Nico di Angelo. He sat back in his leather aviator jacket, his black T-shirt and jeans, that wicked silver skull ring on his finger, and the Stygian sword at his side. His tufts of black hair stuck up in curls like baby bat wings. His eyes were sad and kind of empty, and he totally reminded Eden of herself.
The only absent demigod was Piper, who was taking her turn at the helm with Coach Hedge, their satyr chaperone. Which was a shame. Eden wanted her here so she could hold her hand, kiss it absentmindedly, trace shapes on it which were usually just the words that bound them the most; the call of the void, l'appel du vide, and I love you.
Eden had zoned out so badly she didn't realize Perfect Jason was still droning on. At this rate, he'd sound like Chiron trying to berate her.
"—the House of Hades," he was saying. "Nico?"
Nico sat forward. "I communed with the dead last night."
Eden snorted. "Charming."
"I was able to learn more about what we'll face," Nico continued, sending a glare at her. "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."
Fire Boy frowned. "Sounds like Día de los Muertos. My Aunt Rosa took that stuff seriously."
Frank grunted. "Chinese have that, too — ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime." He glanced at Leo. "Your Aunt Rosa would've gotten along with my grandmother."
"Yeah," Leo said, and Eden suppressed a laugh. "I'm sure they would've been best buds."
Nico cleared his throat. "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—"
"Special potions," Eden muttered. "Yum."
Perfect Jason flashed her a look, which she completely ignored. "Nico, go on."
"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," Perfect 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 looked surprised. Most demigods had vivid nightmares about what was going on in the world. Eden hated hers most of all.
Leo explained. He described Camp Half-Blood in ruins, which was something that Eden had dreamt about once or twice. He told them about the dark giant, and the strange woman on Half-Blood Hill, offering him a multiple-choice death. Which one was the right answer then?
Perfect Jason pushed away his plate of pancakes. "So the giant is Clytius. I suppose he'll be waiting for us, guarding the Doors of Death."
Frank rolled up one of the pancakes and started munching — not a guy to let impending death stand in the way of a hearty breakfast. "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."
"Do you know magic?" Leo asked.
"Not yet."
"Ah." Leo hid a grimace. Eden could just tell. "Any idea who she is?"
Hazel shook her head. "Only that . . ." She glanced at Nico, and some sort of silent argument happened between them. Eden 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. Whatever, it was fine. "Only that she won't be easy to defeat."
"But there is some good news," Nico said. "The ghost I talked to explained how Hecate defeated Clytius in the first war. She used her torches to set his hair on fire. He burned to death. In other words, fire is his weakness."
Everybody looked at Leo.
"Oh," he said. "Okay."
Perfect Jason nodded encouragingly, like this was great news, which it really wasn't. Eden was pretty sure it would take more than a few matches to set that giant ablaze.
"It's a good lead," Perfect Jason insisted. "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 swallowed a bite of pancake. "We can do it. We have to."
Eden admired the big guy's optimism. She wished she shared it.
"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."
Eden snorted, leaning back in her chair. "Yeah. Those never happen."
Leo looked at Hazel. "Hecate told you that Gaea was planning her big Wake Up party on August first, right? The Feast of Whatever?"
"Spes," Hazel said. "The goddess of hope."
Perfect 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," Hazel 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 set down his pancake roll like it suddenly didn't taste so good. "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. There's seven demigods here right now. And July is the seventh month."
"Yeah, but . . ." Leo tapped his fingers nervously on Eden's hand. "But that's just coincidence, right?"
Frank's expression didn't reassure Eden.
"Back in China," Frank said, "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."
No one spoke.
Perfect Jason pressed his hands against the arms of his chair. "Let's focus on the things we can deal with. We're getting close to Bologna. Maybe we'll get more answers once we find these dwarfs that Hecate—"
The ship lurched as if it had hit an iceberg. Leo's plate slid across the table. 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 Leo's plate of scrambled eggs.
"Look!" Perfect Jason pointed at the walls. The images of Camp Half-Blood were flickering and changing.
"Not possible," Leo murmured.
But it was possible. 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. Piper stood at the helm, but something was wrong. From the shoulders down she was wrapped in duct tape, her mouth gagged and her legs bound to the control console.
At the mainmast, Coach Hedge was similarly 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 Eden 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 stupid sphere out of the command console.
"No!" Leo yelled.
"Uhhh," Nico groaned from the floor.
"They have my girl!" Eden got out of her chair.
"Monkey!" Frank yelled.
"Not monkeys," Hazel grumbled. "I think those are dwarfs."
"Stealing my stuff!" Leo yelled, and he ran for the stairs, Eden sprinting after him.