[act three; chapter twelve - a shadows power]
Andy couldn't help but feel her stomach curl in on itself as she crawled down the drainage pipe, Percy in the lead. She felt like she was curling around a feeling in her gut—fear, she realised. She was scared, but for what, she wasn't sure.
After thirty feet, it opened into a wider tunnel. To their left, somewhere in the distance, she heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine needed oiling. She had absolutely no desire to find out what was making that sound, so she had the feeling they should go that way. Luckily, Percy seemed to feel the same way.
Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signalling Andy and the others to wait. He peeked around the corner, his girlfriend squeezing herself beside him to do the same.
The corridor opened into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns. It looked like the same parking-garage-type area the daughter of Dionysus had imagined when Percy described it in his dreams, but now much more crowded with stuff.
The creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches (because they needed more water to deal with right now *eye roll*), powering water wheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside. Andy couldn't help thinking of Mrs. O'Leary, and how much she would hate being trapped inside one of those. Gods, she hated even looking at it, she couldn't even begin imagining what it would be like to be stuck inside.
Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals—a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas, and even an eight-headed hydra. Seeing them like that, animals that she had heard so much about in stories from her father, made anger buzz stronger and stronger, like whitewater rapids, through her veins.
Ancient-looking bronze and leather conveyor belts trundled along with stacks of weapons and armour.
Andy figured Leo would love this place, with all of the metal and mechanics and the noise. He would never want to leave a place like this, well, that is if it wasn't a layer for giants.
"What is it?" Piper whispered.
The redhead wasn't quite sure how to answer. She didn't see the giants, and Percy gestured for their friends to come forward and take a look.
About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-size wooden cutout of a gladiator popped up from the floor. It clicked and whirred along a conveyor belt, got hooked on a rope, and ascended through a slot in the roof.
Jason murmured, "What the heck?"
They stepped inside. Andy scanned the room. There were several thousand things to look at, most of them in motion, but one good aspect of being an ADHD demigod was that she was fairly comfortable with chaos. About a hundred yards away, she spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person.
A person, who had come to hold a very large, very special place in Andromeda Storm's heart.
"Look." The son of Poseidon pointed it out to his friends.
Zara frowned. "That's too easy. It's like some Scooby Doo thing."
"Of course," Percy said.
"But we have no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save Nico."
"Yeah." Percy started across the room, most likely picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms.
Andy looked at it in the same way she did for the climbing wall at Camp Half-Blood. How she could avoid taking the hardest path, but also not the easiest, or how she avoided the splashes and flows of the lava so she didn't hurt herself. How she dodged the people around her as well as any other surprises along the way.
The hellhounds in the hamster wheels paid them no attention. They were too busy running and panting, their red eyes glowing like headlights. The animals in the other cages gave them bored looks.
With Andy leading the way, they jumped over a water trench and ducked under a row of caged wolves. They had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened over them. A platform lowered. Standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was the purple-haired giant Ephialtes.
Andy, not even waiting for another second, dove across the ground, the area where the platform was aiming, and rolled. She found herself face to face with the massive jar, and turned to look up.
There was a Big F, which could easily be considered small by giant standards—about twelve feet tall—but he (a.k.a the giant) had tried to make up for it with his loud outfit. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that even her own father, Dionysus, would've found vulgar and straight up repulsing. It had a garish print made up of dying heroes, horrible tortures, and lions eating slaves in the Colosseum. The giant's hair was braided with gold and silver coins. He had a ten-foot spear strapped to his back, which wasn't a good fashion statement with the shirt. He wore bright white jeans and leather sandals on his...well, not feet, but curved snakeheads. The snakes flicked their tongues and writhed as if they didn't appreciate holding up the weight of a giant.
Ephialtes smiled at the demigods like he was really, really pleased to see them.
"At last!" he bellowed. "So very happy! Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it past the nymphs, but it's so much better that you did. Much more entertaining. You're just in time for the main event!"
Zara, Jason, and Piper closed ranks on either side of Percy, each of the four letting their eyes flicker towards Andy as she remained in her spot next to the jar. Having them there beside Percy made her feel a little better. This giant was smaller than a lot of monsters they had faced, but something about him made the daughter of Dionysus' skin crawl. Ephialtes's eyes danced with a crazy light, one that she had only seen on rare occasions, both in her own eyes and her fathers, but never like...this, never so severe. But that's what it was, wasn't it? Each giant was made to oppose a god, and the twins...
"We're here," Percy said, which sounded kind of obvious once he had said it. "Let our friend go."
"Of course!" Ephialtes said. "Though I fear he's a bit past his expiration date. Otis, where are you?"
A stone's throw away, the floor opened, and the other giant rose on a platform.
"Otis, finally!" his brother cried with glee. "You're not dressed the same as me! You're..."
Ephialtes's expression turned to horror. "What are you wearing?"
Otis looked like the world's largest, grumpiest ballet dancer. He wore a skin-tight baby-blue leotard that Andy really wished left more to the imagination, though she quickly looked away. The toes of his massive dancing slippers were cut away so that his snakes could protrude. A diamond tiara was nestled in his green, firecracker-braided hair. He looked glum and miserably uncomfortable, but he managed a dancer's bow, which couldn't have been easy with snake feet and a huge spear on his back.
"Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelled. "It's showtime! What are you thinking?"
"I didn't want to wear the gladiator outfit," Otis complained. "I still think a ballet would be perfect, you know, while Armageddon is going on." He raised his eyebrows hopefully at the demigods. "I have some extra costumes—"
"No!" Ephialtes snapped, and for once the demigods were in agreement.
The purple-haired giant faced Percy. He grinned so painfully, he looked like he was being electrocuted.
"Please excuse my brother," he said. "His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."
"Okay." Percy decided not to comment on the Hawaiian shirt. "Now, about our friend..."
"Oh, him," Ephialtes sneered. "We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has no entertainment value. He's spent days curled up sleeping. What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar."
Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He paused when he saw who was crouched in front of the jar. Andy hadn't drawn Mania, though the ring thrummed anxiously on her finger. She could hear Dom practically yelling how stupid she was being by not drawing her weapon in her head, though she didn't comment any further on it. The giant looked down at her and grinned, noticing her amethyst eyes. "I found the tiny little girl of Dionysus!"
Andy let out a little huff at his words, anger rippling through her. "I'm not some tiny little girl you oaf." She shuffled back slightly, protectively positioning herself in front of the jar. "You're not going to hurt him ever again, not again."
Zara, from where she stood next to Percy, looked her in the eyes. "Andy, maybe...maybe let him open the jar. Let Nico get some air, yeah?"
There was a double meaning, some other words, some other meaning behind it. Andy let out a growl and did as the younger girl said, side stepping just enough that Otis could do what he planned.
He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out. The sight of his deathly pale face and too-skinny frame made Andy's heart stop. She couldn't tell whether he was alive or dead, not with his chest not moving, or moving so slow she didn't notice.
She glared daggers at the giant as she kneeled beside him, picking his body up and holding him against her. No matter how big he got as he got older, no matter how they both changed and grew, Andy would never stop holding him, protecting him, loving him.
She pressed a hand over his chest, feeling the soft, barely there rise and fall of his chest, feeling his heart, feeling him live right under her hand. When she looked up, she noticed Percy watching them warily, looking a lot like he wanted to come over to them, hold them both as she held Nico, but Ephialtes stood in the way.
"Now we have to hurry," said the Big F. "We should go through your stage directions. The hypogeum is all set!"
As much as Andy wanted to leave, to run and take everyone with her, she couldn't do so much as move more than two feet with Otis standing over her and Nico.
Jason raised his gold gladius. "We're not going to be part of any show," he said. "And what's a hypo—whatever-you-call-it?"
Zara leaned over and whispered softly, "Hypogeum, Jay."
"Hypogeum!" Ephialtes said. "You're a Roman demigod, aren't you? You should know! Ah, but I suppose if we do our job right down here in the underworks, you really wouldn't know the hypogeum exists."
"I know that word," Piper said. "It's the area under a coliseum. It housed all the set pieces and machinery used to create special effects."
Ephialtes clapped enthusiastically. "Exactly so! Are you a student of the theatre, my girl?"
"Uh...my dad's an actor."
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes turned toward his brother. "Did you hear that, Otis?"
"Actor," Otis murmured. "Everybody's an actor. No one can dance."
Well, Otis was right about one thing. Everyone was an actor. At some point in their lives, everyone acted, everyone lied. Everyone.
"Be nice!" Ephialtes scolded. "At any rate, my girl, you're absolutely right, but this hypogeum is much more than the stageworks for a coliseum. You've heard that in the old days some giants were imprisoned under the earth, and from time to time they would cause earthquakes when they tried to break free? Well, we've done much better! Otis and I have been imprisoned under Rome for aeons, but we've kept busy building our very own hypogeum. Now we're ready to create the greatest spectacle Rome has ever seen—and the last!"
In her arms, Nico shuddered. Andy held him tighter, though not so much that he couldn't breathe any less than he already was. She nearly flinched when a hand, a cold, calloused hand that shadowed death, curled around her own. She bit back her smile, not wanting to give away that he was, well, functioning in any way.
"So!" Percy said, hoping to keep the giants' attention on him. "Stage directions, you said?"
"Yes!" Ephialtes said. "Now, I know the bounty stipulates that you and the girl, Andromeda, should be kept alive if possible, but honestly, you're both already doomed, so I hope you don't mind if we deviate from the plan."
Percy's mouth tasted like bad nymph water. "Already doomed. What—"
"Well, you're not dead yet! Any your other friends—"
Piper made a strangled sound. "Leo, Donnie? Hazel and Frank?"
"Those are the ones," Ephialtes agreed. "So we can use them for the sacrifice. And we can let the Athena girl die, which will please Her Ladyship. And we can use you five for the show! Gaea will be a bit disappointed, but really, this is a win-win. Your deaths will be much more entertaining."
Jason snarled. "You want entertainment? I'll give you entertaining."
Piper stepped forward. Somehow she managed a sweet smile. "I've got a better idea," she told the giants. "Why don't you let us go? That would be an incredible twist. Wonderful entertainment value, and it would prove to the world how cool you are."
Nico stirred. Otis looked down at the two demigods below him. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Andy and Nico's heads, the redhead ducking away with a gag.
"Plus!" Piper said quickly. "Plus, we could do some dance moves as we're escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!"
Zara raised her hand and flapped it around in the air, the sight looking strangely like a dead fish. "I did ballet for eight years! I'm a great ballet dancer, I promise!"
She really wasn't lying, she did do ballet for eight years and was extremely good at it.
Otis forgot all about Nico, and consequently Andy. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at Ephialtes. "You see? That's what I was telling you! It would be incredible!"
For a second, Andy thought Piper and Zara were going to pull it off. Otis looked at his brother imploringly. Ephialtes tugged at his chin as if considering the idea.
At last he shook his head. "No...no, I'm afraid not. You see, my girl, I am the anti-Dionysus." An amused snort mixed with a laugh sounded from the jar. "I have a reputation to uphold. Dionysus thinks he knows parties?" Another snort-laugh. "He's wrong!" And another. "His revels are tame compared to what I can do. That old stunt we pulled, for instance, when we piled up mountains to reach Olympus—"
"I told you that would never work," Otis muttered.
"And the time my brother covered himself with meat and ran through an obstacle course of drakons—"
"You said Hephaestus-TV would show it during prime time," Otis said. "No one even saw me."
"Well, this spectacle will be even better," Ephialtes promised. "The Romans always wanted bread and circuses—food and entertainment! As we destroy their city, I will offer them both. Behold, a sample!"
Something dropped from the ceiling and landed at Percy's feet: a loaf of sandwich bread in a white plastic wrapper with red and yellow dots.
Percy picked it up. "Wonder bread?"
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Ephialtes's eyes danced with crazy excitement. "You can keep that loaf. I plan on distributing millions to the people of Rome as I obliterate them."
"Wonder bread is good," Otis admitted. "Though the Romans should dance for it."
Percy glanced over at Nico and Andy, the boy who was just starting to wake up and move and the girl whose eyes had begun to darken as she dove deep into her power, no doubt for something she knew far before anyone else, all thanks to the god of prophecy.
"Maybe," Percy ventured, "you should bring our other friends here. You know, spectacular deaths...the more the merrier, right?"
"Hmm." Ephialtes fiddled with a button on his Hawaiian shirt. "No. It's really too late to change the choreography. But never fear. The circuses will be marvellous! Ah...not the modern sort of circus, mind you. That would require clowns, and I hate clowns."
"Everyone hates clowns," Otis said. "Even other clowns hate clowns."
Jason nodded and leaned down to hear Zara as she said, "He's not wrong, though."
"Exactly," his brother agreed. "But we have much better entertainment planned! The five of you will die in agony, up above, where all the gods and mortals can watch. And the daughter of Dionysus, well, we have quite a special plan for you, though yours does not involve, well, death, I suppose. Something more like possession of your power and your mind and your body. But that's just the opening ceremony! In the old days, games went on for days or weeks. Our spectacle—the destruction of Rome—will go on for one full month until Gaea awakens."
Andy felt her body go stiff at his words, feel her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She knew what he meant, what he was talking about. Enslavement for the rest of her life, maybe even centuries should Gaea choose to, well, make her immortal.
"Wait," Jason said. "One month, and Gaea wakes up?"
Ephialtes waved away the question. "Yes, yes. Something about August First being the best date to destroy all humanity. Not important! In her infinite wisdom, the Earth Mother has agreed that Rome can be destroyed first, slowly and spectacularly. It's only fitting!"
"So..." Percy drawled, trying to diverge his thoughts from the giant's words involving his favourite redhead being possessed for the rest of her mortal life. "You're Gaea's warm-up act."
Ephialtes's face darkened. "This is no warm-up, demigod! We'll release wild animals and monsters into the streets. Our special effects department will produce fires and earthquakes. Sinkholes and volcanoes will appear randomly out of nowhere! Ghosts will run rampant."
"The ghost thing won't work," Otis said. "Our focus groups say it won't pull ratings."
"Doubters!" Ephialtes said. "This hypogeum can make anything work!"
Ephialtes stormed over to a big table covered with a sheet. He pulled the sheet away, revealing a collection of levers and knobs almost as complicated-looking as Leo's control panel on the Argo II.
"This button?" Ephialtes said. "This one will eject a dozen rabid wolves into the Forum. And this one will summon automaton gladiators to battle tourists at the Trevi Fountain. This one will cause the Tiber to flood its banks so we can reenact a naval battle right in the Piazza Navona! Percy Jackson, you should appreciate that, as a son of Poseidon!"
"Uh...I still think the letting us go idea is better," Percy said.
Andy's hand shot in the air. "Me too!"
Zara echoed, "Me three!"
Jason nodded. "Me four!"
And last but not least, Piper said, with just as much enthusiasm. "Me five!" Then, on a much more serious note, she said, "He's right. Otherwise we get into this whole confrontation thing. We fight you. You fight us. We wreck your plans. You know, we've defeated a lot of giants lately. I'd hate for things to get out of control."
Ephialtes nodded thoughtfully. "You're right."
Piper blinked. "I am?"
"We can't let things get out of control," the giant agreed. "Everything has to be timed perfectly. But don't worry. I've choreographed your deaths. You'll love it."
Nico started to crawl away with Andy's assistance, guiding him.
Jason switched his sword hand. "And if we refuse to cooperate with your spectacle?"
"Well, you can't kill us." Ephialtes laughed, as if the idea was ridiculous. "You have no gods with you, and that's the only way you could hope to triumph. So really, it would be much more sensible to die painfully. Sorry, but the show must go on."
Andy was coming to learn that Ephialtes was basically a much, much worse version of her father, lacking in humour that people actually liked, as well as the fact that he had drank five energy drinks in two hours.
Percy looked at his friends. "I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt."
"Combat time?" Piper grabbed her horn of plenty.
"I hate Wonder bread," Jason said.
Zara pulled her knives from all of the places she had stashed them. "Ditto."
Together, they charged.
—⏳—
Things went wrong immediately, as they almost always do. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke. They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot.
Percy sprinted toward Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under his feet, and metal walls shot up on either side, separating him from his friends.
The walls started closing in on him like the sides of a vise grip. Percy jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the hydra's cage. He caught a brief glimpse of Piper leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico and Andy, the son of Hades who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards, and the daughter of Dionysus who was pale and clammy, no doubt feeling the effects of being near her fathers opposers, just as Percy had with Polybotes.
Meanwhile Jason and Zara charged at Otis, who pulled his spear and heaved a great sigh, as if he would much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod.
Percy registered all this in a split second, but there wasn't much he could do about it. The hydra snapped at his hands. He swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. The trees changed positions as he tried to run through them, so he slashed down the whole forest with Riptide.
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried. He stood at his control panel about sixty feet to Percy's left. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"
He pulled a lever, and the boy glanced behind him. The cage he had just been hanging from was now rising toward a hatch in the ceiling. In three seconds it would be gone. If Percy attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city.
Cursing, he threw Riptide like a boomerang, something that Andy would be absolutely proud of. The sword wasn't designed for that, but the Celestial bronze blade sliced through the chains suspending the hydra. The cage tumbled sideways. The door broke open, and the monster spilled out—right in front of Percy.
"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Jackson!" Ephialtes called. "Very well. Battle it here, if you must, but your death won't be nearly as good without the cheering crowds."
Percy stepped forward to confront the monster—then realised he'd just thrown his weapon away. A bit of bad planning on his part.
But soon he felt a warm thrumming on his left pointer finger, the familiar feeling, the rhythm of his other half's heart, the organ that kept her alive, the same one that kept his own beating. Mania was on his finger, beating to the sound of Andromeda Storm's heart. It was like an important brand, the best one, and the only one that he could have. He wouldn't draw the sword yet, not yet.
He rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spit acid, turning the floor where he'd been standing into a steaming crater of melted stone. Percy really hated hydras. It was almost a good thing that he'd lost his sword, since his gut instinct would've been to slash at the heads, and a hydra simply grew two new ones for each one it lost.
The last time he'd faced a hydra, he and Andy had been saved by a battleship with bronze cannons that blasted the monster to pieces. That strategy couldn't help him now...or could it?
The hydra lashed out. Percy ducked behind a giant hamster wheel and scanned the room, looking for the boxes he'd seen in his dream. He remembered something about rocket launchers.
At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico and the daughter of Dionysus as the leopards advanced. She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' heads. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it.
About eighty feet to Piper's right, Jason and Zara battled Otis, sword and knives against spear and hardened flesh. Otis had lost his diamond tiara and looked angry about it. He probably could have impaled Jason several times and there were several gashes on his arms and legs from Zara's knives, but the giant insisted on doing a pirouette with every attack, which slowed him down.
Meanwhile Ephialtes laughed as he pushed buttons on his control board, cranking the conveyor belts into high gear and opening random animal cages.
The hydra charged around the hamster wheel. Percy swung behind a column, grabbed a garbage bag full of Wonder bread, and threw it at the monster. The hydra spit acid, which was a mistake. The bag and wrappers dissolved in midair. The Wonder bread absorbed the acid like fire extinguisher foam and splattered against the hydra, covering it in a sticky, steaming layer of high-calorie poisonous goo.
As the monster reeled, shaking its heads and blinking Wonder acid out of its eyes, Percy looked around desperately. He didn't see the rocket-launcher boxes, but tucked against the back wall was a strange contraption like an artist's easel, fitted with rows of missile launchers. Percy spotted a bazooka, a grenade launcher, a giant Roman candle, and a dozen other wicked-looking weapons. They all seemed to be wired together, pointing in the same direction and connected to a single bronze lever on the side. At the top of the easel, spelled in carnations, were the words: HAPPY DESTRUCTION, ROME!
Percy bolted toward the device. The hydra hissed and charged after him.
"I know!" Ephialtes cried out happily. "We can start with explosions along the Via Labicana! We can't keep our audience waiting forever."
Percy scrambled behind the easel and turned it toward Ephialtes. He didn't have Leo's skill with machines or the twins of Dionysus' precision, but he knew how to aim a weapon.
The hydra barreled toward him, blocking his view of the giant. Percy hoped this contraption would have enough firepower to take down two targets at once. He tugged at the lever. It didn't budge.
All eight hydra heads loomed over him, ready to melt him into a pool of sludge. He tugged the lever again. This time the easel shook and the weapons began to hiss.
"Duck and cover!" Percy yelled, hoping his friends got the message.
He leaped to one side as the easel fired. The sound was like a fiesta in the middle of an exploding gunpowder factory. The hydra vaporised instantly. Unfortunately, the recoil knocked the easel sideways and sent more projectiles shooting all over the room. A chunk of ceiling collapsed and crushed a waterwheel. More cages snapped off their chains, unleashing two zebras and a pack of hyenas. A grenade exploded over Ephialtes's head, but it only blasted him off his feet. The control board didn't even look damaged.
Across the room, sandbags rained down around Piper, Andy, and Nico. Piper tried to pull Andy and Nico to safety, the redhead trying to shield the younger boy with her body, but one of the bags caught the daughter of Aprhodite's shoulder and knocked her down.
"Piper!" Zara cried. She ran toward her, completely forgetting about Otis, who aimed his spear at Jason's back, the blonde boy having turned his attention towards the source of the yelling.
"Look out!" Percy yelled.
Jason had fast reflexes. As Otis threw, Jason rolled. The point sailed over him and Jason flicked his hand, summoning a gust of wind that changed the spear's direction. It flew across the room and skewered Ephialtes through his side just as he was getting to his feet.
"Otis!" Ephialtes stumbled away from his control board, clutching the spear as he began to crumble into monster dust. "Will you please stop killing me!"
"Not my fault!"
Otis had barely finished speaking when Percy's missile-launching contraption spit out one last sphere of Roman candle fire. The fiery pink ball of death (naturally it had to be pink) hit the ceiling above Otis and exploded in a beautiful shower of light. Colourful sparks pirouetted gracefully around the giant. Then a ten-foot section of roof collapsed and crushed him flat.
Zara ran to Piper's side. She yelped when the brunette touched her arm. Her shoulder looked unnaturally bent, but she muttered, "Fine. I'm fine."
Next to her, Nico sat up, his hands holding onto Andy's arms that were wrapped around him, looking around him in bewilderment as if just realising he'd missed a battle.
Andy just kept murmuring, "Oh thank the gods." Though Percy knew the 'gods' really just meant any of them that she actually liked.
Sadly, the giants weren't finished. Ephialtes was already re-forming, his head and shoulders rising from the mound of dust. He tugged his arms free and glowered at Percy.
Across the room, the pile of rubble shifted, and Otis busted out. His head was slightly caved in. All the firecrackers in his hair had popped, and his braids were smoking. His leotard was in tatters, which was just about the only way it could've looked less attractive on him.
"Percy!" Jason shouted. "The controls!"
Percy unfroze. He pulled Mania from his finger, the sword growing to full length in his hand, even though the weight of Riptide was back in his pocket, and lunged for the switchboard. He slashed the gold and bronze blade across the top, decapitating the controls in a shower of bronze sparks.
"No!" Ephialtes wailed. "You've ruined the spectacle!"
Percy turned too slowly. Ephialtes swung his spear like a bat and smacked him across the chest. He fell to his knees, the pain turning his stomach to lava.
He could hear a slightly muffled shout from where he knew his girlfriend was, knew it belonged to her.
Jason ran to his side, but Otis lumbered after him. Percy managed to rise and found himself shoulder to shoulder with the son of Jupiter. Over by the dais, Piper was still on the floor, unable to get up, Zara at her side. Nico was barely conscious and Andy looked ready to join him, her eyelids drooping over her amethyst eyes.
The giants were healing, getting stronger by the minute. Percy was not.
Ephialtes smiled apologetically. "Tired, Percy Jackson? As I said, you cannot kill us. So I guess we're at an impasse. Oh, wait...no we're not! Because we can kill you!"
"That," Otis grumbled, picking up his fallen spear, "is the first sensible thing you've said all day, brother."
The giants pointed their weapons, ready to turn Percy and Jason into a demigod-kabob.
"We won't give up," Jason growled. "We'll cut you into pieces like Jupiter did to Saturn."
"That's right," Percy said. "You're both dead. I don't care if we have a god on our side or not."
"Well, that's a shame," said a new voice, one that shared the same hoarseness and edge that Andy did.
To his right, another platform lowered from the ceiling. Leaning casually on a pine cone-topped staff was a man in a purple camp shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals with white socks. He raised his broad-brimmed hat, and purple fire flickered in his eyes. "I'd hate to think I made a special trip for nothing."
—⏳—
Zara never thought, not for a moment, that Bacchus/Dionysus would be a calming influence, but suddenly everything got quiet. The machines ground to a halt. The wild animals stopped growling and every noise other than breathing was replaced by a relieved, sob-sounding laugh.
The two leopards paced over—still licking their lips from Piper's pot roast—and butted their heads affectionately against the god's legs. Mr. D scratched their ears.
"Really, Ephialtes," he chided. "Killing demigods is one thing. But using leopards for your spectacle and trying to offer up my daughter, my child to Gaea as if she were an item or thing to be used? That's over the line."
The giant made a squeaking sound. "This—this is impossible. D-D—"
"It's Bacchus, actually, my old friend," said the god. "And of course it's possible. Someone told me there was a party going on."
He looked the same as he had in Kansas, but Zara still couldn't get over the differences between Bacchus and Dionysus.
Bacchus was meaner and leaner, with less of a potbelly. He had longer hair, more spring in his step, and a lot more anger in his amethyst eyes. He even managed to make a pinecone on a stick look intimidating.
Ephialtes's spear quivered. "You—you gods are doomed! Be gone, in the name of Gaea!"
"Hmm." Bacchus sounded unimpressed. He strolled through the ruined props, platforms, and special effects, making his way towards a certain redhead who had forced herself to her feet.
"Tacky." He waved his hand at a painted wooden gladiator, then turned to a machine that looked like an oversized rolling pin studded with knives. "Cheap. Boring. And this..." He inspected the rocket-launching contraption, which was still smoking. "Tacky, cheap, and boring. Honestly, Ephialtes. You have no sense of style."
"STYLE?" The giant's face flushed. "I have mountains of style. I define style. I—I—"
"My brother oozes style," Otis suggested.
"Thank you!" Ephialtes cried.
Bacchus stepped forward, and the giants stumbled back. "Have you two gotten shorter?" asked the god.
"Oh, that's low," Ephialtes growled. "I'm quite tall enough to destroy you, Bacchus! You gods, always hiding behind your mortal heroes, trusting the fate of Olympus to the likes of these."
He sneered at Percy.
Jason hefted his sword. "Lord Bacchus, are we going to kill these giants or what?"
"Well, I certainly hope so," Bacchus said. "Please, carry on."
Percy stared at him. "Didn't you come here to help?"
The god of madness' attention was dragged from the giants and demigods as Andy approached, looking sick. The god's expression shifted, turning softer as she got closer and closer, opening his arms for her. She all but collapsed into his hold, his muscled arms closing around her tightly, yet with a gentleness that was saved only for his children, but even more specifically, for his daughter. His hand, soft and light as a feather, moved up and down her back, travelling up to her neck and holding her against him. Zara, as well as everyone else, had never seen him, neither Bacchus or Dionysus, be so...careful with someone.
They pulled away from each other, though never let go. Andy kept her arms wrapped around him, her body trembling as she fought to stay standing, though colour had begun to flood her face once again.
Bacchus shrugged as he turned back to everyone else. "Oh, I appreciated the sacrifice at sea. A whole ship full of Diet Coke. Very nice. Although I would've preferred Diet Pepsi."
"And six million in gold and jewels," Percy muttered.
"Yes," Bacchus said, "although with demigod parties of five or more the gratuity is included, so that wasn't necessary."
"What?"
"Never mind," Bacchus said. "At any rate, you got my attention. I'm here. Now I need to see if you're worthy of my help. Go ahead. Battle. If I'm impressed, I'll jump in for the grand finale."
"We speared one," Percy said. "Dropped the roof on the other. What do you consider impressive?"
"Ah, a good question..." Bacchus tapped his thyrsus. Then he smiled in a way that made Zara think he had something up his sleeve of plans, just like when Andy smiled the same smile. "Perhaps you need inspiration! The stage hasn't been properly set. You call this a spectacle, Ephialtes? Let me show you how it's done."
The god dissolved into purple mist, his daughter with him. Piper and Nico disappeared just a few seconds later.
Percy spun around frantically, his eyes darting in every which way as Zara stuck herselves between the two boys.
Jason yelled. "Bacchus, where did you—?"
The entire floor rumbled and began to rise. The ceiling opened in a series of panels. Sunlight poured in. The air shimmered like a mirage, and Zara heard the roar of a crowd above her.
The hypogeum ascended through a forest of weathered stone columns, into the middle of a ruined coliseum.
Her heart did a somersault. This wasn't just any coliseum. It was the Colosseum. The giants' special effects machines had gone into overtime, laying planks across ruined support beams so the arena had a proper floor again. The bleachers repaired themselves until they were gleaming white. A giant red-and-gold canopy extended overhead to provide shade from the afternoon sun. The emperor's box was draped with silk, flanked by banners and golden eagles. The roar of applause came from thousands of shimmering purple ghosts, the Lares of Rome brought back for an encore performance.
Vents opened in the floor and sprayed sand across the arena, Zara flinching back at the sheer volume of every sound that echoed within a few seconds of each other. Huge props sprang up—garage-size mountains of plaster, stone columns, and (for some reason) life-size plastic barnyard animals. A small lake appeared to one side. Ditches crisscrossed the arena floor in case anyone was in the mood for trench warfare. Zara, Percy, and Jason stood together facing the twin giants.
"This is a proper show!" boomed the voice of Bacchus. He sat in the emperor's box wearing purple robes and golden laurels. At his left sat Nico and Piper, her shoulder being tended by a nymph in a nurse's uniform. At Bacchus's right crouched a satyr, offering up Doritos and grapes. And sitting to his far right, was another chair, Andy perched at her fathers side. She looked poised and much more alive than before, most likely thanks to the gods' presence. Bacchus raised a can of Diet Pepsi and the crowd went respectfully quiet.
Percy glared up at him. "You're just going to sit there?"
"The demigod is right!" Ephialtes bellowed. "Fight us yourself, coward! Um, without the demigods."
Bacchus smiled lazily. "Juno says she's assembled a worthy crew of demigods. Show me. Entertain me, heroes of Olympus. Give me a reason to do more. Being a god has its privileges."
He popped his soda can top, and the crowd cheered.
—⏳—
Zara was a seasoned soldier, even if she never really worded it that way. She had fought in arenas, she had practised endlessly and sharpened her skills; she had fought in a war, and was now fighting in another one. She could wield many weapons: throwing knives, duel knives, daggers, bow and arrow, shields, swords, spears, many, many weapons. Sure, she wasn't good at all of them and she always had the tendency to lean more towards her favourite duel knives and batons and shields.
In the huge Colosseum, with thousands of cheering ghosts, the god Bacchus staring down at her, Jason, and Percy, and the two twelve-foot giants looming over her, Zara felt as small and insignificant as a bug. She also felt very angry, an incredibly rare anger that burned in her gut and curled around her heart like a shadowy hand, as if it was made from the darkness that could flood from her own body.
Ephialtes and Otis gave the three demigods absolutely no choice in not fighting or doing something else as they attacked. Together, the giants picked up a fake mountain as big as three quarters of her home in New Rome.
Zara, Percy, and Jason bolted. They dove together into the nearest trench and the mountain shattered above them, spraying them with plaster shrapnel. It wasn't deadly, but it stung like crazy.
It knocked against their bodies, cutting into Zara's skin, even as Jason positioned himself above her like a shield, curling around her as Percy did his best to do the same.
The crowd jeered and shouted for blood. "Fight! Fight!"
"I'll take Otis again?" Jason called over the noise. "Or do you want him this time?"
Zara tried to think. Dividing was the natural course—fighting the giants one-on-one, but that hadn't worked so well last time. When things don't work, she discovered, you have to switch to a new strategy. They had not succeeded separately, so they had a better chance together.
"We attack together," he said. "Otis first, because he's weaker. Take him out quickly and move to Ephialtes. Bronze and gold together—maybe that'll keep them from re-forming a little longer."
Jason smiled dryly, like he'd just found out he would die in an embarrassing way.
"Why not?" he agreed. "But Ephialtes isn't going to stand there and wait while we kill his brother. Unless—"
"Good wind today," Percy offered. "And there are some water pipes running under the arena."
Jason understood immediately. He laughed, and Zara felt a spark of friendship between the two of them. She raised her hand as she leaned her head between the two of them. "Am I doing distraction 1.0.1?"
Both boys said, "Yes, please."
"On three?" Jason said.
"Why wait?"
They charged out of the trench. As Zara suspected, the twins had lifted another plaster mountain and were waiting for a clear shot. The giants raised it above their heads, preparing to throw, and Percy caused a water pipe to burst at their feet, shaking the floor. Jason sent a blast of wind against Ephialtes's chest. The purple-haired giant toppled backward and Otis lost his grip on the mountain, which promptly collapsed on top of his brother. Only Ephialtes's snake feet stuck out, darting their heads around, as if wondering where the rest of their body had gone.
The crowd roared with approval, but Zara had a feeling Ephialtes was only stunned. They had a few seconds at best.
"Hey, Otis!" she shouted. "The Nutcracker bites, you know!"
"Ahhhhh!" Otis snatched up his spear and threw, but he was too angry to aim straight. A shadow as wide as an underground water pipe shot up from behind Zara, almost like it was mimicking her movements. It even went as far as to shift its end into a hand, grabbing onto the spear and throwing it as far as it could and into the river. Wisps of the shadows swirled around her body, over her arms and between her fingers, down her legs, they travelled as though they followed the path of her veins.
Zara, for the longest time, had always been afraid to wield the shadows she had inherited from her great-grandfather. She had been afraid because it made her feel a sort of power that had always been stronger than anything else she had ever felt. It was scary to feel something so strong, something that felt so out of her control, something that made her anxiety flare like rising flames. Power was a scary thing, power was dangerous because it always corrupted the best, and always attracted the worst. Power was out of her control, and she had always been afraid of losing that control.
The demigods backed toward the water, shouting insults about ballet—which was kind of an insult to herself considering she really did love ballet.
Otis barreled toward them empty-handed, before apparently realising that a) he was empty-handed, and b) charging toward a large body of water to fight a son of Poseidon was maybe not a good idea.
Too late, he tried to stop. The demigods rolled to either side, and Jason summoned the wind, using the giant's own momentum to shove him into the water as more shadow hands grabbed onto his shoulders and shoved, while another pair grabbed onto his ankles and pulled backwards, keeping him bolted to the ground. As Otis struggled to rise, Percy and Jason attacked as one. They launched themselves at the giant and brought their blades down on Otis's head as Zara focused on keeping him from escaping.
The poor guy didn't even have a chance to pirouette. He exploded into powder on the lake's surface like a huge packet of drink mix.
Percy churned the lake into a whirlpool. Otis's essence tried to re-form, but as his head appeared from the water, Jason called lightning and blasted him to dust again. The hold the shadows had on him tightened, his skin paling around them.
So far so good, but they couldn't keep Otis down forever. Zara's brain was pounding against her skull from the pressure of using so much power, especially ones she didn't touch often, in such a short amount of time. She could feel her nose starting to burn as well, a nosebleed no doubt on its way.
As if on cue, the plaster mountain exploded behind them. Ephialtes rose, bellowing with anger.
The three waited as he lumbered toward them, his spear in hand. Apparently, getting flattened under a plaster mountain had only energised him. His eyes danced with murderous light. The afternoon sun glinted in his coin-braided hair. Even his snake feet looked angry, baring their fangs and hissing.
Jason called down another lightning strike, but Ephialtes caught it on his spear and deflected the blast, melting a life-size plastic cow. He slammed a stone column out of his way like a stack of building blocks.
Percy tried to keep the lake churning, but as Ephialtes closed the last few feet, he had to switch focus.
Jason and he met the giant's charge. They lunged around Ephialtes, stabbing and slashing in a blur of gold and bronze, but the giant parried every strike. Zara rolled out of the way, her shadows slipping back into her body, occasionally slipping back out, but she sliced and did what she could with her close range weapons, all while trying to avoid being trampled.
"I will not yield!" Ephialtes roared. "You may have ruined my spectacle, but Gaea will still destroy your world!"
Percy lashed out, slicing the giant's spear in half. Ephialtes wasn't even fazed. The giant swept low with the blunt end and knocked the son of Poseidon off his feet, which resulted in him landing hard on his sword arm, and Riptide, now back in his hand and Mania no doubt on Andy's finger, clattered out of his grip.
Both Zara and Jason tried to take advantage. They stepped inside the giant's guard, one of them on either side, and stabbed at his chest, but somehow Ephialtes parried Jason's strike. He sliced the tip of his spear down the blonde's chest, ripping his purple shirt into a vest. The boy stumbled, looking at the thin line of blood down his sternum. Ephialtes kicked him backward.
Zara cried out as shadows reached forward from behind her, and it, in a way, reminded her of Dr. Oc from Spider Man. Her cry was drowned out as the loud crowd roared around them. Bacchus looked on with an amused smile, munching from a bag of Doritos.
Ephialtes towered over Zara, Percy, and Jason, both halves of his broken spear poised over their heads. Percy's sword arm was numb. Jason's gladius had skittered across the arena floor. Blood was dripping down one of Zara's nostrils and her head felt like exploding. Their plan had failed.
The daughter of Flora glanced up at Bacchus, trying to come up with something slightly mean to say when she saw a shape in the sky above the Colosseum—a large dark oval descending rapidly.
From the lake, Otis yelled, trying to warn his brother, but his half-dissolved face could only manage: "Uh-umh-moooo!"
"Don't worry, brother!" Ephialtes said, his eyes still fixed on the demigods. "I will make them suffer!"
The Argo II turned in the sky, presenting its port side, and green fire blazed from the ballista. "Actually," Percy said. "Look behind you."
The demigods rolled away as Ephialtes turned and bellowed in disbelief.
Percy dropped into a trench just as the explosion rocked the Colosseum. When he climbed out again, the Argo II was coming in for a landing. Jason poked his head out from behind his improvised bomb shelter of a plastic horse, one of his hands clasped with one of Zara's. Ephialtes lay charred and groaning on the arena floor, the sand around him seared into a halo of glass by the heat of the Greek fire. Otis was floundering in the lake, trying to re-form, but from the arms down he looked like a puddle of burnt oatmeal.
Percy staggered over to Zara and Jason and clapped the blonde on the shoulder. The ghostly crowd gave them a standing ovation as the Argo II extended its landing gear and settled on the arena floor. Leo and Donnie stood at the helm, a space less than an inch between them, Hazel and Frank grinning at the son of Dionysus' side. Coach Hedge danced around the firing platform, pumping his fist in the air and yelling, "That's what I'm talking about!"
Percy turned to the emperor's box. "Well?" he yelled at Bacchus. "Was that entertaining enough for you, you wine-breathed little—"
"No need for that." Suddenly the god was standing right next to him in the arena. He brushed Dorito dust off his purple robes. "I have decided you are worthy partners for this combat."
"Partners?" Jason growled. "You did nothing!"
Zara gripped his arm, whispering, "Maybe don't say that."
Bacchus walked to the edge of the lake. The water instantly drained, leaving an Otis-headed pile of mush. Bacchus picked his way to the bottom and looked up at the crowd. He raised his thyrsus.
The crowd jeered and hollered and pointed their thumbs down. Zara had never been sure whether that meant live or die. She was sure it could go both ways.
Bacchus chose the more entertaining option. He smacked Otis's head with his pinecone staff, and the giant pile of Otismeal disintegrated completely.
The crowd went wild. Bacchus climbed out of the lake and strutted over to Ephialtes, who was still lying spread-eagled, overcooked and smoking.
Again, Bacchus raised his thyrsus.
"DO IT!" the crowd roared.
"DON'T DO IT!" Ephialtes wailed.
Another voice happily hollered, "DO IT!"
Zara, Jason, and Percy all let out snorts in unison.
Bacchus tapped the giant on the nose, and Ephialtes crumbled to ashes.
The ghosts cheered and threw spectral confetti as Bacchus strode around the stadium with his arms raised triumphantly, exulting in the worship. He grinned at the demigods. "That, my friends, is a show! And of course I did something. I killed two giants!"
As Zara's friends disembarked from the ship, the crowd of ghosts shimmered and disappeared. Piper and Nico struggled down from the emperor's box as the Colosseum's magical renovations began to turn into mist. The son of Hades was curled under Andy's arm, leaning his entire body weight against her. The arena floor remained solid, but otherwise the stadium looked as if it hadn't hosted a good giant killing for aeons.
"Well," Bacchus said. "That was fun. You have my permission to continue your voyage."
"Your permission?" Percy snarled.
"Yes." Bacchus raised an eyebrow. "Although your voyage may be a little harder than you expect, son of Neptune."
"Poseidon," Percy corrected him automatically. "What do you mean about my voyage?"
"You might try the parking lot behind the Emmanuel Building," Bacchus said. "Best place to break through. And don't drag my little girl down with you. Now, good-bye, my friends, my children. And, ah, good luck with that other little matter."
The god vaporised in a cloud of mist that smelled faintly of grape juice. Jason and Zara ran to meet Piper who was now helping keep Nico on his feet.
Coach Hedge trotted up to Percy, and a newly joined Andy, with Hazel, Frank, Donnie, and Leo close behind.
"Was that Dionysus?" Hedge asked. "I love that guy!"
"You're alive!" Percy said to the others. "The giants said you were captured. What happened?"
Donnie, however, paid them no attention as he barreled into his twin's arms. His arms went around her neck, while hers curled around his torso, the two rocking back and forth slightly from the force of them colliding. They listened quietly, silently as the rest of their friends talked.
Leo shrugged. "Oh, just another brilliant plan by Leo Valdez, though this one was accompanied by an incredibly genius Adonis Storm. You'd be amazed what you can do with an Archimedes sphere, a girl who can sense stuff underground, and a weasel, and a wine scented person who can talk to said weasel."
"I was the weasel," Frank said glumly.
Donnie grinned. "And I was able to talk to him. It was very fun."
"And entertaining." Hazel said with enthusiasm.
"Basically," Leo explained, "I activated a hydraulic screw with the Archimedes device—which is going to be awesome once I install it in the ship, by the way. Hazel sensed the easiest path to drill to the surface. We made a tunnel big enough for a weasel, and Frank climbed up with a simple transmitter that I slapped together, while Donnie translated the directions Hazel could feel from the tunnels, which made the directions clearer. After that, it was just a matter of hacking into Coach Hedge's favourite satellite channels and telling him to bring the ship around to rescue us. After he got us, finding you was easy, thanks to that godly light show at the Colosseum."
Zara understood about ten percent of Leo's story, but she decided it was enough since they had other things to worry about.
Fortunately, Percy had the same idea as he asked, "Where's Annabeth?"
Leo winced. "Yeah, about that...she's still in trouble, we think. Hurt, broken leg, maybe—at least according to this vision Gaea showed us. Rescuing her is our next stop."
Two seconds before, Zara had been ready to collapse. Now another surge of adrenaline coursed through her body, the ache in her skull dulling at the same time that her nose stopped bleeding.
"Tell me about the vision," Andy said, her amethyst eyes darkening. "Tell me everything."
The floor shook. The wooden planks began to disappear, spilling sand into the pits of the hypogeum below.
"Let's talk on board," Hazel suggested. "We'd better take off while we still can."
They sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome.
All around the Piazza del Colosseo, traffic had come to a standstill. A crowd of mortals had gathered, probably wondering about the strange lights and sounds that had come from the ruins. As far as Zara could see, none of the giants' spectacular plans for destruction had come off successfully. The city looked the same as before. No one seemed to notice the huge Greek trireme rising into the sky.
The demigods gathered around the helm. Donnie bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder while Hazel sat at the stern, feeding Nico ambrosia. The son of Hades could barely lift his head, leaning it back on Andy's shoulder as she hugged him to her. His voice was so quiet, the two girls had to lean in whenever he spoke.
Zara stayed close, but she didn't want to over-crowd the son of Hades, so she kept some space between them. On occasion, Andy's eyes would line with tears and her chin would tremble, but she would simply lean forward and rest her chin on top of his head, saying nothing other than quiet whispers in Italian.
Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronze mirror. They quickly decided that their best lead for finding Annabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had provided: the Emmanuel Building, whatever that was. Frank started typing at the helm's computer while Leo tapped furiously at his controls, muttering, "Emmanuel Building. Emmanuel Building." Coach Hedge tried to help by wrestling with an upside-down street map of Rome.
Percy knelt next to Donnie and Piper. "How's the shoulder?"
Piper smiled. "It'll heal. You, Zara, and Jason of you did great."
Jason elbowed Percy as he came to stand at his side. "Not a bad team, you and me."
"Hey, don't forget me!" Zara whined. She shot the boys a glare, both of them laughing, clearly messing with her.
Jason lifted his hands in the air mockingly and said, "Just kidding, just kidding."
"Better than jousting in a Kansas cornfield," Percy went on to say.
"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."
Frank hunched his shoulders. "I just read the name off the screen. Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."
Leo grinned at the others. "He reads Chinese."
"Just a tiny bit," Frank said.
"How cool is that?"
Donnie nodded along absentmindedly. "Very, incredibly cool, Val."
"Guys," Hazel broke in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."
She helped Nico to his feet. He'd always been pale, but now his skin looked like powdered milk.
"Thank you," Nico rasped. His eyes darted nervously around the group. "I'd given up hope."
Andy looked away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. She was fighting herself, forcing her eyes to stay open and not give into the reflex of shutting them to process the emotions she was feeling, all of them radiating from the younger boy in front of her. A breath shuddered from her lips, but she stayed silent. Zara wondered if she was reacting this way just because of her empathic abilities or because of all of the things she had imagined happening to Nico, of all of the things that he had witnessed and experienced.
"You knew about the two camps all along," Percy said. "You could have told me who I was the first day I arrived at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."
Both of the Storm twins avoided everyone's eyes, and the fact that they had both known, Andy much longer than any of them, and been aware of both camps, rang through Zara's head. She didn't hold anything against either of them, or Nico, but it was angering that the gods had forced them to keep such a secret.
Nico slumped against the helm. "Percy, I'm sorry. I discovered Camp Jupiter last year. My dad led me there, though I wasn't sure why. He told me the gods had kept the camps separate for centuries and that I couldn't tell anyone. The time wasn't right. But he said Andy and Donnie knew, and that it would be important for me to know..." He doubled over in a fit of coughing.
Hazel held his shoulders until he could stand again. "I—I thought Dad meant because of Hazel," Nico continued. "I'd need a safe place to take her. But now...I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I'd understand how important your quest was, and so I'd search for the Doors of Death."
The air turned electric—literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks.
But then another question popped up in the daughter of Flora's mind: if that was the reason Nico knew, and Donnie had found out because of his sister who had told Apollo, who had then told him, then why did Andy learn about it in the first place? What reason did the gods have for that?
"Did you find the doors?" Percy asked.
Nico nodded. "I was a fool. I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."
"Um..." Frank chewed his lip. "What kind of black hole are you talking about?"
Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to say must have been too terrifying. He turned to Hazel and Andy, not saying anything or acknowledging the fact that they were holding hands.
The younger girl put her hand on her brother's arm. "Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two sides—one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back into the upper world. Then they transported him to Rome."
Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"
Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in...in..."
A cold pair of hands, something much darker than her own shadows, danced down Zara's back.
A black hole. An inescapable part of the Underworld where even Nico di Angelo couldn't go. Why hadn't she thought of this before? She'd heard all about it, the powerful tug it could have on anyone who stood too close.
"Tartarus," she guessed. "The deepest part of the Underworld."
Nico nodded. "They pulled me into the pit, Zara. The things I saw down there..." His voice broke.
Hazel pursed her lips. "No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," she explained. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum-security prison of Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on the earth. It's...well, no one knows exactly what it's like."
Her eyes drifted to her brother. The rest of her thought didn't need to be spoken: No one except Nico.
Hazel handed him his black sword.
Nico leaned on it like it was a cane. "Now I understand why Hades hasn't been able to close the doors," he said. "Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."
Leo glanced over from the wheel. "So let me guess. We'll have to go there."
Nico shook his head. "It's impossible. I'm the son of Hades, and even I barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there...no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane."
Zara glanced at her sister, feeling her stiffen for whatever reason, one she didn't know.
Nico's eyes looked like shattered glass. Zara had a feeling that something, something so incredibly important, had broken in Nico, shattered like a glass pane being dropped from one of the top floors of a skyscraper. And maybe—though she hoped the opposite—nothing, no one could put that part of him back together.
"Then we'll sail for Epirus," Percy said. "We'll just close the gates on this side."
"I wish it were that easy," Nico said. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double seal. Maybe, just maybe, all seven of you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory—"
"There has to be a way," Jason said.
Nobody volunteered any brilliant ideas.
Zara thought her stomach was sinking. Then she realised the entire ship was descending toward a big building like a palace.
Annabeth. Nico's news was so horrible she had momentarily forgotten the daughter of Athena was still in danger, which made her feel guilt beyond anything that she had ever felt.
"We'll figure out the Tartarus problem later," he said. "Is that the Emmanuel Building?"
Leo nodded. "Bacchus said something about the parking lot in back? Well, there it is. What now?"
"We have to get her out," Percy said.
"Well, yeah," Leo agreed. "But, uh..."
He looked like he wanted to say something in regard to them being too late.
Wisely, he changed tack. "There's a parking lot in the way."
Percy looked at Coach Hedge. "Bacchus said something about breaking through. Coach, you still have ammo for those ballistae?"
The satyr grinned like a wild goat. "I thought you'd never ask."
Fun fact: when I was in Colorado a few months ago, I saw a factory/warehouse looking building that said wonder bread on the side! It was very amusing.
Anywho, there is only one chapter left in act 3, which means we're pretty much done with MOA! It's kind of crazy and I'm really unsure of what to feel for this next act because of Tartarus. I won't say much, but I'm planning for the last chapter to come out tomorrow sometime, so hopefully that happens!
Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, bye!
(Also, this chapter is crazy long, it's over 10, 500 words!)