❝do not go gentle into that dying night
rage, rage against the dying of the light❞
⤷ dylan thomas
△△△
Finding the place was easy. Percy led them right to it, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum.
Getting in was easy too. Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock, and the metal gate creaked open. No mortals saw them. No alarms went off. Stone steps spiraled down into the gloom.
"I'll go first," Jason said.
"No!" Piper yelped.
Both boys and Kira turned toward her.
"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked. "That image in the blade...you've seen it before, haven't you?"
She nodded, her eyes stinging. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning."
They all frowned.
"I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.
"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."
"Look," Percy said. "I'll check it out first. It's fine. Be right back."
He disappeared down the stairwell.
Kira heard his footsteps after half a minute from holding her breath, and he appeared at the top, looking more baffled than relieved.
"Good news: no water," he said. "Bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this...."
They descended cautiously. Percy took the lead, with Riptide drawn. The three followed him, Kira on guard with her sword drawn as well.
She had a cold sweat.
The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. As they wound their way underground, Kira saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian.
Finally, they reached the bottom.
Percy turned. "Watch this last step."
He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell.
Kira followed him down first.
Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.
The air felt cold and dry. As Percy had said, there were no other exits.
"All right." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch."
He stepped to the middle of the room.
Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. Piper heard the sound of a fountain, but there was no water. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for Percy's and Jason's blades.
"Do you smell the ocean?" Percy asked.
Percy always smelled like the ocean, so she hadn't even realized it until he mentioned it.
"An illusion?" Piper asked.
"I don't know," Percy said. "I feel like there should be water here—lots of water. But there isn't any. I've never been in a place like this."
Jason moved to the row of niches. He touched the bottom shelf of the nearest one, which was just at his eye level. "This stone...it's embedded with seashells. This is a nymphaeum."
Kira felt her mouth get drier.
"A what?" Piper asked.
"We have one at Camp Jupiter," Jason said, "on Temple Hill. It's a shrine to the nymphs."
The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops. The seashells seemed to dance in the watery light. They were ice-cold to the touch.
Jason stepped back and examined the row of alcoves. "Shrines like this were all over the place in Ancient Rome. Rich people had them outside their villas to honor nymphs, to make sure the local water was always fresh. Some shrines were built around natural springs, but most were man-made."
"So...no actual nymphs lived here?" Piper asked hopefully.
"Not sure," Jason said. "This place where we're standing would have been a pool with a fountain. A lot of times, if the nymphaeum belonged to a demigod, he or she would invite nymphs to live there. If the spirits took up residence, that was considered good luck."
"For the owner," Percy guessed. "But it would also bind the nymphs to the new water source, which would be great if the fountain was in a nice sunny park with fresh water pumped in through the aqueducts—"
"But this place has been underground for centuries," Piper guessed. "Dry and buried. What would happen to the nymphs?"
The sound of water changed to a chorus of hissing, like ghostly snakes. The rippling light shifted from sea blue and green to purple and sickly lime. Above them, the nine niches glowed. They were no longer empty.
Standing in each was a withered old woman, so dried up and brittle they reminded Kira of mummies—except mummies didn't normally move. Their eyes were dark purple, as if the clear blue water of their life source had condensed and thickened inside them. Their silk dresses were tattered and faded. Their hair were disheveled and dry as straw.
"What would happen to the nymphs?" said the creature in the center niche. Her back was hunched like the handle of a pitcher. Her skeletal hands had only the thinnest papery layer of skin. On her head, a battered wreath of golden laurels glinted in her roadkill hair.
She fixed her purple eyes on Piper. "What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge."
Kira glanced at the doorway nervously, but of course it had disappeared. She hefted her sword.
"Who are you?" Percy demanded.
The central nymph turned her head. "Ah...names. We once had names. I was Hagno, the first of the nine!"
"The nine," Jason repeated. "The nymphs of this shrine. There were always nine niches."
"Of course." Hagno bared her teeth in a vicious smile. "But we are the original nine, Jason Grace, the ones who attended the birth of your father."
Jason's sword dipped. "You mean Jupiter? You were there when he was born?"
"Zeus, we called him then," Hagno said. "Such a squealing whelp. We attended Rhea in her labor. When the baby arrived, we hid him so that his father, Kronos, would not eat him. Ah, he had lungs, that baby! It was all we could do to drown out the noise so Kronos could not find him. When Zeus grew up, we were promised eternal honors. But that was in the old country, in Greece."
The other nymphs wailed and clawed at their niches. They seemed to be trapped in them, as if their feet were glued to the stone along with the decorative seashells.
"When Rome rose to power, we were invited here," Hagno said. "A son of Jupiter tempted us with favors. A new home, he promised. Bigger and better! No down payment, an excellent neighborhood. Rome will last forever."
"Forever," the others hissed.
"We gave in to temptation," Hagno said. "We left our simple wells and springs on Mount Lycaeus and moved here. For centuries, our lives were wonderful! Parties, sacrifices in our honor, new dresses and jewelry every week. All the demigods of Rome flirted with us and honored us."
The nymphs wailed and sighed.
"But Rome did not last," Hagno snarled. "The aqueducts were diverted. Our master's villa was abandoned and torn down. We were forgotten, buried under the earth, but we could not leave. Our life sources were bound to this place. Our old master never saw fit to release us. For centuries, we have withered here in the darkness, thirsty...so thirsty."
The others clawed at their mouths.
"I'm sorry for you," Piper said, trying to use charmspeak. "That must have been terrible. But we are not your enemies. If we can help you—"
"Oh, such a sweet voice!" Hagno cried. "Such beautiful features. I was once young like you. My voice was as soothing as a mountain stream. But do you know what happens to a nymph's mind when she is trapped in the dark, with nothing to feed on but hatred, nothing to drink but thoughts of violence? Yes, my dear. You can help us."
Percy raised his hand. "Uh...I'm the son of Poseidon. Maybe I can summon a new water source."
"Ha!" Hagno cried, and the other eight echoed, "Ha! Ha!"
"Indeed, son of Poseidon," Hagno said. "I know your father well. Ephialtes and Otis promised you would come."
Piper put her hand on Jason's arm for balance.
"The giants," she said. "You're working for them?"
"They are our neighbors." Hagno smiled. "Their chambers lie beyond this place, where the aqueduct's water was diverted for the games. Once we have dealt with you...once you have helped us...the twins have promised we will never suffer again."
Hagno turned to Jason. "You, child of Jupiter—for the horrible betrayal of your predecessor who brought us here, you shall pay. I know the sky god's powers. I raised him as a baby! Once, we nymphs controlled the rain above our wells and springs. When I am done with you, we will have that power again. And Percy Jackson, child of the sea god...from you, we will take water, an endless supply of water."
"Endless?" Percy's eyes darted from one nymph to the other. "Uh...look, I don't know about endless. But maybe I could spare a few gallons."
"And you, Piper McLean." Hagno's purple eyes glistened. "So young, so lovely, so gifted with your sweet voice. From you, we will reclaim our beauty. We have saved our last life force for this day. We are very thirsty. From you three, we shall drink!"
All nine niches glowed. The nymphs disappeared, and water poured from their alcoves—sickly dark water, like oil.
The basin filled with alarming speed. Piper, Jason, and Percy pounded on the walls, looking for an exit, but they found nothing. They climbed into the alcoves to gain some height, but with water pouring out of each niche, it was like trying to balance at the edge of a waterfall. Even as Kira stood in a niche, the water was soon up to her knees. From the floor, it was probably eight feet deep and rising fast.
Kira was trying to calm herself down, but there was nothing to fight.
"I could try lightning," Jason said. "Maybe blast a hole in the roof?"
"That could bring down the whole room and crush us," Piper said.
"Or electrocute us," Percy added.
"Not many choices," Jason said.
"Let me search the bottom," Percy said. "If this place was built as a fountain, there has to be a way to drain the thing. You guys, check the niches for secret exits. Maybe the seashells are knobs, or something."
Jason, Kira, and Piper climbed from niche to niche, kicking and pounding, wiggling seashells embedded in the stone; but they had no luck.
Sooner than Piper expected, Percy broke the surface, gasping and flailing. Kira offered her hand, and raised him to a niche.
"Couldn't breathe," he choked. "The water...not normal. Hardly made it back."
Kira felt weaker then she ever had, even with the fights she had lost or the times she had been hurt. She felt clammy and useless.
"They're taking our power," Piper said. "Draining us."
"Jason," Percy coughed, "do the lightning."
Jason raised his sword. The room rumbled, but no lightning appeared. The roof didn't break. Instead, a miniature rainstorm formed at the top of the chamber. Rain poured down, filling the fountain even faster, but it wasn't normal rain. The stuff was just as dark as the water in the pool. Every drop stung Kira's skin.
"Not what I wanted," Jason said.
The water was up to their necks now. Kira was trying to control her breathing, seconds away from a panic attack.
"We'll survive," Piper murmured to herself. Kira's lip trembled.
Percy started pushing the water away with the back of his hand, like he was shooing a bad dog. "Can't—can't control it!"
"We can't fight this," she said. "If we hold back, that just makes us weaker."
"What do you mean?" Jason shouted over the rain.
"The horn of plenty," Piper said. "We have to overwhelm the nymphs with fresh water, give them more than they can use. If we can dilute this poisonous stuff—"
"Can your horn do that?" Percy struggled to keep his head above water, which was obviously a new experience for him. He looked scared out of his mind.
"Only with your help."
"I need you both to channel everything you've got into the cornucopia," she said. "Percy, think about the sea."
"Salt water?"
"Doesn't matter! As long as it's clean. Jason, think about rainstorms—much more rain. Both of you hold the cornucopia."
"Me?" Kira asked weakly.
"Think of any time you've been angered or powerful," Piper told her.
Kira did as she was told.
They huddled together as the water lifted them off their ledges. Kira was next to them.
"No good!" Jason yelled, spitting water.
"We're getting nowhere," Percy agreed.
"You have to work together," Piper cried, hoping she was right. "Both of you think of clean water—a storm of water. Don't hold anything back. Kira, picture all your power, all your strength leaving you."
"That's not hard!" Percy said.
"But force it out!" she said. "Offer up everything, like—like you're already dead, and your only goal is to help the nymphs. It's got to be a gift...a sacrifice."
"Let's try again," Jason said. "Together."
Kira concentrated, thinking of every time she had been in battle, or in some kind of annoying situation. She had a lot to go on.
Clear water blasted from the horn with such force, it pushed them against the wall.
"It's working!" Jason cried.
"Too well," Percy said. "We're filling the room even faster!"
"Don't stop!" Piper said. "We have to dilute the poison until the nymphs are cleansed."
"What if they can't be cleansed?" Jason asked. "They've been down here turning evil for thousands of years."
"Just don't hold back," Piper said. "Give everything. Even if we go under—"
Piper pulled Jason closer and kissed him.
"I love you," she said.
Kira choked back a sob. She wished she could tell Leo that one more time.
Then she went under. The current roared in her ears. Bubbles swirled around her.
Kira held her breath until her lungs gave out. The room was shaking. The water swirled faster. Kira felt herself sinking down.
With her last strength, she kicked upward. Her head broke the surface and she gasped for breath.
Piper broke the surface next to her, but the boys stayed under. Piper swam to Jason, and Kira swam to Percy.
Instantly, Percy gulped and began to thrash, but Jason was as lifeless as a rag doll.
Piper clung to him. She yelled his name, shook him, and slapped his face.
The water completely drained, and left them on the damp floor.
"Jason!" She tried desperately to think. Should she turn him on his side? Slap his back?
"Piper," Percy said, "I can help."
He knelt next to her and touched Jason's forehead. Water gushed from Jason's mouth. His eyes flew open, and a clap of thunder threw Percy, Kira, and Piper backward.
When Kira's vision cleared, she saw Jason sitting up, still gasping, but the color was coming back to his face.
"Sorry," he coughed. "Didn't mean to—"
Piper tackled him with a hug.
Percy grinned. "In case you're wondering, that was clean water in your lungs. I could make it come out with no problem."
"Thanks, man." Jason clasped his hand weakly. "But I think Piper's the real hero. She saved us all."
Yes, she did, a voice echoed through the chamber.
The niches glowed. Nine figures appeared, but they were no longer withered creatures. They were young, beautiful nymphs in shimmering blue gowns, their glossy black curls pinned up with silver and gold brooches. Their eyes were gentle shades of blue and green.
Eight of the nymphs dissolved into vapor and floated upward. Only the nymph in the center remained.
"Hagno?" Piper asked.
The nymph smiled. "Yes, my dear. I didn't think such selflessness existed in mortals...especially in demigods. No offense."
Percy got to his feet. "How could we take offense? You just tried to drown us and suck out our lives."
Hagno winced. "Sorry about that. I was not myself. But you have reminded me of the sun and the rain and the streams in the meadows. Percy and Jason, thanks to you, I remembered the sea and the sky. I am cleansed. But mostly, thanks to Piper. She shared something even better than clear running water." Hagno turned to her. "You have a good nature, Piper. And I'm a nature spirit. I know what I'm talking about."
Hagno pointed to the other side of the room. The stairs to the surface reappeared. Directly underneath, a circular opening shimmered into existence, like a sewer pipe, just big enough to crawl through.
"You may return to the surface," Hagno said. "Or, if you insist, you may follow the waterway to the giants. But choose quickly, because both doors will fade soon after I am gone. That pipe connects to the old aqueduct line, which feeds both this nymphaeum and the hypogeum that the giants call home."
"Ugh." Percy pressed on his temples. "Please, no more complicated words."
"Oh, home is not a complicated word." Hagno sounded completely sincere. "I thought it was, but now you have unbound us from this place. My sisters have gone to seek new homes...a mountain stream, perhaps, or a lake in a meadow. I will follow them. I cannot wait to see the forests and grasslands again, and the clear running water."
"Uh," Percy said nervously, "things have changed up above in the last few thousand years."
"Nonsense," Hagno said. "How bad could it be? Pan would not allow nature to become tainted. I can't wait to see him, in fact."
Percy looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself.
"Good luck, Hagno," Piper said. "And thank you."
The nymph smiled one last time and vaporized.
Briefly, the nymphaeum glowed with a softer light, like a full moon.
"What is that?" Jason asked nervously.
Piper slipped her hand into his. "The ghosts are dancing. Come on. We'd better go meet the giants."
Kira had no idea what that meant, but she didn't question Piper.
Percy took the lead as they crawled down the drainage pipe. After thirty feet, it opened into a wider tunnel.
To their left, somewhere in the distance, Percy heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine needed oiling. He had absolutely no desire to find out what was making that sound, so he figured that must be the way to go. Kira followed him.
Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signaling for the three to wait. He peeked around the corner.
"What is it?" Piper whispered to him.
He gestured for them 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.
Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals—a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas, and even an eight-headed hydra. Ancient-looking bronze and leather conveyor belts trundled along with stacks of weapons and armor, sort of like the Amazons' warehouse in Seattle, except this place was obviously much older and not as well organized.
Jason murmured, "What the heck?"
They stepped inside and scanned the room.
"Look." Percy pointed it a bronze jar.
Piper frowned. "That's too easy."
"Of course," Percy said.
"But we have no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save Nico."
"Yeah." Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms.
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.
Epialtes was about twelve feet tall, wearing a Hawaiian shirt that even Dionysus would've found vulgar. 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. He wore bright white jeans and leather sandals on his...well, not feet, but curved snakeheads. The snakes flicked their tongues and writhed.
Ephialtes smiled at the demigods like he was really, really pleased to see them.
Kira made it next to Percy, and Piper and Jason joined them on either side.
"We're here," Percy said, which sounded kind of obvious. "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. 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. Kira looked between them nervously.
"Please excuse my brother," Ephialtes said. "His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."
"Okay." Percy said. "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 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 Kira's heart stop.
"Now we have to hurry," said Ephialtes. "We should go through your stage directions. The hypogeum is all set!"
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?"
Kira was uncomfortable with waiting to kill the giants, but Percy gave her a silent plead and Kira eased up on her defensive position.
"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 theater, 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."
"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 eons, 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!"
At Otis's feet, Nico shuddered. Kira's heart soared that the boy was alive. She couldn't wait to tell Hazel.
"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 Annabeth should be kept alive if possible, but honestly, the girl is already doomed, so I hope you don't mind if we deviate from the plan."
"Already doomed. You don't mean she's—"
"Dead?" the giant asked. "No. Not yet. But don't worry! We've got your other friends locked up, you see."
Piper made a strangled sound. "Hazel and Frank?"
"Leo?" Kira croaked, worry lines creasing her forehead. "If you hurt any of them.." Kira meant to sound threatening, but her voice had a hint of fear laced into her words.
"Those are the ones," Ephialtes agreed. "So we can use them for the sacrifice. We can let the Athena girl die, which will please Her Ladyship. And we can use you three 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 entertaining? 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 him.
"Plus!" Piper said quickly. "Plus, we could do some dance moves as we're escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!"
Otis forgot all about Nico. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at Ephialtes. "You see? That's what I was telling you! It would be incredible!"
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. I have a reputation to uphold. Dionysus thinks he knows parties? He's wrong! 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."
"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 marvelous! 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."
"Exactly," his brother agreed. "But we have much better entertainment planned! The three of you will die in agony, up above, where all the gods and mortals can watch. 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."
"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 said. "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.
"He's right," Piper tried again. "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?"
"Yes, you are," Kira hissed.
"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."
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."
Percy looked at Kira. "I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt."
"Combat time?" Kira asked, a smile creeping up and twirling her sword.
"I hate Wonder bread," Jason said.
They charged.