VII

Leo broods over Nemesis’s taunts about being the “seventh wheel” and Hazel worries about Nico’s peril. As they scout the island for the reflecting pool, a camouflaged girl appears, echoing their words. Hazel identifies her as Echo, cursed to repeat others.

Echo urges them onward to a crater meadow with a small pond, crowded by nymphs filming and fawning over a stunning youth: Narcissus. He kneels, transfixed by his reflection, cast warmly by a large sheet of Celestial bronze lying on the pond bottom—exactly the bronze Leo needs for ship repairs.

Hazel recalls Narcissus’s myth and Nemesis’s curse; Narcissus, newly returned through the Doors of Death, is unchanged—enthralled with himself and ignoring Echo. The nymphs, obsessed fans, block any intervention and insist he stay. Narcissus refuses Leo’s offer to trade a mirror for the bronze.

With sunset near and Nemesis’s warning that Narcissus grows agitated after dark, Hazel concludes he cannot change. Leo counters that removing the bronze might break his fixation and give Echo a chance to save him. Hazel warns of enraging the nymphs and Narcissus’s bow, but agrees to try.

They form a plan: Hazel will attempt to summon the Celestial bronze through the earth from a short distance, while Leo and Echo create a distraction to draw attention away from the pond. Bracing for risk, they prepare to act before nightfall.