━━ chapter forty-one
backstage blues

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

    ━━Percy is so done with water. 

    Now, of course, if he said that out loud, he probably would be kicked out of Poseidon's Junior Sea Scouts (or something), but he really didn't care at this point. After barely surviving the nymphaeum, he wanted to go back to the surface. He wanted to be dry and sit in the warm sunshine for a long time━preferably with Fiona.

   Unfortunately, Fiona, Leo and Hazel were all missing in action. That didn't make him feel any better in the slightest. They were supposed to report back to them, and they never did. What if they were━no, Percy refused to think that way. They were alive. Fiona was alive. And Annabeth was alive, too. He still had to save Nico di Angelo, and he should focus on that, assuming he wasn't dead already. (Oh, yeah, and there was that little matter of the giants destroying Rome, waking Gaea and taking over the world). 

    Surely, these monsters and gods could take a few decades off and let Percy live his life, they were thousands of years old! But, apparently not. 

    He took the lead as they crawled down the drainage pipe. After thirty feet, it opened into a wider tunnel. To their left, somewhere in the distance, Percy heard rumbling and creaking, like some huge machine needed some serious oiling. He had absolutely no desire to find out what was making that sound, so he figured that must be the way to go.

    Percy would have rathered Sam stay with Coach Hedge on the Argo than follow them along in this dangerous quest. But he had insisted. And while he might be a bit of a liability, and was breathing heavily with fear at Percy's side, he had been the one to have dreamt about Nico's imprisonment. He was supposed to be here, and while he hated it, Percy knew that in his gut. 

    He clutched a dagger he had stolen from one of the dolphin-pirates. It was his only weapon, and he's had it just a day. But he clutched onto it like it was his lifeline, holding it out with trembling fingers. Sam had practiced a few times with Fiona, and once with Percy. He regretted not teaching the kid more. He remembered being his age: scared, facing an enemy far larger than himself, and with the weight of the world on his shoulders. (Literally). 

    Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signalling Sam, Jason and Piper to wait. He peeked around the corner. 

    The corridor opened up into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns. He felt a twist in his stomach, recognising it as the place in his dreams, but now much more crowded with random stuff.

    The creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through the trenches (yay, more water), powering waterwheels that turned some of the machines. Others were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds running inside. His anger grew━he couldn't help but see Mrs O'Leary.

    There was more: suspended from above were cages of live animals━a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas and even an eight-headed hydra. It reminded Percy of the Amazon centre in Seattle, watching all the bronze ancient-looking conveyor belts tundling along with stacks of weapons and armour. 

    "What is it?" Piper whispered.

    Percy wasn't sure how to answer, or if he even knew the right answer. He couldn't see the giants, so he gestured for his friends to come forward and take a look.

    "Whoa," let out Sam. 

    About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-size wooden cut-out of a gladiator popped up from the floor. It clicked and whirred along a converyor belt, got hooked on a rope and ascended through a slot in the roof.

    "What the heck?" murmured Jason.

    (What the heck indeed).

    They continued on. Stepping inside, Percy scanned the room. There were far too many things to look at, however, his ADHD gave him a little help. With everything moving, he was comfortable in the chaos, or maybe just because he was so used to it. Almost a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person.

    Sam's eyes widened. "Nico!" he pointed. 

    He went to run to the son of Hades, but Percy grabbed his arm and held him back.

    Piper frowned. "That's too easy."

    "Of course, it is," grumbled Percy. 

    "But we have no choice," said Jason. "We've got to save Nico."

    Sam nodded, determined. He pulled his arm out of Percy's grip and started first to the bronze jar. Percy rushed to keep up with him, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms. He wanted to be ready if something just popped up out of nowhere. Annabeth and Fiona would kill him if Sam got hurt━that's if Percy didn't stab himself with the guilt. Sam just begged the need for protection, to the point Percy forgot he was a demigod, and probably very capable in his own way. But he was so focused on Nico, he wasn't looking out for anything else. 

    The hellhounds in the hamster wheels paid them no attention. They were too busy running and panting, their red eyes glowing like headlights. The animals in the other cages gave them bored looks, as if to say, I'd kill you, but it would take too much energy.

    If Grover was here, he would be furious. Percy was a bit like that, too. 

    He tried to watch out for traps, but everything here looked like a trap. He remembered how many times he'd almost died in the labyrinth a few years ago. He really wished Hazel was here so she could help with her underground skills, and Fiona, as well, just to have her around━so the two girls could be reuinited with their brother.

    They jumped over a water trech and ducked under a row of caged wolves. The group of them had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened above them. A platform lowered. Standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was the purple-haired giant Ephialtes. Percy took a deep breath, tugging Sam a little behind him. The giant's smile unnerved him, because it seemed as if was really (and he means really) pleased to see them.

   "At last!" he bellowed. "So very happy! Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it past the nymphs, but it's so much better that you did. Much more entertaining. You're just in time for the main event!"

    Jason and Piper closed ranks on either side of Percy and Sam. Having them there made him feel a little better. "We're here," he said. "Let out friend go."

    "Of course!" said Ephialtes. "Though I fear he's a bit past his expiration date. Otis, where are you?"

    A stone's throw away, the floor opened, and the other giant rose on a platform. 

    "Otis! Finally!" cried his brother with glee. "You're not dressed the same as me! You're ..." his expression fell to horror. "What are you wearing?!"

    It was a good question. Percy throught Otis looked like the world's largest, grumpiest ballet dancer. He was wrapped up in a skin-tight baby-blue leotard, and the toes of his massive dancing slipps were cut away so that his snaes could protude. He even had a diamond tiara on his head. He looked glum and miserable, but he managed a dancer's bow, which couldn't have been easy with snake feet and a huge spear on his back.

    "Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelled. "It's showtime! What are you thinking?!"

    "I didn't want to wear the gladiator outfit!" complained his brother. "I still think a ballet would be perfect, you know, while Armageddon is going on." He raised his eyebrows hopefully at them. "I have some extra costumes━"

    "No!" Ephialtes snapped (and Percy was in agreement). He then grinned so painfully at Percy he looked like he was being electrocuted. And yes ... Percy knows what that is like. "Please excuse my brother," he said. "His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."

    (Percy decided to keep his mouth shut about the hawaiian shirt Ephialtes wore).

   "Okay," he said instead. "Now, about our friend..."

   "Oh, him," sneered the giant. "We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has o entertainment valye. He's spent days curled up sleeping. What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar."

   Otis trudged over to the dias, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, and the lid popped off. Percy's heart stopped when Nico di Angelo spilled out, deathly-pale and terribly skinny. He wanted to rush over and check whether he was alive or dead, but Ephialtes stood in his way. He had to hold Sam back, who didn't seem to care that there was a giant standing right there.

    Percy tied to keep his concentration on the conversation, but holding Sam back and trying to figure out whether Nico was alive from back here was very distracting. He caught the basics━they were going to apart of a show, and Percy wondered whether he could make a good spectacle by slicing this giant in half. As the giants boasted about their hypogeum (an area under the coliseum where they housed all the set pieces and machinery used to create special effects), Percy saw Nico shudder. He felt like a helhound hamster wheel somewhere had started moving again. Nico was alive. Now, they just had to defeat the giants, preferably without destroying the city of Rome, and get out of here to find their friends...

    "So!" Percy spoke up, hoping to keep the giants' attention on him. "Stage directions, you said?"

   "Yes!" Ephialtes said. "Now, I know the bounty stipulates that you and the girl Fiona should be kept alive if possible, but, honestly, the girl is already doomed, so I hope you don't mind if we deviate from the plan."

    Doomed? Percy felt suddenly weak. He hoped it didn't show. What did he mean by doomed? "Already doomed. You━you don't mean she's━?"

    "Dead?" the giant asked. "No. Not yet. But don't worry! We've got your other friends locked up, you see. The eidelons want their revenge on the girl, and why not let them! There's still three others."

    Piper made a strangled sound. "Leo? Hazel and Frank?"

   "Those are the ones," Ephialtes agreed. "So we can use them for the sacrifice. We can let the Pluto girl die, and the Athena girl, which will please Her Ladyship. And we can use you three for the show! Gaea will be disappointed, but, really, this is a win-win. Your deaths will be much more entertaining."

    "You leave them alone!" shouted Sam. He pointed his dagger aggressively. "Annabeth will survive! And so will Fiona!"

    Jason snarled. "You want entertaining? I'll give you entertaining━"

    Piper stepped forward. Somehow, she managed a sweet smile. "I've got a better idea," she purred. "Why don't you let us go? That would be an incredible twist. Wonderful entertainment value, and it would prove to the world how cool you are."

    Nico stirred. Otis looked down at him. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Nico's head.

    "Plus!" Piper said quickly. "Plus, we could do some dance moves as we're escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!"

    "I know ballet!" Sam added helpfully. 

    Otis forgot all about Nico. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at his brother. "You see? That's what I was telling you! It would be incredible!"

    For a second, Percy thought Ephialtes might actually say yes. He scratched his chin, considering it, but at last, he shook his head. "No ... no, I'm afraid not. You see, my girl, I am the anti-Dionysus. I have a reputation to uphold. Dionysus thinks he knows parties? He's wrong! His revels are tame compared to what I can do. That old stunt we pulled, for instance, when he piled up mountains to reach Olympus━"

    "I told you that would never work," muttered Otis. 

    Percy didn't want to hear this. All he wanted to know was more information on Fiona and Annabeth, but he had to give Nico enough time to crawl out of the way when the fighting started. He was only just starting to move. So, he took a deep breath, and let the giants keep talking for a few more minutes. 

    "Maybe," he ventured, "you should bring our other friends here. You know, spectacular deaths ... the more the merrier, right?"

    "Hmm..." Ephialtes fiddled with a button on his Hawaiian shirt. "No. It's really too late to change the choreography. But never fear. The circuses will be marvellous! Ah ... not the modern sort of circus, mind you. That would require clowns, and I hate clowns."

    "Everyone hates clows," Otis said. "Even other clowns hate clowns."

    "Exactly," agreed his brother. "But we have much better entertainment planned! The three of you will die in agony, up above, where all the gods and mortals can watch. But that's just the opening ceremony! In the old days, games went on for days or weeks. Our spectacle━the destruction of Rome━will go on for one full month until Gaea wakes."

   "Wait," Jason frowned. "One month, and Gaea wakes up?"

    Ephilates waved away the question. "Yes, yes. Something about August first being the best date to destroy all humanity. Not important! In her infinite wisdom, the Earth Mother has agreed that Rome can be destroyed first, slowly and spectacularly. It's only fitting!"

    "So ..." Percy arched a brow. He knew his next words were going to brew some unwanted feelings for the giants, but he really didn't care. "You're Gaea's warm-up act?"

    (He hoped that was an insult in the language of the theatre).

    By the look on the giants' faces, Percy figured it was. "This is no warm-up, demigod!" snapped Ephialtes. "We'll release wild animals and monsters into the streets. Our special-effects department will produce fires and earthquakes. Sinkholes and volcanoes will appear randomly out of nowhere! Ghosts will run rampant."

    "The ghost thing won't work," said Otis. "Our focus groups say it won't pull raitings."

    "Doubters!" Ephilates said. "This hypogeum can make anything work!"

    "Yeah, but..." Sam held up his hands, weighing out the options. "You're still the pre-show to Gaea. Her rising ..." he held up one hand really high, "... destroying the world, all demigods ... and this is━like━you..." he lowered his other hand really low. "I mean, it's not your fault. I'm just speaking the facts. I can't help it. Child of Athena, you know..."

    (Percy hid his grin). 

     Ephialtes growled, furious. He stormed over to a big table covered with a sheet. He pulled the sheet away, revealing a collection of levers and knobs almost as complicated-looking as Leo's control panel on the Argo II. "This button?" he said. "This one will eject a dozen rabid wolves into the Forum. And this one will summon automaton gladiators to battle tourists at the Trevi Fountain! This one will cause the Tiber to flood its banks so we can re-enact a naval battle right in the Piazza Navona! Percy Jackson, you should appreciate that, as a son of Poseidon!"

    "Uh ... I still think the letting us go idea is better," said Percy. 

    "He's right," Piper tried again. "Otherwise we get into this whole confrontation thing. We fight you. Yo ufight us. We wreck your plans. You know, we've defeated a lot of giants lately. I'd hate for things to get out of control."

    Ephialtes nodded thoughtfully. "You're right."

    Piper blinked, "I am?"

    "We can't let things get out of control," agreed the giant. "Everything has to be timed perfectly. But don't worry. I've choreographed your deaths. You'll love it."

   Nico started to crawl away, groaning. Percy wished he'd crawl away quieter, but that seemed a little insensitive. Still, man, stop drawing attention to yourself!

    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 more sensible to die painfully. Sorry, but the show must go on."

    Percy gritted his teeth. He gripped Riptide tighter. Looking at his friends, he said, "I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt."

    "Yeah, and the other guy's leotard," Sam held his dagger out.

    "Combat time?" Piper grabbed her horn of plenty.

    "Let's do this," said Jason.

    And together, they charged.

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    ━━Like usual, things went wrong immediately. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke like some family of genies. The reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot. Percy nodded for Sam to head straight for Nico and he wasted no time, sprinting to the groaning son of Hades. Percy headed straight towards Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under his feet and metal walls shot up on either side, separating him from his friends.

    Percy felt his breath rise in his throat, seeing the walls start to close in on him like the sides of a vice. Don't freak! He told himself and bent his knees. With as much strength as he could muster, he leapt up and grabbed the bottom of the hydra's cage. He caught a brief glimpse of Sam pulling Nico desperately to his feet, elbows hooked under his arms. Piper raced to them, desperate to destract the pair of leopards that were stalking them. Meanwhile, Jason charged Otis, who pulled his spear and heaved a great sigh, as if he would much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod. 

    Percy registed all this in a split second, but there was nothing much he could do about it, since there was a hydra trying to bite away his hands. He swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. They kept changing positions as he moved, so he just slashed them down 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?"

    Percy glanced behind him as he pulled a lever. The cage he had just been hanging from ascended towards a hatch in the ceiling. In seconds, it would be gone. If Percy attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city. Cursing, he threw Riptide. The Celestial bronze blade sliced right through the chains suspending hte hydra. The cage tumbled sideways. The door broke open, and the monster spilled out━right in front of Percy.

    "Oh, you are a spoil sport, Jackson!" called Ephialtes. "Very well. Battle it here, if you must, but your death won't be nearly as good without the cheering crowds." 

    He stepped forward to confront the monster, but then realised he had just thrown away his weapon. Good job, Jackson. So, he had to roll to his side as all eight hydra acids spat acid, turning the floor where he had been standing into a steaming crater of meted stone. Percy hated hydras. He hated them so much. You can't just kill them with a swipe to their necks, because the beasts just had to have that advantage over him. Two more will just grow in their place. He remembered that they had to be killed with fire. Gods, why couldn't Leo be here? 

    The last time Percy had faced a hydra, he had been saved by a crazed daughter of Ares and her battleship with bronze cannons that blasted the monster to pieces. That strategy couldn't help him now ... or could it?

    As the hydra lashed out, Percy ducked behind a giant hamster wheel. He had remembered seeing some rocket launchers in his dream, if they were here ...

    At the dias, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. While Sam checked to see whether there was any way to help the son of Hades to get him up quicker, she aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' heads. It must have smelled wonderful, since they leopards raced right after it. About eighty feet to the right, Jason battled Otis, sword against spear. Otis had lost his diamoned tiara, and he looked very angry about that. He probably could have impaled Jason several times, but the giant insisted on doing a pirouette with every attack, which slowed him down. 

    Meanwhile, Ephialtes laughed as he pushed buttons on his control board, cranking the conveyor belts into high gear and opening random cages. 

    The hydra charged around the hamster wheel. Percy swung behind a column, grabbed a garbage back full of━Wonder bread?━and threw it at the monster. The hydra spat acid, which was a mistake. The bag and wrappers dissolved in midair, but the bread absorbed the acid like fire extinguisher foam. It splattered against the hydra, covering it in a sticky, steaming layer of high-calerie poisonous goo. 

    Percy took this chance to dart. He searched for the explosions, and cursed when he couldn't find any. The hydra screeched behind him, and he knew he didn't have much more time. That was until━at the back wall━he saw a strange contraption like an artist's easel, fitting with rows of missile launchers. With it was a bazooka, a grenade launcher, a giant Roman candle and a dozen other wicked-looking weapons. They all seemed to be wired together, pointing in the same direction.

    Percy ran to it. The hydra hissed and followed. 

    "I know!" Ephialtes was full of delight. "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 towards Ephialtes. He didn't have Leo's skill with machines, but Hades does he know how to aim a weapon. 

    The hydra barrelled towards him, blocking his view of the giant. But then, out of nowhere, a spear lit with green flame lodged itself in the side of the monster. It shrieked in pain as its whole body enveloped in Greek Fire before it fell into a pile of ashed monster dust at Percy's feet. He looked over, and his eyes widened to see Sam standing in front of Nico, surprised himself that his plan had worked. He had taken one of the Hoplite spears from the automations packed in the corner, lit the edge of spear with Greek Fire stashed near them, and thrown it with accuracy Percy never knew he had. 

    Percy nodded at him, and he returned with a set of his jaw and a nod of his own. Percy then turned his attention back to the giant, he tugged the lever, and the easel shook as the weapons bean to hiss.

    "Duck and cover!" Percy yelled, hoping his friends go the message. 

    The impact of the trigger didn't do what Percy wanted it to. As he covered his head in his arms, he saw the easel tilt sideways and the projectiles shot all over the room. A chunk of ceiling collapsed and crushed a waterwheel. More cages snapped off their chains, unleashing two zebras and a pack of hyenas. A grenade exploded over Ephialtes's head, but it only blasted him off his feet. The control board didn't even look damaged.

    Just my luck, he grumbled to himself.

    Across the room, sandbags rained down around Piper, Sam and Nico. Sam managed to pull Nico to safety and tried to drag Piper with them, but one of the bags caught her shoulder and knocked her down.

    "Piper!" Jason shouted. He ran towards her, completely forgetting about Otis, who aimed his spear at Jason's back.

    "Look out!" yelled Percy.

    Jason had fast reflexes. As Otis threw, Jason rolled. The point sailed over him and Jason flicked his hand, summoning the winds to change the spear's direction. It few across the room and skewered Ephialtes through his side just as he was getting to his feet.

    "OTIS!" he stumbled away from the control board, already beginning to crumble to dust. "Will you please stop killing me?!"

    "Not my fault━!"

    The ceiling above Otis expoded in a beautiful shower of light. Colourful sparks pirouetted gracefully around the giant. Then, a ten-foot section of roof collapsed right ontop of him and crushed him flat.

    Jason reached Piper's side. She yelped when he touched her arm. Her shoulder looked unnaturally bent, but she murmured, "Fine. I'm fine." Next to Sam, Nico sat up, looking around in bewilderment as if just realising he'd missed a battle. Sam kept him steady, breathing heavily.

    But the giants weren't finished. Ephialtes was already re-forming, his head and shoulders rising from the mound of dust. He tugged his arms free and flowered at Percy. Across the room, the pile of rubble shifted. Otis burst forth, his head slightly caved in. 

    "Percy!" shouted Sam. "The controls!"

    Percy unfroze. He found Riptide in his pocket again and uncapped the sword. He lunged for the switchboard. The blade slashed right across the top, decaptiating the controls in a shower of bronze sparks.

    "NO!" wailed Ephialtes. "You've ruined the spectacle!"

    Percy turned too late. Ephialtes swung his spear like a bat and Percy was knocked off his feet. He flew a few feet before landing, rolling painfully across the floor. His stomach felt like it was on fire. 

    Jason ran to his side, but Otis lumbered after him. Percy managed to rise and found himself shoulder to shoulder with Jason. Over by the dais, Sam was trying to help both Piper and Nico, one unable to get up and the other barely conscious. The giants were healing, getting stronger by the minute. Percy was not. 

    Ephialtes smiled. "Tired, Percy Jackson? As I said, you cannot kill us. So I guess we're at an impasse. Oh, wait ... no we're not! Because we can kill you!"

    "That," grumbled his brother, picking up his fallen spear, "is the first sensible thing you've said all day, brother."

    "We won't give up," growled Jason as they readied their weapons on the two demigods. "We'll cut you into pieces like Jupiter did to Saturn."

    "That's right," said Percy, managing enough power to get back onto his feet with Jason at his side. "You're both dead. I don't care if we have a god on our side or not."

    "Well, that's a shame."

    Percy would have jumped if he wasn't in so much pain. To his right, another platform lowered from the ceiling. Leaning casually on a pinecone-topped staff was a man in a purple camp shirt, khaki shorts and sandles with white socks. Percy never thought he'd be relieved to see this god, but he couldn't help but let out a scoff of a smile. 

    "I'd hate to think I made a special trip for nothing."

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

    a/n: gO SAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stan sam for clear skin. this book is getting closer and closer to being over ... i'm not ready for the next book ... half of this chapter is literally just giants talking shit, i'm sorry, i tried to skim over it but they had important stuff to say lol.