Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
29
29
They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off. "I was sorry to hear
about Beckendorf."
A lump formed in my throat. "How did you—"
"I talked to his ghost."
"Oh . . . right." I'd never get used to the fact that this twelve-year-old kid spent more time
talking with the dead than the living. "Did he say anything?"
"He doesn't blame you. He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't."
"Is he going to try for rebirth?"
Nico shook his head. "He's staying in Elysium. Said he's waiting for someone. Not sure what
he meant, but he seems okay with death."
It wasn't much comfort, but it was something.
"I had a vision you were on Mount Tarn," I told Nico. "Was that—"
"Real," he said. "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighborhood."
"Doing what?"
Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Following a lead on . . . you know, my family."
I nodded. I knew his past was a painful subject. Until two years ago, he and his sister Bianca
had been frozen in time at a place called the Lotus Hotel and Casino. They'd been there for like
seventy years. Eventually a mysterious lawyer rescued them and checked them into a boarding
school, but Nico had no memories of his life before the casino. He didn't know anything about his
mother. He didn't know who the lawyer was, or why they'd been frozen in time or allowed to go free.
After Bianca died and left Nico alone, he'd been obsessed with finding answers.
"So how did it go?" I asked. "Any luck?"
"No," he murmured. "But I may have a new lead soon."
"What's the lead?"
Nico chewed his lip. "That's not important right now. You know why I'm here."
A feeling of dread started to build in my chest. Ever since Nico first proposed his plan for
beating Kronos last summer, I'd had nightmares about it. He would show up occasionally and press
me for an answer, but I kept putting him off.
"Nico, I don't know," I said. "It seems pretty extreme."
"You've got Typhon coming in, what . . . a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now
and on Kronos's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."
I looked back toward the camp. Even from this distance I could hear the Ares and Apollo
campers fighting again, yelling curses and spouting bad poetry.
"They're no match for the Titan army," Nico said. "You know that. This comes down to you
and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke."
I remembered the fight on the Princess Andromeda. I'd been hopelessly outmatched. Kronos
had almost killed me with a single cut to my arm, and I couldn't even wound him. Riptide had
glanced right off his skin.
"We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy. Unless you
want to have your soul reaped by a cursed blade . . ."
I wondered how Nico had heard the prophecy— probably from some ghost.
"You can't prevent a prophecy," I said.
"But you can fight it." Nico had a strange, hungry light m his eyes. "You can become
invincible."
"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without—"
"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!"
I stared at him. I hadn't seen his temper flare like that in a long time. "Urn, you sure you're
okay?"
He took a deep breath. "Percy, all I mean . . . when the fighting starts, we won't be able to
make the journey. This is our last chance. I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy, but two years ago my
sister gave her life to protect you. I want you to honor that. Do whatever it takes to stay alive and
defeat Kronos."
I didn't like the idea. Then I thought about Annabeth calling me a coward, and I got angry.
Nico had a point. If Kronos attacked New York, the campers would be no match for his
forces. I had to do something. Nico's way was dangerous—maybe even deadly. But it might give me