the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

Jason stared into the distance.
Nico felt guilty for squashing his hopes. He was almost tempted to mention his own doubts … what
a different sensation Leo’s death had given him, as if Leo’s soul had invented its own way into the
Underworld, something that involved lots of gears, levers and steam-powered pistons.
Nevertheless, Nico was sure Leo Valdez had died. And death was death. It wouldn’t be fair to give
Jason false expectations.
In the distance, the Romans were picking up their gear and toting it across the hill. On the other
side, so Nico had heard, a fleet of black SUVs waited to transport the legion cross-country back to
California. Nico guessed that would be an interesting road trip. He imagined the entire Twelfth
Legion in the drive-through lane at Burger King. He imagined some hapless monster terrorizing a
random demigod in Kansas, only to find itself surrounded by several dozen carloads of heavily
armoured Romans.
‘Ella the harpy is going with them, you know,’ Jason said. ‘She and Tyson. Even Rachel Elizabeth
Dare. They’re going to work together to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books.’
‘That should be interesting.’
‘Could take years,’ Jason said. ‘But with the voice of Delphi extinguished …’
‘Rachel still can’t see the future?’
Jason shook his head. ‘I wish I knew what happened to Apollo in Athens. Maybe Artemis will get
him out of trouble with Zeus and the power of prophecy will work again. But for now those Sibylline
Books might be our only way to get guidance for quests.’
‘Personally,’ Nico said, ‘I could do without prophecies or quests for a while.’
‘You’ve got a point.’ He straightened his glasses. ‘Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you
… I know what you said back at Auster’s palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp
Jupiter. I – I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –’
‘I’m staying.’
Jason blinked. ‘What?’
‘At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counsellor. Have you seen the decor? It’s
disgusting. I’ll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods
insist on dying heroically.’
‘That’s – that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching.
Sorry.’
Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’
Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.
‘Oh, man,’ Jason said. ‘Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I’m all alone in my cabin too, you and I can
share a table in the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and –’
‘Are you trying to scare me away?’
‘Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I’m just glad.’
The funny thing was Nico believed him.
Nico happened to glance towards the cabins and saw someone waving at him. Will Solace stood in
the doorway of the Apollo cabin, a stern look on his face. He pointed to the ground at his feet, like