LABYRINTH ↬ leo valdez x reader, book three

11. MOTION SICKNESS

It made me terrified, the blow finally hit me. I was sent to prevent this. The war that was raging on, that was going to destroy everything. Was I capable of that?

Everything was in position.
"Right on time!" the giant king bellowed. "The blood of Olympus to raise the Earth Mother!"

Though I couldn't see or hear yet, I knew what was happening. Jason stood at the top of the nearest colonnade, his sword gleaming gold in the sun. Frank stood at his side, his bow ready. Hazel sat astride Arion, who reared and whinnied in challenge.

We rose above the ruins and all the ballistae and catapults fired simultaneously. Leo programmed the weapons with surgical precision. A wall of Greek fire roared upward all around the Parthenon. It didn't touch the interior, but in a flash most of the smaller monsters around it were incinerated.

Leo's voice boomed over the loudspeaker: "SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY ONE SPANKING HOT WAR MACHINE!"
A humanoid with dreadlocks with bones woven through them, bronze skin and white marble eyes howled in outrage. His dragon legs were green and his claws acted as his feet. "Valdez!"

"WHAT'S UP, ENCHILADAS?" Leo's voice roared back. "NICE DAGGER IN YOUR FOREHEAD." He winked at me with that.
"GAH!" The giant pulled Katoptris out of his head. "Monsters: destroy that ship!"
"Why are they coming after us?" I complained.
"We're the best, Y/N, didn't you know?"

The remaining forces tried their best. A flock of gryphons rose to attack — Festus the figurehead blew flames and chargrilled them out of the sky.
A few Earthborn launched a volley of rocks — but from the sides of the hull a dozen Archimedes spheres sprayed out, intercepting the boulders and blasting them to dust.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford ordered.

I watched the scene below, both horrified and mesmerised. Hazel spurred Arion off the colonnade and they leaped into battle. The forty- foot fall would have broken any other horse's legs, but Arion hit the ground running. Hazel zipped from giant to giant, stinging them with the blade of her spatha.

With extremely bad timing, Kekrops and his snake people chose that moment to join the fight. In four or five places around the ruins, the ground turned to green goo and armed gemini burst forth, Kekrops himself in the lead.

"Kill the demigods!" he hissed. "Kill the tricksters!"

Before many of his warriors could follow, Hazel pointed her blade at the nearest tunnel. The ground rumbled. All the gooey membranes popped and the tunnels collapsed, billowing plumes of dust. Kekrops looked around at his army, now reduced to six guys.

"SLITHER AWAY!" he ordered.
Frank's arrows cut them down as they tried to retreat.

The giantess tried to grab Annabeth, but, despite her bad leg, Annabeth was holding her own. She stabbed at the giantess with her own hunting knife and led her in a deadly game of tag around a throne.

Percy was on his feet, Riptide in his hands. He looked dazed. His nose was bleeding. But he seemed to be standing his ground against an old giant.

Piper stood back to back with Jason, fighting every giant who dared to come close. Frank ran out of arrows. He changed into a rhinoceros and leaped into battle, but as fast as he could knock down the giants they got up again. Their wounds seemed to be healing faster.

Another volley of Earthborn rocks hit the Argo II. This time we couldn't return fire fast enough. Rows of oars were sheared off. The ship shuddered and tilted in the sky. I grabbed on for dear life, clutching my book at my side and my medkit harnessed to my waist.

Enceladus threw his fiery spear. It pierced the ship's hull and exploded inside, sending spouts of fire through the oar openings. An ominous black cloud billowed from the deck. The Argo II began to sink.
"Leo!" I cried. He looked at me, frantic and mortified. "What do we do?"
"Go to the lower deck," He instructed. "Free Nike and be ready for anything. We can't defeat the giants without gods."
I was a pure face of terror. It was blatant; I felt my eyes being dry with widened shock and fear.