TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

forty two.

THINGS WENT WRONG immediately. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke. They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot. Val went behind Jason, who charged at Otis. The giant pulled his spear and heaved a great sigh, as if he would much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod.

Piper leaped across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards. Percy was going to charge at Ephialtes, but was trapped with multiple walls.

"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried. He stood at his control panel a while away. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"

He pulled a lever, and the cage Percy was hanging from was rising.

Val couldn't worry about that. She threw one of her knives at Otis, which tore off some of the costume, which made him mad. It was a chain reaction. And, naturally, she bolted, letting Jason deal with that.

"Val!" Percy called, rolling away from the hydra that had dropped. When had that happened? Val didn't know, but she sent a peace sign to Jason and ran toward the hydra, which was a bad idea, because, right, they shoot acid. Her dodge meant that most of the acid didn't touch her, but the few that did hit her knives.

"I liked those knives!" Val frowned, dodging another bit of acid. She needed to get close enough to kill the hydra, with just one touch. The perks of being death.

At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' heads. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it.

About eighty feet to Piper's right, Jason battled Otis, sword against spear. Otis had lost his diamond tiara and looked angry about it. 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 animal cages. Percy was looking for something, gods knows what, but Val wanted him to deal with the hydra if he was just going to stand there.

Speaking of which, the hydra charged around the hamster wheel, which was just cruel. Val swung behind a column, grabbed a garbage bag full of Wonder bread, and threw it at the monster. The hydra spit acid, which was a mistake. The bag and wrappers dissolved in midair. The Wonder bread absorbed the acid like fire extinguisher foam and splattered against the hydra, covering it in a sticky, steaming layer of high-calorie poisonous goo.

As the monster reeled, shaking its heads and blinking Wonder acid out of its eyes, Val leaped into the air and took off with her wings so she could get the hydra. It bit at her feet, and she snarled and kicked one of the heads.

"I know!" Ephialtes cried out happily. "We can start with explosions along the Via Labicana! We can't keep our audience waiting forever."

Finally, Val reached down and touched the hydra. It curled up and turned to ashes.

She just did that. Gods, she was good.

"Duck and cover!" she suddenly heard Percy yell.

In panic, Val shadow traveled away. The sound was like a fiesta in the middle of an exploding gunpowder factory. 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.

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