he'd escaped with a little help from my friends and me. I figured he'd rather

have his mane braided like My Little Pony than be back here again.

 

"Don't wait for us," I told him.

 

But, boss —

 

"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out by ourselves."

 

Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The

wind whistled in my ears. I saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship

— dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds. giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known

as telkhines — but we zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. We shot

down the stem of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a

landing on the lowest deck. I climbed off, feeling queasy.

 

Good luck, boss, Blackjack said. Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!

 

With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket

and uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size — three feet of deadly

Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.

 

Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. 1 thought it was a map or

something. Then I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the dim light

— the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. They'd started