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“Yeah.”

“Well then, I have full confidence. Together, you three are a powerful team. Do you have a plan?”

“Uh…my first thought was Hecate’s torches. She said we could use them in case of emergency.”

“No!” Chiron yelped so loudly I almost fell over. “No, Percy, Hecate’s torches raise ghosts to do her bidding. At this time of year—what you call Halloween—the torches become even more powerful. You cannot risk it unless you want an army of angry spirits to tear you apart. Why Hecate would tell you to use them, I can’t imagine…unless she is trying to test you.”

I gave that some thought. If a god was going to test me, I would’ve preferred multiple choice. Then again, Hecate was all about multiple choices. She stood at the crossroads, waiting to see which direction you would take.

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that she’d left a strawberry-flavored experiment behind—with a loose lid, at that—to tempt Grover. Or that she’d suggested I use her torches. Or that she’d mentioned her tantalizingly dangerous library…which Annabeth would be exploring right about now.

A feeling of dread crept down my back.

But why would Hecate set us up to fail? When it came to her pets, she was the original helicopter mom. She wouldn’t want to lose them. As for letting us wreck her mansion…it seemed like a pretty convoluted way to get her insurance company to pay for a remodel.

“Okay, no torches, then,” I said. “I’ve been attacked by enough spirits of the dead for one lifetime.”

Chiron’s expression darkened. “Ah, but not all ghosts are souls of the departed, Percy. Some of the worst ghosts can be memories, regrets…the choices we’ve made, or failed to make.”

Great.

I remembered the flickering blue image of the child on the bicycle. I wondered if that had been a departed soul, or a living memory, or if it mattered, because either way it had freaked me out.

“So, Plan B,” I said. “I went by Eudora’s office to ask for her help, but she’s been in hiding ever since Hecate showed up.”

Chiron nearly choked on his bagel. “The Nereid Eudora? She’shere?”

Silly me, assuming all the immortal beings who passed through my school knew about one another. Alternative High was like Ancient Greek Grand Central Station. I told Chiron about my questionably helpful counselor, and how she’d made herself scarce when the triple-headed trick-or-treater appeared.

Chiron sipped his tea. “That must have been a shock for Eudora.”

“Those two have a history?”

“It’s not my story to tell,” Chiron said. “But yes…a complicated history.”

“Having to do with choices?” I guessed. “Regrets?”

He looked at the remains of his breakfast as if they had personally disappointed him. “Something like that. Do you have a Plan C?”

“I was going to ask Dr. Sharma what she knew about Hecuba, maybe get a lead on where she might go. But since you’re here…”

Chiron relaxed his shoulders. “ThatI can help with. Hecuba was the last queen of Troy. When the Greeks took the city, they killed her children and enslaved her. Hecuba despaired and threw herself into the sea. She would have died, but the goddess Hecate took pity on her and turned her into a dog.”

I made a mental note never to earn Hecate’s pity. Being a dog didn’t sound like much of a consolation prize.

“So…would she go back to the sea?” I asked.

“I doubt it,” Chiron said. “For Trojans, bad things always came from the sea.…” His eyes lit up. “Like the Greeks! Hecuba hated the Greeks. She still would. She might be looking for opportunities for revenge.”

“Please don’t tell me she went to Greece.”

“She wouldn’t need to,” Chiron said. “She would follow the nearest scent. There are many enclaves of Greek immigrants nearby. Why, we’re presently in one.”

“Alternative High School?”

Chiron showed his immense patience by not laughing in my face. “No, my boy. Astoria. This part of Queens has a huge Greek community.”

“You mean Hecuba might be around here right now?”