BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

‘MY MIND IS RESTORED!’ she roared. ‘VICTORY TO THE GODS!’
At Zeus’s left flank rode Hera, her chariot pulled by enormous peacocks, their rainbow-coloured
plumage so bright it gave Jason the spins.
Ares bellowed with glee as he thundered down on the back of a fire-breathing horse. His spear
glistened red.
In the last second, before the gods reached the Parthenon, they seemed to displace themselves, like
they’d jumped through hyperspace. The chariots disappeared. Suddenly Jason and his friends were
surrounded by the Olympians, now human-sized, tiny next to the giants, but glowing with power.
Jason shouted and charged Porphyrion.
His friends joined in the carnage.
The fighting ranged all over the Parthenon and spilled across the Acropolis. Out of the corner of
his eye, Jason saw Annabeth fighting Enceladus. At her side stood a woman with long dark hair and
golden armour over her white robes. The goddess thrust her spear at the giant, then brandished her
shield with the fearsome bronzed visage of Medusa. Together, Athena and Annabeth drove Enceladus
back into the nearest wall of metal scaffolding, which collapsed on top of him.
On the opposite side of the temple, Frank Zhang and the god Ares smashed through an entire
phalanx of giants – Ares with his spear and shield, Frank (as an African elephant) with his trunk and
feet. The war god laughed and stabbed and disembowelled like a kid destroying piñatas.
Hazel raced through the battle on Arion’s back, disappearing in the Mist whenever a giant came
close, then appearing behind him and stabbing him in the back. The goddess Hecate danced in her
wake, setting fire to their enemies with two blazing torches. Jason didn’t see Hades, but whenever a
giant stumbled and fell the ground broke open and the giant was snapped up and swallowed.
Percy battled the giant twins, Otis and Ephialtes, while at his side fought a bearded man with a
trident and a loud Hawaiian shirt. The twin giants stumbled. Poseidon’s trident morphed into a fire
hose, and the god sprayed the giants out of the Parthenon with a high-powered blast in the shape of
wild horses.
Piper was maybe the most impressive. She fenced with the giantess Periboia, sword against sword.
Despite the fact that her opponent was five times larger, Piper seemed to be holding her own. The
goddess Aphrodite floated around them on a small white cloud, strewing rose petals in the giantess’s
eyes and calling encouragement to Piper. ‘Lovely, my dear. Yes, good. Hit her again!’
Whenever Periboia tried to strike, doves rose up from nowhere and fluttered in the giantess’s face.
As for Leo, he was racing across the deck of the Argo II, shooting ballistae, dropping hammers on
the giants’ heads and blowtorching their loincloths. Behind him at the helm, a burly bearded guy in a
mechanic’s uniform was tinkering with the controls, furiously trying to keep the ship aloft.
The strangest sight was the old giant Thoon, who was getting bludgeoned to death by three old
ladies with brass clubs – the Fates, armed for war. Jason decided there was nothing in the world
scarier than a gang of bat-wielding grannies.
He noticed all of these things, and a dozen other melees in progress, but most of his attention was
fixed on the enemy before him – Porphyrion, the giant king – and on the god who fought by Jason’s
side: Zeus.