The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries Read Free Page A

dissipated. The blisters faded.
    “You’re going to be fine,” I said. “Just rest.”
    “We—we can’t…” Her voice was shaky, but she managed to stand. She glanced at the drapes with a mixture of fear and nausea. “If all the windows are like that, and the door is locked—”
    “We’ll find another way out,” I promised.
    This didn’t seem like the time to remind her that we wouldn’t have been here if not for the stupid goat.
    I considered our options: a staircase going up, or two dark hallways. I squinted down the hall to the left. I could make out a pair of small red lights glowing near the floor. Maybe night-lights?
    Then the lights moved. They bobbed up and down, growing brighter and closer. A growl made my hair stand on end.
    Thalia made a strangled sound. “Um, Luke…”
    She pointed to the other hallway. Another pair of glowing red eyes glared at us from the shadows. From both hallways came a strange hollow clack, clack, clack, like someone playing bone castanets.
    “The stairs are looking pretty good,” I said.
    As if in reply, a man’s voice called from somewhere above us: “Yes, this way.”
    The voice was heavy with sadness, as if he were giving directions to a funeral.
    “Who are you?” I shouted.
    “Hurry,” the voice called down, but he didn’t sound excited about it.
    To my right, the same voice echoed, “Hurry.” Clack, clack, clack.
    I did a double take. The voice seemed to have come from the thing in the hallway—the thing with the glowing red eyes. But how could one voice come from two different places?
    Then the same voice called out from the hallway on the left: “Hurry.” Clack, clack, clack.
    Now I’ve faced some scary stuff before—fire-breathing dogs, pit scorpions, dragons—not to mention a set of oily black man-eating draperies. But something about those voices echoing all around me, those glowing eyes advancing from either direction, and the weird clacking noises made me feel like a deer surrounded by wolves. Every muscle in my body tensed. My instincts said, Run.
    I grabbed Thalia’s hand and bolted for the stairs.
    “Luke—”
    “Come on!”
    “If it’s another trap—”
    “No choice!”
    I bounded up the stairs, dragging Thalia with me. I knew she was right. We might be running straight to our deaths, but I also knew we had to get away from those things downstairs.
    I was afraid to look back, but I could hear the creatures closing—snarling like wildcats, pounding across the marble floor with a sound like horse’s hooves. What in Hades were they?
    At the top of the stairs, we plunged down another hallway. Dimly flickering wall sconces made the doors along either side seem to dance. I jumped over a pile of bones, accidentally kicking a human skull.
    Somewhere ahead of us, the man’s voice called, “This way!” He sounded more urgent than before. “Last door on the left! Hurry!”
    Behind us, the creatures echoed his words: “Left! Hurry!”
    Maybe the creatures were just mimicking like parrots. Or maybe the voice in front of us belonged to a monster too. Still, something about the man’s tone felt real. He sounded alone and miserable, like a hostage.
    “We have to help him,” Thalia announced, as if reading my thoughts.
    “Yeah,” I agreed.
    We charged ahead. The corridor became more dilapidated—wallpaper peeling away like tree bark, light sconces smashed to pieces. The carpet was ripped to shreds and littered with bones. Light seeped from underneath the last door on the left.
    Behind us, the pounding of hooves got louder.
    We reached the door and I launched myself against it, but it opened on its own. Thalia and I spilled inside, face-planting on the carpet.
    The door slammed shut.
    Outside, the creatures growled in frustration and scraped against the walls.
    “Hello,” said the man’s voice, much closer now. “I’m very sorry.”
    My head was spinning. I thought I’d heard him off to my left, but when I looked up, he was standing