‘He couldn’t have taken the physician’s cure. Nothing could have survived that explosion. I thought … I thought I was helping Leo. I messed up.’
‘No. It is not your fault.’ But Nico wasn’t quite so ready to forgive himself. He’d spent the last forty-eight hours replaying the scene with Octavian at the catapult, wondering if he’d done wrong thing. Perhaps the explosive power of that projectile had helped destroy Gaia. Or perhaps it had unnecessarily cost Leo Valdez his life.
‘I just wish he hadn’t died alone,’ Hazel murmured. ‘There was no one with him, no one to give him that cure. There’s not even a body to bury …’
Her voice broke. Nico put his arm around her.
He held her as she wept. Eventually she fell asleep from exhaustion. Nico tucked her into his own bed and kissed her forehead. Then he went to the shrine of Hades in the corner – a little table decorated with bones and jewels.
‘I suppose,’ he said, ‘there’s a first time for everything.’
He knelt and prayed silently for his father’s guidance.
LVI
Nico
AT DAWN, HE WAS STILL AWAKE when someone rapped at the door.
He turned, registering a face with blond hair, and for a split second he thought it was Will Solace. When Nico realized it was Jason, he was disappointed. Then he felt angry with himself for feeling that way.
He hadn’t talked to Will since the battle. The Apollo kids had been too busy with the injured. Besides, Will probably blamed Nico for what happened to Octavian. Why wouldn’t he? Nico had basically permitted … whatever that was. Murder by consensus. A gruesome suicide. By now, Will Solace realized just how creepy and revolting Nico di Angelo was. Of course, Nico didn’t care what he thought. But still …
‘You okay?’ Jason asked. ‘You look –’
‘Fine,’ Nico snapped. Then he softened his tone. ‘If you’re looking for Hazel, she’s still asleep.’
Jason mouthed, Oh, and gestured for Nico to come outside.
Nico stepped into the sunlight, blinking and disoriented. Ugh … Perhaps the cabin’s designers had been right about the children of Hades being like vampires. He was not a morning person.
Jason didn’t look as though he’d slept any better. His hair had a cowlick on one side and his new glasses sat crookedly on his nose. Nico resisted the urge to reach out and straighten them.
Jason pointed to the strawberry fields, where the Romans were breaking camp. ‘It was strange to see them here. Now it’ll be strange not seeing them.’
‘Do you regret not going with them?’ Nico asked.
Jason’s smile was lopsided. ‘A little. But I’ll be going back and forth between the camps a lot. I have some shrines to build.’
‘I heard. The Senate plans to elect you Pontifex Maximus.’
Jason shrugged. ‘I don’t care about the title so much. I do care about making sure the gods are remembered. I don’t want them fighting out of jealousy any more, or taking out their frustrations on demigods.’
‘They’re gods,’ Nico said. ‘That’s their nature.’
‘Maybe, but I can try to make it better. I guess Leo would say I’m acting like a mechanic, doing preventative maintenance.’
Nico sensed Jason’s sorrow like an oncoming storm. ‘You know, you couldn’t have stopped Leo. There’s nothing you could have done differently. He knew what had to happen.’
‘I – I guess. I don’t suppose you can tell if he’s still –’
‘He’s gone,’ Nico said. ‘I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I sensed his death.’
Jason stared into the distance.
Nico felt guilty for squashing his hopes. He was almost tempted to mention his own doubts … what a different sensation Leo’s death had given him, as if Leo’s soul had invented its own way into the Underworld, something that involved lots of gears, levers and steam-powered pistons.
Nevertheless, Nico was sure Leo Valdez had died. And death was death. It wouldn’t be fair to give Jason false expectations.
In the distance, the Romans were picking up their gear and toting it across the hill. On the other side, so Nico had heard, a fleet of black SUVs waited to transport the legion cross-country back to California. Nico guessed that would be an interesting road trip. He imagined the entire Twelfth Legion in the drive-through lane at Burger King. He imagined some hapless monster terrorizing a random demigod in Kansas, only to find itself surrounded by several dozen carloads of heavily armoured Romans.
‘Ella the harpy is going with them, you know,’ Jason said. ‘She and Tyson. Even Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They’re going to work together to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books.’