The Tyrant's Tomb
it were actually true. I had someone who depended on me, who needed mearound no matter how much we irritated each other. I thought about Hazeland Frank and the washing away of curses. I supposed that kind of lovecould come from many different types of relationships.“Okay.” Meg pushed herself away, wiping her cheeks furiously. “Enoughof that. You sleep. I’m—I’m going to get dinner or whatever.”For a long time after she left, I lay in my cot staring at the ceiling.Music floated up from the café: the soothing sounds of Horace Silver’spiano, punctuated by the hiss of the espresso machine, accompanyingBombilo singing in two-headed harmony. After spending a few days withthese noises, I found them soothing, even homey. I drifted off to sleep,hoping to have warm, fuzzy dreams about Meg and me skipping throughsunlit fields with our elephant, unicorn, and metal greyhound friends.Instead, I found myself back with the emperors.On my list of places I least wanted to be, Caligula’s yacht ranked right upthere with Tarquin’s tomb, the eternal abyss of Chaos, and the Limburgercheese factory in Liège, Belgium, where stinking gym socks went to feelbetter about themselves.Commodus lounged in a deck chair, an aluminum tanning bib around hisneck reflecting the afternoon sun directly onto his face. Sunglasses coveredhis scarred eyes. He wore only pink swim trunks and pink Crocs. I tookabsolutely no notice of the way the tanning oil glistened on his muscularbronzed body.Caligula stood nearby in his captain’s uniform: white coat, dark slacks,and striped shirt, all crisply pressed. His cruel face looked almost angelic ashe marveled at the contraption that now took up the entire aft deck. Theartillery mortar was the size of an aboveground swimming pool, with a twofoot-thickrim of dark iron and a diameter wide enough to drive a carthrough. Nestled in the barrel, a massive green sphere glowed like a giantradioactive hamster ball.Pandai rushed around the deck, blanket ears flopping, their furry handsmoving at preternatural speeds as they plugged in cables and oiled gears atthe base of the weapon. Some of the pandai were young enough to have purewhite fur, which made my heart hurt, reminding me of my brief friendshipwith Crest, the youthful aspiring musician who’d lost his life in the BurningMaze.
“It’s wonderful!” Caligula beamed, circling the mortar. “Is it ready fortest-firing?”“Yes, lord!” said the pandos Boost. “Of course, every sphere of Greekfire is very, very expensive, so—”“DO IT!” Caligula yelled.Boost yelped and scrambled to the control panel.Greek fire. I hated the stuff, and I was a sun god who rode a fiery chariot.Viscous, green, and impossible to extinguish, Greek fire was just plain nasty.A cupful could burn down an entire building, and that single glowing sphereheld more than I’d ever seen in one place.“Oh, Commodus?” Caligula called. “You might want to pay attention tothis.”“I am fully attentive,” Commodus said, turning his face to better catchthe sun.Caligula sighed. “Boost, you may proceed.”Boost called out instructions in his own language. His fellow pandaiturned cranks and spun dials, slowly swiveling the mortar until it pointed outto sea. Boost double-checked his readings on the control panel, then shouted,“U¯nus, duo, tre¯s!”With a mighty boom, the mortar fired. The entire boat shuddered fromthe recoil. The giant hamster ball rocketed upward until it was a greenmarble in the sky, then plummeted toward the western horizon. The skyblazed emerald. A moment later, hot winds buffeted the ship with the smellof burning salt and cooked fish. In the distance, a geyser of green firechurned on the boiling sea.“Ooh, pretty.” Caligula grinned at Boost. “And you have one missile foreach ship?”“Yes, lord. As instructed.”“The range?”“Once we clear Treasure Island, we’ll be able to bring all weapons tobear on Camp Jupiter, my lord. No magical defenses can stop such a massivevolley. Total annihilation!”“Good,” Caligula said. “That’s my favorite kind.”“But remember,” Commodus called from his deck chair, having not eventurned to watch the explosion, “first we try a ground assault. Maybe they’llbe wise and surrender! We want New Rome intact and the harpy andCyclops taken alive, if possible.”
- Page 100 and 101: Romance disasterI’m poison for gu
- Page 102 and 103: “It’s always dark underground,
- Page 104 and 105: I remembered the day we had sat tog
- Page 106 and 107: curse, I couldn’t have taken it b
- Page 108 and 109: Reluctant arrowGrant me this boon:
- Page 110 and 111: Bless him, Frank managed to maintai
- Page 112 and 113: “Shouldn’t that stick be locked
- Page 114 and 115: Nightmare carouselTotally let your
- Page 116 and 117: “Better,” I said, though I was
- Page 118 and 119: The carousel was topped by a tan do
- Page 120 and 121: “What?” she demanded. “I got
- Page 122 and 123: I glanced back at Meg and Lavinia.
- Page 124 and 125: and see us. Or smell us. Oh, human
- Page 126 and 127: Caelius whimpered. “Yes, my king.
- Page 128 and 129: Imperial gold bolt hit the zombie b
- Page 130 and 131: eventually, once the poison took ho
- Page 132 and 133: trunk of the tree. The root chute s
- Page 134 and 135: Cooking with PranjalChickweed and u
- Page 136 and 137: faces. One belonged to a handsome y
- Page 138 and 139: Before meeting the praetors, she to
- Page 140 and 141: “That can’t be right,” I said
- Page 142 and 143: “We’re doomed,” I wailed. “
- Page 144 and 145: “One way to find out,” Meg said
- Page 146 and 147: Reyna regarded her colleague. “Wh
- Page 148 and 149: she meant.“You’re talking about
- Page 152 and 153: “Yes, yes,” Caligula said. “I
- Page 154 and 155: “Oh, my gods, Thomas!” Lavinia
- Page 156 and 157: See this right here, kids?This is h
- Page 158 and 159: “Gotta think in new ways if you w
- Page 160 and 161: Lavinia shrugged. “Maybe, but the
- Page 162 and 163: With that happy news, Lavinia and D
- Page 164 and 165: I wanted to ask Lavinia what was go
- Page 166 and 167: The song quickly morphed, however.
- Page 168 and 169: “Let’s get you back to camp,”
- Page 170 and 171: In my pickup truckWith my dogs and
- Page 172 and 173: “Ready,” Hazel said. “If Tarq
- Page 174 and 175: “Can’t be sure, obviously. But
- Page 176 and 177: “I know what rhetorical means.”
- Page 178 and 179: “But does Meg?” I imagined my y
- Page 180 and 181: Up ahead, I heard Meg romping throu
- Page 182 and 183: “Oh…my…gods,” she wheezed.
- Page 184 and 185: Frozen in terrorLike a god in the h
- Page 186 and 187: “You’ve seen him?”“Just sen
- Page 188 and 189: I wondered if she was trying to mak
- Page 190 and 191: “A flock of ravens.” Meg sounde
- Page 192 and 193: “Well, can you un-create them?”
- Page 194 and 195: They swarmed—pecking, scratching,
- Page 196 and 197: her exposed chest and arms. Her lon
- Page 198 and 199: Let’s play guess the god.Starts w
“It’s wonderful!” Caligula beamed, circling the mortar. “Is it ready for
test-firing?”
“Yes, lord!” said the pandos Boost. “Of course, every sphere of Greek
fire is very, very expensive, so—”
“DO IT!” Caligula yelled.
Boost yelped and scrambled to the control panel.
Greek fire. I hated the stuff, and I was a sun god who rode a fiery chariot.
Viscous, green, and impossible to extinguish, Greek fire was just plain nasty.
A cupful could burn down an entire building, and that single glowing sphere
held more than I’d ever seen in one place.
“Oh, Commodus?” Caligula called. “You might want to pay attention to
this.”
“I am fully attentive,” Commodus said, turning his face to better catch
the sun.
Caligula sighed. “Boost, you may proceed.”
Boost called out instructions in his own language. His fellow pandai
turned cranks and spun dials, slowly swiveling the mortar until it pointed out
to sea. Boost double-checked his readings on the control panel, then shouted,
“U¯nus, duo, tre¯s!”
With a mighty boom, the mortar fired. The entire boat shuddered from
the recoil. The giant hamster ball rocketed upward until it was a green
marble in the sky, then plummeted toward the western horizon. The sky
blazed emerald. A moment later, hot winds buffeted the ship with the smell
of burning salt and cooked fish. In the distance, a geyser of green fire
churned on the boiling sea.
“Ooh, pretty.” Caligula grinned at Boost. “And you have one missile for
each ship?”
“Yes, lord. As instructed.”
“The range?”
“Once we clear Treasure Island, we’ll be able to bring all weapons to
bear on Camp Jupiter, my lord. No magical defenses can stop such a massive
volley. Total annihilation!”
“Good,” Caligula said. “That’s my favorite kind.”
“But remember,” Commodus called from his deck chair, having not even
turned to watch the explosion, “first we try a ground assault. Maybe they’ll
be wise and surrender! We want New Rome intact and the harpy and
Cyclops taken alive, if possible.”
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