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He swung an arm out and smacked one of the pigeons, which caused it to let go. The flock began to veer slightly to the right. Without any hesitation, he whacked another bird and, as he’d predicted, the flock moved even more sharply to the right.

He wassteeringthem.

Will imagined himself as a captain of the sky as he hit pigeons off his right shoulder until he’d guided them back in the direction he’d come from. But more Stymphalian birds flew in, grabbing at his T-shirt, and he heard a tearing sound.

‘Oh, no,’ he said. ‘Please don’t –’

A few hundred metres short of his goal – he could see his backpack sitting near a large rock – Will’s shirt ripped completely off. The birds flew away with its remains without missing a wingbeat.

Will plummeted, the ground rushing up to meet him. Love how much falling I’m doing on this quest! Will thought. Maybe I should teach a class at Camp Half-Blood on how to fall.

Oh, how he missed Camp Half-Blood.

Thankfully, his fall was broken by a large monster zit. He bounced off it and hit another enormous pod like he was inside a pinball machine. Yet his relief over not plunging to his death was quickly negated by what tore itself out of the first pimple he’d crashed into.

Will saw a human hand claw through the membrane, followed by the snarling head of adog.

Acynocephalus.Those terrible dog-headed men who’d allied with OctavianandNero. And now here was one with their eyes locked on Will, sharp fangs snapping. If he didn’t get out of herenow, he was certain to become demigod coleslaw.

Yet, as he turned and scrambled away, he saw more zits burst. Saw more dog-headed monstrosities rip their way into Tartarus. Saw a cloud of Stymphalian birds heading his way.

He was but one demigod in asoupof monsters.

Will heard the cynocephali snarl, and he dived for a nearby boulder, flattening himself against the craggy ground. His heart beat so hard he was certain the monsters would be able to locate him from all the thumping.

He’d made a terrible mistake.

He never should have left Nico’s side. Never! How had he let this place get to him soquickly? He’d only been here a few minutesbefore it had put thoughts in his head, just like Percy, Annabeth and Nico had warned. And now he was in the midst of a disaster, something had found Nico, and Will couldn’t do anything about it because dog-headed monstrosities were regenerating all around him.

More of the pods popped.

More creatures slithered to the ground.

More cynocephali growled close by.

Will crawled forward and peeked around the edge of the stone he was hiding behind.

A group of slimy, goo-covered cynocephali sniffed the ground about twenty or thirty metres away. One of them pawed at a regeneration bubble until it ripped open and another member of the pack was spat out.

They were growing in numbers. Will had no weapon and no hope.

He sat up and pressed his back against the stone, then covered his mouth with his hand to mask his breathing. With his other hand, he grabbed Nico’s skull ring on its chain. He clutched it tightly.

I’m sorry, Nico, he thought.I’m sorry I let you down.

There was a bright flash overhead, followed by a vicious cry.

Will waited for the cynocephali to find him, desperately hoping he would think of a plan before then.

While dodging the spirit’s attack, Nico hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of him, but he couldn’t stop moving. He rolledto his feet and unsheathed his Stygian iron sword, but how was it supposed to help? Only Imperial gold could destroy manias. And Amphithemis wasn’t even solid. In all his years, Nico had never heard of a mania in the form of a soul.

What was he supposed to do?

Amphithemis let loose a guttural growl. ‘Give me the child! You cannot keep him from me!’

He swiped at Nico, who ducked and brought his sword down on the centaur’s arm.

And unfortunately his weapon passed straight through the appendage, as expected.