[1] 𝐼𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑠 - 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛

2.07

-

PERCY WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE ARENA.

It wasn't the biggest, but it seemed pretty spacious considering the whole place was underground. The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that you could drive a car around the rim if you pulled it really tight. In the center of the arena, a fight was going on between a giant and a centaur. The centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his enemy, using sword and shield, while the giant swung a javelin the size of a telephone pole and the crowd cheered.

The first tier of seats was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigods, telekhines, and stranger things: bat-winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you name it—bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

But the creepiest things were the skulls. The arena was full of them. They ringed the edge of the railing. Three-foot-high piles of them decorated the steps between the benches. They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher.

In the middle of all this, proudly displayed on the side of the spectator's wall, was something that made no sense—a green banner with the trident of Poseidon in the center. What was that doing in a horrible place like this?

Above the banner, sitting in a seat of honor, was an old enemy.

"Luke," Percy said.

Percy doubted he could hear him over the roar of the crowd, but he smiled coldly. He was wearing camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and bronze breastplate, just like he'd seen in his dream. But he still wasn't wearing his sword, which Percy thought was strange. Next to him sat the largest giant he'd ever seen, much larger than the one on the floor fighting the centaur. The giant next to Luke must've been fifteen feet tall, easy, and so wide he took up three seats. He wore only a loincloth, like a sumo wrestler. His skin was dark red and tattooed with blue wave designs. Percy figured he must be Luke's new bodyguard or something.

There was a cry from the arena floor, and Percy jumped back as the centaur crashed to the dirt beside him.

He met Percy's eyes pleadingly. "Help!"

He reached for his sword, but it had been taken and hadn't reappeared in his pocket yet.

The centaur struggled to get up as the giant approached, his javelin ready.

A taloned hand gripped Percy's shoulder. "If you value your friendsss' livesss," the dracaena guard said, "you won't interfere. This isssn't your fight. Wait your turn."

The centaur couldn't get up. One of his legs was broken. The giant put his huge foot on the horseman's chest and raised the javelin. He looked up at Luke. The crowd cheered, "DEATH! DEATH!"