the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

asilisks.
Their eyes went dark. Their frills disintegrated. All ten serpents turned belly-up and floated dead
in the water.
‘Next time,’ Jason said, ‘look at me when I’m talking to you.’
Polybotes’s smile curdled. ‘Are you so anxious to die, Roman?’
Percy raised his sword. He hurled himself at the giant, but Polybotes swept his hand through the
water, leaving an arc of black oily poison. Percy charged straight into it faster than Jason could yell,
Dude, what are you thinking?
Percy dropped Riptide. He gasped, clawing at his throat. The giant threw his weighted net and
Percy collapsed to the floor, hopelessly entangled as the poison thickened around him.
‘Let him go!’ Jason’s voice cracked with panic.
The giant chuckled. ‘Don’t worry, son of Jupiter. Your friend will take a long time to die. After all
the trouble he’s caused me, I wouldn’t dream of killing him quickly.’
Noxious clouds expanded around the giant, filling the ruins like thick cigar smoke. Jason scrambled
backwards, not fast enough, but his ventus proved a useful filter. As the poison engulfed him, the
miniature tornado spun faster, repelling the clouds. Kymopoleia wrinkled her nose and waved away
the darkness, but otherwise it didn’t seem to affect her.
Percy writhed in the net, his face turning green. Jason charged to help him, but the giant blocked
him with his huge trident.
‘Oh, I can’t let you ruin my fun,’ Polybotes chided. ‘The poison will kill him eventually, but first
come the paralysis and hours of excruciating pain. I want him to have the full experience! He can
watch as I destroy you, Jason Grace!’
Polybotes advanced slowly, giving Jason plenty of time to contemplate the three-storey-tall tower
of armour and muscle bearing down on him.
He dodged the trident and, using his ventus to shoot forward, jabbed his sword into the giant’s
reptilian leg. Polybotes roared and stumbled, golden ichor pluming from the wound.
‘Kym!’ Jason yelled. ‘Is this really what you want?’
The storm goddess looked rather bored, idly spinning her metal disc. ‘Unlimited power? Why not?’
‘But is it any fun?’ Jason asked. ‘So you destroy our ship. You destroy the entire coastline of the
world. Once Gaia wipes out human civilization, who’s left to fear you? You’ll still be unknown.’
Polybotes turned. ‘You are a pest, son of Jupiter. You will be crushed!’
Jason tried to summon more lightning. Nothing happened. If he ever met his dad, he’d have to
petition for an increased daily allowance of bolts.
Jason managed to avoid the prongs of the trident again, but the giant swung the other end around
and smacked him in the chest.
Jason reeled back, stunned and in pain. Polybotes came in for the kill. Just before the trident would
have perforated him, Jason’s ventus acted on its own. It spiralled sideways, whisking Jason thirty
feet across the courtyard.
Thanks, buddy, Jason thought. I owe you some air freshener.
If the ventus liked that idea, Jason couldn’t tell.