BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

after him along the rooftops, shooting arrows that exploded in Greek fire, wreathing the giant in
flames.
‘Your sister’s right,’ Thalia said. ‘You need to go.’
Nico and Hedge fell in alongside her, both looking very pleased with themselves. They had
apparently gone shopping at the Barrachina souvenir shop, where they’d replaced their dirty tattered
shirts with loud tropical numbers.
‘Nico,’ Reyna said, ‘you look –’
‘Not a word about the shirt,’ he warned. ‘Not one word.’
‘Why did you come looking for me?’ she demanded. ‘You could have got away free. The giant has
been tracking me. If you had just left –’
‘You’re welcome, cupcake,’ the coach grumbled. ‘We weren’t about to leave without you. Now
let’s get out of …’
He glanced over Reyna’s shoulder and his voice faltered.
Reyna turned.
Behind her, the second-storey balconies of her family house were crowded with glowing figures: a
man with a forked beard and rusted conquistador armour; another bearded man in eighteenth-century
pirate clothes, his shirt peppered with gunshot holes; a lady in a bloody nightgown; a U.S. Navy
captain in his dress whites; and a dozen more Reyna knew from her childhood – all of them glaring at
her accusingly, their voices whispering in her mind: Traitor. Murderer.
‘No …’ Reyna felt like she was ten years old again. She wanted to curl up in the corner of her
room and press her hands over her ears to stop the whispering.
Nico took her arm. ‘Reyna, who are they? What do they – ?’
‘I can’t,’ she pleaded. ‘I – I can’t.’
She’d spent so many years building a dam inside her to hold back the fear. Now, it broke. Her
strength washed away.
‘It’s all right.’ Nico gazed up at the balconies. The ghosts disappeared, but Reyna knew they
weren’t really gone. They were never really gone. ‘We’ll get you out of here,’ Nico promised. ‘Let’s
move.’
Thalia took Reyna’s other arm. The four of them ran for the restaurant and the Athena Parthenos.
Behind them, Reyna heard Orion roaring in pain, Greek fire exploding.
And in her mind the voices still whispered: Murderer. Traitor. You can never flee your crime.