cursed you, because you broke so many hearts. Your punishment was to fall in love with your own reflection.”
“I love me so, so much,” Narcissus agreed.
“You finally died,” Hazel continued. “I don’t know which version of the story is true. You either drowned yourself or turned into a flower hanging over the water or—Echo, which is it?”
“Which is it?” she said hopelessly.
Leo stood. “It doesn’t matter. The point is you’re alive again, man. You have a second chance. That’s what Nemesis was telling us. You can get up, and get on with your life. Echo is trying to save you. Or you can stay here and stare at yourself until you die again.”
“Stay here!” all the nymphs screamed.
“Marry me before you die!” another squeaked.
Narcissus shook his head. “You just want my reflection. I don’t blame you, but you can’t have it. I belong to me.”
Hazel sighed in exasperation. She glanced at the sun, which was sinking fast. Then she gestured with her sword toward the edge of the crater. “Leo, could we talk for a minute?”
“Excuse us,” Leo told Narcissus. “Echo, want to come with?”
“Come with,” Echo confirmed.
The nymphs clustered around Narcissus again and began recording new videos and taking more photos.
Hazel led the way until they were out of earshot. “Nemesis was right,” she said. “Some demigods can’t change their nature. Narcissus is going to stay there until he dies again.”
“No,” Leo said.
“No,” Echo agreed.
“We need that bronze,” Leo said. “If we take it away, it might give Narcissus a reason to snap out of it. Echo could have a chance to save him.”
“A chance to save him,” Echo said gratefully.
Hazel stabbed her sword in the sand. “It could also make several dozen nymphs very angry with us,” she said. “And Narcissus might still know how to shoot his bow.”
Leo pondered that. The sun was just about down. Nemesis had mentioned that Narcissus got agitated after dark, probably because he couldn’t see his reflection anymore. Leo didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out what the goddess meant by
“Hazel,” he said, “your power with precious metal— Can you just detect it, or can you actually summon it to you?”
She frowned. “Sometimes I can summon it. I’ve never tried with a piece of Celestial bronze that big before. I might be able to draw it to me through the earth, but I’d have to be fairly close. It would take a lot of concentration, and it wouldn’t be fast.”
“Be fast,” Echo warned.
Leo cursed. He had hoped they could just go back to the ship, and Hazel could teleport the Celestial bronze from a safe distance.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll have to try something risky. Hazel, how about you try to summon the bronze from right here? Make it sink through the sand and tunnel over to you, then grab it and run for the ship.”
“But Narcissus is looking at it all the time,” she said.
“All the time,” Echo echoed.
“That’ll be my job,” Leo said, hating his own plan already. “Echo and I will cause a distraction.”
“Distraction?” Echo asked.
“I’ll explain,” Leo promised. “Are you willing?”
“Willing,” Echo said.
“Great,” Leo said. “Now, let’s hope we don’t die.”
LEO PSYCHED HIMSELF UP for an extreme makeover. He summoned some breath mints and a pair of welding goggles from his tool belt. The goggles weren’t exactly sunglasses, but they’d have to do. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He used some machine oil to grease back his hair. He stuck a wrench in his back pocket (why exactly, he wasn’t sure) and he had Hazel draw a tattoo on his biceps with a marker: HOT STUFF, with a skull and crossbones.
“What in the world are you thinking?” She sounded pretty flustered.
“I try not to think,” Leo admitted. “It interferes with being nuts. Just concentrate on moving that Celestial bronze. Echo, you ready?”
“Ready,” she said.
Leo took a deep breath. He strutted back toward the pond, hoping he looked awesome and not like he had some sort of nervous affliction. “Leo is the coolest!” he shouted.
“Leo is the coolest!” Echo shouted back.
“Yeah, baby, check me out!”
