𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐑, 𝐏𝐉

𝟎𝟏𝟔.𝟒

Annabeth went to join her brethren from the Athena cabin, who had set up a command tent and were directing operations. A gray banner with an owl fluttered outside the tent. Augustus fist bumped Juliet as they both went to their cabin that had grouped together.

Their security chief, Argus, stood guard at the door. Aphrodite's children were running around straightening everybody's armor but still holding up their own pretty well, decked out in armour with weapons ready.  Even Dionysus's kids had found something to do. The god himself was still nowhere to be seen, but his two blond twin sons were running around providing all the sweaty warriors with water bottles and juice boxes.

It looked like a pretty good setup, but Lee muttered next to her. "It isn't enough."

Juliet thought about what she'd seen in the Labyrinth, all the monsters in Antaeus's stadium, and the power of Kronos she'd felt of Mt. Tam. Her heart sank. Lee was right, but it was all they could muster. She wished Dionysus was here, but even if he had been, Juliet didn't know if he could do anything. When it came to war, gods were forbidden to interfere directly. Apparently, the Titans didn't believe in restrictions like that.

Over at the edge of the clearing, Grover was talking to Juniper. She held his hands while he told her their story. Green tears formed in her eyes as he delivered the news about Pan.

Tyson helped the Hephaestus kids prepare the defenses. He picked up boulders and piled them next to the catapults for firing.

"Hey, we got this okay?" she whispered to her older brother, giving him an encouraging smile.

Lee returned the smile before speaking, "I'm glad to see you okay, after you went missing," His tone turned somber as he ran a hand through his hair, "I thought we were going to get a repeat of last year. All the time you get in danger makes me feel like an incompetent brother and I..."

His voice wavered. The ground underneath them was trembling.

Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing. Clarisse barked a single order: "Lock shields!"

Then the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.

Juliet had been in fights before, but this was a full-scale battle. 

The first thing she saw were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly her ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.

"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Juliet and her siblings fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.

But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for Juliet. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. Juliet saw Annabeth draw a sword and engage one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!