The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

wasn’t sure what Favonius wanted, but if
facing the god of love
meant forcing Nico into some sort of confession about which girl he liked, that didn’t seem so bad.
    ‘Nico, you can do this,’ Jason said. ‘It might be embarrassing, but it’s for the sceptre.’
    Nico didn’t look convinced. In fact he looked like he was going to be sick. But he squared his shoulders and nodded. ‘You’re right. I – I’m not afraid of a love god.’
    Favonius beamed. ‘Excellent! Would you like a snack before you go?’ He plucked a green apple from his basket and frowned at it. ‘Oh, bluster. I keep forgetting my symbol is a basket of
unripe
fruit. Why doesn’t the spring wind get more credit? Summer has
all
the fun.’
    ‘That’s okay,’ Nico said quickly. ‘Just take us to Cupid.’
    Favonius spun the hoop on his finger, and Jason’s body dissolved into air.

XXXVI
     

JASON
     
    J ASON HAD RIDDEN THE WIND MANY TIMES.
Being
the wind was not the same.
    He felt out of control, his thoughts scattered, no boundaries between his body and the rest of the world. He wondered if this was how monsters felt when they were defeated – bursting into dust, helpless and formless.
    Jason could sense Nico’s presence nearby. The West Wind carried them into the sky above Split. Together they raced over the hills, past Roman aqueducts, highways and vineyards. As they approached the mountains, Jason saw the ruins of a Roman town spread out in a valley below – crumbling walls, square foundations and cracked roads, all overgrown with grass – so it looked like a giant, mossy game board.
    Favonius set them down in the middle of the ruins, next to a broken column the size of a redwood.
    Jason’s body re-formed. For a moment it felt even worsethan being the wind, like he’d suddenly been wrapped in a lead overcoat.
    ‘Yes, mortal bodies are
terribly
bulky,’ Favonius said, as if reading his thoughts. The wind god settled on a nearby wall with his basket of fruit and spread his russet wings in the sun. ‘Honestly, I don’t know how you stand it, day in and day out.’
    Jason scanned their surroundings. The town must have been huge once. He could make out the shells of temples and bathhouses, a half-buried amphitheatre and empty pedestals that must have once held statues. Rows of columns marched off to nowhere. The old city walls weaved in and out of the hillside like stone thread through a green cloth.
    Some areas looked like they’d been excavated, but most of the city just seemed abandoned, as if it had been left to the elements for the last two thousand years.
    ‘Welcome to Salona,’ Favonius said. ‘Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that,
long
before that, it was the home of Cupid.’
    The name echoed, as if voices were whispering it through the ruins.
    Something about this place seemed even creepier than the palace basement in Split. Jason had never thought much about Cupid. He’d certainly never thought of Cupid as
scary
. Even for Roman demigods, the name conjured up an image of a silly winged baby with a toy bow and arrow, flying around in his diapers on Valentine’s Day.
    ‘Oh, he’s not like that,’ said Favonius.
    Jason flinched. ‘You can read my mind?’
    ‘I don’t need to.’ Favonius tossed his bronze hoop in the air. ‘
Everyone
has the wrong impression of Cupid … until they meet him.’
    Nico braced himself against a column, his legs trembling visibly.
    ‘Hey, man …’ Jason stepped towards him, but Nico waved him off.
    At Nico’s feet, the grass turned brown and wilted. The dead patch spread outwards, as if poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes.
    ‘Ah …’ Favonius nodded sympathetically. ‘I don’t blame you for being nervous, Nico di Angelo. Do you know how
I
ended up serving Cupid?’
    ‘I don’t serve anyone,’ Nico muttered. ‘Especially not Cupid.’
    Favonius continued as if he hadn’t heard. ‘I fell in love with a mortal named Hyacinthus. He was
quite
extraordinary.’
    ‘He …?’ Jason’s brain was still fuzzy from his wind trip, so it took him a second to process that. ‘Oh …’
    ‘Yes, Jason Grace.’ Favonius arched an eyebrow. ‘I fell in love with a
dude.
Does that shock you?’
    Honestly, Jason wasn’t sure. He tried not to think about the details of godly love lives, no matter
who
they fell in love with. After all, his dad, Jupiter, wasn’t exactly a model of good behaviour. Compared to some of the Olympian