The Heroes of Olympus, #5
The Blood of Olympus
by Rick Riordan
Contents
XVI
Overview
Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge are ambushed in Évora by Lycaon and his wolves, sent by Orion. Nico summons a wall of bones to stall the pack while Hedge rigs an escape. Reyna holds the line with improvised silver. Nico kills Lycaon with a silver knife and uses the wolf king’s shadow to transport the trio and the Athena Parthenos away just as Orion closes in.
Summary
Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge are surrounded in Évora by a werewolf pack led by Lycaon, who is working for Orion. Lycaon boasts he will detain them until Orion arrives and spill their blood on the sacred ground. With only Reyna’s silver pocketknife as an effective weapon, the trio face overwhelming odds.
To buy time, Nico animates the dead beneath the square, erupting a massive thicket of human bones that cages most of the wolves and pins Lycaon. Hedge scrambles up the temple to rig ropes on the Athena Parthenos. On the ground, Reyna improvises, taping silver coins to her sword and coordinating with her metal dogs to fend off freed wolves.
As Lycaon breaks loose and the bone barrier collapses, Nico, drained, devises a desperate plan. He has Reyna climb to the rope while he taunts Lycaon into leaping. Nico drives the silver pocketknife into Lycaon’s chest, dissolving the wolf king into shadow.
At that moment the pack surges and Orion’s voice commands them from a rooftop, bow drawn. Nico seizes Lycaon’s dissolving shadow, pulling himself, Reyna, Hedge, and the Athena Parthenos into the darkness, fleeing with no certainty of where they will emerge.
Who Appears
- Nico di AngeloSon of Hades; summons a wall of bones, kills Lycaon with a silver knife, and shadow-travels everyone to escape.
- Reyna Ramírez-ArellanoRoman praetor; recognizes Lycaon, fights with improvised silver-taped blade, climbs to the rigging on the Athena Parthenos.
- LycaonFirst werewolf; leads the ambush for Orion, is stabbed with silver by Nico, dissolving into shadow.
- Coach Gleeson HedgeSatyr; climbs the temple, rigs ropes on the Athena Parthenos, drops a ladder for escape.
- ArgentumReyna’s silver dog; despite prior damage, uses silver fangs to dispatch a werewolf.
- AurumReyna’s gold dog; attempts to fight but cannot harm the werewolves’ hides.
- OrionHunter giant; unseen presence orders the wolves to stop the demigods as he arrives.