Hazel laughed, which made Nico feel a little better.
He was glad to have a plan, even if that plan waswait and see. Maybe by tomorrow, things would work themselves out. That had to happen occasionally, right?
Nico threw himself into thewait and seeplan a little too strenuously.
He and Will worked with the Fifth Cohort for the rest of the day. They marched six miles with full armor and weapons. They did an hour of line dancing. They cleaned the elephant poop from Hannibal’s enclosure.
During archery practice, Will even hit the target multiple times, which, for the bow-challenged son of Apollo, was a pretty big deal.
Nico raised his palm in the air. “Proud of you, sunshine.”
His boyfriend gave him a high five. “Thank you. Now if I can learn to hit a moving target someday, I’ll feel accomplished.”
By dinner there was still no word about Arielle. Hazel suggested they try to get some sleep. Since they’d had very little the night before, and since they were exhausted from a full day on Lavinia Time, Nico didn’t argue.
“Wearegoing to figure this out, aren’t we?” he asked Will as they left the mess hall.
“Absolutely,” said Will. “Do I currently know how? Absolutely not.”
Nico went to sleep hoping for the best.
So, of course, he got the worst.
His dream was the same: the dark room, the insistent knocking on the door, the inability to move as he sat in the cold metal chair. But this time, the voice was back.
You were warned, it said.Now the trials begin. WE FIND YOU IN CONTEMPT.
A sharp pain radiated from his chest, like knives digging into his heart. He started awake and found a pair of yellow eyes peering down at him. The thing’s claws pierced his shirt.
Before he could come to his senses enough to defend himself, the intruder squawked in a familiar voice, “Nico! Get up!”
The miniature griffin Orcus was sitting on his chest.
“Orcus,” Nico said groggily. “What’s going on? What time is it?”
“Nearly dawn.” The griffin’s voice trembled with barely controlled rage. “Quinoa is missing. You’re needed in the principia.”
Hazel and Frank were waiting for them.
Orcus was the only mythic in attendance, but Johan the blemmyae must have been hard at work since Nico’s last visit. The shelves along the south wall were now impeccably organized. Rows of leather-bound books were sorted by subject and title—records of camp activities, camper profiles and attendance, the journals of past praetors over the centuries.
It clearly impressed Will, who drifted over to the shelves and ran his fingers along the gold-embossed spines. Nico gently pulled him back toward the praetors’ desk.
“What?” Will said. “Don’t you want to read them all?”
“Focus,” Nico whispered.
Hazel and Frank spread a large map of Camp Jupiter across the desk as Orcus paced along the edge, farting in agitation.
“Okay,” Hazel said. “Here’s what we know.”
She picked up a gold figurine of a Roman soldier. “Let’s say this is Arielle.”
“It doesn’t look like Arielle,” Orcus muttered.
“She was last seen in the mythics’ quarters here.” Hazel placed the figurine at the north end of the Field of Mars.
Frank picked up a second gold soldier. “This is Quinoa. He refused to stay in his quarters yesterday. Apparently had a big fight with Asterion.”
