Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔻ip in the Pool

Porphyrion was even taller and even more ripped. He didn't radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him—a kind of strength, even magnetism, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.

Like Enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armour, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs; but his skin was the colour of lima beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, and full-size swords, some of them bent and bloody—maybe trophies taken from demigods aeons before. When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble. He took a deep breath.

"Alive!" he bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!"

Jason made a heroic little whimpering sound he hoped his friends couldn't hear. He was very sure no demigod could solo this guy. Porphyrion could lift mountains. He could crush Jason with one finger. 

"Same," Nicki whispered. Her functioning hand wrapped around her sling to hug herself. "Should we start crying now?" 

"Leo," Jason said.

"Huh?" Leo's mouth was wide open. Ethan looked ready to join Hera inside her cage. Even Piper seemed dazed.

"You guys keep working," Jason said. "Get Hera free!"

"What are you two going to do?" Piper asked. "You can't seriously—"

"Entertain a giant?" Jason said. "We've got no choice."

Forcing a smile, Nicki's knuckles whitened on her arm. "Piece of cake... Shall we?"

"Excellent!" the giant roared as the two demigods approached. "An appetizer! Who are you—Hermes? Ares? And you. You must be Athena?"

Jason thought about going with that idea, but something told him not to. "I'm Jason Grace," he said. "Son of Jupiter."

"I'm Nicki Driscoll. Daughter of Hecate, descendant of Hermes."

Those white eyes bored into them. Behind them, Leo's circular saw whirred, and Piper talked to the cage in soothing tones, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Ethan was humming to himself, fiddling with a small, scale-balance charm in his palm. Porphyrion threw back his head and laughed. 

"Outstanding!" He looked up at the cloudy night sky. "So, Zeus and Hermes, you sacrifice your children to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."

The sky didn't even rumble. No help from above. The demigods were on their own. They had to buy Leo, Ethan, and Piper some time.

"Technically, I'm the child of Hecate but that's not important. I'll just call you Mr Porpoise."

The giant turned his unsettling white eyes onto Nicki. "How dare you speak to me, demigod. I am the King of Giants. I am the usurper of Zeus. I am—"

"Yeah, and I am not the child of Hermes. And that's only one thing for you to get right. Until then, you're Mr Porpoise."

"Oh, my gods. Do you enjoy being killed?" Jason pressed a palm to his forehead. "You're going to get us all killed."

"Daughter of Hecate!" The giant roared. Anger was rolling in thick waves. 

Nicki smiled. Her neck craned upwards in an attempt to meet the giant's eyes. "It wasn't that hard, was it, Porphyrion."

"Insolence! Your parents now will watch your destruction."

It was time to act a whole lot more confident than he felt. "If you knew who I was," Jason yelled up at the giant, "you'd be worried about me, not my father. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because I'm going to send you right back to Tartarus."