LIV

Piper

(A/N: Nice chapter with some huge implications! I think you will all be wondering about Leo at the end. Well, let me tell you that I will not be addressing this in the story, so don't ask questions about it. Aside from that, enjoy! This is chapter 54, and there are only 5 more (not counting epilogue) left. So HYPE. Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!)

Piper woke up in a cave. It seemed to look very familiar. Had she been here before?

She sat straight up, and realized that she was bound to chains. No matter how much she struggled, she wasn't going to get out of these. Leo was right next to her, sleeping.

In front of her, a couple of Cyclops were carrying a giant bronze dagger towards a giant that Piper thought she had seen before. He wore a purple robe, along with a pair of bunny slippers. His face was covered with excessive makeup that made him look weird-Piper assumed he was trying to make himself look older. Topping it all off, he had a piece of grey cloth on his head.

Another giant emerged from the shadows. "Agrios, what is going on? Why can't we just kill these demigods?"

The bunny slippers guy replied, "Thoon, I've told you this too many times. The timing has to be perfect. Gaia will rise exactly at eleven tonight, thanks to that Jackson boy, and she needs the sacrifice at exactly that time. Or there is no need for the blood of olympus."

"I say we suffocate them, then wait until the right time to slit their throats." Thoon grumbled. "If they escape-"

"Well, by then their blood would get all clotted," Agrios replied. "So shut up and wait."

Agrios and Thoon. The two giants they had met in Athens. Which meant that this was the cave they had been saved from as well.

"How about the demons?" Thoon asked.

"Oh, they asked for sick leave. Some resigned. Something about Greek and Roman aura polluting their chi." Agrios replied.

Thoon looked over at her. "Well, well." he muttered. "Beauty girl's awake. Well, did you have a nice nap?" Piper was going to ask for the time when he said, "Don't bother asking for the time- we won't tell you."

He laughed.

Meanwhile, Leo had also woken up. Hearing the laugh, he jolted awake, any signs of drowsiness gone. "What the-" then he saw Piper. "Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at Calypso's Island?"

"And you're supposed to be at Mount Everest." Piper rebutted. "Maybe not here." she shot a look at the giants.

"Yeah, you're right." Leo replied.

"Well, well, well." Thoon rubbed his palms together. "In a short while, you will be brought up to the soil over there-" he pointed to the middle of the soil pit- "and executed. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get a few things sorted." he walked away.

Piper tried to struggle against the chains, but Leo stopped her. "These are made of celestial bronze. Let me do it." He set fire to his hand and gripped her chains, melting the links. "Act like nothing happened," he whispered, and went on doing his own chains.

Piper stayed there, her hands still behind her back, waiting for Leo to finish his chains as well. "Leo, hurry up!" she whispered.

"Sorry!" he whispered back. "But I don't have as good reach as you do. I'm trying to get to the are that is tying my hands together. I've broken the main chain, but it's going to take some time before I'm free."

After a long time, he finally whispered, "Done. On the count of three?"

Piper nodded. "One, two, three!" she and Leo burst from their spot and went immediately for the pile of weapons that was lying near them. Piper grabbed a dagger. Leo grabbed a hammer. Immediately, an alarm blared. A group of cyclops came out of a concealed doorway, brandishing maces, longswords, nunchucks, you name it.

Agrios turned around to face them, his face covered in shock. This was his worst nightmare- the demigods had escaped and there was no way to subdue them. He seemed to remember that they had to be sacrificed, yelled, "Cyclopes! Stand down!"

The Cyclopes didn't obey him. A woman Cyclopes came out of the crowd. "Attack!" she yelled.

They charged.

Unfortunately, Cyclopes are immune to fire.

Leo tried spewing fire at them, but they just deflected it. Leo cursed and smacked a charging cyclops on the head with his hammer. Meanwhile, Piper stabbed one of them in the chest. She fought like a madman, slicing and parrying. She'd never been good at swordfighting, but now she was. It was all down to instinct, she thought. Demigods were made to fight.

But obviously, she wasn't amazing. And soon, their choice of weapons were hindering rather than helping them. Leo's hammer was too heavy to hit enemies quickly, and her dagger didn't have enough reach.

The Cyclopes were winning. Easily. For every step that Piper made to try and get out of the madness, she had to take three back. Almost immediately, she and Leo were back to back.

At least, until the Hawaiian guy came along.

In a flash of bright light, a guy with messy hair, glasses and gleaming white teeth appeared in front of them. His sense of fashion was so bad Piper nearly barfed (Aphrodite kids have a sense for these things). He was wearing all pink- a pink Hawaiian shirt, a pink fedora, and pink business pants. Where you got those, Piper had no idea.

The Cyclopes also stood away from him, holding their mouths. Some were not so lucky, and soon the room was smelling like monster meat. "Well, well, well." the newcomer said. Now that Piper looked at him, she could see that he was translucent. He was a ghost.

"Setne!" Thoon looked outraged. "You are not welcome here! Go do your magic somewhere else!"

Setne tutted and shook his head. "You should know better than that."

"Aargh!" Thoon yelled. He got a sword and charged. Only stupid people try to slice through ghosts. The blade passed right through him.

"That is enough." Setne said. He turned around, looking at Leo. "Okay. Leo, say this for me: Hapi u-ha ey pwah."

"Hapi, u-ha ey pwah," Leo repeated.

Setne looked around the room, then grinned. "This should be only available for use in the Nile." he smiled at the Giants. "Thought you could trick the demigods into thinking that they were in Greece, eh?"

Agrios turned pink. "How-how did you know? I spent ages making that magical barrier!"

Suddenly, water rushed in through the ceiling. Slowly, the shape of a man emerged. Only, he was extremely tall, had the head of a baboon and a smile that told Piper that he was extremely over-caffeinated. "Hello, friends!" he said, smiling. "I will kill you!"

Setne looked at Leo with a whole different eye. "Hapi, kill the giants!" he smiled at Piper, flashing his teeth. "Maybe you should help, too."

Leo and Piper ran towards the giants. The Cyclopes followed.

"Stop!" Piper yelled. The Cyclopes stopped moving. "Hit yourselves on the head!" she continued. They complied soon, there was an all out war going on. They were punching each other, poking each others' eyes out. Meanwhile, Leo had begun to blast Thoon with fire. He was screaming in pain. Agrios was running away from Hapi, who was busy clawing his eyes out. Soon, there was nothing left of him but dust. But it wasn't over yet. Agrios was still lurking in a dark corner somewhere.

But unfortunately, Hapi didn't get to do anything, because the Cyclopes had finally snapped out of it, and were now charging straight at him. He turned into water vapor and left. Setne did the same.

Then, Piper felt a tug in her stomach.

Agrios stepped out of the shadows, grinning like a madman.

"It is ten fifty-five." he grinned. "And I can now finally kill you."

He raised his battle-axe and charged.