BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

‘He became paranoid,’ Reyna said. ‘He thought Bellona’s words were a warning that our
bloodline would be exterminated and the legacy of Rome would fail. He saw enemies everywhere.
He collected weapons. He turned our house into a fortress. At night, he would lock Hylla and me in
our rooms. If we sneaked out, he would yell at us and throw furniture and … well, he terrified us. At
times, he even thought we were the enemies. He became convinced we were spying on him, trying to
undermine him. Then the ghosts started appearing. I guess they’d always been there, but they picked
up on my father’s agitation and began to manifest. They whispered to him, feeding his suspicions.
Finally one day … I can’t tell you for sure when, I realized he had ceased to be my father. He had
become one of the ghosts.’
A cold tide rose in Nico’s chest. ‘A mania,’ he speculated. ‘I’ve seen it before. A human withers
away until he’s not human any more. Only his worst qualities remain. His insanity …’
It was clear from Reyna’s expression that his explanation wasn’t helping.
‘Whatever he was,’ Reyna said, ‘he became impossible to live with. Hylla and I escaped the house
as often as we could, but eventually we’d come … back … and face his rage. We didn’t know what
else to do. He was our only family. The last time we returned, he – he was so angry he was literally
glowing. He couldn’t physically touch things any more, but he could move them … like a poltergeist, I
guess. He tore up the floor tiles. He ripped open the sofa. Finally he tossed a chair and it hit Hylla.
She collapsed. She was only knocked unconscious, but I thought she was dead. She’d spent so many
years protecting me … I just lost it. I grabbed the nearest weapon I could find – a family heirloom, the
Pirate Confresí’s sabre. I – I didn’t know it was Imperial gold. I ran at my father’s spirit and …’
‘You vaporized him,’ Nico guessed.
Reyna’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘I killed my own father.’
‘No. Reyna, no. That wasn’t him. That was a ghost. Even worse: a mania. You were protecting
your sister.’
She twisted the silver ring on her finger. ‘You don’t understand. Patricide is the worst crime a
Roman can commit. It’s unforgivable.’
‘You didn’t kill your father. The man was already dead,’ Nico insisted. ‘You dispelled a ghost.’
‘It doesn’t matter!’ Reyna sobbed. ‘If word of this got out at Camp Jupiter –’
‘You’d be executed,’ said a new voice.
At the edge of the woods stood a Roman legionnaire in full armour, holding a pilum. A mop of
brown hair hung in his eyes. His nose had obviously been broken at least once, which made his smile
look even more sinister. ‘Thank you for your confession, former praetor. You’ve made my job much
easier.’