“Speaking of humans…” Asterion pointed to the top of the steps.
An older mortal couple had stopped to look into the park. The woman wore tie-dye-patterned Lycra exercise clothes and a bright pink visor that cinched her gray hair into an hourglass shape. The man wore a similar outfit and was walking with ski poles.
“When do you think they’ll be done with the construction?” the woman asked, squinting at something Hazel couldn’t see. Apparently, the Mist had created aDO NOT ENTER: UNDER CONSTRUCTIONsign.
The man harrumphed. “This may come as a shock to you, Stephanie, but I’m not the Recreation and Parks Department.”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say you were, Mark.”
“Then how am I supposed to know when the place will reopen? Waste of our tax dollars, if you ask me!”
The two walked off, still bickering.
“We could hear them,” Hazel noted. “But they can’t hear us?”
“I don’t know why,” said Arielle.
“I just want toleave,” Quinoa said. “I miss my hydroponic lights! I miss Camp Jupiter!”
“We all do, young one,” said Asterion. “Perhaps if we could figure out why the judges dumped us here…”
Arielle extended her arms. “Welcome to our confusion. It’s lovely here. There’s pie!”
“There is?” asked Quinoa. “Where? I’m hungry!”
“It was sarcasm,” Arielle muttered.
“I don’t care what flavor it is!”
Hazel’s own stomach growled. “Whathaveyou all been eating?”
Arielle snorted. “Whatever we can find. The vegetarians among us have been eating trees, shrubs, flowers…For the rest of us, it’s been a challenge.”
Hazel wondered how long an empousa could go without blood. She decided not to ask. And that drakon they’d seen on the lamppost…that had to require a fairly substantial meat diet.
“There were a couple of food stashes inside the barrier,” Quinoa added. “An old hot dog stand. A closed-down café. But they’ve been pretty well picked over. We heard the first mythics started arriving here last month.”
“That’s a long time to be imprisoned,” Hazel said. “I guess that’s when the court started operating.”
“Mmm,” Asterion said. “And I notice most of the mythics have split into groups to stay with their own kind. I imagine that is because, eventually, the stronger prisoners will have to start eating the weaker ones.”
Hazel shuddered. Now that she thought about it, she was kind of surprised that violence hadn’t already broken out.
A couple of Laistrygonian giants—each eight feet tall and covered in tattoos—were camped outside a makeshift tarp tent. In the park’s central fountain, the largest of three, an enormous blue-green crab had made itself at home. And at the far end of the park, Hazel spotted what looked like a herd of katoblepones, the monstrous cattle that Frank once destroyed in Venice.
At the thought of Frank, Hazel’s heart ached. He must be out of his mind with worry.
“Has anyone done a head count?” Hazel asked. “How many creatures are here?”
“One hundred and eight,” said Quinoa, “including you now, Hazel.” He shrugged self-consciously. “I enjoy counting. It’s one reason I want to teach children.”
“Hey, no judgment,” Hazel said. “I think that’s great!”
“I can do another count if you want!” The karpos flapped his wings, achieved wobbly liftoff, and then fluttered off toward the nearest fountain. “One, two, three…Stand still, you centaurs!”
“Just be careful!” Arielle called after him. Then she faced Hazel. “It gives him something to do, to take his mind off”—she gestured around them—“you know, being trapped in an invisible cage.”
Arielle’s words triggered something in Hazel’s mind. “A cage…You said you’ve walked the entire perimeter?”
