BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

short-circuited.
Nico collapsed.
His dreams made no sense, which was almost a relief.
A flock of ravens circled in a dark sky. Then the ravens turned into horses galloping through the
surf.
He saw his sister Bianca sitting in the dining pavilion at Camp Half-Blood with the Hunters of
Artemis. She smiled and laughed with her new group of friends. Then Bianca changed into Hazel,
who kissed Nico on the cheek and said, ‘I want you to be an exception.’
He saw the harpy Ella with her shaggy red hair and red feathers, her eyes like dark coffee. She
perched on the couch of the Big House’s living room. Propped next to her was the magical stuffed
leopard head Seymour. Ella rocked back and forth, feeding the leopard Cheetos.
‘Cheese is not good for harpies,’ she muttered. Then she scrunched up her face and chanted one of
her memorized lines of prophecy: ‘The fall of the sun, the final verse.’ She fed Seymour more
Cheetos. ‘Cheese is good for leopard heads.’
Seymour roared in agreement.
Ella changed into a dark-haired, extremely pregnant cloud nymph, writhing in pain on a camp bunk
bed. Clarisse La Rue sat next to her, wiping the nymph’s head with a cool cloth. ‘Mellie, you’ll be
fine,’ Clarisse said, though she sounded worried.
‘No, nothing is fine!’ Mellie wailed. ‘Gaia is rising!’
The scene shifted. Nico stood with Hades in the Berkeley Hills on the day Hades first led him to
Camp Jupiter. ‘Go to them,’ said the god. ‘Introduce yourself as a child of Pluto. It is important you
make this connection.’
‘Why?’ Nico asked.
Hades dissolved. Nico found himself back in Tartarus, standing before Akhlys, the goddess of
misery. Blood streaked her cheeks. Tears streamed from her eyes, dripped on the shield of Hercules
in her lap. ‘Child of Hades, what more could I do to you? You are perfect! So much sorrow and
pain!’
Nico gasped.
His eyes flew open.
He was flat on his back, staring at the sunlight in the tree branches.
‘Thank the gods.’ Reyna leaned over him, her hand cool on his forehead. The bleeding cut on her
face was completely gone.
Next to her, Coach Hedge scowled. Sadly, Nico had a great view right up his nostrils.
‘Good,’ said the coach. ‘Just a few more applications.’
He held up a large square bandage coated with sticky brown gunk and plastered it over Nico’s
nose.
‘What is … ? Ugh.’
The gunk smelled like potting soil, cedar chips, grape juice and just a hint of fertilizer. Nico didn’t
have the strength to remove it.