BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

described him, with poison dripping from his dreadlocks and a breastplate sculpted to resemble
hungry mouths; worst of all, Enceladus, the giant who had kidnapped Piper’s dad. His armour was
etched with flame designs, his hair braided with bones. His flagpole-sized spear burned with purple
fire.
Piper had heard that each giant was born to oppose a particular god, but there were way more than
twelve giants gathered in the Parthenon. She counted at least twenty and, if that wasn’t intimidating
enough, around the giants’ feet milled a horde of smaller monsters – Cyclopes, ogres, six-armed
Earthborn and serpent-legged dracaenae.
In the centre of the crowd stood an empty, makeshift throne of twisted scaffolding and stone blocks
apparently yanked at random from the ruins.
As Piper watched, a new giant lumbered up the steps at the far end of the Acropolis. He wore a
massive velour tracksuit with gold chains around his neck and greased-back hair, so he looked like a
thirty-foot-tall mobster – if mobsters had dragon feet and burnt-orange skin. The mafia giant ran
towards the Parthenon and stumbled inside, flattening several Earthborn under his feet. He stopped,
gasping for breath at the foot of the throne.
‘Where is Porphyrion?’ he demanded. ‘I have news!’
Piper’s old enemy Enceladus stepped forward. ‘Tardy as usual, Hippolytos. I hope your news is
worth the wait. King Porphyrion should be …’
The ground between them split. An even larger giant leaped from the earth like a breaching whale.
‘King Porphyrion is here,’ announced the king.
He looked just as Piper remembered from the Wolf House in Sonoma. Forty feet tall, he towered
over his brethren. In fact, Piper realized queasily, he was the same size as the Athena Parthenos that
had once dominated the temple. In his seaweed-coloured braids, captured demigod weapons
glittered. His face was cruel and pale green, his eyes as white as the Mist. His body radiated its own
sort of gravity, causing the other monsters to lean towards him. Soil and pebbles skittered across the
ground, pulled towards his massive dragon feet.
The mobster giant Hippolytos kneeled. ‘My king, I bring word of the enemy!’
Porphyrion took his throne. ‘Speak.’
‘The demigod ship sails around the Peloponnese. Already they have destroyed the ghosts at Ithaca
and captured the goddess Nike in Olympia!’
The crowd of monsters stirred uneasily. A Cyclops chewed his fingernails. Two dracaenae
exchanged coins like they were taking bets for the End-of-the-World office sweepstake.
Porphyrion just laughed. ‘Hippolytos, do you wish to kill your enemy Hermes and become the
messenger of the giants?’
‘Yes, my king!’
‘Then you will have to bring fresher news. I know all this already. None of it matters! The
demigods have taken the route we expected them to take. They would have been fools to go any other
way.’
‘But, sire, they will arrive at Sparta by morning! If they manage to unleash the makhai –’
‘Idiot!’ Porphyrion’s voice shook the ruins. ‘Our brother Mimas awaits them at Sparta. You need