Walking by a crowd of monsters was nerve wrecking. Monsters were everywhere- hundred of ogres, Earthborn, Cyclopes milling through the ruins- but most gathered at the Parthenon, watching the ceremony. I tried my hardest to control the loud beating of my heart. Luckily my sword was also camouflaged by the Mist. I walked past a group of giants that were huddled near the outskirts between the Old Temple of Athena and the Parthenon.

I had tried to walk by them as naturally as I could. They didn't notice me at first. It wasn't until one of them saw me walking towards the outer edge to go around back of the Parthenon. They murmured amongst each other as I tried my best to not look obvious and quicken my pace.

"Hey, Earthborn!" One of them called out. I pulled a face and stopped in my tracks begrudgingly. I turned around to face them. "Where are you going? Your group is over to the left."

I shrugged and started to walk where they pointed toward. One of the giants called me an idiot as I walked by. A giantess came into my view. She eyed me wearily, studying me. I was afraid she could see through the Mist. My heart raced in my chest and could hear my heart beating in my ears. I walked past her and nothing happened. She sniffed arrogantly.

I sighed in relief and continued going. Then I felt someone rushing towards me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the giantess smirking as she stood right behind me with two Cyclops. My cover was somehow blown. Cursing, I swiped my sword at the closest cyclops and saw it turn to dust. Another tried to grab me. I twirled around him and stabbed my sword into his back.

Distracted, the giantess grabbed a hold of the back of my neck as if I were a kitten. I squirmed, trying to get out of her grasp. Her hold caught the chain of my necklace and snapped the metal. My eyes widened when I saw my necklace fall to the ground. I went to stab the giantess, but someone grabbed my sword and tossed it away from me.

Vines barely broke through the ground before they were pulled underground. My heart sank as I realized Gaea was growing more powerful. It was then that I realized the giantess was the one from Piper's dream from a few days ago. It was Periboia. Cheers erupted through the crowd as I realized my camouflage was gone. I kicked and scratched at the giantess as she carried me to the Parthenon. She started to show me off to the crowd.

A BOOM echoed all around us. The giants roared in triumph. I could see more monsters surging forward. My heart fell when I saw Percy struggling in another giant's, most likely Enceladus, fist. He paled when he saw me. Dozens of giants stood in a loose ring, hollering and shaking their weapons as Percy and I were being paraded as prizes.

Annabeth and Piper were no where to be seen. They still haven't been caught. Both Percy and I struggled helplessly as we were displayed to the cheering horde of monsters. Then we were turned to face a giant sitting on a makeshift throne. King Porphyrion. His white eyes gleamed with malice.

"Right on time." The king bellowed. "The blood of Olympus to raise the Earth Mother!"

Porphrion stood to his full height-almost as tall at the temple columns. His skin was a bile green color, he wore a sneer, his seaweed-colored hair braided with swords and axes taken from dead demigods. He looked over us. A shiver ran down my spine.

"They arrived just as you foresaw, Enceladus! Well done!"

"It was simple, my king." Enceladus bowed his head, braided bones clattering in his dreadlocks. The flame designs gleamed on his armor. His spear burned with purplish fire. "I knew these two would be part of leading the assault. I understand how they think. Poseidon and Dionysus...they were just like these children!"

I grumbled curses and kicked at Periboia. Anger ran through my veins. I could feel my eyes burn as a tug in my gut grew. Just when I was about to control the madness to those surrounding Percy and I, Periboia shook me. My vision blurred.

"Shut up! None of the hallucinations and madness!" She yelled. My stomach turned as I lost concentration. I felt nauseous, like I could throw up any second from how hard and fast she shook me. I grew dizzy. The princess giantess drew a long hunting knife. "Let me do the honors, Father!"

"Wait, Daughter." The king stepped back. "The sacrifice must be done properly. Thoon, destroyer of the Fates, come forward!"

A wizened gray giant shuffled into sight. He held an oversized meat cleaver. His milky eyes fixated on me. My heart raced as my blood ran cold. I desperately tried to call on the vines to grow, but nothing happened. They didn't even break through the ground. My heart sunk into my stomach. Percy shouted. A hundred yards away, a geyser of water shot into the sky.

"You'll have to do better than that, son of Poseidon." King Porphyrion laughed. "The earth is too powerful here. Even your father wouldn't be able to summon more than a salty spring. But never fear. The only liquid we require from you is your blood!"

Thoon knelt and touched the blade of his cleaver reverently against the earth. My mind raced as I tried to think of how to get out of this and save Percy. Annabeth and Piper were still out there. By the looks of it, still undiscovered. Hopefully, they're thinking of a plan to stop this.

"Mother Gaea..." Thoon's deep voice shook the ruins. "In ancient times, blood mixed with your soul to create life. Now, let the blood of these demigods return the favor. We bring you to full wakefulness. We greet you as our eternal mistress!"

As Thoon rose to use his cleaver, Piper suddenly appeared and slashed upward with her sword. She took off Thoon's hand at the wrist. He wailed. The cleaver and severed hand lay in the dust of Piper's feet.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Porphyrion thundered. I saw some monsters turn to dust in the crowd. Annabeth must've put on her invisibility hat. "How dare this weak, useless creature interrupt?"

Piper attacked. She drew her knife and threw it at Enceldus, luckily missing Percy. The giant howled in pain as it landed in the middle of his forehead. I struggled against Periboia, desperate to get out of her hold. Pain flared at my neck as the giantess's grip tightened. I tried to control the madness but every time I did I was shaken to loose my concentration.

Several giants ran at Piper. She dodged between their legs and let them bash their heads together. Monsters turned to dust if they got too close to her. She managed to find another weapon, a jagged sword.

"RUN! RUN AWAY!" Piper used her charmspeak on some monsters to cause chaos.

"NO! STOP HER!" Porphyrion shouted. "KILL HER!"

A spear almost impaled Piper. She swerved and kept running. A huge sword sliced across her path. Piper leaped over the blade and zigzagged toward me as I still kicked and writhed in Periboia's grip.

"I think not, demigod!" Periboia yelled. "This one bleeds!"

The giantess raised her knife. Fear ran through me. A strong tug grew in my stomach as my eyes burned. The giantess blinked a few times and shook her head.

"MISS!" Piper screamed in charmspeak.

At the same time, I kicked my legs up to make myself a smaller target. Periboia's knife passed beneath my legs and stabbed herself in the palm. The giantess wailed in pain.

A stinging burning pain grew from the back of my thigh. I bit back a cry as I was dropped. I rolled away. Looking at my wound, I noticed the nasty long gash. My blood soaked the earth and I couldn't breathe. Curses slipped from my lips as I tried to move my leg.

Piper lunged at the giantess. Her jagged blade pierced Periboia's gut. Frost spread across her bronze breastplate. Piper yanked out her sword. The giantess toppled backward- steaming white and frozen solid. Periboia hit the ground with a thud.

"My daughter!" King Porphyrion leveled his spear and charged.

Enceladus has managed to drop Percy, too busy staggering around with Piper's knife embedded in his forehead. Ichor bled into his eyes. Percy rolled and quickly stood up to his feet. He made no move of grabbing Riptide, most likely confiscated when he was captured. Percy grabbed the tip of King Porphyrion's spear as he ran at Piper and forced it down into the ground. The giant's own momentum lifted him off his feet in a pole vault maneuver and he flipped over on his back. 

I dragged myself across the dirt towards the large hunting knife. My thigh would flare up in pain with each movement I made. I clenched my jaw to bite back the pain. Piper ran to my side and stood over me protectively. She swept her blade back and forth to keep the giants at bay. Cold steam wreathed the weapon.

"Who wants to be the next Popsicle?" Piper yelled with charmspeak. "Who wants to go back to Tartarus?"

That seemed to hit a nerve. The giants shuffled away uneasily, glancing at at the frozen body of Periboia. Annabeth was moving behind the scenes, killing monsters that got to close to us and Percy. Her invisibility was still in tact. Forty feet away, Percy bent over the giant king to yank a sword from the braids of his hair.

"Fools!" Porphyroin back handed Percy. A scream got caught in my throat as I saw him fly into a column with a sickening crunch. The giant rose to his feet. "These demigods cannot kill us! They do not have the help of the gods. Remember who you are!"

The giants closed in. A dozen spears were aimed at Piper's chest. I struggled to my feet, my wound making it hard to move quickly. Blood dripped from my gash. Each drop that fell to the ground bubbled. It turned from red to gold. I swallowed thickly. Gaea was right after all. Percy tried to stand, but he was dazed. Hopefully Annabeth was near him to defend himself from any monsters.

"Come on, then!" Piper yelled. "I'll destroy you all myself if I have to!"

A metallic smell of storm filled the air. All the hairs on my arms stood up. I stumbled to a defensive stance and held the hunting knife. It was heavier that my sword, but it would do.

"The thing is," a familiar voice came from above, "you don't have to."

I followed the direction the voice came from. At the top of the nearest colonnade stood Jason, his sword gleaming gold in the sun. Frank stood at his side, his bow ready. Hazel sat astride Arion, who reared and whinnied in challenge. With a deafening blast, a white hot bolt of lightning arced from the sky, straight through Jason's body as he leaped, wreathed in lightning, at the giant king.

Jason fell on King Porphyrion with such a force that the giant fell to his knees- blasted with lightning and stabbed in the neck with a golden gladius. Frank unleashed a hail of arrows, helping Annabeth drove back giants from Percy. Her hat had slipped off and she quickly picked it up and placed it in her back pocket.

The Argo II rose above the ruins and all the ballistae and catapults fired simultaneously. Leo must have programmed them the weapons with surgical precision. A wall of Greek fire roared upward all around the Parthenon. It didn't touch the interior, but in a flash most of the smaller monsters around were incinerated.

"SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY ONE SPANKING HOT WAR MACHINE!" Leo's voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

"Valdez!" Enceladus howled in outrage.

"WHATS UP, ENCHILADAS?" Leo's voice roared. "NICE DAGGER IN YOUR FOREHEAD."

"GAH!" The giant pulled out Piper's dagger out of his head. "Monsters: destroy that ship!"

The remaining tried their best. A flock of gryphons rose to attack. Festus blew flames and charbroiled them out of the sky. A few Earthborn launched a volley of rocks, but from the sides of the hull a dozen Archimedes spheres sprayed out, intercepting the boulders and blasting them to dust.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford ordered.

Hazel spurred Arion off the colonnade and they leaped into battle. Arion hit the ground running despite the forty foot drop. She directed Arion toward me and she held my drakon sword with a grin.

"Frank had a feeling you needed this." Hazel handed me my sword.

"You're the best!" I grinned, dropping the giantess's sword and grasping my own.

Hazel gave me a smile and zipped from giant to giant, stinging them with the blade of her spatha. In four places around the ruins the ground turned to green goo. Kekrops and his snake people burst forth. The king was leading the charge.

"Kill the demigods!" He hissed. "Kill the tricksters!"

Hazel pointed her blade at the tunnel before many of his warriors could follow. The ground rumbled. All the gooey membrane popped and the tunnels collapsed, billowing plumes of dust. Kekrops looked around his army, now reduced to six guys.

"SLITHER AWAY!" Kekrops ordered.

Frank's arrows cut them down as they tried to retreat. The giantess was thawing at an alarming speed. She tried to grab me. I leaned away from her clutches and stabbed her in the arm. Periboia yelped. I staggered away from her, going to the other side of the throne to put some distance in between. Periboia yelled and swiped at my head. I ducked and slashed at her ribs. The both of us were playing a very dangerous game of tag.

Percy was back on his feet, Riptide once again in his hands. He still looked dazed. His nose was bleeding. But he seemed to be holding his own against Thoon. The giant seemed to have reattached his hand and found the meat cleaver. I would try to warn him about his bleeding nose but each time Periboia would attack.

Piper stood back to back with Jason, both of them fighting off monsters. I barely dodged another grab as Periboia's fingers grazed the back of my neck. Frank ran out of arrows. He then changed into a rhinoceros and leaped into battle. No matter how many times he knocked them down, they got up with their wounds healing even faster.

I felt that the tiny progress I had against Periboia was lost. Every time I stabbed and sliced at her, the wounds would heal. Annabeth noticed as I limped a few steps back. I tried to desperately call on the vines to the point I started to feel a little sick. Annabeth came from behind and slashed behind her knees. Periboia wailed and crumpled to the ground.

Hazel was knocked out of her saddle at sixty miles an hour. Jason summoned another lightning strike, but Porphyion deflected it off the tip of his spear. We couldn't kill the giants without the help of the gods and the only one we have is in a net on the ship.

Another volley of rocks hit the Argo II. Rows of oars were sheared off. The ship shuddered and tilted in the sky. Enceladus threw his fiery spear. It pierced the ship's hull and exploded inside, sending spouts of fire through the oar openings. An ominous black cloud billowed from the deck. The Argo II began to sink.

"Leo!" Jason cried.

"You demigods have learned nothing." Porphyion laughed. "There are no gods to aid you. We need only one more thing from you to make our victory complete."

The giant smiled expectantly at Percy. I followed his gaze. Percy's nose was still bleeding. He seems unaware that a trickle of blood had made its way down his face to the end of his chin.

"Percy!" I tried to warn, but before I could say anything else I was whacked in the stomach.

The air got knocked out of me as I fell onto my back. Annabeth blocked another hit and stabbed the giantess's chest. Piper had tried to warn Percy as well, but it was too late. A single drop of blood fell from his chin. It hit the ground between his feet and sizzled like water on a frying pan.

The blood of Olympus watered the ancient stones. The Acropolis groaned and shifted as the Earth Mother woke.

Had to channel my inner Ivy and drink some Diet Coke with some lemon to write this