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"love died down like embers"
THE CORRIDOR OPENED INTO A VAST ROOM WITH TWENTY-GOOT CEILINGS AND ROWS OF SUPPORT COLUMNS. It looked like the same parking-garage-type area Ariadne had seen in her dreams, but now much more crowded with stuff.
The creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor got no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches, powering water wheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside.
Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals—a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas, and even an eight headed hydra. Ancient looking bronze and leather conveyor belts trundled along with stacks of weapons and armor.
"What is it?" Piper whispered.
Percy didn't see the giants, so he gestured for his friends to come forward and take a look.
About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life size wooden cutout of a gladiator popped up from the floor. It clicked and whirred along a conveyor belt, got hooked on a rope, and ascended through a slot in the roof.
Jason murmured, "what the heck?"
They stepped inside, Ariadne scanned the room. There were several thousand things to look at, most of them in motion. About a hundred yards away, she spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person.
"Look." She pointed it out to her friends.
Piper frowned. "That's too easy."
"Of course," Percy said.
"But we have no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save Nico."
"Yeah." Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms.
The hellhounds in the hamster wheels paid them no attention. They were too busy running and panting, their red eyed glowing like headlights. The animals in the other cages gave them bored looks.
They jumped over a water trench and ducked under a row of caged wolves. They had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened over them. A platform lowered. Standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was the purple haired giant Ephialtes.
Just like Ariadne had seen in her dreams, the Big F was small by giant standards—about twelve feet tall—but he had tried to make up for it with his loud outfit. He'd changed out of the gladiator armor and was now wearing a Hawaiian shirt that even Dionysus would've found bulgur. It had a garish print made up of dying heroes, horrible tortures, and lions eating slaves in the Colosseum. The giant's hair was braided with gold and silver coins. He had a ten-foot spear strapped to his back, which wasn't a good fashion statement with the shirt. He wore bright white jeans and leather sandals on his...well, not feet, but curved snakeheads. The snakes flicked their tongues and writhed as if they didn't appreciate holding up the weight of a giant.
