"Where now?" I asked Nico. "Los Angeles?"

 

"No need," he said. "There's a closer entrance to the Underworld."

 

SEVEN

 

MY MATH TEACHER GIVES ME A LIFT

 

We emerged in Central Park just north of the Pond. Mrs. O'Leary looked pretty

tired as she limped over to a cluster of boulders. She started sniffing around,

and I was afraid she might mark her territory, but Nico said, "It's okay. She

just smells the way home."

 

I frowned. "Through the rocks?"

 

"The Underworld has two major entrances," Nico said. "You know the one in L.A."

 

"Charon's ferry."

 

Nico nodded. "Most souls go that way, but there's a smaller path, harder to

find. The Door of Orpheus."

 

"The dude with the harp."

 

"Dude with the lyre," Nico corrected. "But yeah, him. He used his music to charm