Hazel just stared at him. “You—you were a bird. Then a bear. And—”
“I’ll explain later,” Frank said. “We need to drag this guy inland, as fast and far as we can.”
“But Percy!” Hazel said.
Frank cursed. How could he have forgotten?
Through the ruins of the camp, he saw Percy with his back to the edge of the cliff. His hurricane was gone. He held Riptide in one hand and the legion’s golden eagle in the other. The entire army of shades edged forward, their weapons bristling.
“Percy!” Frank yelled.
Percy glanced over. He saw the fallen giant and seemed to understand what was happening. He yelled something that was lost in the wind, probably: Go!
Then he slammed Riptide into the ice at his feet. The entire glacier shuddered. Ghosts fell to their knees. Behind Percy, a wave surged up from the bay—a wall of gray water even taller than the glacier. Water shot from the chasms and crevices in the ice. As the wave hit, the back half of the camp crumbled. The entire edge of the glacier peeled away, cascading into the void—carrying buildings, ghosts, and Percy Jackson over the edge.
FRANK WAS SO STUNNED THAT Hazel had to yell his name a dozen times before he realized Alcyoneus was getting up again.
He slammed his shield into the giant’s nose until Alcyoneus began to snore. Meanwhile the glacier kept crumbling, the edge getting closer and closer.
Thanatos glided toward them on his black wings, his expression serene.
“Ah, yes,” he said with satisfaction. “There go some souls. Drowning, drowning. You’d best hurry, my friends, or you’ll drown, too.”
“But Percy…” Frank could barely speak his friend’s name. “Is he—?”
“Too soon to tell. As for this one…” Thanatos looked down at Alcyoneus with distaste. “You’ll never kill him here. You know what to do?”
Frank nodded numbly. “I think so.”
“Then our business is complete.”
Frank and Hazel exchanged nervous looks.
“Um…” Hazel faltered. “You mean you won’t…you’re not going to—”“Claim your life?” Thanatos asked. “Well, let’s see…”
He pulled a pure-black iPad from thin air. Death tapped the screen a few times, and all Frank could think was: Please don’t let there be an app for reaping souls.
“I don’t see you on the list,” Thanatos said. “Pluto gives me specific orders for escaped souls, you see. For some reason, he has not issued a warrant for yours. Perhaps he feels your life is not finished, or it could be an oversight. If you’d like me to call and ask—”
“No!” Hazel yelped. “That’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Death asked helpfully. “I have video conferencing enabled. I have his Skype address here somewhere...”
“Really, no.” Hazel looked as if several thousand pounds of worry had just been lifted from her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Urgg,” Alcyoneus mumbled.
Frank hit him over the head again.
Death looked up from his iPad. “As for you, Frank Zhang, it isn’t your time, either. You’ve got a little fuel left to burn. But don’t think I’m doing either of you a favor. We will meet again under less pleasant circumstances.”
The cliff was still crumbling, the edge only twenty feet away now. Arion whinnied impatiently. Frank knew they had to leave, but there was one more question he had to ask.
“What about the Doors of Death?” he said. “Where are they? How do we close them?”
“Ah, yes.” A look of irritation flickered across Thanatos’s face. “The Doors of Me. Closing them would be good, but I fear it is beyond my power. How you would do it, I haven’t the faintest idea. I can’t tell you exactly where they are. The location isn’t…well, it’s not entirely a physical place. They must be located through questing. I can tell you to start your search in Rome. The original Rome. You will need a special guide. Only one sort of demigod can read the signs that will ultimately lead you to the Doors of Me.”
Cracks appeared in the ice under their feet. Hazel patted Arion’s neck to keep him from bolting.
“What about my brother?” she asked. “Is Nico alive?”
Thanatos gave her a strange look—possibly pity, though that didn’t seem like an emotion Death would understand. “You will find the answer in Rome. And now I must fly south to your Camp Jupiter. I have a feeling there will be many souls to reap, very soon. Farewell, demigods, until we meet again.”
Thanatos dissipated into black smoke.
The cracks widened in the ice under Frank’s feet.
“Hurry!” he told Hazel. “We’ve got to take Alcyoneus about ten miles due north!”
He climbed onto the giant’s chest and Arion took off, racing across the ice, dragging Alcyoneus like the world’s ugliest sled.
It was a short trip.