Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THINGS WENT WRONG IMMEDIATELY. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke before reappearing halfway across the room, each in a different spot. Which made me realize that the two giant's control of the room was going to make defeating them even more impossible.
I sprinted toward Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under my feet, and metal walls shot up on either side, separating me from my friends.
When the walls started closing in, I jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the hydra's cage. There, I caught a brief glimpse of Piper and Percy leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making their way toward Nico, who was 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 much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod.
I registered all this in a split second, but there wasn't much I could do about it. The hydra snapped at my hands. I swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. I had to slash all of them down with my blades.
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried. He stood at his control panel about sixty feet to my left. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"
He pulled a lever, and I glanced behind me. The cage I had just been hanging from was now rising toward a hatch in the ceiling. In three seconds it would be gone. If I attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city.
Muttering curses, I threw my left blade. Luckily, my weapons was also designed for throwing, and the Celestial bronze blade sliced through the chains suspending the hydra. The cage tumbled sideways. The door broke open, and the monster spilled out—right in front of me.
"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Le!" Ephialtes called. "Very well. Battle it here, if you must, but your death won't be nearly as good without the cheering crowds."
Giving Ephialtes the middle finger, I then rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spit acid, turning the floor where I'd been standing into a steaming crater of melted stone.
I put my left hand out and summoned my thrown blade back. Only to put them back on my hips. There was no point of my weapons. I knew that a sliced head of a hydra only meant an unwanted extra one.
And I also knew I couldn't very well wrestle with the damn thing. I needed a weapon suited for blasting the monster to pieces. Something with firepower.
The hydra lashed out. I ducked behind a giant hamster wheel and scanned the room, looking for anything. My eyes raked my surroundings and all the boxes.
Over at the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. Percy promptly blasted the cats with water from an inflatable kiddie pool nearby, making them yowl with annoyance and run the opposite way. Usually leopards liked water, but not when it came at them in violent jets.
