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Nico gritted his teeth. There was no point getting upset. The Hypnos cabin was like Grand Central<br />
Station for dream activity. You couldn’t travel anywhere without going through it once in a while.<br />
‘As long as I’m here,’ Nico said, ‘pass along a message. Tell Chiron I’m on my way with a couple<br />
of friends. We’re bringing the Athena Parthenos.’<br />
Clovis rubbed his eyes. ‘So it’s true? How are you bringing it? Did you rent a van or something?’<br />
Nico explained as concisely as possible. Messages sent through dreams tended to get fuzzy around<br />
the edges, especially when you were dealing with Clovis. The simpler, the better.<br />
‘We’re being followed by a hunter,’ Nico said. ‘One of Gaia’s giants, I think. Can you get that<br />
message to Thalia Grace? You’re better at finding people in dreams than I am. I need her advice.’<br />
‘I’ll try.’ Clovis fumbled for a cup of hot chocolate on the side table. ‘Uh, before you go, do you<br />
have a second?’<br />
‘Clovis, this is a dream,’ Nico reminded him. ‘Time is fluid.’<br />
Even as he said it, Nico worried about what was happening in the real world. His physical self<br />
might be plummeting to his death, or surrounded by monsters. Still, he couldn’t force himself to wake<br />
up – not after the amount of energy he’d expended on shadow-travel.<br />
Clovis nodded. ‘Right … I was thinking you should probably see what happened today at the<br />
council of war. I slept through some of it, but –’<br />
‘Show me,’ Nico said.<br />
The scene changed. Nico found himself in the rec room of the Big House, all the senior camp<br />
leaders gathered around the ping-pong table.<br />
At one end sat Chiron the centaur, his equine posterior collapsed into his magic wheelchair so he<br />
looked like a regular human. His curly brown hair and beard had more grey streaks than a few months<br />
ago. Deep lines etched his face.<br />
‘– things we can’t control,’ he was saying. ‘Now let’s review our defences. Where do we stand?’<br />
Clarisse from the Ares cabin sat forward. She was the only one in full armour, which was typical.<br />
Clarisse probably slept in her combat gear. As she spoke, she gestured with her dagger, which made<br />
the other counsellors lean away from her.<br />
‘Our defensive line is mostly solid,’ she said. ‘The campers are as ready to fight as they’ll ever be.<br />
We control the beach. Our triremes are unchallenged on Long Island Sound, but those stupid giant<br />
eagles dominate our airspace. Inland, in all three directions, the barbarians have us completely cut<br />
off.’<br />
‘They’re Romans,’ said Rachel Dare, doodling with a marker on the knee of her jeans. ‘Not<br />
barbarians.’<br />
Clarisse pointed her dagger at Rachel. ‘What about their allies, huh? Did you see that tribe of twoheaded<br />
men that arrived yesterday? Or the glowing red dog-headed guys with the big poleaxes? They<br />
look pretty barbaric to me. It would’ve been nice if you’d foreseen any of that, if your Oracle power<br />
didn’t break down when we needed it most!’<br />
Rachel’s face turned as red as her hair. ‘That’s hardly my fault. Something is wrong with Apollo’s<br />
gifts of prophecy. If I knew how to fix it –’<br />
‘She’s right.’ Will Solace, head counsellor for the Apollo cabin, put his hand gently on Clarisse’s
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