XLIV

Jason dives onto King Porphyrion, blasting him with lightning and stabbing his neck, while Frank’s arrows drive giants from Percy. The Argo II rises and unleashes a wall of Greek fire that incinerates lesser monsters. Leo taunts Enceladus over the loudspeakers as Festus and Archimedes spheres swat down gryphons and boulders. Hazel charges on Arion, then collapses most of Kekrops’s tunnels, scattering his gemini.

Frank cuts down the few snakemen who remain. On the platform, Annabeth keeps Periboia at bay despite her injured leg, Percy duels Thoon—who has reattached his hand—and Piper fights back-to-back with Jason. For a moment, momentum favors the demigods.

The tide turns as the giants regroup. Frank expends his arrows and becomes a rhinoceros but cannot keep them down as their wounds heal faster. Hazel is thrown from the saddle, Annabeth loses ground, and Porphyrion deflects Jason’s lightning. The six demigods are pushed into a defensive ring. A fresh volley of Earthborn rocks batters the Argo II; then Enceladus’s fiery spear explodes inside the hull, and the ship begins to sink.

Porphyrion mocks the demigods, claiming no gods will aid them, and watches Percy. As Piper notices Percy’s nosebleed, a single drop falls onto the Acropolis stones and sizzles. The blood of Olympus touches the ground, and the Acropolis groans as the Earth Mother, Gaea, begins to wake.