I'm going to have to start *gasp* editing! This is seriously going to take time, but I'm running out of room for the documents, with two stories going on at once and my non-stop writing.

So much to do, so little time, and space.

Review! Tell me, do you like it? Do you not? If you don't, why are you reading this?


First Person: Audrey

Never thought I'd say this, but I am tired of water. If I said it aloud, I would probably get kicked out of Poseidon's Junior Sea Scouts, but I didn't care. I felt like my soul had been sucked out, trying to use my powers while having them leeched away with evil water I couldn't breathe in or control. Not to mention swimming like a normal person is tiring. And don't get me started on the cornucopia act. I'm done! I'm just done. I want a nap. Is that too much to ask?

After that nymphaeum, I just wanted to go back to the surface, be dry, and sit in the sun with the weight of the world not on my shoulders. If we needed any more encouragement to hurry up and save Rome, stop Gaea from waking and taking over the world, and win this war and whatnot, there it was. Of course, we had to move forward for now, rescue Veon, Zy and Nico, hope that Leo, Hazel, Emily and Frank were okay, hope that Kaze's still on our side and just bluffing for time, and Annabeth. Just Annabeth. UGH! Why did Rome have to go and suddenly make the world a million times more complicated?!

Let's see, is that everyone? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…and the four of us made ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen (and Hedge, I guess, makes fourteen). Yep, that's everyone. Unless I'm forgetting someone.

Seriously, these monsters and gods were thousands of years old. Couldn't they take a few decades off? I mean, I haven't even been at this for a long time, but apparently Percy and those at Camp Half-Blood had a war before this with Kronos. These guys are all coming out at the same time, like "How about I make their lives terrible for this many years, and if that fails, it's your shift." Welcome to the Let's Make the Demigods Suffer Show!

Percy took the lead as we crawled down the drainage pipe. After thirty feet, it opened into a wider tunnel. To the left, somewhere in the distance, I heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine needed oiling. I had no desire to find out what was making that sound, and neither did the others, apparently, so we figured that must be the way to go. Several hundred feet later, we reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signaling for us to wait, before peeking around the corner. I snuck a peek as well, though I'm not exactly sure whether it was good or bad news.

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 that Percy and I had seen in our 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 (great, more water) powering waterwheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside. I couldn't help but think of Mrs. O'Leary, and how much she would hate being trapped inside one of those. Suspended from the ceiling were cages of living 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. Leo would love this place. The whole room was like one massive, scary, unreliable machine.

"What is it?" Piper whispered. Neither of us were really sure how to answer, but we didn't see the giants, so Percy gestured for us to come forward and take a look. About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-sized 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.

"Okaaaaay," I muttered.

"What the heck?" Jason agreed. We stepped inside and 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 we were comfortable with chaos. I wasn't major ADHD, and I suffered more from dyslexia, even if I did manage to get the hang of it eventually, but it was there when I needed it, such as now. About a hundred yards away, I spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a few people.

"Look," Percy said pointing, having noticed it as well.

"That's too easy," Piper said frowning.

"Of course," I agreed.

"But we've got no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save them."

"Yeah." Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms. The hellhounds in the hamster wheels paid us no attention. They were too busy running and panting, their red eyes glowing like headlights. The animals in the other cages looked bored, as if to say, "I'd kill you, but it would take too much energy." I felt bad for the creatures, and hoped we might be able to free them eventually.

Percy tried to watch out for traps, but everything here looked like a trap. I was reminded of that story of the labyrinth that Percy had to go through (and nearly died in, but what else is new?) a while back. Hazel might've been good to bring, since she could've helped with her underground skills (and, of course, so she could be reunited with her brothers). I just transformed into water and made my way forward easily, as well as making sure that I wasn't a part of the group and could bail them out at any time.

They jumped over a water trench and ducked under a row of cages. They had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened over them. A platform lowered, and standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was the purple-haired giant Ephialtes. Just like in my dreams, the Big F was small by giant standards - about twelve feet tall - but he had tried to make up for it with his loud outfit. He'd changed out of the gladiator armor and was now 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, 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 three of them 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." Out of the hole in the ceiling where Ephialtes had come from, Kaze suddenly jumped down, hitting the ground with an echoing thud beside the giant, his shuriken drawn and held like a backhand sword. He stood straight and walked forward, prepared for a fight. It was seeming less likely, just by looking at his face, that he was only here to buy us time. But benefit of the doubt, I suppose. He could just be a really good actor, and was waiting for Otis to get out here and the fighting to start before he switched sides. He would only get one chance to surprise the giants, in the end, and he wasn't going to waste it. Plus, his sister was still in the jar.

Jason and Piper closed ranks on either side of Percy, but I stayed water, sinking into the floor to try and make my way over to the jar.

"We're here," Percy said, which sounded kind of obvious one he had said it. "Let our friends 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 I really wished left more to the imagination. The toes of his massive dancing slippers were cut away so that his snakes could protrude. A diamond tiara (I decided to be generous and think of it as a king's crown) 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, I think we were all in agreement. The purple-haired giant faced Percy, grinning so painfully, he looked like he was being electrocuted. "Please excuse my brother. His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."

"Watashi wa nani ga okotte iru no ka wakaranai," Kaze muttered, having a baffled look on his face.

"Okaaaaay," Percy muttered, deciding not to comment on the Hawaiian shirt. "Now, about our friends…"

"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 the three demigods spilled out. Nico was definitely and understandably the worst out of the three, his face deathly pale and his frame too skinny. It was hard to tell whether he was alive or not, and though I could tell Percy wanted to rush over and help them, Ephialtes stood in his way. Speaking of which, the giant looked baffled at the sight.

"Huh? Were there always three of them in there? They're multiplying. That might be a good trick."

"Ugh, that was not fun…" Zy muttered, still coughing. She was the only of the three that seemed to be conscious. "I have a newly founded hatred for jars."

"Ones…" Kaze began, but cut himself off. He looked shocked at seeing his sister emerging from the jar. So, wait. He didn't know his sister was there. She wasn't a hostage forcing him to comply?

"Well, this is unexpected, but I suppose we can improvise," Ephialtes said. "Now, we have to hurry. We should go through your stage directions. The hypogeum is all set!" With Veon and Nico still unconscious, and Zy clearly in no state to defend them should a fight start, we were forced to play along for now. I tried inching my way closer, looking just like a stray stream of water flowing across the ground. I hoped that I wasn't too noticeable, but it's one of those things when you don't want to be seen that you feel the most exposed. I just hoped that the others could buy us enough recovery time. Jason raised his gladius.

"We're not going to be part of any show. 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 jobs 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. Veon's hand started moving towards Nico's and a painstakingly slow rate, but he was trying to make sure he seemed unconscious, as Otis was still standing right beside them. I doubted Veon had the ability to shadow travel in his state, but if he had a plan, I hoped it would go all right. Zy was having a standoff - or stareoff, rather - with Kaze. I'm not sure what that kid's angle was anymore, but as he wasn't acting, I had to assume he was in indecision about what he wanted and what side he was on. He hadn't known his sister what in the jar, and so he was here to fight us of his own accord. But now he knows that Gaea and the giants had imprisoned his sister without telling him.

"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." Percy swallowed, looking like his mouth tasted like bad nymph water.

"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 and Emily? 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."

"Great," Percy muttered. "I was worried my death was gonna be dull." Jason snarled.

"You want entertaining? I'll give you entertaining." Piper stepped forward. Somehow she managed to keep 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, unaware of Otis's close proximity, and Veon quickly snatched his hand, trying to give him the message to play unconscious until Otis was out of range. Otis looked down at the pair, his snaky feet flicking their tongues at Nico's head. Zy looked down and hissed at the snakes to back off, but then quickly moved her eyes back to Kaze.

"Plus!" Piper said quickly. "Plus, we could do some dance moves as we're escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!" Otis forgot all about the sons of Hades. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at Ephialtes.

"You see? That's what I was telling you! It would be incredible!" For a moment, I thought that Piper was going to pull it off. Otis looked at his brother imploringly, and 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 things 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. 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 white plastic wrapper with red and yellow dots. Percy picked it up in confusion.

"Wonder bread?"

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Ephialtes asked, his eyes dancing with crazy excitement. "You can keep that loaf. I plan on distributing millions to the people of Rome as I obliterate them."

"Where the heck would you get all that bread?" Zy asked.

"Fushigi no pan?" Kaze asked with a "WTF?" look on his face. He rolled his eyes with the clear message: This is seriously who I have to work with.

"Wonder bread is good," Otis admitted. "Though the Romans should dance for it." I finally made it over to Nico and Veon.

"Ve," I whispered. "You okay?"

"I want a nap," He whispered back to me.

"You think you can get Nico out of the way before the fighting starts?"

"Don't know. I'll try. He's waking up, but he's much worse off than me. I'm trying to give him energy, and that's probably the only reason he's as awake as he is now. We're gonna need more time though. How the heck did Kaze get here, anyway? I've heard his voice. Did he come with you?"

"No. He was already here with the giants, and he looks ready to fight us."

"What? I heard he and Zy had a fight, and that he was somewhat loyal to Gaea, but to fight us? Did he know Zy was in the jar? Was that why?"

"No. He looked surprised to see her in there."

"I mean, we did shadow travel in, so there was no way for him to know unless Gaea told him. But that means he came here on his own, willingly, to try and prevent Nico's rescue. Zy told me their argument was about Kaze saying we should try and see it from Gaea's perspective, but I don't think Kaze's a bad kid. I think he's just been misled."

"Well either way, I think he looks fully ready to fight even Zy."

"Great. As if two giants weren't bad enough, now we've got to fight a supersonic, shuriken-throwing, master inventor."

"What did you do to beat him before?"

"Caught him in a vat of tar, but I don't think he's gonna fall for that twice."

"All we can do is try. Do you think you're in good enough shape for a fight?"

"Maybe. Nico comes first though."

"Agreed. We'll buy you the time you need to get him to safety."

"Maybe you should bring our other friends here," Percy ventured. "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 circus 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. It was kinda funny that we were talking about the end of the world with a loaf of Wonder bread in his hand. "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'm not sure what Tiberinus would have to say about that last one," Zy muttered. "Hope you asked permission first."

"You, daughter of Zenobia, shall be taken along with the rest of your team for a grand spectacle. I hear you and your friends have the ability to put on a spectacular climax."

"Yeah, yeah, it's been established."

"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?"

"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 was able to start crawling away, if with a bit of groaning, with Veon pulling him forward.

"Nico, move faster, groan less," I ordered. Now I wish I had some Wonder bread to throw at 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." Man, this giant was worse than that sea god Phorcys back in Atlanta. Ephialtes was one of those giants that wasn't so much the exact opposite of his respective god, as he was Dionysus gone crazy on steroids. Well, crazier, I suppose. Sure, Dionysus was the god of revelry and out-of-control parties, but Ephialtes was all about riot and ruin for pleasure.

"I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt," Percy said to his friends.

"Combat time?" Piper asked, grabbing her horn of plenty.

"I hate Wonder bread," Jason declared.

"I'm partially indifferent," Zy admitted, grabbing one of her guns and loading a new magazine. She'd readjusted her bow on the back of her belt so that the bowstring wasn't slung across her body, therefore allowing her more mobility and easier access when she wished to draw it. She was prepared for a fight, and the look on her face worried me. She was still staring her brother dead in the eye, and if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that she wasn't going to hesitate when the inevitable fight ensued. Kaze had a similar callous tone, and I knew those two weren't going to hold back any just because of their relationship. What the hell had happened, anyway?

Well, I suppose if Zy had Kaze handled, and Veon had Nico, then I could join the others in the fight against the twins. Ephialtes did have a point, and without a god on our side, we wouldn't be able to defeat them. Not to mention the fact that this entire place had to be prepared for our fight, making it so that the terrain was in their favor, not ours. Still, there was only one way to move forward.

"Let's go then!" Zy shouted. With that, the battle began.