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"And you know stuff," Percy added "Like about the twins and what they’re up to"
"The twins!" Phorcys made his voice echo Sparklers blazed to life in front of the sea serpent tank "Yes, I know all about Ephialtes and Otis Those wannabes! They never fit in with the other giants Too puny--and those snakes for feet"
"Snakes for feet?" Percy re in his dream
"Yes, yes," Phorcys said ith, so they decided to go for dra You see, Gaea shaped her giant children with specific eneod Ephialtes and Otis…well, together they were sort of the anti-Dionysus"
Percy tried to wrap his mind around that idea "So…they want to replace all ith cranberry juice or so like that! Ephialtes and Otis alanted to do things better, flashier, more spectacular! Oh, of course they wanted to kill Dionysus But first they wanted to hu his revelries look ta stuff like fireworks and disco balls?"
Phorcys’s ht the twins everything they know, or at least I tried to They never listened Their first big trick? They tried to reach Oly mountains on top of one another It was just an illusion, of course I told the each other in half, pulling gorgons out of a hat That sort of thing Andsequined outfits Twins need those!’"
"Good advice," Percy agreed "And now the twins are--"
"Oh, preparing for their doomsday show in Rome," Phorcys sneered "It’s one of Mother’s silly ideas They’re keeping soe bronze jar" He turned toward Frank "You’re a child of Ares, aren’t you? You’ve got that smell The twins imprisoned your father the same way, once"
"Child of Mars," Frank corrected "Wait…these giants trapped my dad in a bronze jar?"
"Yes, another stupid stunt," said the sea god "How can you show off your prisoner if he’s in a bronze jar? No entertainestured to the hippocalass
Percy tried to think He felt like the lethargy of the addled sea creatures was starting to affect him "You said this--this doomsday shoas Gaea’s idea?"
"Well…Mother’s plans always have lots of layers" He laughed "The earth has layers! I suppose that makes sense!"
"Uh-huh," Percy said "And so her plan…"
"Oh, she’s put out a general bounty on soods," Phorcys said "She doesn’t really care who kills the as they’re killed Well…I take that back She was very specific that two irl Tartarus only knohy At any rate, the twins have their little show planned, hoping it will lure these deods to Rome I suppose the prisoner in the jar is a friend of theirs or soods will be foolish enough to co for the Mark of Athena" Phorcys elbowed Frank in the ribs "Ha! Good luck with that, eh?"
Frank laughed nervously "Yeah Ha-ha That would be really dumb because, uh…"
Phorcys narrowed his eyes
Percy slipped his hand into his pocket He closed his fingers around Riptide Even this old sea god ods with the bounty on their heads
But Phorcys just grinned and elbowed Frank again "Ha! Good one, child of Mars I suppose you’re right No point talking about it Even if the deods found that map in Charleston, they’d never make it to Rome alive!"
"Yes, the MAP IN CHARLESTON," Frank said loudly, giving Percy a wide-eyed look to make sure he hadn’t missed the information He couldn’t have been n that read CLUE!!!!!
"But enough boring educational stuff!" Phorcys said "You’ve paid for the VIP treatment Won’t you please let me finish the tour? The three denarii entrance fee is nonrefundable, you know"
Percy wasn’t excited aboutcaptive sea creatures But he glanced at Frank and decided they’d better hue and got safely to the exit Besides, they et more information out of Phorcys
"Afterward," Percy said, "can we ask questions?"
"Of course! I’ll tell you everything you need to know" Phorcys clapped his hands twice On the wall under the glowing red sign, a new tunnel appeared, leading into another tank
"Walk this way!" Phorcys scuttled sideways through the tunnel
Frank scratched his head "Do we have to--?" He turned sideways
"It’s just a figure of speech, man," Percy said "Come on"
Chapter 16