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through. The entrance wound on his back was an ugly shade of purple and it steamed. Probably not a<br />
good sign.<br />
Piper tried to stay positive, but privately she had told Leo how worried she was. Ambrosia, nectar<br />
and mortal medicine could only help so much. A deep cut from Celestial bronze or Imperial gold<br />
could literally dissolve a demigod’s essence from the inside out. Jason might get better. He claimed<br />
he felt better. But Piper wasn’t so sure.<br />
Too bad Jason wasn’t a metal automaton. At least then Leo would have some idea of how to help<br />
his best friend. But with humans … Leo felt helpless. They broke way too easily.<br />
He loved his friends. He’d do anything for them. But as he looked at the six of them – three<br />
couples, all focused on each other – he thought about the warning from Nemesis, the revenge goddess:<br />
You will not find a place among your brethren. You will always be the seventh wheel.<br />
He was starting to think Nemesis was right. Assuming Leo lived long enough, assuming his crazy<br />
secret plan worked, his destiny was with somebody else, on an island that no man ever found twice.<br />
But for now the best he could do was to follow his old rule: Keep moving. Don’t get bogged down.<br />
Don’t think about the bad stuff. Smile and joke even when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you<br />
don’t feel like it.<br />
‘What’s up, guys?’ He strolled into the mess hall. ‘Aw, yes to brownies!’<br />
He grabbed the last one – from a special sea-salt recipe they’d picked up from Aphros the fish<br />
centaur at the bottom of the Atlantic.<br />
The intercom crackled. Buford’s Mini-Hedge yelled over the speakers, ‘PUT SOME CLOTHES<br />
ON!’<br />
Everyone jumped. Hazel ended up five feet away from Frank. Percy spilled syrup in his orange<br />
juice. Jason awkwardly wriggled back into his T-shirt, and Frank turned into a bulldog.<br />
Piper glared at Leo. ‘I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram.’<br />
‘Hey, Buford’s just saying good morning. He loves his hologram! Besides, we all miss the coach.<br />
And Frank makes a cute bulldog.’<br />
Frank morphed back into a burly, grumpy Chinese Canadian dude. ‘Just sit down, Leo. We’ve got<br />
stuff to talk about.’<br />
Leo squeezed in between Jason and Hazel. He figured they were the least likely to smack him if he<br />
made bad jokes. He took a bite of his brownie and grabbed a pack of Italian junk food – Fonzies – to<br />
round out his balanced breakfast. He’d become kind of addicted to the things since buying some in<br />
Bologna. They were cheesy and corny – two of his favourite qualities.<br />
‘So …’ Jason winced as he leaned forward. ‘We’re going to stay airborne and drop anchor as<br />
close as we can to Olympia. It’s further inland than I’d like – about five miles – but we don’t have<br />
much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um … subdue her.’<br />
Uncomfortable silence around the table.<br />
With the new drapes covering the holographic walls, the mess hall was darker and gloomier than it<br />
should’ve been, but that couldn’t be helped. Ever since the Kerkopes dwarf twins had short-circuited<br />
the walls, the real-time video feed from Camp Half-Blood often fuzzed out, changing into playback of<br />
extreme dwarf close-ups – red whiskers, nostrils and bad dental work. It wasn’t helpful when you
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