the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

Romans and Greeks got divided in the first place.’
The air became dangerously ionized. Jason’s scalp tingled.
He realized he was risking his father’s wrath. He might get turned into glitter or blasted off the
Acropolis. He’d known his dad for five minutes and made a good impression. Now he was throwing
it away.
A good Roman wouldn’t keep talking.
Jason kept talking. ‘Apollo wasn’t the problem. To punish him for Gaia waking is –’ he wanted to
say stupid, but he caught himself – ‘unwise.’
‘Unwise.’ Zeus’s voice was almost a whisper. ‘Before the assembled gods, you would call me
unwise.’
Jason’s friends watched on full alert. Percy looked like he was ready to jump in and fight at his
side.
Then Artemis stepped out of the shadows. ‘Father, this hero has fought long and hard for our cause.
His nerves are frayed. We should take that into account.’
Jason started to protest, but Artemis stopped him with a glance. Her expression sent a message so
clear she might have been speaking in his mind: Thank you, demigod. But do not press this. I will
reason with Zeus when he is calmer.
‘Surely, Father,’ the goddess continued, ‘we should attend to our more pressing problems, as you
pointed out.’
‘Gaia,’ Annabeth chimed in, clearly anxious to change the topic. ‘She’s awake, isn’t she?’
Zeus turned towards her. Around Jason, the air molecules stopped humming. His skull felt like it
had just come out of the microwave.
‘That is correct,’ Zeus said. ‘The blood of Olympus was spilled. She is fully conscious.’
‘Oh, come on!’ Percy complained. ‘I get a little nosebleed and I wake up the entire earth? That’s
not fair!’
Athena shouldered her aegis. ‘Complaining of unfairness is like assigning blame, Percy Jackson. It
does no one any good.’ She gave Jason an approving glance. ‘Now you must move quickly. Gaia rises
to destroy your camp.’
Poseidon leaned on his trident. ‘For once, Athena is right.’
‘For once?’ Athena protested.
‘Why would Gaia be back at camp?’ Leo asked. ‘Percy’s nosebleed was here.’
‘Dude,’ Percy said, ‘first off, you heard Athena – don’t blame my nose. Second, Gaia’s the earth.
She can pop up anywhere she wants. Besides, she told us she was going to do this. She said the first
thing on her to-do list was destroying our camp. Question is: how do we stop her?’
Frank looked at Zeus. ‘Um, sir, Your Majesty, can’t you gods just pop over there with us? You’ve
got the chariots and the magic powers and whatnot.’
‘Yes!’ Hazel said. ‘We defeated the giants together in two seconds. Let’s all go –’
‘No,’ Zeus said flatly.
‘No?’ Jason asked. ‘But, Father –’
Zeus’s eyes sparked with power, and Jason realized he’d pushed his dad as far as he could for