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Things went wrong immediately. Jason tried charging the giants, sword in hand, valiant expression on his heroic face—and the twins disappeared in identical clouds of smoke. May caught sight of Percy leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits towards Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards.
May cursed. The giants had reappeared on the other side of the room, each in different spots like they were intentionally trying to make it difficult on the demigods. And they probably were—whatever made a good show, right?
Jason hadn't missed a beat before charging Otis again, and Percy's path to Nico had just been obstructed by a hydra dumping out of its cage, all eight heads fixated on him. Nico was still on the ground, but he looked more alert than he had before.
All of this, May registered in two seconds flat. There was about a million things happening at once, and May wasn't doing any part in it. She'd forgotten all about her idea, and when it came back to her, it was like a brick had hit her right on the head. (Jason reference.)
Quickly, she cleared her mind, ignoring all of the sounds from the many battles laid out before her—it was harder than it seemed. All she could hear was the creaking and clanging of machinery, Jason's grunts as he swung at Otis, Ephialtes cheering his twin brother on from a platform twenty feet in the air, the calls of multiple different animals, all at once.
May wiped it all from the front of her brain, and she called upon her mother.
It was a long shot—about a thousand miles too long—but she had to try. They had no gods on their side, and without any help, they could never defeat the giants. It would be a losing battle. May couldn't just let that slide.
Mother, please, she thought, putting all her focus on calling Athena.
There was no reason for the goddess to answer, either, May realized about ten seconds too late. They'd never met face-to-face, for one, and Athena was dealing with her split personalities. It was becoming such an awful idea that May considered giving up and taking to battle.
Over to her right, Jason battled Otis, seeming to be holding his own pretty well. Otis had lost his diamond tiara, which he didn't seem happy about. May noticed at least seven chances for him to impale Jason, but he insisted on doing a pirouette with every move, which slowed him down horribly. Even still, Jason looked like he was using all his power.
As for Percy, he was a mess. His only tack for avoiding the acid spit of the hydra heads was to roll on the ground and duck behind every possible obstacle—and when the hydra fired, he lost his defense, everything melting to goo as the acid ate through it.
