But how could his fate be anything but sad? Even if he lived through this quest, he would have to leave both camps forever. That was the only way he would find peace. He wished there was another option – a choice that didn’t hurt like the waters of the Phlegethon – but he couldn’t see one.
Reyna was studying him, probably trying to read his thoughts. She glanced down at his hands, and Nico realized he was twisting his silver skull ring – the last gift Bianca had given him.
‘Nico, how can we help you?’ Reyna asked.
Another question he wasn’t used to hearing.
‘I’m not sure,’ he admitted. ‘You’ve already let me rest as much as possible. That’s important. Perhaps you can lend me your strength again. This next jump will be the longest. I’ll have to muster enough energy to get us across the Atlantic.’
‘You’ll succeed,’ Reyna promised. ‘Once we’re back in the U.S., we should encounter fewer monsters. I might even be able to get help from retired legionnaires along the eastern seaboard. They are obliged to aid any Roman demigod who calls on them.’
Hedge grunted. ‘If Octavian hasn’t already won them over. In which case, you might find yourself arrested for treason.’
‘Coach,’ Reyna scolded, ‘not helping.’
‘Hey, just sayin’. Personally, I wish we could stay in Évora longer. Good food, good money and so far no sign of these figurative wolves –’
Reyna’s dogs sprang to their feet.
In the distance, howls pierced the air. Before Nico could stand, wolves appeared from every direction – huge black beasts leaping from the roofs, surrounding their encampment.
The largest of them padded forward. The alpha wolf stood on his haunches and began to change. His forelegs grew into arms. His snout shrank into a pointy nose. His grey fur morphed into a cloak of woven animal pelts. He became a tall, wiry man with a haggard face and glowing red eyes. A crown of finger bones circled his greasy black hair.
‘Ah, little satyr …’ The man grinned, revealing pointed fangs. ‘Your wish is granted! You will stay in Évora forever, because, sadly for you, my figurative wolves are literally wolves.’
XVI
Nico
‘YOU’RE NOT ORION,’ Nico blurted.
A stupid comment, but it was the first thing that came to his mind.
The man before him clearly was not a hunter giant. He wasn’t tall enough. He didn’t have dragon legs. He didn’t carry a bow or quiver, and he didn’t have the headlamp eyes Reyna had described from her dream.
The grey man laughed. ‘Indeed not. Orion has merely employed me to assist him in his hunt. I am –’
‘Lycaon,’ Reyna interrupted. ‘The first werewolf.’
The man gave her a mock bow. ‘Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, praetor of Rome. One of Lupa’s whelps! I’m pleased you recognize me. No doubt, I am the stuff of your nightmares.’
‘The stuff of my indigestion, perhaps.’ From her belt pouch, Reyna produced a foldable camping knife. She flicked it open and the wolves snarled, backing away. ‘I never travel without a silver weapon.’
Lycaon bared his teeth. ‘Would you keep a dozen wolves and their king at bay with a pocketknife? I heard you were brave, filia Romana. I did not realize you were foolhardy.’
Reyna’s dogs crouched, ready to spring. The coach gripped his baseball bat, though for once he didn’t look anxious to swing.
Nico reached for the hilt of his sword.
‘Don’t bother,’ muttered Coach Hedge. ‘These guys are only hurt by silver or fire. I remember them from Pikes Peak. They’re annoying.’
‘And I remember you, Gleeson Hedge.’ The werewolf’s eyes glowed lava red. ‘My pack will be delighted to have goat meat for dinner.’
Hedge snorted. ‘Bring it on, mangy boy. The Hunters of Artemis are on their way right now, just like last time! That’s a temple of Diana over there, you idiot. You’re on their home turf!’
Again the wolves snarled and widened their circle. Some glanced nervously towards the rooftops.
Lycaon only glared at the coach. ‘A nice try, but I’m afraid that temple has been misnamed. I passed through here during Roman times. It was actually dedicated to the Emperor Augustus. Typical demigod vanity. Regardless, I’ve been much more careful since our last encounter. If the Hunters were anywhere close by, I would know.’
Nico tried to think of an escape plan. They were surrounded and outnumbered. Their only effective weapon was a pocketknife. The sceptre of Diocletian was gone. The Athena Parthenos was thirty feet above them at the top of the temple, and even if they could reach it they couldn’t shadow-travel until they actually had shadows. The sun wouldn’t set for hours.
He hardly felt brave, but he stepped forward. ‘So you’ve got us. What are you waiting for?’
Lycaon studied him like a new type of meat in a butcher’s display case. ‘Nico di Angelo … son of Hades. I’ve heard of you. I’m sorry I can’t kill you promptly, but I promised my employer Orion that I would detain you until he arrives. No worries. He should be here in a few moments. Once he’s done with you, I shall spill your blood and mark this place as my territory for ages to come!’
Nico gritted his teeth. ‘Demigod blood. The blood of Olympus.’
‘Of course!’ Lycaon said. ‘Spilled upon the ground, especially sacred ground, demigod blood has many uses. With the proper incantations, it can awaken monsters or even gods. It can cause new life to spring up or make a place barren for generations. Alas, your blood will not wake Gaia herself. That honour is reserved for your friends aboard the Argo II. But fear not. Your death will be almost as painful as theirs.’
The grass started dying around
Nico’s feet. The marigold beds withered. Barren ground, he thought. Sacred ground.
He remembered the thousands of skeletons in the Chapel of Bones. He recalled what Hades had said about this public square, where the Inquisition had burned hundreds of people alive.
This was an ancient city. How many dead lay in the ground beneath his feet?
‘Coach,’ he said, ‘you can climb?’
Hedge scoffed. ‘I’m half goat. Of course I can climb!’
‘Get up to the statue and secure the rigging. Make a rope ladder and drop it down for us.’
‘Uh, but the pack of wolves –’
‘Reyna,’ Nico said, ‘you and your dogs will have to cover our retreat.’
The praetor nodded grimly. ‘Understood.’
Lycaon howled with laughter. ‘Retreat to where, son of Hades? There is no escape. You cannot kill us!’
‘Maybe not,’ Nico said. ‘But I can slow you down.’
He spread his hands and the ground erupted.
Nico hadn’t expected it to work so well. He had pulled bone fragments from the earth before. He’d animated rat skeletons and unearthed the odd human skull. Nothing prepared him for the wall of bones that burst skyward – hundreds of femurs, ribs and fibulas entangling the wolves, forming a spiky briar patch of human remains.
Most of the wolves were hopelessly trapped. Some writhed and gnashed their teeth, trying to free themselves from their haphazard cages. Lycaon himself was immobilized in a cocoon of rib bones, but that didn’t stop him from screaming curses.
‘You worthless child!’ he roared. ‘I will rip the flesh from your limbs!’
‘Coach, go!’ Nico said.
The satyr sprinted towards the temple. He made the top of the podium in a single leap and scrambled up the left pillar.
Two wolves broke free from the thicket of bones. Reyna threw her knife and impaled one in the neck. Her dogs pounced on the other. Aurum’s fangs and claws slipped harmlessly off the wolf’s hide, but Argentum brought the beast down.
Argentum’s head was still bent sideways from the fight in Pompeii. His left ruby eye was still missing, but he managed to sink his fangs into the wolf’s scruff. The wolf dissolved into a puddle of shadow.
Thank goodness for silver dogs, Nico thought.
Reyna drew her sword. She scooped a handful of silver coins from Hedge’s baseball cap, grabbed duct tape from the coach’s supply bag and began taping coins around her blade. The girl was nothing if not inventive.
‘Go!’ she told Nico. ‘I’ll cover you!’
The wolves struggled, causing the bone thicket to crack and crumble. Lycaon freed his right arm and began smashing through his prison of ribcages.
‘I will flay you alive!’ he promised. ‘I will add your pelt to my cloak!’
Nico ran, pausing just long enough to grab Reyna’s silver pocketknife from the ground.
He wasn’t a mountain goat, but he found a set of stairs at the back of the temple and raced to the top. He reached the base of the columns and squinted up at Coach Hedge, who was precariously perched at the feet of the Athena Parthenos, unravelling ropes and knotting a ladder.
‘Hurry!’ Nico yelled.
‘Oh, really?’ the coach called down. ‘I thought we had tons of time!’
The last thing Nico needed was satyr sarcasm. Down in the square, more wolves broke free of their bone restraints. Reyna swatted them aside with her modified duct-tape-coin-sword, but a handful of change wasn’t going to hold back a pack of werewolves for long. Aurum snarled and snapped in frustration, unable to hurt the enemy. Argentum did his best, sinking his claws into the throat of another wolf, but the silver dog was already damaged. Soon he’d be hopelessly outnumbered.
Lycaon freed both his arms. He started pulling his legs from their ribcage