by Rick Riordan
steam-train wheels. The grip was polished bronze, studded with dials and buttons.
He had no arrow nocked. He made no threatening moves. He smiled so dazzlingly it was hard to remember he was an enemy – someone who’d killed at least half a dozen Hunters and Amazons to get here.
Hylla drew her knives. ‘Reyna, go. I will deal with this monster.’
Orion chuckled. ‘Hylla Twice-Kill, you have courage. So did your lieutenants. They are dead.’
Hylla took a step forward.
Reyna grabbed her arm. ‘Orion!’ she said. ‘You have enough Amazon blood on your hands. Perhaps it’s time you try a Roman.’
The giant’s eyes clicked and dilated. Red laser dots floated across Reyna’s breastplate. ‘Ah, the young praetor. I admit, I’ve been curious. Before I slay you, perhaps you’ll enlighten me. Why would a child of Rome go to such lengths to help the Greeks? You have forfeited your rank, abandoned your legion, made yourself an outlaw – and for what? Jason Grace scorned you. Percy Jackson refused you. Haven’t you been … what’s the word … dumped enough?’
Reyna’s ears buzzed. She recalled Aphrodite’s warning, two years ago in Charleston: You will not find love where you wish or where you hope. No demigod shall heal your heart.
She forced herself to meet the giant’s gaze. ‘I don’t define myself by the boys who may or may not like me.’
‘Brave words.’ The giant’s smile was infuriating. ‘But you are no different from the Amazons, or the Hunters, or Artemis herself. You speak of strength and independence. As soon as you face a man of true prowess, your confidence crumbles. You feel threatened by my dominance and how it attracts you. So you run, or you surrender, or you die.’
Hylla shrugged off Reyna’s hand. ‘I will kill you, giant. I will chop you into pieces so small –’
‘Hylla,’ Reyna interrupted. Whatever else happened here, she could not watch her sister die. Reyna had to keep the giant focused on her. ‘Orion, you claim to be strong. Yet you couldn’t keep the vows of the Hunt. You died rejected. And now you’re running errands for your mother. So tell me again, how exactly are you threatening?’
Orion’s jaw muscles clenched. His smile became thinner and colder.
‘A good try,’ he admitted. ‘You’re hoping to unbalance me. You think, perhaps, if you keep me talking, reinforcements will save you. Alas, Praetor, there are no reinforcements. I burned your sister’s underground lair with her own Greek fire. No one survived.’
Hylla roared and attacked. Orion hit her with the butt of his bow. She flew backwards into the street. Orion pulled an arrow from his quiver.
‘Stop!’ Reyna yelled.
Her heart hammered in her ribcage. She needed to find the giant’s weakness.
Barrachina was only a few blocks away. If they could make it that far, Nico might be able to shadow-travel them away. And the Hunters couldn’t all be dead … They’d been patrolling the entire perimeter of the old city. Surely some of them were still out there …
‘Orion, you asked what motivates me.’ She kept her voice level. ‘Don’t you want your answer before you kill us? Surely it must puzzle you, why women keep rejecting a big handsome guy like you.’
The giant nocked his arrow. ‘Now you have mistaken me for Narcissus. I cannot be flattered.’
‘Of course not,’ Reyna said. Hylla rose with a murderous look on her face, but Reyna reached out with her senses, trying to share with her sister the most difficult kind of strength – restraint. ‘Still … it must infuriate you. First you were dumped by a mortal princess –’
‘Merope.’ Orion sneered. ‘A beautiful girl, but stupid. If she’d had any sense, she would have understood I was flirting with her.’
‘Let me guess,’ Reyna said. ‘She screamed and called for the guards instead.’
‘I was without my weapons at the time. You don’t bring your bow and knives when you’re courting a princess. The guards took me easily. Her father the king had me blinded and exiled.’
Just above Reyna’s head, a pebble skittered across a clay-tiled roof. It might have been her imagination, but she remembered that sound from the many nights Hylla would sneak out of her own locked room and creep across the roof to check on her.
It took all of Reyna’s willpower not to glance up.
‘But you got new eyes,’ she said to the giant. ‘Hephaestus took pity on you.’
‘Yes …’ Orion’s gaze became unfocused. Reyna could tell, because the laser targets disappeared from her chest. ‘I ended up on Delos, where I met Artemis. Do you know how strange it is to meet your mortal enemy and end up being attracted to her?’ He laughed. ‘Praetor, what am I saying? Of course you know. Perhaps you feel for the Greeks as I felt for Artemis – a guilty fascination, an admiration that turns to love. But too much love is poison, especially when that love is not returned. If you do not understand that already, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, you soon will.’
Hylla limped forward, her knives still in hand. ‘Sister, why do you let this beast talk? Let’s put him down.’
‘Can you?’ Orion mused. ‘Many have tried. Even Artemis’s own brother, Apollo, was not able to kill me back in the ancient times. He had to use trickery to get rid of me.’
‘He didn’t like you hanging out with his sister?’ Reyna listened for more sounds from the roofs, but heard nothing.
‘Apollo was jealous.’ The giant’s fingers curled around his bowstring. He drew it back, setting the bow’s wheels and pulleys spinning. ‘He feared I might charm Artemis into forgetting her vows of maidenhood. And who knows? Without Apollo’s interference, perhaps I would have. She would have been happier.’
‘As your servant?’ Hylla growled. ‘Your meek little housewife?’
‘It hardly matters now,’ Orion said. ‘At any rate, Apollo inflicted me with madness – a bloodlust to kill all the beasts of the earth. I slaughtered thousands before my mother, Gaia, finally put a stop to my rampage. She summoned a giant scorpion from the earth. It stabbed me in the back and its poison killed me. I owe her for that.’
‘You owe Gaia,’ Reyna said, ‘for killing you.’
Orion’s mechanical pupils spiralled into tiny, glowing points. ‘My mother showed me the truth. I was fighting against my own nature, and it brought me nothing but misery. Giants are not meant to love mortals or gods. Gaia helped me accept what I am. Eventually we all must return home, Praetor. We must embrace our past, no matter how bitter and dark.’ He nodded his chin towards the villa behind her. ‘Just as you have done. You have your own share of ghosts, eh?’
Reyna drew her sword. You can’t learn anything from ghosts, she had told her sister. Perhaps she couldn’t learn anything from giants, either.
‘This is not my home,’ she said. ‘And we are not alike.’
‘I have seen the truth.’ The giant sounded truly sympathetic. ‘You cling to the fantasy that you can make your enemies love you. You cannot, Reyna. There is no love for you at Camp Half-Blood.’
Aphrodite’s words echoed in her head: No demigod shall heal your heart.
Reyna studied the giant’s handsome, cruel face, his glowing mechanical eyes. For a terrible moment, she could understand how even a goddess, even an eternal maiden like Artemis, might fall for Orion’s honeyed words.
‘I could have killed you twenty times by now,’ the giant said. ‘You realize that, don’t you? Let me spare you. A simple show of faith is all I need. Tell me where the statue is.’
Reyna almost dropped her sword. Where the statue is …
Orion hadn’t located the Athena Parthenos. The Hunters’ camouflage had worked. All this time, the giant had been tracking Reyna, which meant that even if she died right now Nico and Coach Hedge might stay safe. The quest was not doomed.
She felt as if she’d shed a hundred pounds of armour. She laughed. The sound echoed down the cobblestone street.
‘Phoebe outsmarted you,’ she said. ‘By tracking me, you lost the statue. Now my friends are free to co
ntinue their mission.’
Orion curled his lip. ‘Oh, I will find them, Praetor. After I deal with you.’
‘Then I suppose,’ Reyna said, ‘we will have to deal with you first.’
‘That is my sister,’ Hylla said proudly.
Together they charged.
The giant’s first shot would have skewered Reyna, but Hylla was fast. She sliced the arrow out of the air and lunged at Orion. Reyna stabbed at his chest. The giant intercepted both of their attacks with his bow.
He kicked Hylla backwards into the hood of an old Chevy. Half a dozen cats scattered from underneath it. The giant spun, a dagger suddenly in his hand, and Reyna just managed to dodge the blade.
She stabbed again, ripping through his leather jerkin, but only managed to graze his chest.
‘You fight well, Praetor,’ he admitted. ‘But not well enough to live.’
Reyna willed her blade to extend into a pilum. ‘My death means nothing.’
If her friends could continue their quest in peace, she was fully prepared to go down fighting. But first she intended to hurt this giant so badly he would never forget her name.
‘What about your sister’s death?’ Orion asked. ‘Does that mean something?’
Faster than Reyna could blink, he sent an arrow flying towards Hylla’s chest. A scream built in Reyna’s throat, but somehow Hylla caught the arrow.
Hylla slid off the hood of the car and snapped the arrow with one hand. ‘I am the queen of the Amazons, you idiot. I wear the royal belt. With the strength it gives me, I will avenge the Amazons you killed today.’
Hylla grabbed the front bumper of the Chevy and flipped the entire car towards Orion, as easily as if she were splashing him with water in a swimming pool.
The Chevy sandwiched Orion against the wall of the nearest house. Stucco cracked. A banana tree toppled. More cats fled.
Reyna ran towards the wreckage, but the giant bellowed and shoved away the car.
‘You will die together!’ he promised. Two arrows appeared nocked in his bow, the string fully drawn back.
Then the rooftops exploded with noise.
‘DIE!’ Gleeson Hedge dropped directly behind Orion, smacking his baseball bat over the giant’s head so hard the Louisville Slugger cracked in half.
At the same time, Nico di Angelo dropped in front. He slashed his Stygian sword across the giant’s bowstring, causing pulleys and gears to zip and creak, the string recoiling with hundreds of pounds of force until it whacked Orion in the nose like a hydraulic bullwhip.
‘OOOOOOOOW!!’ Orion staggered backwards, dropping his bow.
Hunters of Artemis appeared along the rooftops, shooting Orion full of silver arrows until he resembled a glowing hedgehog. He staggered blindly, holding his nose, his face streaming with golden ichor.
Someone grabbed Reyna’s arm. ‘Come on!’ Thalia Grace had returned.
‘Go with her!’ Hylla ordered.
Reyna’s heart felt like it was shattering. ‘Sister –’
‘You have to leave! NOW!’ It was exactly what Hylla had said to her six years ago, the night they escaped their father’s house. ‘I’ll delay Orion as long as possible.’
Hylla grabbed one of the giant’s legs. She yanked him off balance and tossed him several blocks down the Calle San Jose, to the general consternation of several dozen more cats. The Hunters ran after him along the rooftops, shooting arrows that exploded in Greek fire, wreathing the giant in flames.
‘Your sister’s right,’ Thalia said. ‘You need to go.’
Nico and Hedge fell in alongside her, both looking very pleased with themselves. They had apparently gone shopping at the Barrachina souvenir shop, where they’d replaced their dirty tattered shirts with loud tropical numbers.
‘Nico,’ Reyna said, ‘you look –’
‘Not a word about the shirt,’ he warned. ‘Not one word.’
‘Why did you come looking for me?’ she demanded. ‘You could have got away free. The giant has been tracking me. If you had just left –’
‘You’re welcome, cupcake,’ the coach grumbled. ‘We weren’t about to leave without you. Now let’s get out of …’
He glanced over Reyna’s shoulder and his voice faltered.
Reyna turned.
Behind her, the second-storey balconies of her family house were crowded with glowing figures: a man with a forked beard and rusted conquistador armour; another bearded man in eighteenth-century pirate clothes, his shirt peppered with gunshot holes; a lady in a bloody nightgown; a U.S. Navy captain in his dress whites; and a dozen more Reyna knew from her childhood – all of them glaring at her accusingly, their voices whispering in her mind: Traitor. Murderer.
‘No …’ Reyna felt like she was ten years old again. She wanted to curl up in the corner of her room and press her hands over her ears to stop the whispering.
Nico took her arm. ‘Reyna, who are they? What do they – ?’
‘I can’t,’ she pleaded. ‘I – I can’t.’
She’d spent so many years building a dam inside her to hold back the fear. Now, it broke. Her strength washed away.
‘It’s all right.’ Nico gazed up at the balconies. The ghosts disappeared, but Reyna knew they weren’t really gone. They were never really gone. ‘We’ll get you out of here,’ Nico promised. ‘Let’s move.’
Thalia took Reyna’s other arm. The four of them ran for the restaurant and the Athena Parthenos. Behind them, Reyna heard Orion roaring in pain, Greek fire exploding.
And in her mind the voices still whispered: Murderer. Traitor. You can never flee your crime.
XXV
Jason
JASON ROSE FROM HIS DEATHBED so he could drown with the rest of the crew.
The ship was tilting so violently he had to climb the floor to get out of sickbay. The hull creaked. The engine groaned like a dying water buffalo. Cutting through the roar of the wind, the goddess Nike screamed from the stables: ‘YOU CAN DO BETTER, STORM! GIVE ME A HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT!’
Jason climbed the stairs to the middle deck. His legs shook. His head spun. The ship pitched to port, knocking him against the opposite wall.
Hazel stumbled out of her cabin, hugging her stomach. ‘I hate the ocean!’
When she saw him, her eyes widened. ‘What are you doing out of bed?’
‘I’m going up there!’ he insisted. ‘I can help!’
Hazel looked like she wanted to argue. Then the ship tilted to starboard and she staggered towards the bathroom, her hand over her mouth.
Jason fought his way to the stairs. He hadn’t been out of bed in a day and a half, ever since the girls got back from Sparta and he’d unexpectedly collapsed. His muscles rebelled at the effort. His gut felt like Michael Varus was standing behind him, repeatedly stabbing him and yelling, Die like a Roman! Die like a Roman!
Jason forced down the pain. He was tired of people taking care of him, whispering how worried they were. He was tired of dreaming about being a shish kebab. He’d spent enough time nursing the wound in his gut. Either it would kill him or it wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to wait around for the wound to decide. He had to help his friends.
Somehow he made it above deck.
What he saw there made him almost as nauseous as Hazel. A wave the size of a skyscraper crashed over the forward deck, washing the front crossbows and half the port railing out to sea. The sails were ripped to shreds. Lightning flashed all around, hitting the sea like spotlights. Horizontal rain blasted Jason’s face. The clouds were so dark he honestly couldn’t tell if it was day or night.
The crew was doing what they could … which wasn’t much.
Leo had lashed himself to the console with a bungee cord harness. That might have seemed like a good idea when he rigged it up, but every time a wave hit he was washed away, then smacked back into his control board like a human paddleball.
Piper and Annabeth were trying to save the rigging. Since Sparta they’d become quite a team – able to work together w
ithout even talking, which was just as well, since they couldn’t have heard each other over the storm.
Frank – at least Jason assumed it was Frank – had turned into a gorilla. He was swinging upside down off the starboard rail, using his massive strength and his flexible feet to hang on while he untangled some broken oars. Apparently the crew was trying to get the ship airborne, but, even if they managed to take off, Jason wasn’t sure the sky would be any safer.
Even Festus the figurehead was trying to help. He spewed fire at the rain, though that didn’t seem to discourage the storm.
Only Percy was having any luck. He stood by the centre mast, his hands extended like he was on a tightrope. Every time the ship tilted, he pushed in the opposite direction and the hull stabilized. He summoned giant fists of water from the ocean to slam into the larger waves before they could reach the deck, so it looked like the ocean was hitting itself repeatedly in the face.
With the storm as bad as it was, Jason realized the ship would’ve already capsized or been smashed to bits if Percy wasn’t on the job.
Jason staggered towards the mast. Leo yelled something – probably Go downstairs! – but Jason only waved back. He made it to Percy’s side and grabbed his shoulder.
Percy nodded like ’sup. He didn’t look shocked, or demand that Jason go back to sickbay, which Jason appreciated.
Percy could stay dry if he concentrated, but obviously he had bigger things to worry about right now. His dark hair was plastered to his face. His clothes were soaked and ripped.
He shouted something in Jason’s ear, but Jason could only make out a few words: ‘THING … DOWN … STOP IT!’
Percy pointed over the side.
‘Something is causing the storm?’ Jason asked.
Percy grinned and tapped his ears. Clearly, he couldn’t hear a word. He made a gesture with his hand like diving overboard. Then he tapped Jason on the chest.
‘You want me to go?’ Jason felt kind of honoured. Everybody else had been treating him like a glass vase, but Percy … well, he seemed to figure that if Jason was on deck he was ready for action.
‘Happy to!’ Jason shouted. ‘But I can’t breathe underwater!’
Percy shrugged. Sorry, can’t hear you.
Then Percy ran to the starboard rail, pushed another massive wave away from the ship and jumped overboard.
Jason glanced at Piper and Annabeth. They both clung to the rigging, staring at him in shock. Piper’s expression said, Are you out of your mind?
He gave her an okay sign, partly to assure her that he would be fine (which he wasn’t sure about), partly to agree that he was in fact crazy (which he was sure about).
He staggered to the railing and looked up at the storm.
Winds raged. Clouds churned. Jason sensed an entire army of venti swirling above him, too angry and agitated to take physical form, but hungry for destruction.
He raised his arm and summoned a lasso of wind. Jason had learned long ago that the best way to control a crowd of bullies was to pick the meanest, biggest kid and force him into submission. Then the others would fall in line. He lashed out with his wind rope, searching for strongest, most ornery ventus in the storm.
He lassoed a nasty patch of storm cloud and pulled it in. ‘You’re serving me today.’
Howling in protest, the ventus encircled him. The storm above the ship seemed to lessen just a bit, as if the other venti were thinking, Oh, crud. That guy means business.
Jason levitated off the deck, encased in his own miniature tornado. Spinning like a corkscrew, he plunged into the water.
Jason assumed things would be calmer underwater.
Not so much.
Of course, that could’ve been due to his mode of travel. Riding a cyclone to the bottom of the ocean definitely gave him some unexpected turbulence. He dropped and swerved with no apparent logic, his ears popping, his stomach pressed against his ribs.
Finally he drifted to a stop next to Percy, who stood on a ledge jutting over a deeper abyss.
‘Hey,’ Percy said.
Jason could hear him perfectly, though he wasn’t sure how. ‘What’s going on?’
In his ventus air cocoon, his own voice sounded like he was talking through a vacuum cleaner.
Percy pointed into the void. ‘Wait for it.’