The Heroes of Olympus, #5
The Blood of Olympus
by Rick Riordan
Contents
XII
Overview
Hazel reshapes the stadium into a shifting maze, letting the team isolate and defeat Nike’s Nikai. Leo flips Nike’s chariot with a water trap and snares her in a Celestial bronze net. Percy and Leo clear tension over Calypso. Nike prophesies a fatality and reveals leads to a physician’s cure, setting their next quest.
Summary
Nike declares the contest as Hazel’s Mist turns the field into a shifting maze. Leo and Percy advance under cover as Frank and Hazel play at being Roman opponents to appease the goddess. With Hazel isolating targets, Percy cuts down a Nikette after Leo distracts it, and Frank, in grizzly form, flattens another. Mock grenades and signals mark their progress.
Catching their breath, Percy apologizes to Leo for failing Calypso and promises to help Leo return to her, easing Leo’s lingering resentment. Hazel’s cry interrupts them; the last Nikette wounds her and destabilizes the maze. Percy rushes to protect Hazel while Leo draws Nike’s focus, taunting her into a charge.
Leo plants an Archimedean sphere trap as Nike barrels forward. Percy triggers Operation Water Balloon, erupting a geyser that flips the goddess’s chariot and scatters the horses. With Nike disoriented, Leo unveils a modified sphere as a blinding mirror beam, then deploys a Celestial bronze net that forces her Greek and Roman aspects into a bound, unstable whole.
The team regroups around the captured goddess. Nike rages and foretells that one of the four will die fighting Gaea, then mentions a physician’s cure, blocked by obstacles: poison at Pylos, a chained god’s heartbeat in Sparta, and a curse on Delos. Frank gags and tapes the goddess to stop her curses. They decide to imprison Nike aboard the Argo II and pursue the cure.
Who Appears
- Leo ValdezLeads the plan, deploys traps and a modified Archimedes device to blind and net Nike.
- Percy JacksonFights Nikai, triggers the water trap to flip Nike’s chariot, apologizes to Leo about Calypso.
- Hazel LevesqueShapes the battlefield with Mist, isolates foes, is injured but helps finish the last Nikette.
- Frank ZhangCrushes a Nikette as a grizzly, burns the chariot, gags Nike with sock and duct tape.
- Nike (Victoria)Split-aspect goddess of victory; forces a duel, is flipped and captured, prophesies a death and a physician’s cure.
- Nikai (Nikettes)Metal maidens serving Nike; four are isolated and destroyed during the maze battle.