𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲.

When is my son coming home?

Shadow travel was horrible. Lilia had her arms wrapped so tightly around Percy that she was beginning to lose feeling in them.

One minute she couldn't see anything. She could only feel Percy's body pressed up against hers.
In other circumstances she would have been blushing like crazy, but her mind couldn't think about that right now.

The next minute the shadows melted into a new scene. They were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. Lots of trees, low stone
walls, big houses. Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was a backyard. The property was huge-more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two-story white Colonial. Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Lilia could see a light glowing in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.

Mrs. O'Leary staggered. They remembered what Nico had said about shadow travel draining her, so Percy slipped off her back, helping Lilia down after.

She let out a huge toothy yawn that would've scared a T. rex, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard the ground shook.

Nico appeared right next to them, as if the shadows had darkened and created him. He stumbled, but Percy caught his arm.

"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked.

"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."

Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the roar of traffic behind them, Lilia was sure she would've woken up the whole neighborhood.

"Are you going to take a nap too?" Percy asked Nico.

He shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."

"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut." Percy gazed at the white Colonial house. "What now?"

"We ring the doorbell," Nico said.

Lilia sighed, this was a terrible idea.

The sidewalk was lined with familiar little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.

The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze.

The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English, and below in Greek: Alonths poupíov.

Nico looked at them. "Ready?"

He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open.

"Lilia! You're back, and you brought my son!" the old lady cried happily. "Luke!"

Lilia smiled sadly at the woman, the two boys gave her wide eyed looks.

Her white hair stuck out in tufts all over her head. Her pink housedress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched, and the high-voltage light in her eyes made me wonder if she was blind.

"Oh, my dear boy!" She hugged Nico.

Then she smiled at Percy and said, "Luke!"

She forgot all about Nico and gave him a hug. She was as thin as a scarecrow, but that didn't stop her from almost crushing him.