“You were the good cop,” I guessed.

Lu’s neck veins bulged against her golden torque. “Call me what you like. I didn’t do enough for my Sapling, but I did what I could. She and I trained together for years.”

“Sapling?” Paul asked. “Oh, right. Because Meg’s a daughter of Demeter.” His expression remained serious, but his eyes twinkled, like he couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to be having this conversation.

I didn’t feel quite as fortunate. I was gripping my fork so tightly my fist trembled. The gesture might have looked threatening if the tines hadn’t been topped with a cherry tomato.

“You were Meg’s legal guardian.” I glared at Lu. “You could have taken her out of that tower. You could have relocated. Run with her. But you stayed. For years.”

“Hey,” Meg warned.

“No, he’s right.” Lu’s eyes bored a hole in the casserole dish. “I owed Nero my life. Back in the old times, he spared me from…Well, it doesn’t matter now, but I served him for centuries. I’ve done many hard things for him. Then the sapling came along. I did my best. Wasn’t enough. Then Meg ran away with you. I heard what Nero was planning, what would happen when you two came back to the city…” She shook her head. “It was too much. I couldn’t bring Meg back to that tower.”

“You followed your conscience,” Sally said.

I wished I could be as forgiving as our hostess. “Nero doesn’t hire warriors for their consciences.”

The big woman scowled. “That’s true, little Lester. Believe me, or don’t. But if we can’t work together, if you don’t listen to me, then Nero will win. He’ll destroy all of this.”

She gestured around the room. Whether she meant the world, Manhattan, or the Jackson/Blofis apartment, any of those possibilities was unacceptable.

“I believe you,” Sally announced.

It seemed ridiculous that a huge warrior like Lu would care about Sally Jackson’s approval, but the Gaul looked genuinely relieved. Her facial muscles relaxed. The elongated Celtic tattoos on her arms settled back into concentric circles. “Thank you, Jackson Mother.”

“I believe you, too.” Meg frowned at me, her meaning clear: And so will you, or I’ll order you to run into a wall.

I set down my tomato-topped fork. It was the best gesture of peace I could offer.

I couldn’t make myself trust Luguselwa completely. A “good cop” was still a cop…still a part of the mind game. And Nero was an expert at playing with people’s heads. I glanced at Paul, hoping for support, but he gave me an almost imperceptible shrug: What else can you do?

“Very well, Luguselwa,” I said. “Tell us your plan.”

Paul and Sally leaned forward, ready for marching orders.

Lu shook her head. “Not you, my good hosts. I have no doubt you are brave and strong, but I will not see any harm come to this family.”

I nodded. “On that, at least, we agree. Once the morning comes, we’re out of here. Possibly after a good breakfast, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Sally smiled, though there was a tinge of disappointment in her eyes, as if she’d been looking forward to busting some evil Roman heads. “I still want to hear the plan. What will you do?”

“Best to not share too many details,” Lu said. “But there is a secret way into Nero’s tower—from below. It is the way that Nero takes to visit…the reptile.”

Coils of lasagna seemed to tighten in my stomach. The reptile. Python. Interloper at Delphi, my archnemesis, and winner of Olympus Magazine’s Least Popular Serpent award for four thousand years running.

“That sounds like a terrible way in,” I noted.

“It is not wonderful,” Lu agreed.

“But we can use it to sneak in,” Meg guessed. “Surprise Nero?”

Lu snorted. “Nothing so easy, Sapling. The way is secret, but it is still heavily guarded and under constant surveillance. If you tried to sneak in, you would be caught.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m still not hearing anything resembling a plan.”

Lu took a moment to gather her patience. I was familiar with this look. I got it often from Meg, and my sister Artemis, and…well, everyone, actually.

“The way is not for you,” she said. “But it could be used to sneak in a small squad of demigods, if any were brave enough and sufficiently skilled at navigating underground.”

Son of Hades, I thought, the amphisbaena’s words echoing in my head, cavern-runners’ friend, / Must show the secret way unto the throne.

The only thing more unsettling than not understanding a prophecy was beginning to understand it.

“Then they would just get captured,” I said.

“Not necessarily,” Lu said. “Not if Nero were sufficiently distracted.”

I had a feeling I was not going to like the answer to my next question. “Distracted by what?”

“Your surrender,” Lu said.

I waited. Lu did not seem the type for practical jokes, but this would have been a good moment for her to laugh and yell NOT!

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“I’m with Apollo,” Sally said. “If Nero wants to kill him, why would he—?”

“It’s the only way.” Lu took a deep breath. “Listen, I know how Nero thinks. When I return to him and tell him you two got away, he will issue an ultimatum.”

Paul frowned. “To whom?”

“Camp Half-Blood,” Lu said. “Any demigods, any allies anywhere who are harboring Apollo. Nero’s terms will be simple: Apollo and Meg surrender themselves within a certain amount of time, or Nero destroys New York.”

I wanted to laugh. It seemed impossible, ridiculous. Then I remembered Caligula’s yachts in San Francisco Bay, launching a barrage of Greek-fire projectiles that would have destroyed the entire East Bay if Lavinia Asimov hadn’t sabotaged them. Nero would have at least as many resources at his disposal, and Manhattan was a much more densely populated target.

Would he burn his own city, with his own palatial tower in the middle of it?

Dumb question, Apollo. Nero had done it before. Just ask ancient Rome.

“So you rescued us,” I said, “just to tell us we should surrender to Nero. That’s your plan.”

“Nero must believe he has already won,” Lu said. “Once he has you two in his grasp, he will relax his guard. This may give your demigod team a chance to infiltrate the tower from below.”

“May,” I echoed.

“The timing will be tricky,” Lu admitted, “but Nero will keep you alive for a while, Apollo. He and the reptile…They have plans for you.”

A distant thunderclap shook my chair. Either that, or I was trembling. I could imagine what sort of plans Nero and Python might have for me. None of them included a nice lasagna dinner.

“And, Sapling,” Lu continued, “I know it will be hard for you, going back to that place, but I will be there to protect you, as I’ve done many times before. I will be your inside woman. When your friends invade, I can free you both. Then, together, we can take down the emperor.”

Why did Meg look so pensive, as if she were actually considering this insane strategy?