Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Rick Riordan
Chapter 4
Percy's POV
Things went wrong immediately. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke. They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot. I sprinted toward Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under my feet, and metal walls shot up on either side, separating me from my friends.
The walls started closing in on me like the sides of a vise grip. I jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the hydra's cage. I caught a brief glimpse of Piper leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards.
Meanwhile, Jason 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.
I registered all this in a split second, but there wasn't much I could do about it. The hydra snapped at my hands. I swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. The trees changed positions as I tried to run through them, so I slashed down the whole forest with Riptide.
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried. He stood at his control panel about sixty feet to my left. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I release the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"
He pulled a lever, and I glanced behind me. The cage I had just been hanging from was now rising toward a hatch in the ceiling. In three seconds it would be gone. If I attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city.
Cursing, I threw Riptide like a boomerang. 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 me.
"Oh you are a spoilsport, Jackson!" Ephialtes called. "Very well. Battle it here, if you must, but your death will not be nearly as good without the cheering crowds."
I stepped forward to confront the monster-then realized I'd just thrown my weapon away. A bit of bad planning on my part.
I rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spit acid, turning the floor where I'd been standing into a steaming crater of melted stone. I really hated hydras. It was almost a good thing that I'd lost my sword, since my 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 'd faced a hydra, I'd been saved by a battleship with bronze cannons that blasted the monster to pieces. That strategy couldn't help me know . . . or could it?
The hydra ;ashed put. I ducked behind a giant hamster wheel and scanned the room, looking for bexes I'd seen in my dream. I remembered something about the rocket launchers.
At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. She aimed the cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' head. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it.
About eighty feet to Piper's right, Jason battled Otis, sword against spear. Otis lost his diamond tiara and looked angry about it. He probably could have impaled Jason several times, 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 higher gear and opening random animal cages.
The hydra charged around the hamster wheel. I 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 bad and wrappers dissolved in midair. The Wonder bread absorbed all the acid like the 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 head and blinking Wonder acid out of its eyes, I looked around desperately. I 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. I 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 small bronze lever on the side. At the top of the easel, spelled in carnations, were the words: HAPPY DESTRUCTION, ROME!
I bolted toward the device. The hissed and charge after me.
"I know!" Ephialtes cried out happily. "We can start with explosions along the Via Labicana! We can't our audience waiting forever."
I scrambled behind the easel and turned it toward Ephialtes. I didn't have Leo's skill with machines, but I knew how to aim a weapon.
The hydra barreled toward me, blocking my view of the giant. I hoped this contraption would have enough firepower to take down two targets at once. I tugged the lever. I didn't budge.
All eight hydra heads loomed over me, ready to melt me into a pool of sludge. I tugged the lever again. This time the easel shook and the weapons began to hiss.
"Duck and cover!" I yelled, hoping my friends got the message.
I leaped to one side as the easel fired. The sound was like a fiesta in the middle of an exploding gunpowder factory. The hydra vaporized 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 of their chains, unleashing two zebras and a pack of hyenas. A grenade exploded over Ephialtes' head, but i only blasted him off his feet. The control board didn't even look damaged.
Across the room, sandbags rained down on Piper and Nico. Piper tried to pull Nico to safety, but one of the bags caught her shoulder and knocked her down.
"Piper!" Jason cried. He ran toward her, completely forgetting about Otis, who aimed a spear at Jason's back.
"Look out!" I yelled.
Jason had fast reflexes. A Otis threw, Jason rolled. The point sailed over me 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 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 my missile-launching contraption spit out one last sphere of Roman candle fire. The fiery pink ball of death (naturally it had to be pinky) hit the ceiling above Otis and exploded in a beautiful shower of light. Colorful sparks pirouetted gracefully around the giant. Then a ten-foot section of the roof collapsed and crushed him flat.
Jason ran to Piper's side. She yelped when she touched her arm. Her shoulder looked unnaturally bent, but she muttered, "Fine. I'm fine." Next to her, Nico sat up, looking around him in bewilderment as if just realizing he'd missed a battle.
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 a glowered at me.
Across the room, the pile of rubble shifted, and Otis busted out. His head 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!"
I unfroze. I found Riptide in my pocket again, uncapped my sword, and lunged for the switchboard. I slashed my blade across the top, decapitating the controls in a shower of bronze sparks.
"No!" Ephialtes wailed. "You've ruined the spectacle!"
I turned too slowly. Ephialtes swung his spear like a bat and smacked me across the chest. I fell to my knees, the pain turning my stomach to lava.
Jason ran to my side, but Otis lumbered after him. I managed to rise and found myself shoulder to shoulder with Jason. Over the dais, Piper was still on the floor, unable to get up. Nico was barely conscious.
The giants were healing, getting stronger by the minute. I was not.
Ephialtes smiled apologetically. "Tired, Percy Jackson? As I said, you cannot kill us. S 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 me 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," I 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.
To my right, another platform lowered from the ceiling. Leaning casually on a pinecone-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."