Page 34 of The Court of the Dead (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #2)

W hen the three demigods emerged from the Caldecott Tunnel entrance, they found Yazan and Deion standing guard.

The sentries stood a little straighter when they saw Hazel.

“Take care of camp, all right?” she told them.

“Of course, Praetor,” said Deion.

Yazan winced. “Yeah, I won’t fall asleep this time.”

Hazel patted his shoulder. “That happened to both of us, Yazan. No judgment. Besides, I don’t think Laverna will be showing her face around here anytime soon.”

“Kinda hope she does.” Deion gave them a conspiratorial grin. “We built her a shrine last night on Temple Hill.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

“The whole Second Cohort,” Deion said. “Remember what Jason Grace wanted—a shrine for every god, right?”

“Except we designed Laverna’s like a holding cell,” Yazan said. “It’s got a gate with iron bars on the front, wide open. Inside, there’s a metal bunk bed, a toilet, and a little altar with a basket of gold coins and a sign that says ‘Please Steal.’ ”

Will looked impressed. “You made her shrine a trap?”

“Or is it a trap?” Deion said. “We figure the mystery will drive her bonkers. Her first real shrine in millennia, and she won’t be sure if it’s safe to take the offerings.”

“That is next-level passive-aggressive,” Will said. “You guys are terrible.”

“Thank you!” Yazan said. “Good hunting, you three. Bring back our mythic friends!”

Deion actually saluted as the travelers made their way down the hillside.

“I’m starting to understand why your minor gods are so salty,” Nico said. “You Romans do not mess around.”

Hazel threw an arm around his shoulders. “Never forget it, brother.”

With that, she led them toward the Rockridge BART station.

Half an hour later, the three of them boarded a Yellow Line train for San Francisco. Late-morning commuters took up most of the seats, so the demigods stood next to the doors, holding on to the overhead hand straps.

As they passed through the Oakland stations, Nico was struck by the strangeness of it all.

He’d felt the same way months ago when he and Will had ridden the train into New York.

All these humans around them…none of them knew what he was on his way to do.

They didn’t know a thing about monsters or gods or spirits.

They had no idea of the constant battles and conflicts unfolding in the world of the demigods.

This time, though, Nico didn’t feel envious of their ignorance.

He didn’t want to live in a world without mythical chaos. He was happy to be a demigod.

I’m happy with myself , he thought. Wow. That’s new.

He wondered how Mr. D would react to that. The god would probably take all the credit and say See? I told you so. Nico decided he should just keep his happiness to himself.

The train lurched as it came into MacArthur Station, and Hazel crashed into Will.

“Sorry,” she said. “I guess I don’t have my train legs yet.”

“Yeah, it takes time.” Will anchored himself with his feet apart, his knees slightly bent. “The trick to interior subway and train surfing is anticipating the motion.”

“Train surfing?” asked Hazel, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s actually pretty similar to catching a wave. Like, for instance, you have to pick your wave carefully. You should also pick your car carefully.”

“Will…” Nico warned. He could see the gears turning in his boyfriend’s mind. He knew exactly where this was heading.

“One summer,” Will forged on, “my mom and I were leaving the Met, and we got in this one subway car that was totally empty—”

“Will,” Nico said more forcefully. “Don’t do it.”

“Oops,” Will said. “Sorry. It just slips out sometimes!”

“What’s happening here?” Hazel said.

“He was going to tell you the Poop Story, and I won’t allow it.”

“Free speech, bro,” said Will.

“I’m not the government! That’s not how it works!”

Hazel shook her head. “Are Frank and I this annoying?”

“Probably more so,” said Nico.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Okay, Will. Now I need to hear the Poop Story. Please continue.”

By the time the train left West Oakland, Will had satisfied her curiosity, Nico felt queasy, and the car was packed with passengers. Nico squeezed closer to Will, who reached down and grabbed his hand.

“You doing okay?”

“Despite your story, yes,” said Nico. “I just wish I knew what we’re going to find.”

Will and Hazel both nodded.

“Who are these judges?” Hazel wondered. “What do they want with Asterion and his friends? And me?”

Neither Will nor Nico had an answer. Soon their conversation was drowned out by the shrill sound of the train’s wheels on the track as it entered the tunnel under the San Francisco Bay.

Nico covered his ears to block out the banshee screeching.

It sounded like some sort of incursion from his world—something straight out of Hades’s Fields of Punishment.

When they arrived at City Center Station and climbed the stairs to street level, Nico was actually relieved to escape the underground. They stepped into a bright and brisk morning in downtown San Francisco.

As they crossed the wide expanse of Civic Center Plaza, Nico could almost believe they were back in New Rome.

Classical-style buildings lined the park: the public library with its tall windows; the Asian Art Museum with its columned portico and colorful banners; the massive white edifice of City Hall, its central dome gleaming with gold filigree.

The green space itself was big enough to house a playground and several sports fields.

Along the central promenade stood rows of stunted sycamore trees with pale gray trunks, their leafless branches cut back so severely they weren’t much more than warty lumps.

The trees reminded Nico a bit too much of the ones on the Fields of Asphodel, where he’d found Hazel wandering in the Afterlife.

Maybe Hazel had the same impression. She steered well clear of the trees.

“Where are we headed?” Nico asked.

Hazel pointed to a building across the street from City Hall.

As far as municipal facilities went, the San Francisco Superior Courthouse looked unremarkable.

Its gray stone facade was set with repeating arched windows.

The entrance on the corner of Polk and McAllister had no grand portico, no steps, no fancy columns—just a door.

It might have been any old office building, or a particularly grim branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I don’t get it,” Will said. “If you were some kind of powerful supernatural court, abducting mythics, why would you set up here? Why not over there?” He gestured at the much grander California Supreme Court building, just across McAllister, which took up one entire side of the plaza.

“Don’t know.” Hazel dug a hair tie from her pocket and tried to tame her curls. “We’re going to have to go in and find out.”

She pulled out Laverna’s court ID card and hung it around her neck. “Hopefully this opens some doors for us, but let me disguise us with the Mist. Just to be safe.”

She put her hand on Will’s shoulder and closed her eyes in concentration.

One moment, Will Solace looked like himself.

The next, he looked like Will Solace, the director’s cut.

He wore a sharp navy three-piece suit. His hair was much shorter, shorn close on the sides and styled on top with some sort of gel.

His brown leather dress shoes practically shone in the morning sun.

He even smelled different, like he’d spritzed himself with some high-priced cologne called Executive.

The whole effect made him seem about ten years older.

Nico choked back a laugh. “You look ridiculous .”

Will raised his arms and frowned. “I don’t understand. I look the same!”

“To yourself, you do,” said Hazel.

“Say something about tech stocks,” Nico prompted. “Or adjustable-rate mortgages!”

Will winced. “Ew, am I wearing a suit ?”

“You look very handsome,” said Hazel. “Just very different.”

“Do Nico now,” Will said, practically glowing with giddy anticipation.

Nico was certain that wearing a suit would melt the flesh off his bones, but before he could protest, Hazel reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

Now it was Will’s turn to laugh.

“What?” Nico demanded. “What do I look like?”

There were actual tears in his boyfriend’s eyes. “Just do one thing for me, Nico. Hold up your briefcase and say, ‘I’d like to approach the bench, Your Honor.’ ”

“Briefcase?” He wasn’t holding anything in his hands. He appeared to be wearing the same grubby black jeans, T-shirt, and bomber jacket that he’d started the day with. He looked at Hazel in a panic. “What did you do?”

“Calm down, brother,” she said. “You can totally pull off baby-blue seersucker.”

“Seersucker?”

“We’re going into a courthouse,” she said. “So we’re all going to look like lawyers. Watch, I’ll do me now.”

She closed her eyes again. This time, Nico tried to pay attention.

He wanted to see exactly how Hazel worked the change…

but his mind wouldn’t cooperate. Or rather, it cooperated only with Hazel .

It kept telling him Hazel had always looked like this, even after she transformed.

Only a half second later did Nico manage to rewind and think, Wait. How did she do that?

His half sister now wore a burgundy pantsuit with black high heels that made her a few inches taller. On her ID tag, the photo showed Hazel’s face rather than Laverna’s. Her hair was braided in an elegant updo, and her lipstick and eyeshadow were tinted warm gold.

Nico shook his head in amazement. “Hazel, you look like you’re about to deliver the best closing argument the world has ever heard.”

She grinned. “You know, gotta look the part.”

Will was still focused on Nico and struggling not to laugh. “Seriously, dude. Just say, ‘I’d like to make a deposit, sir.’ ”

Nico scowled. “I’m going to shadow-travel you back to Tartarus and leave you there.”

“All right, get used to each other,” Hazel chided. “We have to stick close together, because I haven’t quite mastered long-distance illusions.”

“Well, I’m impressed,” Nico said, admiring Hazel’s illusionary earrings. “What was that breakthrough you mentioned, about how to control the Mist?”

She tilted her head. “Hard to explain. I realized the Mist has…currents, I guess? It wants to move in a certain direction. Like I was paddling upstream, trying to make the Mist do what I wanted. That’s exhausting.

I needed to pay attention to where the Mist wanted to go and flow with it. Much easier.”

“So the Mist wanted me to wear baby-blue seersucker today?”

Hazel beamed. “Yes, let’s blame the Mist for that. Now, come on, you two. And don’t go wandering off.”

Once inside the courthouse, the three of them stood waiting at the security checkpoint.

Sounds echoed through the lobby rotunda—conversations, high heels on tile, the beeping of metal detectors.

The noise was overwhelming to Nico. He worried that the security officers would ask them for IDs.

Or his Stygian iron sword would set off alarms. Or Will’s cargo pants pockets would—gods only knew what Will had in those.

The only awkward moment was when the guard reminded Nico to retrieve his personal effects from the X-ray machine tray and Nico had to pantomime picking up his nonexistent briefcase.

After they’d passed through the metal detectors, the demigods stepped to one side of the lobby, next to a café cart.

“What now?” Nico whispered.

Hazel frowned. “I was hoping to see somewhere to use Laverna’s ID. I thought that’s how we’d gain access—”

“Excuse me.” Someone brushed against Nico’s shoulder.

It was a bike courier with a bag slung over his shoulder and a large box in his arms. He squeezed past the demigods, navigated around a gaggle of business suits, and headed deeper into the lobby.

Something about the courier’s gait caught Nico’s attention.

He loped along, almost jumping with each step, as if he were used to having much longer legs.

“Hazel,” Nico said. “That courier…”

“I see him,” she said. “He’s flickering in and out of the Mist. I don’t think he’s human.”

Will spotted the courier, just turning down a side corridor. “He looks normal to me. What did you two see?”

“I’m not sure,” Hazel said. “But let’s follow him.”

The three of them tried their best to blend in with the crowd. They allowed a few other people to get between them and the courier as they trailed him down the hallway.

Nico’s pulse thumped in his ears. He felt itchy all over. He knew the clothes he was wearing were just an illusion. But somehow he could sense them even though he couldn’t see them. Suits and Nico di Angelo did not mix.

The courier began walking faster. For a brief instant, Nico could see him through the Mist—some sort of muscular creature covered in dark fur. Then he ducked down another side corridor on the left.

When they reached the intersection, the courier was nowhere to be seen.

“Which way now?” asked Will.

Hazel pointed to a set of double doors halfway down the hall on the right. “I think…maybe that way.”

They stopped in front of the doors—frosted glass in frames of polished oak. There was no sign, no indication of what was inside. Nico tried the brass door handle, but it was locked.

“Look.” Hazel pointed to a small black card reader on the wall. She lifted Laverna’s laminated ID. “You think?”

“Worth a try,” Nico agreed.

Hazel held the ID up to the card reader by the door. A green light illuminated on the panel, and then there was a click .

“Yes!” hissed Will.

Nico pushed down on the door handle again. The door swung inward, but he didn’t open it all the way.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

“We have to be,” whispered Hazel. “Whatever is through here, it must be where Laverna took our friends.”

“Well, we’ve got each other’s backs,” said Will. “Let’s find out together.”

Nico took a deep breath and then slowly opened the door wide.