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Small Bob came bounding back out of the darkness, and he sat at Nico’s feet. His purring was so loud that Nico could feel it through the soles of his boots. He looked up and saw …
His stomach dropped.
Darkness. Darknesseverywhere.The dusty plain dropped away in the distance, and it was as if reality blinked out of existence beyond it.
‘Nico,’ said Will. ‘What’s going on?’
‘We’re here,’ he said. ‘Er … at least I think we are.’
‘Where?’ Will spun and looked around him. ‘There’s nothing here.’
Nico pointed a shaking hand forward. ‘There.’
Will followed the gesture; then he gazed back at Nico. ‘I don’t get it. What are you pointing at?’
And then, as if a terrible maw into eternal nothingness weren’t just a few metres away, Will started to walk forward.
‘Please don’t!’ Nico begged, and he lunged forward, grabbing Will’s arm and pulling him back. ‘You can’t!’
‘What are youdoing?’ Will screamed, and he shook off Nico’s hand.
Nico grabbed him again, only to discover that something was revealing itself out of the darkness.
The dirt plain extended ahead in a narrow, sloping trail, and at the end of it was a doorway of black stone. On either side of the trail – nothing.
It was the same path he had travelled the last time he was here.
Except … this wasn’t the right place. Nico had come out of a thick, dark forest the time he’d found the path to Nyx’s home. What wasthis?
‘Will, can you see that?’ Nico asked. ‘Please tell me you can see it.’
‘See what?’ said Will, his voice rising in alarm. ‘I just see … dirt. Some grass. The same thing we’ve been seeing for hours!’
Small Bob darted forward, and Nico watched as the cat negotiated the narrow path easily, then stood next to the stone doorway at the end. He meowed like he was saying,Well, hurry up, bozos!
‘Will, I need you to trust me,’ Nico said. ‘The veil must still be over your eyes.’
‘The what?’ Then Will’s eyes widened. ‘Wait. You mentioned that before, didn’t you? That only you could see Tartarus for what it really was?’
‘Yes. Exactly. And now I can see the path to the doorway I found the last time I was here.’
‘But, Nico, I think that veil or Mist or whatever it is … It’s already burned away. I know what Tartarus is. Icansee him now for who he is.’
Nico scratched at his head. ‘Then why can’t you see the path to Nyx’s palace?’
Will shrugged. ‘Maybe she doesn’t want me to see it.’
That filled Nico with a whole new dread. Had he got Nyx’s plan wrong? What if Will had nothing to do with it?
‘I dislike every part of this,’ Nico groaned.
He heard Will sigh beside him. ‘We’re going to have to go down that path, aren’t we?’
‘Yep.’
‘A path I can’t see.’
‘That’s the one.’
