¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

008.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter eight

━━ ELISA WAS GROWING restless; she struggled to stay still for so long, even with an injured shoulder. And she was getting sick of the dreams; people kept chiding her that sleeping was the best way to heal but every time she tried to sleep, dreams would plague her mind. Worst of all, she saw the dark form of Ethan Nakamura. Is she wrong for holding a grudge against him? He stabbed her with a poisoned knife, after all.

The son of Nemesis was at the enemy camp. What the girl saw made her shiver; the army was huge. But she thought she might recognize the place, even though she had never been there herself. Percy had told her about this place filled to the brim with stone beings and a hate-filled monster out for vengeance against Poseidon.

They were on a crumbling road lined with rundown businesses and tattered billboard signs. The last someone had been using the place had been three summers ago, before Percy, Annabeth, and Grover came in and killed the owner. A trampled fence ringed a big yard full of cement statuary. The sign above the warehouse was hard to read because it was in red cursive, but Elisa managed to decipher it: AUNTY EM'S GARDEN GNOME EMPORIUM.

It was clearly abandoned. The statues, victims of Medusa, were broken and spray-painted with graffiti. A cement satyr—Elisa was pretty sure Percy mentioned that was Grover's uncle—was missing an arm. Part of the warehouse roof had caved in. A big yellow sign pasted on the door read: CONDEMNED.

Hundreds of tents and fires surrounded the property. Mostly Elisa saw monsters, but there were some human mercenaries in combat fatigues and demigods in armor, too. A purple-and-black banner hung outside the emporium, guarded by two, thirty-feet-tall giants with blue skin and icy-grey hair; Hyperboreans. That wasn't a good sign, Hyperboreans tended to be more peaceful than most other monsters.

Ethan crouched at the nearest campfire. A couple of other demigods sat with him, sharpening their swords. The doors of the warehouse opened and a man in a suit stepped out. He was taller than any average human—easily towering seven feet tall. His black hair was tied in a ponytail. Dark round glasses covered his eyes, but what really caught Elisa's attention was the skin on his face. It was covered in scratches, like he'd been attacked by a small, rabid animal.

"Nakamura," the man called. "The master would like to speak to you."

Ethan stood up warily. "Something wrong, Prometheus?"

Those scratches made sense then. Prometheus had been the one to defy the gods and steal fire to give it to humans. As a result of his treachery, the gods chained him to a rock and damned him to eternal torture by eagles eating his liver in an ongoing cycle. Elisa was pretty sure he was the Titan of Fire.

Prometheus smiled. "Lord Prometheus," he corrected. "And you'll have to ask him."

One of the other demigods next to the boy snickered. "Nice knowing you."

The black-haired boy readjusted his sword belt and headed into the warehouse. If Elisa didn't have such a strong hatred for him, she would have some pity for him. ( Unfortunately for Ethan, all her pity was already being used for herself—her shoulder really hurt. )

Except for the hole in the roof, the place was just as Percy had described. Statues of terrified people stood frozen in mid-scream. In the snack-bar area, the picnic tables had been moved aside. Right between the drink dispenser and pretzel warmer stood a golden throne. Kronos lounged on it, his scythe across his lap. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, and with his brooding expression, he looked almost human—like what a younger Luke would look like. Then Luke saw Ethan, and his face contorted into a very inhuman smile. His golden eyes glowed.