BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

‘By destroying the Greeks!’ Octavian cried with glee. ‘The days of Camp Half-Blood are over!’
Nico couldn’t think of anything more beautiful than an off-course projectile. At least, not today. From
the three sabotaged machines, the payloads veered sideways, arcing towards the barrage from the
other three onagers.
The fireballs didn’t collide directly. They didn’t need to. As soon as the missiles got close to one
another, all six warheads detonated in midair, spraying a dome of gold and fire that sucked the oxygen
right out of the sky.
The heat stung Nico’s face. The grass hissed. The tops of the trees steamed. But, when the
fireworks faded, no serious damage had been done.
Octavian reacted first. He stomped his feet and yelled, ‘NO! NO, NO! RELOAD!’
No one in the First Cohort moved. Nico heard the tromping of boots to his right. The Fifth Cohort
was marching towards them double-time, Dakota in the lead.
Further downhill, the rest of the legion was trying to form up, but the Second, Third and Fourth
Cohorts were now surrounded by a sea of ill-tempered monstrous allies. The auxilia forces didn’t
look happy about the explosion overhead. No doubt they’d been waiting for Camp Half-Blood to go
up in flames so they’d get chargrilled demigod for breakfast.
‘Octavian!’ Dakota called. ‘We have new orders.’
Octavian’s left eye twitched so violently it looked like it might explode. ‘Orders? From whom?
Not from me!’
‘From Reyna,’ Dakota said, loud enough to make sure everyone in the First Cohort could hear.
‘She’s ordered us to stand down.’
‘Reyna?’ Octavian laughed, though no one seemed to get the joke. ‘You mean the outlaw I sent you
to arrest? The ex-praetor who conspired to betray her own people with this Graecus?’ He jabbed his
finger in Nico’s chest. ‘You’re taking orders from her?’
The Fifth Cohort formed up behind their centurion, uneasily facing their comrades in the First.
Dakota crossed his arms stubbornly. ‘Reyna is the praetor until voted otherwise by the Senate.’
‘This is war!’ Octavian yelled. ‘I’ve brought you to the brink of ultimate victory and you want to
give up? First Cohort: arrest Centurion Dakota and any who stand with him. Fifth Cohort: remember
your vows to Rome and the legion. You will obey me!’
Will Solace shook his head. ‘Don’t do this, Octavian. Don’t force your people to choose. This is
your last chance.’
‘My last chance?’ Octavian grinned, madness glinting in his eyes. ‘I will SAVE ROME! Now,
Romans, follow my orders! Arrest Dakota. Destroy these Graecus scum. And reload those onagers!’
What the Romans would have done left to their own devices, Nico didn’t know.
But he hadn’t counted on the Greeks.
At that moment, the entire army of Camp Half-Blood appeared on the crest of Half-Blood Hill.
Clarisse La Rue rode in the lead, on a red war chariot pulled by metal horses. A hundred demigods
fanned out around her, with twice that many satyrs and nature spirits led by Grover Underwood.
Tyson lumbered forward with six other Cyclopes. Chiron stood in full white stallion mode, his bow