The Blood of Olympus(23)

Nico’s eyes flitted across the ruins. His expression was not reassuring. ‘I – I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s a good sign. Keep a lookout. I’ll get harnessed up. Should only take a few seconds.’

Gleeson Hedge rose to his hooves. ‘A few seconds you do not have.’

Reyna’s stomach curled into a tiny ball.

Hedge spoke with a woman’s voice – the same one Reyna had heard in her nightmare.

She drew her knife.

Hedge turned towards her, his face expressionless. His eyes were solid black. ‘Be glad, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. You will die as a Roman. You will join the ghosts of Pompeii.’

The ground rumbled. All around the courtyard, spirals of ash swirled into the air. They solidified into crude human figures – earthen shells like the ones in the museum. They stared at Reyna, their eyes ragged holes in faces of rock.

‘The earth will swallow you,’ Hedge said in the voice of Gaia. ‘Just as it swallowed them.’





VIII


Reyna


‘THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM.’ Reyna wondered bitterly how many times she’d said that in her demigod career.

She should have a badge made and wear it around to save time. When she died, the words would probably be written on her tombstone: There were too many of them.

Her greyhounds stood on either side of her, growling at the earthen shells. Reyna counted at least twenty, closing in from every direction.

Coach Hedge continued to speak in a very womanly voice: ‘The dead always outnumber the living. These spirits have waited centuries, unable to express their anger. Now I have given them bodies of earth.’

One earthen ghost stepped forward. It moved slowly, but its footfall was so heavy it cracked the ancient tiles.

‘Nico?’ Reyna called.

‘I can’t control them,’ he said, frantically untangling his harness. ‘Something about the rock shells, I guess. I need a couple of seconds to concentrate on making the shadow-jump. Otherwise I might teleport us into another volcano.’

Reyna cursed under her breath. There was no way she could fight off so many by herself while Nico prepared their escape, especially with Coach Hedge out of commission. ‘Use the sceptre,’ she said. ‘Get me some zombies.’

‘It will not help,’ Coach Hedge intoned. ‘Stand aside, Praetor. Let the ghosts of Pompeii destroy this Greek statue. A true Roman would not resist.’

The earthen ghosts shuffled forward. Through their mouth holes, they made hollow whistling noises¸ like someone blowing across empty soda bottles. One stepped on the coach’s dagger-tennis-racket trap and smashed it to pieces.

From his belt, Nico pulled the sceptre of Diocletian. ‘Reyna, if I summon more dead Romans … who’s to say they won’t join this mob?’

‘I say. I am a praetor. Get me some legionnaires, and I’ll control them.’

‘You shall perish,’ said the coach. ‘You shall never –’

Reyna smacked him on the head with the pommel of her knife. The satyr crumpled.

‘Sorry, Coach,’ she muttered. ‘That was getting tiresome. Nico – zombies! Then concentrate on getting us out of here.’

Nico raised his sceptre and the ground trembled.

The earthen ghosts chose that moment to charge. Aurum leaped at the nearest one and literally bit the creature’s head off with his metal fangs. The rock shell toppled backwards and shattered.

Argentum was not so lucky. He sprang at another ghost, which swung its heavy arm and bashed the greyhound in his face. Argentum went flying. He staggered to his feet. His head was twisted forty-five degrees to the right. One of his ruby eyes was missing.

Anger hammered in Reyna’s chest like a hot spike. She’d already lost her pegasus. She was not going to lose her dogs, too. She slashed her knife through the ghost’s chest, then drew her gladius. Strictly speaking, fighting with two blades wasn’t very Roman, but Reyna had spent time with pirates. She’d picked up more than a few tricks.

The earthen shells crumbled easily, but they hit like sledgehammers. Reyna didn’t understand how, but she knew she couldn’t afford to take even one blow. Unlike Argentum, she wouldn’t survive getting her head knocked sideways.

‘Nico!’ She ducked between two earthen ghosts, allowing them to smash each other’s heads in. ‘Any time now!’

The ground split open down the centre of the courtyard. Dozens of skeletal soldiers clawed their way to the surface. Their shields looked like giant corroded pennies. Their blades were more rust than metal. But Reyna had never been so relieved to see reinforcements.

‘Legion!’ she shouted. ‘Ad aciem!’