Chapter 7: Percy

Note to self: Don't anger the hand that's holding your leash.

Because if you do, a twelve-foot-tall giant that stinks of sweat and roses will hurl you around like a human lasso at supersonic speed until your eyeballs feel like bursting and you lose every last drop of stomach acid you possibly have.

And he will keep going and going—until he gets called to eat and throws you back in a cage.

Which hurts.

"OWW!" I yelled in pain as I landed in the darkness and my hip fell hard on the iron bars.

The world was still spinning around me, and it felt as if at least every second bone in my body was broken. Only the red glow of the giants' campfire a hundred yards away illuminated my surroundings.

"Hazel?" I croaked.

I had a hard time making out her form on the spinning ground. It must've been long after midnight. Even though it was a capital city, Athens was eerily quiet. I really preferred the never-sleeping Big Apple.

"I'm okay," she replied groggily, "I saved some water for you. Otis didn't give me much, but it helps a bit."

She shoved a tattered plastic bottle in my direction through the darkness. I took a tiny sip to get rid of the acid taste in my mouth and spit it out through the bars. There was still some water left. And I was really thirsty. And hungry. And so tired. But mostly hungry. And unlike Hazel, I hadn't been forced to work in the heat.

"I don't want the rest, thanks," I slurred and tried to roll it back to her. The ground was still spinning, but it had slowed down a little.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and tried to slow down my breathing, focusing on a spot of rust on one of the iron bars. That's better.

"Liar," she murmured, drinking the last of it in one swig.

She coughed and shook her head.

"Percy, I… I just had a dream about my stepmom. She was in a dark room full of flowers and herbs. It was in the Underworld, I could sense it! I think... I think I saw Nico lying there. Percy, what if he's..." Her voice broke.

She sounded really worried but I had seen him in a dream not two days ago and he'd still been with Reyna.

"But you're not sure you've seen him, are you? Nico really is strong, you know. And wouldn't it be strange if Persephone were in the Underworld during this time of the year? Maybe it was just a regular dream."

Hazel shook her head.

"It wasn't. She talked to me about Ephialtes. But I didn't hear all of it, because, well... I woke up when you fell down next to me," she said apologetically.

"It's nothing we have control over, so don't worry. But what did she say? She didn't by chance promise to help us squash two stinking giants?"

"No. But she said that she'd already weakened Ephialtes, and that we only had to use the right method to destroy him," Hazel said.

That was… surprisingly good news. Maybe luck was finally on our side!

"Unfortunately, she didn't say how exactly to kill him," Hazel sighed dejectedly.

"Hey, that's okay. We'll figure it out somehow. I'd bet my last shirt that Annabeth knows every legend about her. Maybe we have to water him like a giant flower and he'll turn into a nice palm tree!"

"About your shirt—" she began but suddenly stopped and stared over my shoulder.

Leo!

"Hi, guys," he whispered with a grin. "Sorry it took so long, but we had to find the right equipment." With that, he proudly presented a very complex-looking skeleton key and started working on the lock of our cage.

"The giants are right there. If they spot you..." I hissed.

"Not if you shut it, Jackson. Piper is trying her best to hide us in the Mist—she practiced all day, you know—and Frank and Jason will be causing a distraction right about...now."

BOOM! Lightning struck a tree near the cages of the leopards and lions and the animals went wild, roaring and clawing at the bars.

"Frank is egging them on. He can pretty much talk animal now! Which is impressive... but not as impressive as breaking a security Type FFF lock."

I could have hugged him as he pulled open the door but that would have been awkward. After all, I was still wearing just my underwear. And I was a little busy half-carrying Hazel.

"Where's Annabeth?" I asked as we crept towards the exit of the stadium.

"Scouting the area. We need a better grasp on what we can use and what they'll throw at us when we attack next time. Frank and Jason will follow us. Now hurry up, if you can. Eh... Your clothes?"

"A giant mistook them for toilet paper," Hazel sniffed miserably.

"Let's consider them gone," I said and we hurried along.

The way to the Argo II seemed to be too long, but Leo fed us tiny amounts of nectar whenever we thought about just stopping and lying down to die. The last climb up the rope ladder was the hardest but again Leo tempted us—this time with water for washing up and a new outfit for me.

Eventually, we made it but I didn't allow myself to relax for another ten minutes. Then finally Annabeth and the others arrived safely. Frank had turned into a giant eagle and had been carrying Annabeth in his sharp claws. Not that I liked claws anywhere near my girlfriend but I was still very relieved to see her whole and in one piece.

"We'll update you later. Now, give your body time to heal. Sleep well, Seaweed Brain," she said, and kissed me.

And when Annabeth tells you to do something, you listen. It's usually better that way.

I dreamt Nico was dying.

He was lying totally motionless on a bed of lilies, his hands folded like he was praying. His tousled hair had been combed, his clothes washed and ironed. He looked drained; there was no better word for it. His skin and even his lips looked grey and nearly translucent. It reminded me of a public viewing, and I felt my heart thump painfully against my ribs.

Suddenly, Persephone entered, dragging maybe my least favorite uncle behind her.

"Your son needs you. Help him, I know you can!" The goddess of springtime growled.

She was beautiful in her anger. Her eyes sparkled with determination, and every ounce of her demeanor screamed, 'I am your Queen, obey me!' Looking at Hades, on the other hand, was hard. His form was constantly shifting between his Roman and Greek aspects; he clutched at his head in pain. Persephone then grabbed his hand, laying it on Nico's forehead.

"You'll regret it if you don't save him. Show him your strength," she urged.

Hades' hand trembled and a light blue fog left his fingers and went to cover first Nico's torso then his throat. Suddenly, though, he jerked his hand back.

"Who have you brought here, wife?" he demanded angrily.

Persephone stared at him in disbelief. "Your son, Nico! Surely you remember him—he's been around more than any of your other offspring before!"

"I have no son," his Roman persona declared and stormed out of the room.

The goddess tried to hold him back, but she was too slow. Angrily she clenched her fists then whistled like you would whistle for a dog. But instead of a beagle or a poodle or something, one of her ghostly maids appeared out of thin air, carrying more flowers. White roses this time, like Nico needed more funeral flowers.

She checked his temperature and shook her head. Then she turned and looked me directly in the eye.

"I know you're there, Percy," she said. "If Nico passes on, you have to destroy the giants without him. There will be others even I don't know how to defeat. But with the green-haired twin, the unhappy couple is key. That's all I can tell you."

And with that, she vanished, and I woke up.

"... I really don't know what she meant," I heard Hazel saying.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed. "How are you feeling? We let you sleep—you looked like you needed it. Are you in any pain?"

I squinted blearily. I felt like I had a hangover from too much nectar. It's kind of hard to concentrate when your head is pulsating like a swarm of wasps is trapped inside.

"Had a dream," I mumbled.

And then I remembered: Nico was dying. The boy I should have protected all along... I felt helpless. Scratch that. I was helpless. Did they feed me lead in my sleep? I wondered. My stomach felt full of it. But if I couldn't protect him, I could at least do something for his sister. I decided not to tell them about that aspect of my dream. Well, I would explain it to Annabeth, but later.

"What did you see? Reyna?" Jason asked.

"No...Persephone. She talked to me a little bit. Something about defeating Otis. She said, um, the unhappy couple is key."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Piper said. "And who's the unhappy couple? Jason and I are fine."

Jason grabbed her hand and smiled reassuringly.

"So are we," Frank said, but Annabeth shook her head.

"We're at war. So of course nobody is completely content. But maybe she wasn't talking about us at all."

Leo frowned. "You mean there could be help from someone else? Like in those Egyptian myths, where the sky and earth deities are forced never to touch even though they're in love? And they'll come to the rescue?"

"I don't know. But it's a possibility," Annabeth said. "Anyway, we should try to defeat Ephialtes first."

"Annabeth had a great idea about what Lady Persephone told Hazel," Frank said. "When we were distracting the giants, we all noticed that Ephialtes smelled really strongly of roses. Hazel told us that he brought explosives yesterday, and Annabeth found out that there's a fireworks factory just outside of Athens. Right next to it there's a company that makes perfume. Both factories were destroyed recently, and while it's obvious that Ephialtes is to blame for the fireworks factory, Lady Persephone might've had a hand in the demolition of the perfume factory."

"The point is," Leo interjected, "that perfume is made with a very, very high alcohol concentration. And the way he stank of roses, Mr. Purple Hair must have taken a bath in that stuff!"

I just stared blankly. How did this help?

Leo must have seen the question marks above my head, because he rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Alcohol is really flammable! Just one spark, and he goes kaboom!"

Annabeth scoffed. "It won't be as easy as that. We'll probably have to fight him, weaken him a lot before we can burn him to ash. And even then, I'm not totally sure that this'll be enough."

"Plus, you know, there's still the minor question of how we'll set him on fire," Jason mused. "I can't steer a lightning bolt with that much precision, and I'd prefer Leo not to get closer than he has to."

"We'll figure it out," I said, and voiced my most pressing concern. "But we need to separate them. There's no way we can defeat them both at once."

Annabeth smiled at me in a way she sometimes did that caused my stomach to somersault. I had said something intelligent! Yay me!

"I agree with Percy. So...looks like we need a distraction."