BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

It didn’t help that immediately after the war with Kronos, Annabeth and Percy had started dating …
Nico set down his fartura. Suddenly it didn’t taste so good.
He recalled his talk with Annabeth at Epirus, just before he’d left with the Athena Parthenos.
She’d pulled him aside and said, ‘Hey, I have to talk to you.’
Panic had seized him. She knows.
‘I want to thank you,’ she continued. ‘Bob … the Titan … he only helped us in Tartarus because
you were kind to him. You told him we were worth saving. That’s the only reason we’re alive.’
She said we so easily, as if she and Percy were interchangeable, inseparable.
Nico had once read a story from Plato, who claimed that in the ancient times all humans had been a
combination of male and female. Each person had two heads, four arms, four legs. Supposedly, these
combo-humans had been so powerful they made the gods uneasy, so Zeus split them in half – man and
woman. Ever since, humans had felt incomplete. They spent their lives searching for their other
halves.
And where does that leave me? Nico wondered.
It wasn’t his favourite story.
He wanted to hate Annabeth, but he just couldn’t. She’d gone out of her way to thank him at Epirus.
She was genuine and sincere. She never overlooked him or avoided him like most people did. Why
couldn’t she be a horrible person? That would’ve made it easier.
The wind god Favonius had warned him in Croatia: If you let your anger rule you … your fate
will be even sadder than mine.
But how could his fate be anything but sad? Even if he lived through this quest, he would have to
leave both camps forever. That was the only way he would find peace. He wished there was another
option – a choice that didn’t hurt like the waters of the Phlegethon – but he couldn’t see one.
Reyna was studying him, probably trying to read his thoughts. She glanced down at his hands, and
Nico realized he was twisting his silver skull ring – the last gift Bianca had given him.
‘Nico, how can we help you?’ Reyna asked.
Another question he wasn’t used to hearing.
‘I’m not sure,’ he admitted. ‘You’ve already let me rest as much as possible. That’s important.
Perhaps you can lend me your strength again. This next jump will be the longest. I’ll have to muster
enough energy to get us across the Atlantic.’
‘You’ll succeed,’ Reyna promised. ‘Once we’re back in the U.S., we should encounter fewer
monsters. I might even be able to get help from retired legionnaires along the eastern seaboard. They
are obliged to aid any Roman demigod who calls on them.’
Hedge grunted. ‘If Octavian hasn’t already won them over. In which case, you might find yourself
arrested for treason.’
‘Coach,’ Reyna scolded, ‘not helping.’
‘Hey, just sayin’. Personally, I wish we could stay in Évora longer. Good food, good money and so
far no sign of these figurative wolves –’
Reyna’s dogs sprang to their feet.
In the distance, howls pierced the air. Before Nico could stand, wolves appeared from every