He threw his arms around me. His power was so diminished that his body heat did not kill me, but it did open up my sinuses quite well.
“You should get home,” I said. “Pete is worried, and you need to regain your strength.”
“Ah, man…” Paulie wiped a steaming tear from his face. “Yeah, I’m gone. But anything you ever need—a free steam cleaning, some PR work, a mud scrub, you name it.”
As he dissolved into mist, I called after him. “And Paulie? I’d give the Woods at Camp Half-Blood a ten for customer satisfaction.”
Paulie beamed with gratitude. He tried to hug me again, but he was already ninety percent steam. All I got was a humid waft of mud-scented air. Then he was gone.
The five demigods gathered around me.
Miranda looked past me at the grove of Dodona. Her eyes were still puffy from crying, but she had beautiful irises the color of new foliage. “So, the voices I heard from that grove…It’s really an oracle? Those trees can give us prophecies?”
I shivered, thinking of the oak trees’ limerick. “Perhaps.”
“Can I see—?”
“No,” I said. “Not until we understand the place better.”
I had already lost one daughter of Demeter today. I didn’t intend to lose another.
“I don’t get it,” Ellis grumbled. “You’re Apollo? Like, the Apollo.”
“I’m afraid so. It’s a long story.”
“Oh, gods…” Kayla scanned the clearing. “I thought I heard Meg’s voice earlier. Did I dream that? Was she with you? Is she okay?”
The others looked at me for an explanation. Their expressions were so fragile and tentative, I decided I couldn’t break down in front of them.
“She’s…alive,” I managed. “She had to leave.”
“What?” Kayla asked. “Why?”
“Nero,” I said. “She…she went after Nero.”
“Hold up.” Austin raised his fingers like goalposts. “When you say Nero…”
I did my best to explain how the mad emperor had captured them. They deserved to know. As I recounted the story, Nero’s words kept replaying in my mind: My wrecking crew will be here any minute. Once Camp Half-Blood is destroyed, I’ll make it my new front lawn!
I wanted to think this was just bluster. Nero had always loved threats and grandiose statements. Unlike me, he was a terrible poet. He used flowery language like…well, like every sentence was a pungent bouquet of metaphors. (Oh, that’s another good one. Jotting that down.)
Why had he kept checking his watch? And what wrecking crew could he have been talking about? I had a flashback to my dream of the sun bus careening toward a giant bronze face.
I felt like I was free-falling again. Nero’s plan became horribly clear. After dividing the few demigods defending the camp, he had meant to burn this grove. But that was only part of his attack….
“Oh, gods,” I said. “The Colossus.”
The five demigods shifted uneasily.
“What Colossus?” Kayla asked. “You mean the Colossus of Rhodes?”
“No,” I said. “The Colossus Neronis.”
Cecil scratched his head. “The Colossus Neurotic?”
Ellis Wakefield snorted. “You’re a Colossus Neurotic, Markowitz. Apollo’s talking about the big replica of Nero that stood outside the amphitheater in Rome, right?”
“I’m afraid so,” I said. “While we’re standing here, Nero is going to try to destroy Camp Half-Blood. And the Colossus will be his wrecking crew.”
Miranda flinched. “You mean a giant statue is about to stomp on camp? I thought the Colossus was destroyed centuries ago.”
Ellis frowned. “Supposedly, so was the Athena Parthenos. Now it’s sitting on top of Half-Blood Hill.”
The others’ expressions turned grim. When a child of Ares makes a valid point, you know the situation is serious.
“Speaking of Athena…” Austin picked some incendiary fluff off his shoulder. “Won’t the statue protect us? I mean, that’s what she’s there for, right?”
“She will try,” I guessed. “But you must understand, the Athena Parthenos draws her power from her followers. The more demigods under her care, the more formidable her magic. And right now—”
“The camp is practically empty,” Miranda finished.
“Not only that,” I said, “but the Athena Parthenos is roughly forty feet tall. If memory serves, Nero’s Colossus was more than twice that.”
Ellis grunted. “So they’re not in the same weight class. It’s an uneven match.”
Cecil Markowitz stood a little straighter. “Guys…did you feel that?”
I thought he might be playing one of his Hermes pranks. Then the ground shook again, ever so slightly. From somewhere in the distance came a rumbling sound like a battleship scraping over a sandbar.
“Please tell me that was thunder,” Kayla said.
Ellis cocked his head, listening. “It’s a war machine. A big automaton wading ashore about half a klick from here. We need to get to camp right now.”