TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

forty three.

VAL HAD FOUGHT many battles, but none of them were like this. In the huge Colosseum, with thousands of cheering ghosts, the god Bacchus staring down at her, and the two twelve-foot giants looming over her, Val felt as small and insignificant as a bug.

She knew that she was the polite one, the nice one, out of everyone in the Eight. But right now? It didn't feel that way, when the gods made her life into a game, starting from the curse and adding on from there.

Val, come with me, the Olympians aren't worth fighting for, Ethan had pleaded when he asked her to betray the camp. We were supposed to give the children of minor gods justice, and Kronos can do that.

Sometimes, Val wished that she'd taken his offer. But she hadn't. And that was why she was here right now. Fighting giants or die.

Ephialtes and Otis made the decision easier by attacking. Together, the giants picked up a fake mountain as big as some of the hotel rooms Val and Kayla had bought and hurled it at the demigods.

Val yelped and shadow traveled away, which really was a horrible habit. Her body couldn't stand this.

The crowd jeered and shouted for blood. "Fight! Fight!"

"I'll take Otis again?" Jason called over the noise. "Or do one of you want him this time? And, Val, are you okay to fight?"

"I will be," Val gritted her teeth, shifting so she was in a shadow so she could gain energy.

"You need to rest," Percy insisted. "Remember the war?"

"Please don't remind me of the war," Val groaned. "But, fine, I'll rest. I guess. But what are you two going to do?"

"We're going to attack together," Percy said. "Otis first, because he's weaker. Take him out quickly and move to Ephialtes. Bronze and gold together — maybe that'll keep them from re-forming a little longer."

Jason smiled dryly, like he'd just found out he would die in an embarrassing way.

"Why not?" he agreed. "But Ephialtes isn't going to stand there and wait while we kill his brother. Unless—"

"Good wind today," Percy offered. "And there're some water pipes running under the arena."

Jason laughed. Boys. What was it with their sense of humor?

"On three?" Jason said.

"Why wait?"

Those two charged out of the trench, and Val watched from afar. She felt the floor shaking and the unmistakable sound of water leaking. She looked outside to see Jason send a blast of wind against Ephialtes's chest. The purple-haired giant toppled backward and Otis lost his grip on the mountain, which promptly collapsed on top of his brother. Only Ephialtes's snake feet stuck out, darting their heads around, as if wondering where the rest of their body had gone.

The crowd roared with approval.

"Hey, Otis!" Percy shouted. "The Nutcracker bites!"

"Ahhhhh!" Otis snatched up his spear and threw, but he was too angry to aim straight. Jason deflected it over Percy's head and into the lake.

The demigods backed toward the water, shouting insults about ballet.

"That's not how you insult ballet!" Val called. "Otis, your grand jetes are horrible! Second position plies don't look like that!"

Otis, spurred by her voice, barreled toward the boys, before apparently realizing that a) he was empty-handed, and b) charging toward a large body of water to fight a son of Poseidon was maybe not a good idea.