CAMILLA HELD HER BREATH. The current roared in her ears. Bubbles swirled around her. Light still rippled through the room, and Camilla was surprised she could even see it. Was the water getting clearer?
Her lungs felt like they were going to burst. She was in the muskeg again—drowning, suffocating.
Her vision went dark.
She thought the roar in her ears was her own pounding heartbeat. Then she realized the room was shaking. The water swirled faster. Camilla felt herself sinking.
With her last bit of strength, she kicked upward, and the water didn't fight her. Her head broke the surface a second before Piper's, and they both gasped for breath. The water was draining almost as fast as it had filled the room.
Camilla looked down, realizing Percy and Jason were still under the water. She and Piper hoisted them up. Instantly, Percy gulped and started to thrash, but Jason was as lifeless as a rag doll.
Camilla clung to him. She yelled his name, shook him, even slapped his face. She barely noticed when all the water had drained away and left them on the damp floor.
"Jason!" Panic turned her thoughts into mush. What was she supposed to do? Should she turn him on his side? Slap his back?
"Milla," 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 Camilla, Percy, and Piper backward.
When Camilla'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—"
Camilla tackled him with a hug. She would have kissed him, but she didn't want to suffocate him.
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.
As Camilla watched, 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, Camilla, 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 Piper. "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, the circular opening shimmered into existence, like a sewer pipe, just big enough to crawl through. Camilla suspected that was how the water had drained out.
"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. Camilla smelled exotic spices and blooming roses. She heard distant music and happy voices talking and laughing.
"What is that?" Jason asked nervously.
Piper smiled softly. "The ghosts are dancing. Come on. We'd better go meet the giants."
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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, Camilla heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine in need of oil.
Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signaling for his companions to wait. He peeked around the corner.
Camilla wasn't sure what he saw, but judging from the look on her brother's face, it wasn't good.
"What is it?" Piper whispered.
Percy didn't say anything. He gestured for them to come forward and take a look.
The corridor opened into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns.
The creaking and rumbling Camilla had heard came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no clear reason. Water flowed through open trenches, powering water wheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds 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. 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.
About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-size wooden cutout of a gladiator popped up from the floor. It clicked and whirred along the conveyor belt, got hooked on a rope, and ascended through a slot in the roof.
Jason murmured, "What the heck?"
They stepped inside.
"Look," Percy said, pointing out the raised dais, where two oversized praetor chairs stood, a bronze jar big enough to hold a person standing between them.
Camilla frowned. "This seems 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. Camilla, Jason, and Piper were close behind.
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, as if to say, I'd kill you, but it would take too much energy.
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.
He was small by giant standards—about twelve feet tall—but he had tried to make up for it with his loud outfit. He was in a Hawaiian shirt that hurt Camilla's eyes. 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 didn't really match his shirt. He wore bright white jeans and leather sandals on his... well, not feet, but curved snakeheads. The snakes flicked their tongues and writhed like 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!"
Camilla, Jason, and Piper closed ranks around Percy.
"We're here," Percy said, which was a bit obvious, but Camilla didn't comment. "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 left far too little up to the imagination. The toes of his massive dancing slippers were cut away so that his snakes could protrude. A diamond tiara was nestled in his green, fire-cracker 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 Camilla had to agree.
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 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 Camilla's heart drop. She couldn't tell whether he was alive or dead.
"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?"
"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. The knot in Camilla's stomach unwound just a little—at least Nico was alive.
Now they just had to defeat the giants, preferably without destroying the city of Rome, and get out of there to find their friends.
"So!" Percy said. "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."
Percy tensed visibly. "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. "Leo? Hazel and Frank?"
"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. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Nico's head.
"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!"
For a second, Camilla thought Piper was going to pull it off. Otis looked at his brother imploringly. Ephialtes tugged 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."
"Everybody hates clowns," Otis said. "Even other clowns hate clowns."
"Exactly," his brother agreed. "But we have much better entertainment planned! The four 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 humanity. Not important! In her infinite wisdom, the Earth Mother has agreed that Rome can be destroyed first, slowly and spectacularly. It is 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, Camilla Alvarez, you should appreciate that, as children of Poseidon!"
"I'm Roman, so... Neptune," Camilla corrected. "And I think we'd appreciate the letting us go idea a little more."
"She'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?"
"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, groaning. Camilla held back a wince at the volume. She understood he was in pain, and certainly drowsy, but couldn't he be just a little quieter?
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."
This giant was even worse than the sea god Phorcys back in Atlanta, Camilla realized. Ephialtes wasn't so much the anti-Dionysus. He was Dionysus gone crazy on steroids. Sure, Dionysus was the god of revelry and out-of-control parties. But Ephialtes was all about riot and ruin for pleasure.
Percy looked at his friends. "I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt."
"It's horrendous," Camilla agreed.
"Combat time?" Piper grabbed her horn of plenty.
"I hate Wonder bread," Jason said.
Together, they charged.
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