AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How about we get back to Hecate’s?” I suggested. “I have a weird craving for lobster rolls.”
Back at the manse, the hellhounds were just waking up.
Nope thought we smelledreallyinteresting. I guessed that, to him, Grover’s hooves smelled like feet, my arms smelled like seafood, and Annabeth smelled like she’d been watching over two numbskulls all afternoon and had possibly turned into a bird.
Gale and Hecuba greeted each other with a nose boop. It wasn’t exactly a tearful reunion, but I got the feeling they were glad to see each other. Their body language seemed to say,Yes, I am relieved you’re back, now let us never speak of this again.Nope sniffed Gale’s butt and apparently confirmed that she smelled so bad she must be part of the family.
Gale danced around impatiently until Grover agreed to take her to the feeding room for a chicken carcass. I checked on the eels, who were disappointed we hadn’t died and brought our own remains home for them to eat…which didn’t make sense, but eels have their own kind of logic.
Nobody else wanted lobster rolls, so we got pizza delivered instead. We sat in the great room with the animals and scarfed down three large pies, leaving nothing behind. Grover eyed the greasy boxes, but I suggested he not try eating them. I knew from experience his digestive track didn’t do well with cardboard.
I leaned against one of the broken benches, an ice pack on my ankle. I was exhausted and wired at the same time. I wanted to enjoy the fact that we’d retrieved both of Hecate’s pets. We’d even acquired a bonus puppy. That seemed like a pretty good week’s work. Unfortunately, the mansion was still a wreck. Despite our best efforts with shower curtains, dust pans, and duct tape, the place still looked like somebody had driven through in a monster truck and thrown a few hand grenades. It was hard to believe all the damage had been caused by one hulked-out satyr. Then again, now that I’d experienced the joys of potion-based combat, I had a better sense of how wrong things could go.
Grover seemed to follow my thoughts. “Tomorrow is Halloween. There’s no way three people can fix this mansion before Hecate gets back. It’s hopeless, isn’t it?”
“Hey,” I said, “Halloween is the opposite of hopeless. Anything is possible on Halloween.”
Annabeth gave me a wistful look. I think she wanted to believe in the magic possibilities of Halloween, but the way things were going, she was doubting she’d get that perfect party she’d dreamed of. As for me, I meant what I said. I remembered the stories Mr. Brunner used to tell, back when I thought he was just a cool sixth-grade Latin teacher. He would talk about how ancient the traditions behind Halloween were—how almost every culture believed there was a time when the world of the living and the world of the dead came so close you could cross over.
The world of the dead…
My gaze drifted to Hecate’s torches crossed over the doorway.
They should be used only in the event of anextremeemergency,Hecate had said.
Chiron had been clear that the torches were too dangerous. If we tried to use them, especially on Halloween, an army of angry ghosts might tear us apart. Hecate must have left the torches as a kind of temptation, like the strawberry-milkshake potion. Sure, the choice was ours. But I’d seen Gale’s past now. I knew what kind of choices Hecate offered people who stood at a crossroads.
And yet…
“What if we could fix the house with magic?” I asked.
Grover followed my gaze. “Percy, no. You said the torches—”
“I know. Last resort. Just spitballing here.” I turned to Annabeth. “What do you think?”
Her expression was as distant as ancient Greece. She hesitated so long I got nervous. If I had a bad idea, she let me know right away. But when she hesitated like that, looking all serious—well, I’d seen that expression a lot when we were in Tartarus together. It usually meant she was thinking the same thing I was—but with more nuance, and more understanding of all the horrible ways it could get us killed.
“For the sake of argument,” she said (which meant yeah, we were in serious trouble), “let’s say we tried. Hecuba, you know how to summon the dead. Is it possible we could use the torches successfully?”
Hecuba barked once. I figured that meantIdiot!
“She says no mortal has ever tried,” Grover translated. “She can’t do it for us. Her undead are only good for terrorizing people. If you used the torches and lost focus even for an instant, or couldn’t bend the spirits to your will, they would destroy everyone and everything in their path. Then they would devour your soul.”
Once again, I was impressed how much a dog could pack into just one bark. Their novels would be, like, twenty woofs long.
“What other options do we have?” I turned toward the staircase. “Hey, Gale! Come down here a sec, would you?”
A few seconds later, the polecat scurried down the steps. She was covered with flecks of raw chicken. Nope thought this was the most amazing thing ever. He began giving Gale a bath.
The polecat tolerated it pretty well. While Nope was busy with chicken removal, I told Gale what was going on. “Do you think you could brew anything that would help us? Like, give us magical building powers? Or at least shield us from the dead if we have to summon them?”
Gale seemed to think about this. She stood on her hind legs so Nope could clean her belly, which was both cute and slightly disturbing. She chattered and barked at Grover.
“Um—a lot of what she’s saying is really technical,” he said, “about herbs and reagents and distilling methods. She says there might be some recipes in the library. It’ll take her all day tomorrow. And she’ll need my help.”
“We can all help,” I offered.
“Except we can’t,” Annabeth said. “Webothhave tests at school tomorrow.”
