Page 3 of The Court of the Dead (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #2)

I t wasn’t easy to calm Noah, who thought he was hallucinating a floating head. Ananya scowled like she was ready to throw said hands at the apparition, while Oludare bounced up and down excitedly.

“That’s so cool!” he shouted. “Will we be able to do this? Do we have magic ?”

“That’s a lesson for later,” said Nico. “Will, could you, um—”

“Got it,” Will said. “Come on, you three. Let’s give Nico some space.”

He helped Noah, Oludare, and Ananya gather their food and move to another table full of whispering demigods.

Inside her sphere of rainbow light, Hazel raised an eyebrow. “New campers?” she asked.

“We’ve gotten quite a few recently,” said Nico.

“Ah, well…that’s sort of why I’m calling.”

Before she could elaborate, Will rejoined the party, grinning. “It’s good to see you, Hazel! I know your brother has been meaning to reach out.” He elbowed Nico. “Haven’t you?”

Nico winced. “Totally.”

Hazel smirked. She knew Nico wasn’t always the best about keeping in touch. “It’s fine. I should’ve called earlier. I heard about your little adventure in the Underworld.”

“It was definitely an adventure,” Will said. “Maybe not so little.” He squeezed Nico’s hand. “But I think we did pretty well.”

“Pretty well?” Hazel laughed. “Will, you’re a child of Apollo, and you survived a trip to Tartarus!”

Nico patted his shoulder. “Yep, that’s my Ray of Light.”

Will blushed. “Please stop giving me nicknames.”

“Nope.”

Hazel leaned forward. Her shimmery, disembodied face reminded Nico of the face in the Queen’s mirror from Snow White , except without the evil. “Well, if you two can stop being heart-crushingly adorable for a second, I do genuinely need your help.”

“Of course,” Nico said. “What’s going on?”

Hazel looked away, pressing her lips together. Her long pause was worrisome. “So…there’s an issue here at Camp Jupiter. I think you two are the most qualified.”

Nico frowned. “To do what?”

“To, uh…handle it.”

Nico’s heart thumped against his ribs. Something must be really wrong. Why was Hazel being so cagey?

“What’s going on?” he asked again. “Details, please.”

She sighed. “I don’t know how much I should say over an Iris-message. You need to see it for yourself.”

“See what ?”

Will cleared his throat. Nico glanced in his direction, and Will’s expression said it all: Give her the benefit of the doubt .

“All right…” Nico relented. “Just tell me—are you in danger?”

Hazel grimaced. “No, not…particularly?”

“That isn’t very reassuring.”

“Look, it’s about”—she leaned forward even more, like she wanted to share a secret, but this only made her voice loud enough to be heard at the nearby tables—“our new guests at Camp Jupiter.”

Many demigods in the dining pavilion turned to stare in their direction.

It wasn’t every day a giant Iris-message sphere appeared in the middle of dinner.

It really wasn’t often that a message came from Camp Jupiter.

Until last year, most Camp Half-Blood demigods weren’t even aware that an alternate, Roman demigod camp existed out on the West Coast. Their first introduction had been when the Romans marched on Long Island and tried to wipe out the Greeks.

Kind of a big misunderstanding. Relations were better now, but still distant and uneasy.

“New guests?” Will asked.

“You mean demi—?”

“Not entirely,” Hazel cut in. “Do you trust me?”

Her voice was strained. The tightness around her eyes told Nico how much her mysterious problem was weighing on her spirit.

He softened. “Of course, Hazel. Sorry. I think the overprotective side of me jumped out.”

“I appreciate that. And I can definitely use your backup. Can I just ask the two of you to come here? For a day or two, max? It’ll make more sense when you see.”

Nico grimaced. “I don’t know, Hazel. Of course we want to, but Will and I are kinda the only counselors left to help with the new demigods here . Mr. D said he needs our help.”

Hazel’s gaze seemed to drift away from him. “Oh, I’m sure he won’t mind!” she said.

Then she winked.

Nico turned around but didn’t catch whomever she was winking at. He then looked to Will, who shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to visit Camp Jupiter,” he said. “Besides, it can’t be worse than Tartarus.”

“Right,” said Hazel, her eyes shifting. “Definitely not Tartarus.”

She ducked as a blurry shape, like a chicken with fur, whizzed across the surface of the Iris-message, crashing somewhere behind her. From the sound, Nico guessed whatever it was had knocked over a suit of armor.

Nico’s protective instinct flared up again. “What was that?”

Hazel reappeared in the glowing sphere, her hair blown sideways. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ll explain everything when you get here, I promise. Thank you!”

The Iris-message flickered out.

Nico frowned at Will. “That was weird, right?”

Will scratched his ear. “I mean… weird is kind of our specialty. I’m just excited to see the Roman camp!”

Nico wished he could feel as confident. His mind wandered back to his time at Camp Jupiter, where he was considered a son of Pluto.

The Roman demigods respected him well enough.

Nevertheless, they still considered him an outsider, a visitor—not part of their legion.

If his sister Hazel, their top-ranking leader, was facing something she couldn’t handle alone, Nico wasn’t sure how much help he could be.

And yet…he had to try. He was responsible for bringing Hazel to Camp Jupiter in the first place. He remembered finding her in the Fields of Asphodel—a ghostly wisp of a spirit, drifting among the black poplar trees along with millions of others.

Unlike most souls in Asphodel, Hazel’s consciousness had been intact.

She’d sought him out, grasped his hand, and filled his mind with her life’s story, the injustice of her death, and her intense longing to return to the world of the living.

Nico saw this as a second chance—a way to save a newfound sibling, a fellow child of the Underworld, the way he hadn’t been able to save his sister Bianca.

Nico had brought Hazel back from the dead, straight into the war with Gaea. Sometimes he wondered if he’d done her any favors. At the very least, Hazel now deserved all the support he could give her.

“Nico?” Will squeezed his shoulder. “You okay? You left me there for a moment.”

Nico glanced down. He expected to see Sadness or Guilt tugging at his shoelaces, but none of his Cocoa Puffs were nearby. Nico’s mind was churning out the dark feelings all on its own.

Focus , Nico told himself. This has to be what Mr. D means about staying present .

He offered Will a weak smile. “Sorry. I just wish I knew what was going on over there.”

“I know.” Will leaned over and kissed his cheek. He didn’t ask what Nico was feeling. He didn’t need to. Nico appreciated that his boyfriend knew him so well.

“The good news,” Will continued, “is that we get to do something about it. Let’s go talk to Mr. D and Chiron.”

By the time they’d crossed the pavilion to where the two directors were seated, it was clear to Nico that they already knew what the demigods were about to ask.

Chiron was tugging pensively at his beard.

Mr. D wore a huge grin on his face, like he’d just thought of a new kind of animal he could turn his enemies into.

“You demigods never fail to entertain me.” The god raised his goblet of grape juice. “Always something dramatic happening!”

Nico frowned. “Wait,” he said. “Was Hazel winking at you ? Were you eavesdropping?!”

Mr. D slurped his juice so loudly it made Nico cringe. “My boy, everyone in the pavilion overheard that Iris-message. Besides, I still have decades left in this prison. I think I am allowed the diversion of eavesdropping on my campers.”

Chiron rolled his eyes. “That’s actually quite problematic, Mr. D.”

“Oh, pish. If that girl Hazel hadn’t wanted me to overhear, she shouldn’t have appeared in a giant glowing bubble while I was having dinner.”

“Anyway,” Will interrupted, “it saves us an explanation. We won’t be gone long. Just a day or two. That’s cool with you, right?”

Chiron didn’t look convinced. The old centaur was in “human mode” today, his stallion lower half hidden in a magical wheelchair so he appeared to be a distinguished-looking teacher with graying hair and a rumpled tweed suit.

Honestly, though, Nico found this look even more daunting than Chiron in full equestrian mode, maybe because he’d had some very strict teachers when he was a kid in Italy.

“What about our three new campers?” Chiron said. “They’re in need of your guidance.”

“We can fill them in some more this evening!” Will offered. “Then we’ll leave tomorrow.”

Nico nodded. “Plus, they might benefit more from talking to two adults….”

Mr. D looked to either side, as if trying to find the “adults” to whom Nico was referring. “I’m sorry. Are you telling me to work more, Nico di Angelo?”

Nico couldn’t help but laugh. “Have you ever worked a day in your life, Mr. D?”

“That’s an egregious insult.” The camp director winked at him. “Despite the possible truth in that question.”

Chiron sighed. “Whatever the case, I’m not sure we need to have you both leaving if it’s not for a quest.”

Nico gave him his best puppy-dog eyes. “But a fellow demigod has asked for our help. Surely you don’t want us ignoring her in her time of need?”

“A point for Mr. di Angelo,” drawled Mr. D. “Is our venerable activities director really telling the demigods under his purview to ignore the harried, desperate call of one of their own?”

“Whose side are you on?” Chiron grumbled.

Mr. D grinned. “My own. Of course.”

Chiron scratched his beard, muttering something about unhelpful wine deities. He considered Nico’s plaintive expression. “I suppose we could handle Noah, Ananya, and Oludare’s orientation for the next couple of days.”

“I’ll teach Noah how to ride Peleus,” Mr. D offered.

Will’s eyes went wide. “You can ride the dragon?”

“No!” Chiron said sharply. “You can’t!”