The Last Olympian

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, but 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.

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 in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.
    I couldn’t imagine living in a house like this, with an actual yard and everything. I’d lived in a tiny apartment or a school dorm my whole life. If this was Luke’s home, I wondered why he’d ever wanted to leave.
    Mrs. O’Leary staggered. I remembered what Nico had said about shadow travel draining her, so I slipped off her back. She let out a huge toothy yawn that would’ve scared a T. rex, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard the ground shook. Nico appeared right next to me, as if the shadows had darkened and created him. He stumbled, but I caught his arm.
    “I’m okay,” he managed, rubbing his eyes.
    “How did you do that?”
    “Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China.”
    Mrs. O’Leary started snoring. If it hadn’t been for the roar of traffic behind us, I’m sure she would’ve woken up the whole neighborhood.
    “Are you going to take a nap too?” I asked Nico.
    He shook his head. “The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can’t do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O’Leary won’t be going anywhere for a while.”
    “So we’ve got some quality time in Connecticut.” I