He rose to his feet.Stay with me, Semele. I’ll need your help.
But your mind is rebelling, she said.
“Then let it rebel,” he said aloud. “We have to end this.”
He trudged toward Dolus and Apate, still dancing above the fountain.
There was a dull ache in both his chestandhead. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck, but he couldn’t stop now.
“Dolus!” he yelled. “Apate!”
Thankfully, they heard him this time. They stopped dancing.
“Demigod!” Dolus grinned in his skeletal face paint, looking genuinely pleased to see him. “Have you come to praise what my counterpart and I have done?”
“You…have…to…stop,” Nico wheezed.
“Stop?” Apate frowned, tilting her wide flowery hat. “But this is what we were asked to do! The Mist is restored!”
“There isso muchdeception happening in this park!” Dolus rubbed his hands gleefully. “We’ve done cats, dogs, Halloween, a carnival—we’re thinking maybe a volcano next—”
“No!” Nico yelped. “I mean, you’ve done an amazing job, but it’s too much. Can you dial it back?”
Apate stared at him blankly. The skeletal paint was not making her face any less terrifying. “Dial itback? But we’re having such fun!”
Nico shuddered, feeling Semele take over his voice.
“Remember your vow,” she said. “I am Semele Thyone. And I amnot pleased.”
Dolus and Apate glanced at each other. Nico recognized the look instantly. It was the same expression he and Bianca had exchanged many times when their mom returned from work and they realized they hadn’t yet done their homework or chores.
“We— Of course!” Dolus stammered.
“Dialing back is fun, too!” Apate said.
Immediately the pressure eased between Nico’s eyes. He could breathe again. All around the park, mythics started to come out of their trances. Will stood, his eyes lighting up when he saw Nico.
“Thank the gods!” he cried, running toward Nico.
But then a harpy swooped down at him, grazing his shoulder. Will tumbled and spun so that his back was against the ground. Panic filled Nico, but as the harpy came for a second pass, Will reached into one of the pockets in his cargo pants and pulled out…
Is that—?Semele said.
It was indeed a wool sock.
Will chucked it at the harpy as it neared him, its mouth open wide in a shriek, and the sock landed perfectly in the back of the harpy’s throat. The bird-woman dropped immediately and began to try to cough it up, but the thick wool garment was lodged deep inside.
The harpy shook a few more times and then keeled over, dead.
“You have to be kidding me,” said Nico, his mouth open. “Did youactuallykill something with a wool sock?”
Will grinned wide. “Told you they’d come in handy!”
Semele had more important things to focus on, though. “Dolus, I appreciate your obedience,” she said, using Nico’s voice.
“You’re quite welcome,” Dolus said.
“Now,” she continued, “if you really want to help, perhaps instead of causing chaos throughout the entire park, you could stop the man who put you in chains.Focus your deceptions on Pirithous.”
