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In unison, they both turned to Nico, and their expressions made them look like confused puppy dogs.

‘You might need a hoodie,’ he said. ‘At most.’

‘Okay, I’ll pack an extra in case the first gets dirty,’ said Will.

Nico glanced down at Will’s legs, which were, unsurprisingly, bare from the knees down. As usual, Will had on a pair of cargo shorts.

‘Will,’ said Nico, ‘how are you worried about it being cold in the Underworld but you’re still wearing shorts?’

He shrugged. ‘My legs don’t really get cold. Plus, cargo shorts are so handy! You never know when you might need to store something in a pocket.’

‘I swear,’ Nico said with a sigh, ‘you’re making this way more complicated than it has to be. All we need is water,maybea change of clothes, and that’s it.’

‘What about food?’ said Will. ‘We’re demigods, not ethereal spirits. We still have to eat.’

‘I’ve got that covered,’ said Nico with a sly smile. ‘Besides, if we run low, our friends in the Underworld will help us.’

Will narrowed his eyes at Nico, but he didn’t say anything. He stuffed another hoodie in his knapsack – Nico was certain that was the third one – and then crossed the cabin to the doorway. ‘Okay, I’m done this time,’ Will said. ‘Promise.’

‘Did you bring extra socks?’ Chiron said, trotting over to them.

‘Chiron, you don’t even own socks, do you?’ said Nico.

‘No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate them. Nothing wrong with having an emergency pair of socks.’

‘I have enough of those, thank you,’ said Will. ‘Plus, if I hold up Nico one more minute, I think he’ll send me to the Underworld the old-fashioned way.’

‘Like you said yesterday,’ said Nico, ‘you know me well.’

‘What are you bringing, Nico?’ Chiron asked.

Nico grabbed the lapels of his leather bomber jacket. ‘This,’ hesaid, opening the jacket wide. He had on a black shirt with a white skull sitting beneath a red line and the lettersAFI. Then he patted the weapon at his side. ‘And my trusty sword.’

Will frowned. ‘Nothing else?’

‘What else do I need?’

‘Well,’ said Chiron, ‘at least allow the dryads to pack some ambrosia and nectar for you as a safety measure. What if one of you – orbothof you – gets hurt?’

Nico groaned. ‘Fine. But then we leave after that, okay?’

‘Deal,’ said Will.

They did not leave after that. Juniper insisted on providing afreshbatch of ambrosia squares. While those were being prepared, Grover the satyr called in via an Iris-message and demanded to give a little pep talk to Nico, which Nico begrudgingly sat through. Itwassweet, but Nico thought everyone was overreacting. Extra hoodies, ambrosia and well-meaning advice weren’t going to make much difference once they got to Tartarus.

The thing that finally got Will to stop delaying the inevitable was when Nico told him that they were going to miss their train if they didn’t get going.

‘Okay, okay!’ Will said, stuffing Juniper’s ambrosia and nectar into his knapsack. (Nico wondered if that knapsack was somehow limitless, because no other bag could fit this much stuff.) ‘The taxi is coming soon?’

Chiron nodded. ‘A regular human taxi, as requested.’

Nico gritted his teeth. ‘We’d get to Manhattan faster if we –’

‘No!’ said Will sharply. ‘No, after seeing Kayla and Austin off, I’m good with this.’

‘I think you’re missing out, frankly,’ said Nico. ‘Those three old ladies are a million times cooler than we’ll ever be. Or I could call Jules-Albert. That would be free.’

‘No zombie chauffeurs, either.’ Will’s eyes were pleading. ‘Please grant me just a bit of normal, boring human travel before the Underworld.’