The Animal Within

Chapter 52 - Restrained

Aquila's sudden appearance was enough distraction for the hellhound so Percy could lunge for Riptide. He spun and slashed through the hellhound's side, causing it to burst into dust. Aquila let out a startled shriek as he tumbled to the floor, rustling his wings to shake off the golden dust as he gave Percy a baleful glare.

Percy swallowed as he stared at the giant bird which had tried to carry him off to eat him. Aquila squawked and beat his wings to take off. Percy watched him go and settle back onto the top of the Acropolis before Percy returned his attention to the battle around him.

Rhea's motley group of immortals seemed to be fairing reasonably well against the giants, but they were out-numbered by far and it was clear that their attack was losing its momentum. Iapetus had his face set into a snarl as he launched a furious assault on Porphyrion, but the giant was holding his own against the Titan.

It wasn't enough.

Percy's stomach churned. He felt sick. The demigods couldn't help much either, but without them the immortals didn't have a chance at killing the giants. They needed to destroy the Moly too, that was too dangerous to leave. And before that, Saturn's Stupid Statue had to be destroyed.

And then hopefully backup would arrive in the form of the gods, but Percy wasn't holding out much hope.

"Where are they?" He hissed angrily to Jason as the two stood against half a dozen monsters which swarmed them at once.

Jason his shook his head, looking entirely hopeless. "I don't know," he said as he speared a hellhound through with Achilles' Spear.

"What do you know about Saturn's statue?" Percy demanded.

Jason paused briefly. "Ah – is that important right now?" He dodged a hellhound's pounce and skewered it through the heart.

Percy raised his voice. "Yes! The statue! It's blocking us from burning the Moly – what do you know about it? It's Roman, right?" Percy asked.

"Yes," Jason said. "Saturnalia, the Roman festival. The statue's feet are bound with wool, and it's unbound on Saturnalia for the festival, then bound again after," Jason said.

Percy eyed Jason, wondering if he was joking. He took a moment out of the chaos to spin and face the statue, lowering his eyes from that sharp gaze towards the statue's feet. There was a pile of wool which seemed attached to the statue's ankles, but wasn't binding the feet. Percy narrowed his eyes, remembered what Porphyrion had boasted to him before – 'So long as the statue stands free', he'd said.

"Oh my gods," Percy muttered under his breath. And he knew then, how he could stop that stupid statue. "We need to tie the feet up," Percy said as he gripped Jason's shoulder.

Jason looked between the statue's feet and Percy, looking like Percy were insane before he realised what Percy was getting at. "It seems like a long shot," Jason said sceptically.

"Long shots are all we have," Percy pointed out. "Come on!" He slapped a hellhound away with the flat of Riptide, turned and bolted. The hellhound let out a sharp yelp before snarling wildly and Percy heard it crash after them, crushing a piece of marble scattered on the ground. Percy glanced back, watching it's sharp claws dig large furrows into the ground as it charged after them. Percy turned and slashed at it across the muzzle before he kept running to the statue.

It just made sense. Percy recalled when he'd first mated with Kronos, those first few weeks when the Titan had been chained still at the insistence of the gods. His extreme dislike at the situation, his energy draining and the lack of freedom he'd had simply degrading the Titan. How Kronos had explained it to Percy, that an immortal being whom was chained or tied down had their power blocked and drastically weakened. And how Kronos had pushed on about it while Percy had been his captive, the way the Titan had made sure to hammer it into Percy's skull that tying an immortal down in any way was a terrible idea. At the time it had seemed that Kronos was raging about what the gods had done to him, but now Percy thought that maybe Kronos had been trying to give him a hint then, though why he wasn't entirely sure.