𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓

The dracaena prodded them toward the doorway at javelin-point, and they walked out onto the floor of an arena.

***

ARIADNE WONDERED WHY SHE WAS THERE. If this was Percy's brother, why was she in there with him? It made no sense.

She guessed it wasn't the largest arena she'd ever been in, but it seemed pretty spacious considering the whole place was underground. The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that someone could drive a car around the rim if they pulled it really tight.

In the center of the arena, a fight was going on between a giant and a centaur. The centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his enemy, using a sword and shield, while the giant swung a javelin the size of a telephone pole and the crowed cheered.

The first tier was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigod's, telekhines, and stranger things: bag-winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you name it—bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

But the creepiest things were the skulls. The arena was full of them. They ringed the edge of the railing. Three foot high piles of the decorated the steps between the benches.

They grinned from the piles at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher.

In the middle of all this, proudly displayed on the side of the spectator's wall, was something that made no sense to her—a green banner with the trident of Poseidon in the center. What was that doing in there?

Above the banner, sitting in a seat of honor, was an old enemy.

"Luke," Ariadne said.

She wasn't sure he could hear her over the roar of the crowd, but he smiled coldly. He was wearing camouflage pants, a white t-shirt, and a bronze breastplate, just like she'd seen in her last dream.

But he still wasn't wearing his sword, which she thought was strange. Next to him was the largest giant Ariadne's ever seen, much larger than the one on the floor fighting the centaur. The giant next to Luke must've been fifteen feet tall, easy, and so wide he took up three seats.

He wore only a loincloth, like a sumo wrestler. His skin was dark red and tattooed with blue wave designs.

There was a cry from the arena floor, and Percy jumped back as the centaur crashed to the dirt beside him.

He met their eyes pleadingly. "Help!"

Percy reaches for his sword and Ariadne tried finding a place to grow vines, but Riptide had been taken from him and hadn't reappeared in his pocket yet, and there was no soil to grow anything from.

The centaur struggled to get up as the giant approached, his javelin ready.

A talones hand grilled her shoulder. "If you value your friendsss' livesss," they dracaena guard said, "you won't interfere. This isssn't your fight. Wait your turn."

The centaur couldn't get up. One of his legs was broken. The giant put his huge foot on the horseman's chest and raised the javelin. He looked up at Luke. The crowd cheered, "DEATH! DEATH!"