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But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t choose the alternative.

Will knew that for a fact because Nico burned brightly as he fought Nyx, as he dodged her tendrils of smoke and hacked at her body. There was a ferocity in him, a power and a fury that could scorch the galaxy when he battled for those he cared for.

And he was now using it to fight forhimself.

Even in the darkest parts of life, there was still … light.

Like the plants in Persephone’s garden. Like Menoetes’s love for Geryon. Like the ingenuity and loyalty of the troglodytes.

And no light was brighter than Nico di Angelo.

But what could Will himself do? He had no weapons; he wasn’t good with a bow and arrow; he felt as if there wasn’t a drop of power left in him.

Well, maybe he had to come up with his own alternative.

Maybe it was his turn to find a little darkness within.

Will screamed at Nyx, so loud and so fierce that she actually snapped her head in his direction, and Nico’s cacodemons fled in terror once more, seeking refuge in the shadows.

‘Leave himalone!’ Will shouted.

And then he ran.

He had no real plan. He just hadanger.

Will let that rage propel him forward, and he reached inside himself to find darkness. He knew loneliness, like on the nights when he’d stood at the back of a club while his mother performed. He’d experienced fear. He’d felt jealousy.

He was a child of the god Apollo, and so, with all those feelings close to the surface, Will tapped into his father’s power and did something he had never done in his life.

He gave his enemy hay fever.

Nyx began to sneeze violently, and she swatted at herself. Soon, mucus poured out of her – well, Nyx didn’t have a nose, but the fluid was coming out ofsomething.

‘What have you done?’ she cried out, then sneezed again, sending more snot flying.

‘Gross,’ said Will. ‘Cover your void when you sneeze, please.’

Nyx snarled and let loose a command: ‘Children,attack!’

Will never made it to Nyx.

The first cacodemon – Will couldn’t see which one – collided with his right leg, which sent him flying. He smacked into the ground, stars bursting in his vision as the air left his lungs. But soon there was another cacodemon, this one with enormous tusks, and it pounced on his chest and snapped at his face. Will did his best to keep it from biting him, but then there was another, and another, and another. They swarmed him, tearing at his hoodie, and one finally did clamp its jaw over his left hand.

He screamed and flung it off as blood welled to the surface of the bite.

All he could see was the darkness of their bodies.

All he could hear was Nyx laughing.

This was it. He’d failed. He’d failed them all. He was going to …

‘STOP!’

Nico didn’t know if it was going to work, but something Nyx had said triggered the idea.

Your own children prove it.

If Nyx could command the cacodemons she created …