ENTRAPPED ₂

26

AS PERCY AND NICO SHOOK HANDS, MADELEINE QUICKLY FIXED HER FACE INTO ITS NORMAL SHAPE. Hazel's eyes were darting back and forth between all three of them as if waiting for something to explode, which Madeleine thought was rather fair, all things considered.

Upon closer inspection, Nico was achingly familiar. He felt the same way Percy had felt when Madeleine had woken up next to him. She didn't remember him, but something about him was so familiar. His wavy dark hair. His sad brown eyes, like a lost puppy. The freckles splattered across his nose.

The one thing that Madeleine was sure of: she had known this boy. She knew this because he had known her name.

When Percy and Madeleine had awoken, their hands had been tangled together. Madeleine still remembered the way Percy had looked: green eyes wide, face pale, dark brown hair curled at the nape of his neck.

"Madeleine," he breathed. He put his hands on her face like she might disappear if he didn't grab for her.

"Percy," she replied.

She didn't know him, but her body did. She didn't know his last name, but she killed for him over and over again.

It was this: Nico di Angelo looked like a sleepless night on repeat, a glitchy record. Madeleine knew him better than she knew her own hands. The way she didn't know anything at all made her want to scream.

Percy was scowling at Nico. "I―I know you."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?" He looked at Hazel.

Hazel visibly hesitated, studying Nico's face. "Um... Percy and Madeleine have lost their memories." She explained what had happened since Percy and Madeleine had arrived at the gates.

"So, Nico..." she continued carefully, once she was done, "I thought... you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy and Madeleine before, or..."

Nico's expression darkened. The temperature in the crypt dropped a few degrees.

"This story about Gaea's army," Nico said, turning to Percy. "You warned Reyna?"

Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"

"She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."

"Mother Earth... is evil?" Percy asked.

"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos―um, I mean, Saturn―to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."

"That story sounds familiar." Percy sounded surprised. "But I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea."

Nico shrugged. "She got mad when the gods took over. She took a new husband―Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss―and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least... the first time."

"The first time?" Percy echoed.

Nico glanced warily at Hazel. "Last summer," he continued, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared―" he hesitated, glancing between Percy and Madeleine; but Madeleine's brain was blank. It was as if the experience with Octavian had overloaded her memory, and now she couldn't think of anything.

"Um, anyway," Nico continued, "Saturn probably faded back to the abyss. We all thought the war was over. Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods..."