Page 61 of The Court of the Dead (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #2)

All across the plaza, the battle was heating up.

The imprisoned mythics had made a hole in Pirithous’s lines to the east. Arielle and Quinoa were shepherding them through it while Asterion guarded their retreat, fending off a pursuing squad of dracaenae with help from Johan, Orcus, and a few stalwart Laistrygonian allies.

The baby drakon was locked in combat with one of Pirithous’s largest Cyclopes.

Smaller skirmishes spread across the entire park, and it was not at all clear which side was winning.

The three Underworld gods—the di inferi—were busy summoning an army of the undead, which wasn’t going to help matters.

Worst of all, Nico’s attempt to break the chains had gotten Pirithous’s attention.

“Stop them!” screamed the judge from his well-guarded pedestal. “Go! Go!”

After a moment’s hesitation, his Cyclopes advanced, followed by the red-robed skeletons with their two-pronged spears.

“Frank!” Nico called. “Don’t let those bidents touch you. They weren’t set to kill when the skeletons teleported their victims to the plaza, but I don’t think we’ll be so lucky this time.”

Frank scowled. “Bidents?”

“Yeah, you know!” Nico fought down his impatience. “Poseidon has a trident. The two-pointed ones are bidents. They’re symbols of Hades. They tend to be pretty nasty weapons.”

Will looked back at him as if wondering whether Nico was joking. “ Bident sounds like a bisexual breath freshener,” he said. After a beat, he added, “And actually, I kind of want that now.”

“Hello?” called Dolus, reclaiming Nico’s attention. “Chained gods here?”

“Right,” Nico said. “Ideas?”

Hazel turned up her hands. “Maybe…we hit the chains together?”

“No!” yelped Apate.

I have a suggestion , Semele said. The entire council of gods had to agree to put Prometheus in chains. To unlock these chains, we may need a council.

Nico relayed this message out loud. “Only problem is,” he added, “we don’t have a council of gods.”

Defiance made a sneezing noise. The Puff hopped over to the nearest chain link, opened his mouth wider than should have been possible, and began chewing on the Stygian iron.

Dolus leaned away from the Puff. “Wh-what is that thing? I have never seen anything like it!”

“It’s a cacodemon,” said Nico. “Specifically made from me . It’s a long story; I’ll tell it once we get you free.”

Dolus stared at him in disbelief. “But then it’s a kind of daimon. Like Apate and me. They’re gods . Very, very, very minor gods, perhaps. But still technically gods!”

Hazel gave Nico a skeptical look. “A council of Cocoa Puffs?”

Even with Semele’s life force added to his, Nico felt like he might pass out. His cute little demonic emotions were… gods ? The implications were too much for him to handle. On the other hand, they were running out of time.

“Incoming!” yelled Savannah as the Cyclopes barreled toward them.

“Nico, now would be good!” said Will, who fired off an arrow that bounced off one of the Cyclopes’s knees.

Nico felt Semele once again taking over his voice. He didn’t fight her.

“I will help,” she said through him. “Dolus, Apate—I am Semele Thyone. Do you know that name?”

The twin gods looked at her—looked at Nico —with total shock. He didn’t know what Semele was talking about. The details of her life were all jumbled together in his brain. But clearly, the title Thyone meant something to the gods.

“You…how?” Dolus said.

“A story for another time,” said the eidolon through Nico. “If I free you and you betray us…you will regret it. I take it you are familiar with my son?”

Apate started to shiver, and Nico didn’t think it was from the agony of the chains this time. “We would never betray you. Him. Any of you! Just please, free us!”

Nico had questions now, but he put them aside. He felt energy course through him. He placed the tip of his blade against one link of the chain, right next to the spot where Defiance was chewing.

“Cocoa Puffs,” said Semele, “I summon you to a council of judgment. Shall we break these chains and free our fellow gods?”

The Puffs yipped and howled, hopping over to join Defiance in gnawing at the chain. Nico pushed his blade downward against the Stygian iron link. It cut like butter.

Pirithous couldn’t possibly have seen this from so far away, but he must have felt it somehow. He screamed, “NO!” and fell to his knees.

The Cyclopes and skeletal guards charged Frank, only steps away.

The chains of Prometheus burst, one link after another, like a string of firecrackers, until the shackles fell away smoking from Dolus’s and Apate’s necks.

The gods stood shakily, gasping for air.

“You—actually did it,” Dolus said.

“You saved us!” Apate said.

“Now help us !” yelled Nico/Semele.

Nico was hoping for some vaporizing and extra-crispy exploding. Instead, the twin gods locked their eyes on a news helicopter that was now circling the park. This would all be on the evening news, Nico imagined, and soon racking up millions of views on every social media platform.

“First,” Apate said, “we must heal the Mist.”

“It’s time for some deception,” Dolus agreed. “I do love deception.”

The two gods faced each other and locked hands, moving closer until their foreheads touched.

“You are my counterpart,” said Dolus.

“You are my other half,” said Apate.

Smiles spread across their faces. The air pressure dropped. A mighty BOOM! knocked Nico off his feet.

Suddenly, the park was strangely quiet. Nico sat up, his head swimming, his vision blurry.

The Cyclopes who’d been about to attack Frank were gone. So was Frank. And Hazel. And Will. Nico struggled to his feet. Panic rose in his chest.

“What did you do?” he demanded of the gods.

But Apate and Dolus were also missing.

“Meow?” said a tiny voice from the spot where Hazel had been. Nico blinked. He looked down. Rubbed his eyes. Then he scanned the entire plaza.

Where there had once been a raging battle of gods and mythics, there were now hundreds and hundreds of small, furry, cute animals. The entire park was full of house cats .