Page 65 (1/2)
Piper blinked "I aet out of control," the giant agreed "Everything has to be tiraphed your deaths You’ll love it"
Nico started to craay, groaning Percy wanted hi his Wonder bread 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 o on"
This giant was even worse than that sea god Phorcys back in Atlanta, Percy realized Ephialtes wasn’t so one crazy on steroids Sure, Dionysus was the god of revelry and out-of-control parties But Ephialtes was all about riot and ruin for pleasure
Percy looked at his friends "I’uy’s shirt"
"Corabbed her horn of plenty
"I hate Wonder bread," Jason said
Together, they charged
Chapter 46
Things rong iiants vanished in twin puffs of smoke They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot Percy sprinted toward Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under his feet, andhi in on hirabbed the bottoli across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits,her way toward Nico, as 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 od
Percy registered all this in a split second, but there wasn’t much he could do about it The hydra snapped at his hands He swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up froed positions as he tried to run through them, so he slashed down the whole forest with Riptide
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried He stood at his control panel about sixty feet to Percy’s left "We’ll consider this a dress rehearsal Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"
He pulled a lever, and Percy glanced behind hi toward a hatch in the ceiling In three seconds it would be gone If Percy attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city
Cursing, he threw Riptide like a booned for that, but the Celestial bronze blade sliced through the chains suspending the hydra The cage tumbled sideways The door broke open, and the ht in front of Percy
"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Jackson!" Ephialtes called "Very well Battle it here, if you ood without the cheering crowds"
Percy stepped forward to confront the monster--then realized he’d just thrown his weapon away A bit of bad planning on his part
He rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spit acid, turning the floor where he’d been standing into a stea crater of ood thing that he’d lost his sword, since his gut instinct would’ve been to slash at the heads, and a hydra sire ones for each one it lost
The last time he’d faced a hydra, he’d been saved by a battleship with bronze cannons that blasted the y couldn’t help him now…or could it?
The hydra lashed out Percy ducked behind a giant ha for the boxes he’d seen in his drea about rocket launchers
At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats’ heads It ood, because the leopards raced after it
About eighty feet to Piper’s right, Jason battled Otis, sword against spear Otis had lost his diary about it He probably could have i a pirouette with every attack, which slowed hihed as he pushed buttons on his control board, cranking the conveyor belts into high gear and opening randoed around the hae bag full of Wonder bread, and threw it at theand wrappers dissolved in uisher foa it in a sticky, steaoo
As theWonder acid out of its eyes, Percy looked around desperately He didn’t see the rocket-launcher boxes, but tucked against the back as a strange contraption like an artist’s easel, fitted with rows of renade launcher, a giant Ro weapons They all see in the sale bronze lever on the side At the top of the easel, spelled in carnations, were the words: HAPPY DESTRUCTION, ROME!
Percy bolted toward the device The hydra hissed and charged after him
"I know!" Ephialtes cried out happily "We can start with explosions along the Via Labicana! We can’t keep our audience waiting forever"
Percy scrambled behind the easel and turned it toward Ephialtes He didn’t have Leo’s skill with machines, but he kne to aim a weapon
The hydra barreled toward hiiant Percy hoped this contraption would have enough firepower to take doo targets at once He tugged at the lever It didn’t budge