ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

13

ACCORDING TO THE plaque, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze. It didn't seem right to Kat that the fountain would have water in it in the winter anyway. Then again, those big monitors had flashed the face of their mysterious enemy Dirt Woman. Nothing about this place was right.

They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them. The giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom.

Jason went first, then Piper and Leo and Kat because she was guarding their backs. As she climbed, she braced herself for horrible sewer smells, but it wasn't that bad. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.

"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper wondered.

"No," Leo and Kat said at the same time. "Trust me," Leo finished.

Jason frowned. "How do you two know—"

"Listen, you get into weird situations when you're committing crimes," Kat explained.

"I ran away six times," Leo agreed. "I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"

Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "That way."

"How can you be sure?" asked Piper.

"There's a draft blowing south," Jason said. "Maybe the venti went with the flow."

It wasn't much of a lead, but nobody offered anything better.

Unfortunately, as soon as they started walking, Piper stumbled. Kat miraculously caught her. It was the child of Hermes speed reflexes.

"Stupid ankle," Piper cursed.

"Let's rest," Jason decided. "We could all use it. We've been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?"

"Thought you'd never ask. Chef Leo is on it!"

Piper and Jason sat on a brick ledge while Leo shuffled through his pack. Kat sat next to Leo, throwing her sword on the ground in front of her and murmuring at it to light up. It did, emitting a white glow.

"Is there anything it can't do?" Leo asked her.

Kat shrugged. "My uncle told me that it's more attuned to me than to other wielders," she said. "Theoretically, I could do a lot of things with Cortana. Like, you know, it can set on fire."

At the order, the edge of the blade burst into flame, making Leo grin his manic, unsettling grin. It had always made her feel the opposite. "I love you."

"I know," she smirked, fiddling with her ruby pendant as he pulled supplies out of his pack and toolbelt. He looked at home with the fire, the firelight highlighting his features in just the right way. She wondered if she'd missed something special when she'd broken up with him.

But then he asked her, "you like both of them, don't you?"

She resisted the urge to look back at the both of them, sitting on that ledge. "This really isn't the right time to think about relationships," she sighed, watching as her pendant flickered on and off — probably from the presence of the storm spirits nearby, but it's not like she could do anything about it when they were resting, so she put it away. "Not when Jason's like . . . you know, like this, and Piper's hiding something. I know it." She glanced at him. "Like you were."

Leo's face dropped. "Kat—"

"No, I get it," she waved him off. "I kept the secret of us being demigods for months, remember? It's not like I can talk."