Nico brought his blade down on one of the chain’s links, using his own strength combined with Semele’s. Stygian iron met Stygian iron with a horrificCLANG!Sparks of pure black energy sprayed across the pavement, sizzling as they fell on the gods’ skin. Dolus and Apate both howled.
The impact made Nico’s body vibrate so violently that the cacodemons reemerged from him, dropping to the ground with startled sounds ofEep, eep, eep!
. .. going towork, Semele finished.
“Huh,” Nico muttered. “That knocked the Cocoa Puffs right out of me.”
“Is that a euphemism?” Apate asked.
“No, it’s…never mind. Thought it was worth a try.”
“Well, it wasn’t!” Dolus protested.
All across the plaza, the battle was heating up. The imprisoned mythics had made a hole in Pirithous’s lines to the east. Arielle and Quinoa were shepherding them through it while Asterion guarded their retreat, fending off a pursuing squad of dracaenae with help from Johan, Orcus, and a few stalwart Laistrygonian allies. The baby drakon was locked in combat with one of Pirithous’s largest Cyclopes. Smaller skirmishes spread across the entire park, and it was not at all clear which side was winning. The three Underworld gods—the di inferi—were busy summoning an army of the undead, which wasn’t going to help matters.
Worst of all, Nico’s attempt to break the chains had gotten Pirithous’s attention.
“Stop them!” screamed the judge from his well-guarded pedestal. “Go! Go!”
After a moment’s hesitation, his Cyclopes advanced, followed by the red-robed skeletons with their two-pronged spears.
“Frank!” Nico called. “Don’t let those bidents touch you. They weren’t set to kill when the skeletons teleported their victims to the plaza, but I don’t think we’ll be so lucky this time.”
Frank scowled.“Bidents?”
“Yeah, you know!” Nico fought down his impatience. “Poseidon has a trident. The two-pointed ones are bidents. They’re symbols of Hades. They tend to be pretty nasty weapons.”
Will looked back at him as if wondering whether Nico was joking. “Bidentsounds like a bisexual breath freshener,” he said. After a beat, he added, “And actually, I kind of want that now.”
“Hello?”called Dolus, reclaiming Nico’s attention. “Chained gods here?”
“Right,” Nico said. “Ideas?”
Hazel turned up her hands. “Maybe…we hit the chains together?”
“No!” yelped Apate.
I have a suggestion, Semele said.The entire council of gods had to agree to put Prometheus in chains. To unlock these chains, we may need a council.
Nico relayed this message out loud. “Only problem is,” he added, “we don’t have a council of gods.”
Defiance made a sneezing noise. The Puff hopped over to the nearest chain link, opened his mouth wider than should have been possible, and began chewing on the Stygian iron.
Dolus leaned away from the Puff. “Wh-what is that thing? I have never seen anything like it!”
“It’s a cacodemon,” said Nico. “Specifically made fromme. It’s a long story; I’ll tell it once we get you free.”
Dolus stared at him in disbelief. “But then it’s a kind of daimon. Like Apate and me. They’regods. Very, very, very minor gods, perhaps. But still technically gods!”
Hazel gave Nico a skeptical look. “A council of Cocoa Puffs?”
Even with Semele’s life force added to his, Nico felt like he might pass out. His cute little demonic emotions were…gods? The implications were too much for him to handle. On the other hand, they were running out of time.
“Incoming!” yelled Savannah as the Cyclopes barreled toward them.
“Nico, now would be good!” said Will, who fired off an arrow that bounced off one of the Cyclopes’s knees.
Nico felt Semele once again taking over his voice. He didn’t fight her.
