Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--v. they set the world on fire

THE NEXT MORNING, they walked down to the cattle guard and said their goodbyes. Rhea had pulled Nico aside for a few minutes to talk to him alone, talking in hushed whispers so that no one could overhear their conversation, and then she'd hugged him for a very long time. Nico had clutched on to her just as tight, burying his face in her shoulder.

"Nico, you could come with us," Percy blurted out, once the two of them came back to join the group.

"I need time to think. Rhea said...Rhea said I could just stay here for a while." His eyes wouldn't meet Percy's but Rhea could tell from Nico's tone that he was still angry at him. The fact that his sister had come out of the Underworld partly for Percy and not for him probably didn't sit well with him.

"Nico," Annabeth said gently. "Bianca just wants you to be okay."

She put her hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away. After giving Rhea's hand a brief squeeze and allowing her to run her fingers gently through his hair, he trudged up the road toward the ranch house. Maybe it was Rhea's imagination, but the morning mist seemed to cling to him as he walked. After a second thought, it was probably Nico's powers in action.

"I'm worried about him," Annabeth told Rhea and Percy. "If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again--"

"He'll be okay," Eurytion promised. The cowherd had cleaned up nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt, and he'd even trimmed his beard. "The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He'll be safe--I've already promised the daughter of Poseidon that."

"What about you?" Percy asked, re-focusing on the cowherd.

Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. "Things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat--you can assure Apollo that yourself, little sea spawn. I'm thinking about soybean patties instead. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."

That idea made Rhea shudder. "Well, good luck."

"Yup." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus's workshop now?"

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"

Eurytion studied the cattle guard, and Rhea got the feeling that the subject of Daedalus's workshop made him uncomfortable. "Don't know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would."

"That's what Hera said," Annabeth agreed. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"

Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace--a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression on the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to Annabeth.

"Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I--uh--did him a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."

"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked.

Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way."

Annabeth pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eight metallic legs. Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion's confusion.

"Spider!" she screamed.

"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained awkwardly. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."

"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."