As if on cue, they both smiled ear to ear.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Naomi. “And you’re right. Will does take after me the most.”
That boggled Nico’s mind. In the equation Naomi Solace + Apollo, Apollo had contributed thecalmerhalf of Will’s personality.
Naomi turned to Johan again. “By the way, this Darjeeling blend is excellent.”
Johan’s enormous eyes teared up. “It is so rare to meet a fellow tea enthusiast. Would you like to tour the archive downstairs? I’ve just re-cataloged our entire collection of magic dangly straps!”
“Maybe later, Johan,” said Frank, who seemed a bit in over his head. “We have to do some planning.”
“Oh.” Johan pouted with his entire chest. “Of course, Praetor.”
Naomi winked at the blemmyae. “But I’m sure the dangly straps are amazing.”
The group circled around the praetors’ desk.
“Okay, Mom, tell useverythingyou can about what you saw and heard,” said Will. “No matter how small the detail. Everything is going to help us.”
Naomi launched into a thorough and animated recounting of her morning in the park—the mythics, the barrier, her talk with Hazel and Asterion. Nico realized that she was a natural storyteller, so it made sense that she related stories through music for a living. He also loved getting to see his boyfriend interact with his mom. It was like the last piece of the Will Solace puzzle had finally fallen into place.
When Naomi was done, Semele was the first to speak. “Breaking the Mist…Is such a thing possible?”
Johan sipped his tea, which he managed to do daintily, despite the tiny cup and his huge mouth. “I would have to do more research. The closest parallel I can think of is the Trojan War. So many gods and spirits were involved on both sides of that battle, the Mist became unreliable. Mortals ended up seeing the gods in action. Rivers boiled from the intense magic. The earth shattered. Storms raged for months. Homer wrote a book about it.”
Frank scowled. “I’d like to avoid that scenario, and also not have a book written about us. Why would Pirithouswantto get Pluto’s attention like that? It seems…suicidal.”
“He must have a plan,” Nico said. “Some way to force Hades’s—er, Pluto’s—hand. Maybe he wants to threaten him or imprison him somehow?”
“Ah…” Johan patted his stack of dusty manuscripts. “I don’t believe a dodecahedron would have that power. Nor do I know what plan Pirithous might have, exactly. But I did find out more about him. He was the best friend of Theseus. Pirithous was considered by many to be his equal in skill and strength.”
“I know about Theseus,” Naomi volunteered. “He killed the Minotaur, right? I mean…your friend Asterion. But I’ve never heard of Pirithous.”
Johan poured her more of his Darjeeling blend. “Indeed, that is part of the problem. Pirithous has been nearly forgotten. In life, he always felt like he was in Theseus’s shadow. No one took him seriously. The two friends once made a pact to help each other win wives, no matter what it took. Theseus chose Helen of Sparta.”
Will’s eyes widened. “As in ‘the face that launched a thousand ships,’ the most beautiful woman who ever lived—thatHelen?”
Johan gave him a bow-nod. “Pirithous helped Theseus kidnap her. Then Pirithous felt the need to one-up Theseus…but whom could he choose who was even more beautiful and difficult to capture?” The blemmyae paused dramatically, waiting for their guesses.
“I don’t know,” Naomi said at last. “But I’m loving the drama.”
Johan turned to Nico. “He chose Persephone, the wife of your father.”
Suddenly Nico was glad for his hot cup of tea, because his whole body felt cold. “That explains why he has a grudge against my dad. I assume the kidnapping failed, and Hades punished them?”
“Quite so,” said the blemmyae. “Theseus and Pirithous stopped in the Fields of Asphodel to rest on their way to the palace. They fell asleep on a large slab of rock. When they woke, they had both sunk halfway into the stone. Hades left them there for daring to try kidnapping his wife. Eventually, Hercules came along….”
Will huffed in irritation. “It’salwaysHercules.”
“He freed Theseus,” Johan continued. “But when he tried to pull out Pirithous, the entire Underworld shook. Hades would not let him be released, so Hercules had to leave him there. And so Pirithous remained…forever, according to the stories.”
Naomi sipped her tea with great appreciation. “I amsowriting a song about that.”
The rest of the group sat in pensive silence.
“Okay,” Frank said, “we know why this guy is angry. He thinks he was punished unfairly. Now he wants to punish literally everyone else, especially Pluto and every soul and mythic in his kingdom. He wants to set himself up as the ultimate judge of the dead. He’s got delusions of grandeur.”
Semele’s column of smoke drifted across the table, mixing with the steam from the teapot. “That does not make him any less dangerous. He has minor gods in his employ. He has managed to imprison hundreds. We must rescue our friends, but we must assume the Court of the Dead has a plan for this…and tricks they have not yet revealed.”
