Rick Riordan The Last Olympian - 05 a fighting edge . " All right ," I decided . " What do we do first ?" His cold creepy smile made me sorry I ' d agreed . " First we ' ll need to retrace Luke ' s steps . We need to know more about his past , his childhood ." I shuddered , thinking about Rachel ' s picture from my dream — a smiling nine-year-old Luke .
" Why do we need to know about that ?" " I ' ll explain when we get there ," Nico said . " I ' ve already tracked down his mother . She lives in
Connecticut ." I stared at him . I ' d never thought much about Luke ' s mortal parent . I ' d met his dad , Hermes , but his mom . . . " Luke ran away when he was really young ," I said . " I didn ' t think his mom was alive ." " Oh , she ' s alive ." The way he said it made me wonder what was wrong with her . What kind of horrible person could she be ? " Okay . . ." I said . " So how do we get to Connecticut ? I can call Blackjack —" " No ." Nico scowled . " Pegasi don ' t like me , and the feeling is mutual . But there ' s no need for flying ." He whistled , and Mrs . O ' Leary came loping out of the woods . " Your friend here can help ." Nico patted her head . " You haven ' t tried shadow travel yet ?" " Shadow travel ?" Nico whispered in Mrs . O ' Leary ' s ear . She tilted her head , suddenly alert . " Hop on board ," Nico told me . I ' d never considered riding a dog before , bur Mrs . O ' Leary was certainly big enough . I climbed onto her back and held her collar .
" This will make her very tired ," Nico warned , " so you can ' t do it often . And it works best at night . But all shadows are part of the same substance . There is only one darkness , and creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road , or a door ." " I don ' t understand ," I said . " No ," Nico said . " It took me a long time to learn . But Mrs . O ' Leary knows . Tell her where to go . Tell her Westport , the home of May Castellan ." " You ' re not coming ?" " Don ' t worry ," he said . " I ' ll meet you there ." I was a little nervous , but I leaned down to Mrs . O ' Leary ' s ear . " Okay , girl . Uh , can you take me to Westport , Connecticut ? May Castellan ' s place ?" Mrs . O ' Leary sniffed the air . She looked into the gloom of the forest . Then she bounded forward , straight into an oak tree . Just before we hit , we passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon .
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Chapter Six
My Cookies Get Scorched
I don ' t recommend shadow travel if you ' re scared of : a ) The dark b ) Cold shivers up your spine c ) Strange noises d ) Going so fast you feel like your face is peeling off In other words , I thought it was awesome . One minute I couldn ' t see anything . I could only feel Mrs . O ' Leary ' s fur and my fingers wrapped around the bronze links of her dog collar .
The next minute the shadows melted into a new scene . We were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut . At least , it looked like Connecticut from the few times I ' d been there : lots of trees , low stone walls , big houses . Down one side of the cliff , a highway cut through a ravine . Down the other side was someone ' s backyard . The property was huge — more wilderness than lawn . The house was a two-story white Colonial . Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway , it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere . I could see a light glowing m the kitchen window .