the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

‘Apollo was jealous.’ The giant’s fingers curled around his bowstring. He drew it back, setting the
bow’s wheels and pulleys spinning. ‘He feared I might charm Artemis into forgetting her vows of
maidenhood. And who knows? Without Apollo’s interference, perhaps I would have. She would have
been happier.’
‘As your servant?’ Hylla growled. ‘Your meek little housewife?’
‘It hardly matters now,’ Orion said. ‘At any rate, Apollo inflicted me with madness – a bloodlust to
kill all the beasts of the earth. I slaughtered thousands before my mother, Gaia, finally put a stop to my
rampage. She summoned a giant scorpion from the earth. It stabbed me in the back and its poison
killed me. I owe her for that.’
‘You owe Gaia,’ Reyna said, ‘for killing you.’
Orion’s mechanical pupils spiralled into tiny, glowing points. ‘My mother showed me the truth. I
was fighting against my own nature, and it brought me nothing but misery. Giants are not meant to
love mortals or gods. Gaia helped me accept what I am. Eventually we all must return home, Praetor.
We must embrace our past, no matter how bitter and dark.’ He nodded his chin towards the villa
behind her. ‘Just as you have done. You have your own share of ghosts, eh?’
Reyna drew her sword. You can’t learn anything from ghosts, she had told her sister. Perhaps she
couldn’t learn anything from giants, either.
‘This is not my home,’ she said. ‘And we are not alike.’
‘I have seen the truth.’ The giant sounded truly sympathetic. ‘You cling to the fantasy that you can
make your enemies love you. You cannot, Reyna. There is no love for you at Camp Half-Blood.’
Aphrodite’s words echoed in her head: No demigod shall heal your heart.
Reyna studied the giant’s handsome, cruel face, his glowing mechanical eyes. For a terrible
moment, she could understand how even a goddess, even an eternal maiden like Artemis, might fall
for Orion’s honeyed words.
‘I could have killed you twenty times by now,’ the giant said. ‘You realize that, don’t you? Let me
spare you. A simple show of faith is all I need. Tell me where the statue is.’
Reyna almost dropped her sword. Where the statue is …
Orion hadn’t located the Athena Parthenos. The Hunters’ camouflage had worked. All this time, the
giant had been tracking Reyna, which meant that even if she died right now Nico and Coach Hedge
might stay safe. The quest was not doomed.
She felt as if she’d shed a hundred pounds of armour. She laughed. The sound echoed down the
cobblestone street.
‘Phoebe outsmarted you,’ she said. ‘By tracking me, you lost the statue. Now my friends are free to
continue their mission.’
Orion curled his lip. ‘Oh, I will find them, Praetor. After I deal with you.’
‘Then I suppose,’ Reyna said, ‘we will have to deal with you first.’
‘That is my sister,’ Hylla said proudly.
Together they charged.
The giant’s first shot would have skewered Reyna, but Hylla was fast. She sliced the arrow out of the