TWENTY ONE.     stay with her now

May was glad Percy took the lead crawling through the drainage pipe, because she was absolutely exhausted from dealing with the nymphs.

Realistically, she knew she had to pull it together. There was no time for breaks when you were a demigod—that was a lesson May caught onto rather quickly. Around every corner was a new monster, giant, god, titan, or (gods forbid) nymph that had it out for demigods. Seriously, May was surprised she hadn't already died.

Though conveniently, her mind never quite managed to stop itself from reminding her that yep, her time was coming soon! Order up, Mayfair Alvarez was on her way to Hell in a hand basket. (Another of her dad's stupid mottos while she was growing up. Ironic—he never must've known that his daughter was truly headed to Hell all along.)

She swallowed the fear that had never fully left her body since she'd first heard the Great Prophecy and followed Percy, her eyes straining in the dark. They only crawled for about thirty feet before it opened to a wider tunnel. A few yards after that was a corner; Percy held up a hand to stop May and Jason, super-spy style, and peeked his head around to counter any threats.

Then slowly, his hand fell to his side, and May watched his jaw drop as he gazed around whatever was ahead of them.

"What is it?" she urged.

He didn't seem to know how to answer, but he gestured May and Jason forward to take a look.

The corridor opened into a vast room with high ceilings and tens of support columns. It looked like a parking-garage-type area like May thought you'd usually find outside a shopping mall, not miles beneath Ancient Rome.

The room echoed with creaking and groaning from all its machinery; huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches (oh, great, more water), powering waterwheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside.

It was like a cartoon supervillain's lair.

Leo would love it, May thought. The whole room was like one massive, scary, unreliable machine.

Glancing around, Jason murmured, "What the..?"

They stepped inside. Mayfair scanned the room. There were several thousand things to look at, most of them in motion, but one good aspect of being an ADHD child-genius demigod was that May was comfortable with chaos. About a hundred yards away, she spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person.

"Look." She pointed it out to the others. "Is that...?"

Percy frowned. "That's too easy."

"Of course," May said. "It's definitely a trap."

"But we have no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save Nico."

"Yeah." Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms. May wondered what his deal was; she'd only ever seen him so protective of Theo. Maybe he had a history with this poor kid Nico.

They jumped over a water trench and ducked under a row of caged wolves. They had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened over them. A platform lowered. Standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was a purple-haired version of Macbeth.

Just like Percy said he'd seen in his dreams, the Ephialtes was small by giant standards—about twelve feet tall—but he had tried to make up for it with his loud outfit, now wearing a Hawaiian shirt that even Dionysus would've found vulgar. He had a ten-foot spear strapped to his back, which wasn't a good fashion statement with the shirt.

Ephialtes smiled at the demigods like he was really, really pleased to see them. "At last!" he bellowed. "So very happy! Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it past the nymphs, but it's so much better that you did. Much more entertaining. You're just in time for the main event!"

May closed rank beside Percy, clutching her dagger at the ready. Ephialtes wasn't a big monster by any means, but something about him unsettled May—maybe it was the crazy fire in his eyes, like he just couldn't wait to kill them in cold blood.

"We're here," said Percy, holding Riptide out before himself. "Let our friend go."

Ephialtes cackled. "I'm afraid he's a bit past his expiration date, but alright. Otis, where are you?"

Two feet away, another platform rose from the ground, and a second giant appeared, wearing an outfit perhaps even worse than his brother's: A baby blue leotard that May really wished left more to the imagination, a diamond tiara, dancing slippers.

May couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her lips. "Oh, my gods."

Both the giants whipped their heads toward her. She snapped her mouth shut, a sinking feeling in her gut.

Ephialtes glared with his crazy eyes. "Are you laughing at my brother, demigod? What's so funny? Hm?"

"Nothing," May promised, eyes wide. She cleared her throat. "Um, but.. about our friend?"

"Oh, him," said Otis, glancing back at the bronze jar like he'd forgotten about it. "We were planning to let him finish dying in public, but he's just got no stage presence. Curled up in a ball for days. What sort of a spectacle is that?"

As he spoke, Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out. May had never seen the kid before, but she didn't think his pale face and too-skinny frame was usual. It was hard to tell whether he was alive or dead.

"Now we have to run over the stage directions," said Ephialtes. "The hypogeum is all set!"

"We're not going to be a part of any show," said Jason, raising his gladius. "And what's a hypogeum?"

"It's the area beneath a colosseum," May said, glancing around now, finally understanding what all these oddities were doing strewn around down underground. "It houses all the set pieces and machinery used to create special effects."

Ephialtes clapped excitedly. "Exactly so, my girl! Are you an actor?"

Otis rolled his eyes and humped. "Everyone's an actor nowadays. Nobody can dance."

May wet her lips, glancing sideways to Percy and Jason before inhaling sharply and raising her shoulders to gain the confidence she needed to admit this. "Actually... yeah, I dance."

"What?" said Jason and Percy, both turning to her.

"Ballet, mostly," said May, cringing at the word. "But I have experience in... most areas."

What she didn't say out loud: She hadn't stepped foot in a dance studio since she was five years old. The giants didn't need to know that. They wanted someone who could fit into their performance.

If that was what May's part would be in this battle—the dancing distraction—then that was what she had to do.

She just really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Ephialtes, doing a twirl to show his excitement. "You can be the opening act! The hypogeum isn't set for a ballet number—" he glared hard at his brother's leotard "—but I'm sure we can make some adjustments. Otis and I have been imprisoned under Rome for eons, but we've kept ourselves busy creating this. Now we're ready to create the greatest spectacle Rome has ever seen—and the last!"

At Otis's feet, Nico shuddered. May heard Jason and Percy both exhale tight sighs of relief. At least Nico was alive—all they had to do now was defeat the giants, preferably without destroying the city of Rome, and get back to the Argo II.

"So!" said Percy quickly, trying to keep the attention off Nico. "A dance opener, you say?"

"Yes!" Ephialtes said. "Now, I know the bounty stipulates that you and the girl Theodosia should be kept alive if possible, but honestly, the girl is already doomed, so I hope you don't mind if we deviate from the plan."

Percy blanched, like he was back in the nymphaeum losing all his life force. "Already doomed. You don't mean she's—"

"Dead?" the giant asked. "No. Not yet. But don't worry! We've got your other friends locked up, you see."

Mayfair felt her mouth run dry. "Leo? Hazel and Frank?"

"Those are the ones," Ephialtes agreed. "So we can use them for the sacrifice. We can let the Apollo girl die, which will please our big boss man. And we can use you three for the show! Gaea will be a bit disappointed, but really, this is a win-win. Your deaths will be much more entertaining."

Jason snarled. "You want entertaining? I'll give you entertaining."

May put out a hand to stop Jason before he could move. She took a step forward. "I have a better idea, actually. By way of production value."

Ephialtes raised a purple eyebrow, appraising her. "What is it? Something more entertaining than killing you?"

"Infinitely," said May quickly, nodding. "What if—stay with me—you spend the entire first act ramping up your excitement for killing all of us, going on and on about how you're going to do it and everything—"

"May," interjected Jason in a whisper. "How is this helping?"

"Hear me out," she said sternly, then flashed the giants a smile. "Where was I? Oh, right. Then, at the end of the second act, you end up letting us go. Nobody would be expecting it! Not even the gods. Plus it would totally prove how cool you two are."

"Totally?" mocked Percy, in a fake California accent.

"Dude!" said May, exasperated.

The giants seemed to be deliberating hard on May's offer. For a second she believed she could pull it off. Otis looked to his brother imploringly, blabbering on about how brilliant of an idea it was. Ephialtes tugged at his chin, considering.

"No," he finally said, flatly, and Mayfair was honestly shocked at the lack of bravado in his voice. "The entertainment value is mighty low in that idea. It's better if we just killed you. But I'll still let you do your little ballet number!"

May held back a groan. She glanced over to Nico, who was just starting to move. He just had to be a little bit more conscious to know that he needed to get out of the way when the fighting began. And May and the others needed more information about Theo, and where their friends were being held.

"Maybe," said Percy thoughtfully, "you should bring our other friends over here. You know, spectacular deaths.. The more the merrier, right?"

"Hmm." Ephialtes fiddled with a button on his Hawaiian shirt. "No. It's really too late to change the choreography. But never fear. The circuses will be marvelous. But we have much better entertainment planned! The three of you will die in agony, up above, where all the gods and mortals can watch. But that's just the opening ceremony! In the old days, games went on for days or weeks. Our spectacle—the destruction of Rome—will go on for one full month until Gaea awakens."

"Wait," Jason said. "One month, and Gaea wakes up?"

Ephialtes waved away the question. "Yes, yes. Something about August first being the best date to destroy all humanity. Not important! In her infinite wisdom, the Earth Mother has agreed that Rome can be destroyed first, slowly and spectacularly. It's only fitting!"

"I still think the letting us go idea is better," Percy admitted.

"Agreed," said Jason, switching his sword hand. "What happens if we refuse to cooperate with your spectacle?"

"Well, you can't kill us." Ephialtes laughed, as if the idea was ridiculous. "You have no gods with you, and that's the only way you could hope to triumph. So really, it would be much more sensible to die painfully. Sorry, but the show must go on."

Percy looked at his friends like he was bored out of his mind. "I'm getting tired of this guy's shirt. Combat time?"

Mayfair shook her head. "I have an idea. We just need to get out of here for it to work."

"Great," said Percy. "I'll go get Nico."

Jason glanced to him. "Don't you want to know the plan first?"

Percy shrugged his shoulders, holding his sword with both hands. "Nah. I know Athena kids. Their plans are foolproof—for the most part."

And as they burst into action, May sincerely hoped she was on the right side of 'the most part'.

Via speak

Okayyyy double update hope you guys are satiated. Hungry animals. Chapter dedicated specially to my other half flayedcrank . See you all next time xoxo