“I would like to know who is accusing me of crimes.”
The satyr-masked judge banged his gavel. “We will not tolerate—”
“It is only fair.” Asterion raised his voice just loud enough to drown him out. “Norespectablejudges would hide behind masks, would they?”
The crowd murmured uneasily. In Nico’s lap, Defiance preened with approval. Asterion seemed to be taking a jab not only at this tribunal but at Hades’s Underworld court as well.
The judges glanced at one another. This had obviously not been part of their script. They wanted a celebrity show trial, maybe with some wailing and gnashing of teeth. They hadn’t anticipated being challenged on courtroom procedures. The spectators watched them intently, waiting to see how they would react.
At last, the judge on the left said, “Very well.”
He rose, and Nico realized how painfully thin he was. His robes hung off his body like it was a giant coat hanger. He removed his golden satyr’s mask, revealing a gaunt, haggard face with sunken eyes and a twisted mouth. He looked more like a prisoner than a judge—someone who’d been on hunger strike for a month and was really angry about it. “I am Tantalus, king of Phrygia, son of Zeus.”
“Oh my gods,” Will whispered. “Ithoughtso. Nico, this was before your time, but—”
“I heard about him,” Nico said.
When Nico had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood, the campers had still been complaining about their substitute camp-activities director from the summer before. In their infinite wisdom, the gods had decided to replace Chiron with Tantalus, the most notorious criminal from the Fields of Punishment, who’d tried to serve the gods a stew made up of his own son. For that, he’d been sentenced to be forever hungry and thirsty, unable to grasp any food or drink. Shocker: his tenure at camp hadn’t gone very well, either.
“But why is he here?” Nico wondered.
Tantalus should have been back in the Fields of Punishment enjoying his eternal damnation, not in the San Francisco Superior Courthouse being all judgy.
The judge on the right stood next, removing her golden gorgon mask. She was a ruddy-faced red-haired woman with a shriveled mouth and sharp, malicious eyes that she trained on Asterion.
“I was once a powerful queen,” she said, “so I request that you refer to me as Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” says Asterion, unflustered. “But what is your name?”
“Mary,” she replied. “Mary Tudor.”
Nico’s mind couldn’t handle this.Bloody Mary, the queen of England who’d burned hundreds of Protestants at the stake? How was she allowed to sit in judgment over anyone?
He held his breath as the middle judge removed his mask. Given the other two judges’ identities, Nico expected him to be someone from the Top Ten All-Star Evil list, like Joseph Goebbels or Satan, but instead…Nico had no idea who he was.
He appeared much younger than the other two. He had a mop of dark hair, a finely trimmed beard, and fierce brown eyes. He looked like a haughty maître d’ at a fancy restaurant, whose only pleasure in life was turning away improperly dressed customers.
He regarded the bull-man with disdain. “Do you not recognize me, Asterion?”
“I do not.”
“You once fought my closest friend.” A horrible smile spread across the judge’s face. “Surely you remember Theseus.”
At the mention of the name of the man who once slew him, Asterion just snorted. “Is this some sort of joke? Theseus had no friends.”
“Oh, but he did!” the judge cried. “A friend of even greater ability and fame! A friend he envied and sought to emulate! I am he. The mighty Pirithous!”
Asterion did not even flinch. “Who?”
“Who?” Will whispered to Nico.
Many of the spectators were turning to each other and asking the same question.
Red splotches mottled Pirithous’s cheeks. “Enough!” He banged his gavel. “You are wasting our time, Asterion. You have met your judges. Now you will meet your fate!”
That had probably sounded better in Pirithous’s head. Instead of inspiring shock and awe, his words were mostly ignored by the crowd, who were still busy asking each other if they’d ever heard of Pirithous.
“Queen Mary!” cried Pirithous in a shriller voice. “Please read from the defendant’s official record!”
