Chapter 38

Good News Gets me Yelled At

I was glad the mortal hosts passed out, and I felt bad about it.

They might have gotten their bodies back, but that didn't do a thing for how little they'd had to eat. They were still as thin as matchsticks. Who knows if the spirits had bothered to sleep while possessing them. And between you and me, after however long they'd spent with somebody else at their own steering wheel, I'd be shocked if they weren't crazed out of their minds… Or crazed in their minds, I guess.

How are you supposed to explain any of that to someone though? I didn't know where I would start. Which was why, even if it was scary, I was kind of relieved they weren't waking up.

Bianca and I took trips carrying them downstairs while Hypsipyle ran to tell the others the coast was clear. Before she left, I asked her why she'd come to find us anyway.

She shrugged. "If others are going to fight my battles, I should at least be there to cheer them on."

And that made sense, in a philosophical way I couldn't quite pin down the meaning of.

When we got downstairs and saw the others, Rose was back to normal. That was a load off my shoulders. Literally, because she took the woman I was carrying.

Pressing a hand to the stranger's forehead, Rose studied her with all the empathy of someone that was possessed five minutes ago. "She's in a bad way. Are all of them like this?"

"Pretty much," I said.

"Crap."

"They won't die," Bianca said. "Not tonight at least."

"How do you know that?" Emmitt asked.

Bianca blinked at him. "Can't you tell?"

"That's not important right now," I said. "There's six more upstairs in just as bad shape. Help us bring the down here."

With the extra hands moving the women barely took a minute. And with Bianca's assurances that they weren't about to visit the guy I was sure now was her father, everyone curled up on the floor for a nap.

You might think we're crazy, but it was four a.m. of a long night, and those floorboards were particularly comfortable. I was out in seconds.

The next day I was up like an early-rising college student: around Eleven a.m. I'd barely blinked the cobwebs from my eyes when Rose gave me a firm pat and a light push toward the door.

"Help Bianca run to the boat," she said, "and bring food back with you. Everyone here will need it, and we have spare."

I gave a drowsy salute and plodded outside.

Bianca was waiting just past the door, leaning against the house. Her arms were crossed, but I could spot a strange new fashion statement on her right hand– a single padded fingerless glove, like she was on her way to bang out some one-armed pull-ups. When she saw me she nodded, and we picked our way down the driveway to the road.

"Nice morning," I said.

She snorted. "Have you even seen it?"

"Hey, I'm awake and outside now, right?" I gestured my arms at the day around us. The air still had a bite to it, but the sun was keeping the worst of it away. The night's wind had disappeared. Either Eurybia was scared we'd be casting off soon, or she was so disgusted we weren't dead yet that she'd turned her attention elsewhere.

"The weather's alright, I guess," Bianca said.

"Do you think it'll be colder in Alaska?"

She stared at me. "It's Alaska. The only thing I've ever seen from there is snow."

"But it's not like that's all there is. They have, like, mooses and flowers and stuff, too."

"Gods," Bianca said, "you are so dumb."

"Hey, at least say why if you're going to insult me!"

"First of all, it's just moose. And what does that have to do with it being cold? Second of all…"

She suddenly trailed off, and I understood why. We'd reached town. What seemed like so few buildings when we pulled into port now seemed like way too many. Because we knew that every one of them was empty, and we knew why. It didn't feel right to joke around while walking through something like that.

"You know your dad is, uh, my uncle down there, right?" I said, pointing at the ground.

Bianca nodded. "Daedalus was right."

"Seems like you're pretty good at controlling your powers."

"Really? I was thinking the opposite."

We passed the Hotel, pulling parallel with the diner's cloudy windows. Unlike the day before, nobody was at the counter. Nobody was left to be.

"If you ask me, anybody that can origami ghosts out of existence knows what they're doing."

"Sure," Bianca said. "But was that me?"

I replayed the scene from the night before. It wasn't difficult. Group exorcisms tended to leave strong impressions. Double points when they also saved your life.

"Your voice," I said. "It was like another one was mixing with yours. An older, deeper one."

"It wasn't just my voice. It was like someone – something – was guiding me. Showing me exactly what to do and when. It was the same last time."

"Last time? This happened before?"

"Once. With Nera when I did… whatever it was I did to her. It only comes out when I get really mad."

Nera showed people their worst memory. I knew that. And I knew, really, there was only one memory that would be Bianca's worst: the moment she lost her brother. Or, the moment she thought she did.

"When something reminds you of Nico."

Right away, I wished I hadn't said anything. Her glare had me wondering if she could fold living spirits into nothingness like dead ones.

"I never told you that name."

"I dreamed about it," I said. "You know what our dreams are like."

I was hoping the answer would calm her down. Instead she grabbed my collar.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing important!" I held up my hands to say, look, I'm innocent! "You two were in a car. That lawyer you talked about was driving you to some school. Eastunder?"

Bianca let go of my shirt. She turned away, settling her breathing, and shook her head. "Westover. Sorry for snapping, but… drop it. I don't want to talk about this."

"What if Nico is alive?"

Bianca froze like a corpse. But when her eyes panned back to me, it felt like I was the one in danger of dying.

"Explain."

I wanted to dive into the clues. How Emo Kid used shadows to fight and kept ghosts for company. How his features had seemed familiar even as he tried to dice me. The way, when he saw me, he had screamed in the exact tone Bianca had used to chew me out just a second ago. And, most of all, to explain how I'd seen his face in my dreams both before and after, and that there was no mistaking he was the same person.

Instead, pinned with that thousand-yard arctic stare, all that tumbled from my mouth was: "The kid from the train is Nico."

"If this is some kind of joke–"

"I'm serious! I would never lie about this. Never. And I'm telling you, I recognize him. Now that I've seen him in my dreams, I'm sure it's the same person."

"There's no way," Bianca said with clenched teeth. "It's impossible."

"He fought like you. He got mad like you."

"I watched my brother die."

"But you never actually saw a body, right? It's possible he's alive. It must be, because I saw him."

"Drop. It."

"Listen, I know it's a lot, but–"

"Why are you being so insufferable?!"

"Why won't you even listen to what I'm saying?!"

For a second, I thought she was about to grab my collar again and hurl me onto the sharp pebbly beach below. Then she turned, silently, and stalked ahead. For some reason that scared me more.

"Well," I mumbled, "that could've gone better."

I followed, because what else was I supposed to do? We still had a job to finish. Bianca would come around once she'd thought about it a little.

Right?

The rest of the day was productive. We brought back food, nursed the women to the point they were semi-conscious, and there were enough of us that Rose could head back to The Nautes to finish the repairs her possession had put a pause on. By that evening we were ready to set out again, spare food and a couple of blankets unloaded to leave behind.

And Bianca still wasn't speaking to me.

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay longer?" she asked Hypsipyle, the three of us standing by the ramp to our boat.

The queen-in-a-boy's-body had come to the dock to see us off. It was kind of funny, seeing her stand regally in a dinosaur t-shirt and slippers– the only fresh clothes we could find in her size. "I will be fine," she said. "Help is on the way. Now that I no longer worry about leading more to their death, I am free to call for mortal rescue teams. I won't be alone long."

"Still," Bianca said, "we could wait a few more days for them to arrive. Just to be sure."

"We can't," I said. "Prometheus would never stand for wasting more time."

Nothing. To Bianca, it was like my voice had its mute button hit.

"You cannot," Hypsipyle said. "You have other responsibilities. You have done more than enough for these people. Leave the rest to me, and follow your mission."

"I guess that's true," Bianca said.

"That's exactly what I said," I mumbled.

Hypsipyle smiled apologetically, and I shrugged back at her. Wasn't her fault.

"You could come with us, though," Bianca said. "Prometheus wouldn't complain. He doesn't complain about anything."

"I thank you for the offer," Hypsipyle said, "but my sisters are not gone. Not all of them."

"The ones without bodies," Bianca and I said at the same time.

She stomped on my foot.

"Really?" I hissed. "You had to hit the one I can actually feel?"

"Just because some are left doesn't mean you have to stay," Bianca argued, ignoring me entirely (of course).

But Hypsipyle shook her head.

"They cannot leave this island, but neither can they leave it alone. I will stay. Any that come after you will need warnings. And… And I believe this is the proper place for me, too. Maybe fishing and solitude will bring the peace my life has lacked." She bowed. "Goodbye, heroes. Thank you for doing what I could not."

Bianca was frowning, but I guess she was out of arguments. She bent down and gave Hypsipyle a quick hug. "Don't let them trap you again."

"I do not plan on it," said the queen. Her forehead creased. "Though, come to think of it, I never planned on it last time, either… Take care, Bianca."

Bianca turned and tromped onto the boat.

"You two sure got close fast," I told Hypsipyle.

"I suppose," said the queen. "Do make up with her. Life is too short to spend it angry."

If anyone would know, I felt like it would be her.

"You should've said that when Bianca was still here. I'm not the one that's mad."

"I believe you'll figure it out," she said.

Up above, Prometheus appeared. "Casting off in a minute, Percy. Don't linger unless you'd like to swim for it."

I sighed. After taking a step onto the ramp, I looked back at Hypsipyle. "Will you be alright? The others could possess those women and gang up on you. You know that, right?"

"Now that they know they can be destroyed, they won't have the courage for it," Hypsipyle said. "I will be safe. If ever you need shelter, seek me out. With luck I will have been able to release this body by then, but I will be here. I will help if I can."

"Thanks," I said. And I meant it. "See you."

"With luck," she agreed.

I climbed onto the deck of The Nautes. Prometheus was waiting, and with a hand signal Smasher and Destroyer pulled up the ramp. Hypsipyle waved, and those of us with our hands free waved back– which meant me, Bianca, and Prometheus.

All of a sudden something occurred to me, and I turned to the titan.

"Where were you?"

"Hm?"

"When the spirits captured us, where were you? I didn't see you until this morning."

"Ahhh. I was sleeping."

"They left you alone? Just like that?"

Prometheus opened his mouth, but the voice that came out definitely wasn't his. Higher pitch, ticking up after every other word, Despina's voice spoke from the titan's lips.

"They can't catch who they think is on their side," it said.

Bianca shivered. "Creepy!"

"How about this, then?" He switched to mine, making me cringe. Nobody likes hearing their own voice.

"When they came to my room," Prometheus explained, "I told them to leave in the voice of their own. And then, I went back to sleep."

"Can you do any voice you want?" I asked.

"Within limits," he growled like Agrius. "It makes–" there was Luke's "–quite the good–" and that bit was Atlas's "–party trick." His voice went back to normal. "You wouldn't believe how hard I had an Empousai laughing at the end-of-year officers' party. She even let out a few 'hee-haws'."

"Good for you," Bianca and I said together.

My poor, poor foot.

Shockingly, the next few days passed without trouble. On the second day I spotted a slimy tentacle off starboard, and a few hours south of Anchorage something scaly and large spent a while following our boat. But The Nautes managed to pull into port in one piece, and we didn't even have to stab anything to make it happen.

We'd definitely made good time. It was six days since we left Seattle, four and a bit since we pulled away from Hypsipyle on the dock. A normal boat would've been at sea for weeks. But between Rose's design and Percy's Aquatic Propulsion System™, we were pretty far from regular.

I was at the prow as we sloshed our way into Anchorage's port, using the view to push chunks of ice out of our path. Everyone was on deck, eager to see the destination so close, but Emmitt was closest to me, standing just to my right.

"You can move ice?" he asked, staring down at the soupy frozen water.

My tongue peeked from the corner of my mouth as I focused on maneuvering an ice hunk larger than a Hummer. "Not quite. It's… a little… more complicated." The chunk bobbed out of our path, and I rolled my shoulders in relief. "It's not like I can control them. They're too… stuck, I guess. It's hard to explain. But as long as they're floating, I can push them out of the way."

"Huh," Emmitt said. "Cool."

Then the huge ice chunk I'd moved flipped over. I must've unbalanced the thing while moving it. The new side smacked the water, spraying up waves. Most drops hit the hull, but a few sprayed onto the deck. Emmitt flinched.

"Literally cool," he said. "Brrrrrr that is freezing!"

The 0.12 nautical miles to port were clear ocean. My job done, I turned toward the deck.

"Prometheus," I called. "We're basically here. What's our first move?"

He smirked, which probably made him the first person in history to look smug standing in short sleeves in an Alaskan winter.

He waved something in his hand– a little completely black rectangle. A credit card.

"First," he said, "we go shopping."

Shopping, it turned out, meant buying two things.

First, jackets. And pants, boots, and gloves that could handle freezing trips in the snow. And trust me, we'd be needing those. Every bit open space, from the edges of the street to the rooftops and awnings, were piled with fresh powder. We were lucky it wasn't snowing when we pulled in.

The second was going to be harder to find than a clothing store. We needed a guide.

Prometheus explained all this as Bianca, Emmitt and I walked behind him down a waterfront street, Emmitt in the middle of us like a buffer.

"The road will only take us partway," he said. "It may take a while to pick our way there."

"And what is there?" I asked. "Where exactly are we going?"

"First, Denali National Park. Then to the other side."

"A national park?" Emmitt said. "Think we'll see any bears?"

"Unfortunately," Prometheus grumbled.

A snowplow chugged by us down the street, replacing what little snow was on the road with the smell of diesel. There were a surprising amount of locals out. I guess this sort of cold was their normal, and once or twice our group had to step apart to let speedwalking pedestrians pass.

"We should split up," Bianca said. "Two for each errand."

"I'll find a guide," I offered. Even the inherent coolness of winter gear didn't make up for the un-coolness of clothes shopping.

"I'll get the jackets with Emmitt," Bianca said.

"Ah, not so fast." Prometheus waved his card in the air. "Payer's choice. I'll be going for clothes. Must make sure they have one in my size, you know."

I wasn't sure a jacket had ever been made in his size, not to mention I was pretty sure the titan couldn't even feel the cold. He was entirely too comfortable strolling in short sleeves to need real gear.

"Fine." Bianca frowned. "Emmitt can go with Percy then."

"No, no. He'll be coming with me. I'd like to have a talk with him."

Bianca's eyes flitted my way, like she was reminding herself how little she wanted to be stuck with me. Seriously, she was as stubborn as, well, me. Come to think of it, maybe that was exactly the problem.

"What kind of talk?" Bianca asked, which my brain translated as Why am I being left with the other one?

"Man talk," Prometheus said. "No telling."

Emmitt suddenly looked scared. "I– I already know what balls do!"

I choked. All of us stared at him, and Emmitt blushed.

"But I won't say it out loud. Just trust me, I do know. Really I do."

"Huh. Wonderful for you." Prometheus put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him away. "Well, that wasn't what I meant. Come along, and we'll chat. You two! Meet us back at the boat in an hour. Good luck!"

We watched their backs.

"That was weird."

"So weird," Bianca agreed.

And then I guess she remembered she was ignoring me, because she sniffed and turned away.

"Seriously? We're doing this now?"

"Fine," she said. "But just… don't speak unless you have to."

I rolled my eyes. That seemed like the best offer I was going to get.

It wasn't long before I wished we'd brought Rose with us. The shipbuilder was never going to be pried away from her baby, but as the only one with a phone she sure would've been helpful for tracking down guided tour companies. Sure the locals gave us directions when we asked, but I wasn't sure the looks we got were worth it.

Turns out, the guides weren't any better.

"You want me to take you to the Denali backcountry in mid-December?" The guy in the first office, older with a bushy red beard and weathered skin, asked over his desk.

"Well, yeah," I said.

He shook his head, facial hair bouncing like a ginger tumbleweed. "Forget it. I'm not helping a couple kids get themselves killed."

"But–"

"Get out of here."

Our luck at the second, third, and fourth places was just as rough. We were running out of options to try. Counting off on my fingers, I tried to remember every business we'd heard recommended.

"Let's see… there was Northern Exploration, Snowshoe Tours, Backcountry, Arctic Hare Travel Groups, and Destination Denali."

"Kicked us out, kicked us out, closed, kicked us out, and kicked us out," Bianca rounded off. "What now?"

Maybe it was stupid, but four days of getting ignored had ticked me off enough to open my big mouth. "Oh, you're taking suggestions from me now?"

Bianca scowled. "Right, that was stupid. I'll figure this out."

"It's hopeless. It isn't like a guide is going to pop up out of thin air."

"You kids looking for an expedition?"

We jumped, twisting around. Bianca's hand went to her fingerless glove; mine darted to my pocket.

Standing there was the oddest dressed guy I'd seen this trip, and that was counting the Satyride Satyrs' hillbilly getups.

His weatherbeaten skin was pale. You couldn't see his hair. A beanie that had to be homemade was pulled over his ears. The hat was pure sheep's wool, fluffy and as white as the snow it was meant to protect against. His red-ringed eyes seemed like they never learned how to blink. Even his jacket, flapping a little in the wind, was made from canvas fabric instead of whatever polyester modern ones were lined with.

"You kids looking for an expedition?" he repeated.

"Uh, yeah." My hand didn't leave my pocket. "Why?"

"I lead expeditions. And I'm not like those cowards. I'll take you anywhere, anytime. 'Long as you pay me."

"You can take us past Denali?" I asked.

"Of course," he said. "Do I look like a hack? We'll make it in a day."

"Really?" Bianca asked.

"No. That's impossible. The snow is too thick, and even in good weather you would freeze."

"Are you joking?" I said.

"Yes. That was a joke. We'll be there in a day. Hire me."

"Why'd you say we would freeze then?" Bianca said.

"Because you asked."

"Huh?" I said.

He tapped a leather boot on the frozen sidewalk. "I don't like my skills being questioned, so I made a joke. You want to go to Denali or not?"

When we nodded, he smiled. I didn't like his lips. They looked thin and blue, like he'd been kissing snowdrifts. On the other hand, that was a pretty good sign he spent his time tromping through frozen wilderness.

Bianca stood up straighter, letting go of her glove. "You're hired."

"Are you sure that's a good id—"

"He's hired," she repeated, "unless you want to head out there by ourselves."

When put like that, I guess it wasn't much of a choice. If Prometheus didn't like it, he could come and Mist trick someone more qualified into taking the job. He was the one that sent Bianca and me. We couldn't hypnotize mortals with a finger snap, so he'd just have to be satisfied with what we could find.

"Alright," I agreed. "Why not."

"Dandy," said the guide. "I'm Michael. Let's go."

He pulled a detached hood over his beanie and knotted the straps under his chin. He started down the street, presumably in the direction of his car and, eventually, Denali.

"Hold up," I told him. "We're not ready to leave yet."

"Why not?" He looked over his shoulder. "You need gear? I have extra. Don't worry about money. Pay when we're finished."

The guy was setting off all sorts of monster warning bells in my head. Anybody this eager to lead us somewhere had to have a reason for it. But if he was a monster Prometheus would be able to tell. Better to figure out for sure than running away now and maybe making him attack us.

"There's two more in our group. We need to pick them up."

Michael tilted his head. "Lead me to them. Got to leave quickly. A storm is brewing."

Bianca and I shared a look. Arguments could wait for when not watching the other's back might get them killed. Even without talking, I could tell the message had been passed.

Regroup with the others. Decide if this guide was a threat. And if the answer was yes: Make some monster dust, then make tracks.

Just your standard day of demigod's work.

(-)

This chapter was supposed to be a little longer, but the last two took more time than expected and my last few weeks have been crazy, so I decided to keep this as a bit of a transitionary one. Things will speed up again next week. We're in Alaska now! Not toooo long before things start coming to a climax.