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Will’s face elongated like putty, his mouth opening wide, wider, so that Nico could see sharp, needlelike teeth lining his gums. Nico tried to back up, but thething, whatever it was, leaped forward and screamed one last command:

WAKE UP!

‘Nico!’

He opened his eyes with a jolt but couldn’t make out the figure looming over him. Nico kicked out with his right leg, unfortunately landing a foot square in his boyfriend’s stomach.

Will howled and tumbled off the edge of the bed, then curled up on the floor of Hades’s cabin. ‘Nico, Iswear,’ he groaned. ‘How do you pack all that energy into your body?’

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’ said Nico. ‘You scared me!’

Will winced as he sat upright. ‘I think you have that backwards. I could hear you screaming bloody murder from my cabin!’

Nico put his head in his hands. ‘I – I had a bad dream. Bad dreams, plural.Reallybad dreams.’

Nico felt a weight settle on the bed next to him, and he looked up to see Will there. ‘I’m really sorry about the kick in the gut.’

Will smiled, and warmth washed over Nico. ‘Can I hold you? Would that be okay with you?’

Shame burned Nico’s cheeks. He didn’t like Will seeing him so vulnerable, but he nodded because what he needed overrodehis pride. Will pulled him close, and Nico quietly cried into his boyfriend’s chest.

‘It’s all right.’ Will ran his hand up and down Nico’s back. ‘They were just dreams.’

But were they? Nico thought. Before he could tell Will any of the details, the door to the cabin burst open. Chiron stood there, his eyes wide. ‘Oh – oh, no, have I interrupted something?’

Nico pulled away from Will and wiped his face with the back of his hand. ‘No, no, it’s okay,’ he said. ‘We were just talking.’

‘Well … uh, that’s fine,’ said Chiron awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry to barge in so late at night, but we have an emergency.’

Nico grimaced. ‘Was it my screaming? Did I accidentally summon a battalion of skeletons while I was sleeping?’

‘What? No!’ Chiron hesitated. ‘At least, I hope not. Let’s revisit that in a bit. First, we have a visitor who urgently needs to speak to you.’

Chiron stepped aside, and Nico’s heart twisted with dread as Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the current Oracle of Delphi, entered the cabin.

She pulled back the hood of her sweatshirt, and her long, gorgeous red hair spilled out. She looked flushed and exhausted, as if she’d run here all the way from Brooklyn.

‘Nico,’ she said. ‘Thank the gods. You have to listen.’

Before he could protest that he’d already received that particular message loud and clear, like, a MILLION times already tonight, dark green smoke began to pour out of Rachel’s mouth.

The smoke had a bitter, sulphuric smell, and Nico, Will and Chiron all started coughing.

Rachel’s pupils dilated. Then her eyes turned completely black as the words slithered out of her mouth in the rasping voice of the Oracle:

‘Go forth and find the one who calls out your name,

Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain;

There leave something of equal value behind,

Or your body and soul no one will ever find.’

Rachel’s knees buckled, and Will dashed forward to catch her before she hit the floor.

Chiron gripped the doorframe with one hand. His face looked as pale as the grey flecks in his beard.

‘After all these years,’ he said grimly, ‘I havenevergot used to hearing those. Nico, are you all right?’