The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5)(117)

Gaia solidified into human form. Her head lolled, her eyes closed, and she went limp in Festus’s claw.

Unfortunately, Jason started to black out, too.

The wind was dying. The storm dissipated. Dark spots danced in his eyes.

‘Leo!’ Piper gasped for breath. ‘We only have a few seconds. My charmspeak won’t –’

‘I know!’ Leo looked like he was made of fire. Flames rippled beneath his skin, illuminating his skull. Festus steamed and glowed, his claws burning through Jason’s shirt. ‘I can’t contain the fire much longer. I’ll vaporize her. Don’t worry. But you guys need to leave.’

‘No!’ Jason said. ‘We have to stay with you. Piper’s got the cure. Leo, you can’t –’

‘Hey.’ Leo grinned, which was unnerving in the flames, his teeth like molten silver ingots. ‘I told you I had a plan. When are you going to trust me? And by the way – I love you guys.’

Festus’s claw opened, and Jason and Piper fell.

Jason had no strength to stop it. He held on to Piper as she cried Leo’s name, and they plummeted earthwards.

Festus became an indistinct ball of fire in the sky – a second sun – growing smaller and hotter. Then, in the corner of Jason’s eye, a blazing comet streaked upward from the ground with a high-pitched, almost human scream. Just before Jason blacked out, the comet intercepted the ball of fire above them.

The explosion turned the entire sky gold.





LIII


Nico


NICO HAD WITNESSED MANY FORMS OF DEATH. He didn’t think anything could surprise him any more.

He was wrong.

In the middle of the battle, Will Solace ran up to him and said one word in his ear: ‘Octavian.’

That got Nico’s full attention. He had hesitated when he’d had the chance to kill Octavian, but there was no way Nico would let that scumbag augur escape justice. ‘Where?’

‘Come on,’ Will said. ‘Hurry.’

Nico turned to Jason, who was fighting next to him. ‘Jason, I have to go.’

Then he plunged into the chaos, following Will. They passed Tyson and his Cyclopes, who were bellowing, ‘Bad dog! Bad dog!’ as they bashed the heads of the cynocephali. Grover Underwood and a team of satyrs danced around with their panpipes, playing harmonies so dissonant that the earthen-shelled ghosts cracked apart. Travis Stoll ran past, arguing with his brother. ‘What do you mean we set the landmines on the wrong hill?’

Nico and Will were halfway down the hill when the ground trembled under their feet. Like everyone else – monster and demigod alike – they froze in horror and watched as the whirling column of earth erupted from the top of the next hill, and Gaia appeared in all her glory.

Then something large and bronze swooped out of the sky.

FOOOOMP!

Festus the bronze dragon snatched up the Earth Mother and soared away with her.

‘What – how –?’ Nico stammered.

‘I don’t know,’ Will said. ‘But I doubt there’s much we can do about that. We have other problems.’

Will sprinted towards the nearest onager. As they got closer, Nico spotted Octavian furiously re-adjusting the machine’s targeting levers. The throwing arm was already primed with a full payload of Imperial gold and explosives. The augur rushed about, tripping over gears and anchor spikes, fumbling with the ropes. Every so often he glanced up at Festus the dragon.

‘Octavian!’ Nico yelled.

The augur spun, then backed up against the huge sphere of ammunition. His fine purple robes snagged on the trigger rope, but Octavian didn’t notice. Fumes from the payload curled about him as if drawn to the Imperial gold jewellery around his arms and neck, the golden wreath in his hair.

‘Oh, I see!’ Octavian’s laughter was brittle and quite insane. ‘Trying to steal my glory, eh? No, no, son of Pluto. I am the saviour of Rome. I was promised!’

Will raised his hands in a placating gesture. ‘Octavian, get away from the onager. That isn’t safe.’

‘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.