BLOOD OF OLYMPUS

‘Of course it’s not! I will shoot Gaia down with this machine!’
Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw Jason Grace rocket into the sky with Piper in his arms,
flying straight towards Festus.
Around the son of Jupiter, storm clouds gathered, swirling into a hurricane. Thunder boomed.
‘You see?’ Octavian cried. The gold on his body was definitely smoking now, attracted to the
catapult’s payload like iron to a giant magnet. ‘The gods approve of my actions!’
‘Jason is making that storm,’ Nico said. ‘If you fire the onager, you’ll kill him and Piper, and –’
‘Good!’ Octavian yelled. ‘They’re traitors! All traitors!’
‘Listen to me,’ Will tried again. ‘This is not what Apollo would want. Besides, your robes are –’
‘You know nothing, Graecus!’ Octavian wrapped his hand around the release lever. ‘I must act
before they get any higher. Only an onager such as this can make the shot. I will singlehandedly –’
‘Centurion,’ said a voice behind him.
From the back of the siege engine, Michael Kahale appeared. He had a large red knot on his
forehead where Tyson had knocked him unconscious. He stumbled as he walked. But somehow he
had found his way here from the shore, and along the way he’d picked up a sword and shield.
‘Michael!’ Octavian shrieked with glee. ‘Excellent! Guard me while I fire this onager. Then we
will kill these Graeci together!’
Michael Kahale took in the scene – his boss’s robes tangled in the trigger rope, Octavian’s
jewellery fuming from proximity to the Imperial gold ammunition. He glanced up at the dragon, now
high in the air, surrounded by rings of storm clouds like the circles of an archery target. Then he
scowled at Nico.
Nico readied his own sword.
Surely Michael Kahale would warn his leader to step away from the onager. Surely he would
attack.
‘Are you certain, Octavian?’ asked the son of Venus.
‘Yes!’
‘Are you absolutely certain?’
‘Yes, you fool! I will be remembered as the saviour of Rome. Now keep them away while I
destroy Gaia!’
‘Octavian, don’t,’ Will pleaded. ‘We can’t allow you –’
‘Will,’ Nico said, ‘we can’t stop him.’
Solace stared at him in disbelief, but Nico remembered his father’s words in the Chapel of Bones:
Some deaths cannot be prevented.
Octavian’s eyes gleamed. ‘That’s right, son of Pluto. You are helpless to stop me! It is my destiny!
Kahale, stand guard!’
‘As you wish.’ Michael moved in front of the machine, interposing himself between Octavian and
the two Greek demigods. ‘Centurion, do what you must.’
Octavian turned to release the catch. ‘A good friend to the last.’
Nico almost lost his nerve. If the onager really did fire true – if it scored a hit on Festus the dragon,
and Nico allowed his friends to be hurt or killed … But he stayed where he was. For once, he