The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

Hedge and tell him they were alive. Had they been in the temple all night? Or
several
nights? But at the moment the group was too tired to do anything except sit and relax and marvel at the fact that they were okay.
    They began to exchange stories.
    Frank explained what had happened with the ghostly legion and the army of monsters – how Nico had used the sceptre of Diocletian and how bravely Jason and Piper had fought.
    ‘Frank is being modest,’ Jason said. ‘He controlled the entire legion. You should’ve seen him. Oh, by the way …’ Jason glanced at Percy. ‘I resigned my office, gave Frank a field promotion to praetor. Unless you want to contest that ruling.’
    Percy grinned. ‘No argument here.’
    ‘
Praetor?
’
Hazel stared at Frank.
    He shrugged uncomfortably. ‘Well … yeah. I know it seems weird.’
    She tried to throw her arms around him, then winced as she remembered her busted ribs. She settled for kissing him. ‘It seems
perfect
.’
    Leo clapped Frank on the shoulder. ‘Way to go, Zhang. Now you can order Octavian to fall on his sword.’
    ‘Tempting,’ Frank agreed. He turned apprehensively to Percy. ‘But you guys … Tartarus has to be the
real
story. What happened down there? How did you …?’
    Percy laced his fingers through Annabeth’s.
    Hazel happened to glance at Nico and saw pain in his eyes. She wasn’t sure, but maybe he was thinking how lucky Percy and Annabeth were to have each other. Nico had gone through Tartarus
alone
.
    ‘We’ll tell you the story,’ Percy promised. ‘But not yet, okay? I’m not ready to remember that place.’
    ‘No,’ Annabeth agreed. ‘Right now …’ She gazed towards the river and faltered. ‘Uh, I think our ride is coming.’
    Hazel turned. The
Argo II
veered to port, its aerial oars in motion, its sails catching the wind. Festus’s head glinted in the sunlight. Even from a distance, Hazel could hear him creaking and clanking in jubilation.
    ‘That’s my boy!’ Leo yelled.
    As the ship got closer, Hazel saw Coach Hedge standing at the prow.
    ‘About time!’ the coach yelled down. He was doing his best to scowl, but his eyes gleamed as if maybe, just maybe, he was happy to see them. ‘What took you so long, cupcakes? You kept your visitor waiting!’
    ‘Visitor?’ Hazel murmured.
    At the rail next to Coach Hedge, a dark-haired girl appeared wearing a purple cloak, her face so covered with soot and bloody scratches that Hazel almost didn’t recognize her.
    Reyna had arrived.

LXXVII
     

PERCY
     
    P ERCY STARED AT THE A THENA P ARTHENOS, waiting for it to strike him down.
    Leo’s new mechanical hoist system had lowered the statue onto the hillside with surprising ease. Now the forty-foot-tall goddess gazed serenely over the River Acheron, her gold dress like molten metal in the sun.
    ‘Incredible,’ Reyna admitted.
    She was still red-eyed from crying. Soon after she’d landed on the
Argo II
, her pegasus Scipio had collapsed, overwhelmed by poisoned claw marks from a gryphon attack the night before. Reyna had put the horse out of his misery with her golden knife, turning the pegasus into dust that scattered in the sweet-smelling Greek air. Maybe not a bad end for a flying horse, but Reyna had lost a loyal friend. Percy figured that she’d given up too much in her life already.
    The praetor circled the Athena Parthenos warily. ‘It looks newly made.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Leo said. ‘We brushed off the cobwebs, used a little Windex. It wasn’t hard.’
    The
Argo II
hovered just overhead. With Festus keeping watch for threats on the radar, the entire crew had decided to eat lunch on the hillside while they discussed what to do. After the last few weeks, Percy figured they’d earned a good meal together – really anything that wasn’t fire water or drakon meat soup.
    ‘Hey, Reyna,’ Annabeth called. ‘Have some food. Join us.’
    The praetor glanced over, her dark eyebrows furrowed, as if
join us
didn’t quite compute. Percy had never seen Reyna without her armour before. It was onboard the ship, being repaired by Buford the Wonder Table. She wore a pair of jeans and a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and looked almost like a normal teenager – except for the knife at her belt and that guarded expression, like she was ready for an attack from any direction.
    ‘All right,’ she said finally.
    They scooted over to make room for her in the circle. She sat cross-legged next to Annabeth, picked up a cheese sandwich