The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 62 - Piper - Disguises With Disgust

"Hazel's Mist." My voice sounded deep and gravelly. I looked down and realized that I, too, now had a lovely Neanderthal body – belly hair, loincloth, stubby legs and oversized feet. If I concentrated, she could see my normal arms, but when I moved them they rippled like mirages, separating into three different sets of muscular Earthborn arms.

Percy grimaced, which looked even worse on his newly uglified face. "Wow, Annabeth... I'm really glad I kissed you before you changed."

"Thanks a lot," she said. "We should get going. I'll move clockwise around the perimeter. Piper, you move counterclockwise. Percy, you scout the middle –"

"Wait," Percy said. "We're walking right into the whole blood-spilling sacrifice trap we've been warned about, and you want to split up even more?"

"We'll cover more ground that way," Annabeth said. "We have to hurry. That chanting..."

I hadn't noticed it until then, but now I heard it: an ominous drone in the distance, like a hundred forklifts idling. I looked at the ground and noticed bits of gravel trembling, skittering southeast, as if pulled towards the Parthenon.

"Right," I said. "We'll meet up at the giant's throne."

At first it was easy.

Monsters were everywhere – hundreds of ogres, Earthborn and Cyclopes milling through the ruins – but most of them were gathered at the Parthenon, watching the ceremony in progress. I strolled along the cliffs of the Acropolis unchallenged.

Near the first onager, three Earthborn were sunning themselves on the rocks. I walked right up to them and smiled. "Hello."

Before they could make a sound, I cut them down with her sword. All three melted into slag heaps. I slashed the onager's spring cord to disable the weapon, then kept moving.

I skirted a patrol of Cyclopes. The second onager was surrounded by an encampment of tattooed Laistrygonian ogres, but I managed to get to the machine without raising suspicion. I dropped a vial of Greek fire in the sling. With luck, as soon as they tried to load the catapult, it would explode in their faces.

Gryphons roosted on the colonnade of an old temple. A group of empousai had retreated into a shadowy archway and appeared to be slumbering, their fiery hair flickering dimly, their brass legs glinting. Hopefully the sunlight would make them sluggish if they had to fight.

Whenever I could, I slew isolated monsters. I walked past larger groups. Meanwhile the crowd at the Parthenon grew larger. The chanting got louder. I couldn't see what was happening inside the ruins – just the heads of twenty or thirty giants standing in a circle, mumbling and swaying, maybe doing the evil monster version of 'Kumbayah'.

I disabled a third siege weapon by sawing through the torsion ropes, which should give the Argo II a clear approach from the north.

I hoped Frank was watching my progress. I wondered how long it would take for the ship to arrive.

Suddenly, the chanting stopped. A BOOM echoed across the hillside. In the Parthenon, the giants roared in triumph. All around me, monsters surged towards the sound of celebration.

That couldn't be good. I blended into a crowd of sour-smelling Earthborn and bounded up the main steps of the temple, then climbed a section of metal scaffolding so she could see above the heads of the ogres and Cyclopes.

The scene in the ruins almost made me cry aloud.

Before Porphyrion's throne, dozens of giants stood in a loose ring, hollering and shaking their weapons as two of their number paraded around the circle, showing off their prizes. The princess Periboia held Annabeth by the neck like a feral cat. The giant Enceladus had Percy wrapped in his massive fist.