~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

We Almost Die. Again

{Kiara}

"On it," Leo said. "Piper, I need your help. Talk to the cage."

   "What?" she said.

   "Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaea to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I—"

   "Right!" Piper cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

   The more she talked, the more confident she sounded. Kiara felt her own eyes getting heavy, and she had to force herself not to focus on Piper's words.

   It seemed to have some effect on the cage. The mud was rising more slowly. The tendrils seemed to soften just a little—becoming more like tree roots than rock. Leo pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt. How it fit in there, Kiara had no idea.

   Then Leo looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. "I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"

   The spirit horse Tempest jumped into the pit and whinnied.

   "Really?" Jason asked.

   Tempest dipped his head and trotted over to Leo. Leo looked dubious, but he held up the plug, and a breeze whisked it into the horse's flank. Lighting sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the circular saw whirred to life.

   "Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!"

   Their good mood didn't last long. On the other side of the pool, the giant's spire crumbled with a sound like a tree snapping in half. Its outer sheath of tendrils exploded from the top down, raining stone and wood shards as the giant shook himself free and climbed out of the earth.

   Kiara hadn't thought anything could be scarier than Enceladus.

   She was wrong.

   Porphyrion was even taller, and even more ripped. He didn't radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him—a kind of strength, even magnetism, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.

   Like Enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs; but his skin was the color of lima beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, and full-size swords, some of them bent and bloody—maybe trophies taken from demigods eons before. When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble. He took a deep breath.

   "Alive!" he bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!"

   Kiara took a small step back. She was very sure no demigod could solo this guy. Porphyrion could lift mountains. He could crush Kiara with one finger.

   "Leo," Jason said.

   "Huh?" Leo's mouth was wide open. Even Piper seemed dazed.

   "You guys keep working," Kiara said. "Get Hera free!"

   "What are you going to do?" Piper asked. "You can't seriously—"

   "Entertain a giant?" Jason said. He glanced at Kiara and a silent conversation passed between the two. "We've got no choice."

"Excellent!" the giant roared as Jason and Kiara approached. "An appetizer! Who are you—Hermes? Ares?"

   "I'm Jason Grace," Jason said. "Son of Jupiter."