04 The Mark of Athena

Jason understood immediately. He laughed, and Percy felt a spark of friendship. This guy thought
the same way he did about a lot of things.
“On three?” Jason said.
“Why wait?”
They charged out of the trench. As Percy suspected, the twins had lifted another plaster mountain
and were waiting for a clear shot. The giants raised it above their heads, preparing to throw, and Percy
caused a water pipe to burst at their feet, shaking the floor. Jason sent a blast of wind against
Ephialtes’s chest. The purple-haired giant toppled backward and Otis lost his grip on the mountain,
which promptly collapsed on top of his brother. Only Ephialtes’s snake feet stuck out, darting their
heads around, as if wondering where the rest of their body had gone.
The crowd roared with approval, but Percy suspected Ephialtes was only stunned. They had a few
seconds at best.
“Hey, Otis!” he shouted. “The Nutcracker bites!”
“Ahhhhh!” Otis snatched up his spear and threw, but he was too angry to aim straight. Jason
deflected it over Percy’s head and into the lake.
The demigods backed toward the water, shouting insults about ballet—which was kind of a
challenge, as Percy didn’t know much about it.
Otis barreled toward them empty-handed, before apparently realizing that a) he was emptyhanded,
and b) charging toward a large body of water to fight a son of Poseidon was maybe not a good
idea.
Too late, he tried to stop. The demigods rolled to either side, and Jason summoned the wind,
using the giant’s own momentum to shove him into the water. As Otis struggled to rise, Percy and
Jason attacked as one. They launched themselves at the giant and brought their blades down on Otis’s
head.