There was no way to finish that. There were too many unknowns. But Nico imagined some of the thoughts running through Frank’s head. He suspected the wrath of Frank Zhang was going to make the court sorry they’d ever picked up their gavels.
“Tomorrow, then,” said Semele. “The mythics will be ready.”
Her smoky form dissolved, leaving the three demigods in an uncomfortable silence. Nico looked at Frank and Will and wondered if either of them had gotten any sleep that day.
Knowing them…probably not.
“We need to rest,” he said.
Will opened his mouth to speak, but Nico held up a finger. “Yes, I’m well aware thatI’mthe one telling us to rest.”
“How dare you kill my joke before I could tell it,” said Will.
Frank’s eyes were still glassy and red. “I just wish I could talk to her,” he said, his voice breaking. “If I could have some sort of proof that she’s alive…”
An idea formed in Nico’s mind. It was probably a bad idea, but it seemed silly not to try it. “You know, she was wearing a tessera bracelet….”
Frank seemed to put those words together slowly, letting the meaning sink in.
He grabbed his own bracelet and rubbed his thumb along the glossy ceramic pendant. “Show me Hazel Levesque,” he said. “Wherever she is.”
But nothing happened. No rainbow-tinted sphere. No Hazel. Just darkness and silence.
When the spear touched Hazel, she thought,What if I’m wrong?
The cavern shook with the fury she’d unleashed—a deadly rain of rubies and emeralds. She felt flames traveling up her chest, but there was no pain—just a wave of numbness, as if her entire body were falling asleep.
Darkness enveloped her. The guard’s skeletal fingers loosened around her throat. She fell—down, down, down, twisting and turning, but she never hit the floor. She tried to scream, to grab hold of something, but there was nothing. Just cold emptiness.
Then she landed on her side,hard.
Her breath was knocked out of her. Fireworks exploded in her eyes. She clawed her fingers into warm earth. Grass. Sunlight blinded her. She smelled mulch and pine. Definitely not the Underworld…
Where had they sent her?
She pushed herself up on one elbow, wincing from the pain in her ribs. Her windpipe felt bruised and swollen. As her eyes adjusted, a massive beastly face loomed over her, blocking her field of vision.
She tried to scoot back on her hands and feet. She kicked wildly, desperate to get away.
“Hazel, it is me,” said a deep, gentle voice.
She forced down her panic. She knew those wide-set brown eyes, those fuzzy ears, the glistening snout with the gold septum ring set between the nostrils.
“Asterion,” she sobbed.
She threw herself into the bull-man’s arms. He didn’t say anything—just held her close and rubbed an enormous hand up and down her back.
“You’re alive!” She pulled away to look at him. “You’realive.”
“So far,” he agreed, giving her a melancholy smile. “Since you are here, I assume the court sentenced you as well. I am so sorry, my friend.”
Hazel shuddered. “I just hope Will and Nico are okay.”
She told Asterion what had happened in the courtroom after he was condemned—the judges’ screed against people who tried to change their nature, Hazel’s growing suspicion that maybe Asterion had been transported somewhere rather than killed, her attempt with Nico and Will to break free from the court, and her final cryptic message to Nico, the only words she’d been able to force out as the guard choked her:Don’t believe it.
Asterion patted her knee. “You did what you could. And you were right about the nature of our punishment. Come, the others will want to see you.”
“The others…?”
