“You know I’m game,” said Will. “I think they’re all amazing!”
Nico surprised himself by nodding. The mythic refugees were terrifying, strange, and rough around the edges. They definitely didn’t seem to belong anywhere. In other words, they were Nico’s people.
He remembered his dream of being stuck on a loop in the Caldecott Tunnel, being taunted by that voice.You cannot escape your nature.
Maybe that had been his subconscious. Or maybe it had been something else…that sense of impending doom he’d been feeling for the last few weeks. He was only sure of one thing: this group of mythic misfits needed a home, and the world was conspiring not to let them have one.
Nico had lived that life. He totally understood why Hazel had given the mythics sanctuary.
“We’re in,” he told her. “One hundred percent. I just have to figure out one thing.”
Hazel perked up. “What’s that?”
“Where exactly do westart?”
That evening at dinner, Nico and Will reunited with Frank Zhang.
The praetor must’ve had a rough day. His jeans were ripped and muddy around the hems. His T-shirt was streaked with paint and grime, but he grinned as he lumbered toward them like a happy grizzly bear with a military buzz cut.
“Sorry I’m so filthy,” he said. “I’m still going to give you a hug.”
“Bring it in,” said Will.
Despite Frank’s size and strength, his embrace of Nico was strangely tender. His back was damp with sweat. He smelled of turpentine, but Nico didn’t mind. He was thankful that he could now consider Camp Jupiter’s other praetor a friend.
Their relationship had started off rocky. Like many demigods, Frank had found Nico eerie and unnerving. Nico had been wary of the clumsy, bashful giant who had an obvious crush on his sister Hazel. But the time they’d spent together aboard theArgo IIhad done wonders to changebothof their minds. Once you earned his trust, Frank was one of the most loyal friends you could have.
Which was why Nico needed to understand Frank’s concerns about the mythics. If he opposed granting them asylum, there had to be a reason. Frank wasn’t the type to turn away those in need just because they were different.
As Frank settled in next to him, Nico glanced across the mess hall. Asterion and his friends had gathered around a cluster of sofas near the kitchen. The bull-man grazed from a tray piled high with salad. The griffin Orcus munched on a corncob held in his tiny front paws. Johan had gone straight for dessert—maybe because cake and cookies went best with tea. Arielle and Quinoa didn’t seem to be eating at all. And Semele…well, Nico wasn’t sure if Semele was with them.
Did wisps of smoke eat? Did empousai require fresh human blood? The dietary restrictions alone would be a massive challenge, and Nico realized that Hazel must be struggling with hundreds of questions like those.
Frank followed Nico’s gaze. His face clouded. “They started having dinner in the mess hall a couple of nights ago. Looks like the demigods aren’t bothering them at the moment. That’s something.”
“Havedemigods been bothering them?” Will asked.
Frank’s face reddened. He glanced at Hazel, as if worried about starting an argument. “It’s complicated. There’s been some…tension.”
“That’s one word for it,” Hazel said.
Awkwardness hung in the air between the two praetors.
Nico shifted in his seat. “I saw some graffiti on the barracks.”
Frank scowled. “Yeah. If I find out who did that, I’m going to go ancient Roman on them. I’ll sew them into a sack with rabid animals and throw them into the river.”
Nico assumed he was kidding. Hehopedhe was kidding. Then again, he remembered what Hazel had said about Frank’sson of the war godside occasionally rising to the surface.
“We can’t punish our way through this, though,” Hazel said. “We need to find a way to live together.”
Frank tilted his head. Nico could almost hear the question Frank was struggling not to ask out loud:Do we, though?
“We have an idea,” Nico offered, “about how we can help.”
He was about to say more, when a commotion broke out at the front of the mess hall. Multiple legionnaires leaped out of their seats. One guy with dark skin and shoulder-length locs bleached at the ends hopped up on the table and screamed, “What arethose?”
Nico’s stomach sank as his Cocoa Puffs came bounding into view.
