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Two seconds before, Percy had been ready to collapse Now another surge of adrenaline coursed through his body He wanted to strangle Leo and deo II hadn’t sailed off to rescue Annabeth first, but he thought that rateful
"Tell "
The floor shook The wooden planks began to disappear, spilling sand into the pits of the hypogeuested "We’d better take off while we still can"
They sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome
All around the Piazza del Colosseo, traffic had coathered, probably wondering about the strange lights and sounds that had coiants’ spectacular plans for destruction had come off successfully The city looked the sae Greek trireathered around the heled Piper’s sprained shoulder while Hazel sat at the stern, feeding Nico ambrosia The son of Hades could barely lift his head His voice was so quiet, Hazel had to lean in whenever he spoke
Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronzeAnnabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had provided: the E at the helm’s co, "Ee tried to help by wrestling with an upside-down street map of Rome
Percy knelt next to Jason and Piper "How’s the shoulder?"
Piper sreat"
Jason elbowed Percy "Not a bad tea in a Kansas cornfield," Percy agreed
"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to hiscourse"
Frank hunched his shoulders "I just read the nale Maps"
Leo grinned at the others "He reads Chinese"
"Just a tiny bit," Frank said
"How cool is that?"
"Guys," Hazel broke in "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this"
She helped Nico to his feet He’d always been pale, but now his skin looked like powdered milk His dark sunken eyes reminded Percy of photos he’d seen of liberated prisoners-of-hich Percy guessed Nico basically was
"Thank you," Nico rasped His eyes darted nervously around the group "I’d given up hope"
The past week or so, Percy had iht say to Nico when they uy looked so frail and sad, Percy couldn’t er
"You knew about the two ca," Percy said "You could have told me who I was the first day I arrived at Caainst the helm "Percy, I’m sorry I discovered Cah I wasn’t sure why He told ods had kept the camps separate for centuries and that I couldn’t tell anyone The tiht But he said it would be i
Hazel held his shoulders until he could stand again
"I--I thought Dad meant because of Hazel," Nico continued "I’d need a safe place to take her But now…I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I’d understand how important your quest was, and so I’d search for the Doors of Death"
The air turned electric--literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks
"Did you find the doors?" Percy asked
Nico nodded "I was a fool I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea’s trap Ifrom a black hole"
"Um…" Frank chewed his lip "What kind of black hole are you talking about?"
Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to sayHe turned to Hazel
She put her hand on her brother’s arm "Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two sides--one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld The uarded by Gaea’s forces That’s where they brought Nico back into the upper world Then they transported him to Rome"
Piper must’ve been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"
Nico took a rattling breath "The House of Hades It’s an underground temple in Epirus I can mark it on a map, but--but the mortal side of the portal isn’t the problem In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in…in…"