The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5)(97)

Percy grunted. ‘Like we needed more proof that Octavian is on the wrong side.’

‘That is not the only threat,’ Kekrops warned. ‘The air is filled with storm spirits and gryphons. All roads to the Acropolis are patrolled by the Earthborn.’

Frank drummed his fingers on the Bundt cake cover. ‘So, what, we should just give up? We’ve come too far for that.’

‘I offer you an alternative,’ said Kekrops. ‘Underground passage to the Acropolis. For the sake of Athena, for the sake of the gods, I will help you.’

The back of Piper’s neck tingled. She remembered what the giantess Periboia had said in her dream: that the demigods would find friends in Athens as well as enemies. Perhaps the giantess had meant Kekrops and his snake people. But there was something in Kekrops’s voice that Piper didn’t like – that razor-against-strop tone, as if he were preparing to make a sharp cut.

‘What’s the catch?’ she asked.

Kekrops turned those inscrutable dark eyes on her. ‘Only a small party of demigods – no more than three – could pass undetected by the giants. Otherwise your scent would give you away. But our underground passages could lead you straight into the ruins of the Acropolis. Once there, you could disable the siege weapons by stealth and allow the rest of your crew to approach. With luck, you could take the giants by surprise. You might be able to disrupt their ceremony.’

‘Ceremony?’ Leo asked. ‘Oh … like, to wake Gaia.’

‘Even now it has begun,’ Kekrops warned. ‘Can you not feel the earth trembling? We, the gemini, are your best chance.’

Piper heard eagerness in his voice – almost hunger.

Percy looked around the table. ‘Any objections?’

‘Just a few,’ Jason said. ‘We’re on the enemy’s doorstep. We’re being asked to split up. Isn’t that how people get killed in horror movies?’

‘Also,’ Percy said, ‘Gaia wants us to reach the Parthenon. She wants our blood to water the stones and all that other psycho garbage. Won’t we be playing right into her hands?’

Annabeth caught Piper’s eye. She asked a silent question: What’s your feeling?

Piper still wasn’t used to that – the way Annabeth looked to her for advice now. Ever since Sparta, they’d learned that they could tackle problems together from two different sides. Annabeth saw the logical thing, the tactical move. Piper had gut reactions that were anything but logical. Together, they either solved the problem twice as fast, or they hopelessly confused each other.

Kekrops’s offer made sense. At least, it sounded like the least suicidal option. But Piper was certain the snake king was hiding his true intentions. She just didn’t know how to prove it …

Then she remembered something her father had told her years ago: You were named Piper because Grandpa Tom thought you would have a powerful voice. You would learn all the Cherokee songs, even the song of the snakes.

A myth from a totally different culture, yet here she was, facing the king of the snake people.

She began to sing: ‘Summertime’, one of her dad’s favourites.

Kekrops stared at her in wonder. He began to sway.

At first Piper was self-conscious, singing in front of all her friends and a snake guy. Her dad had always told her she had a good voice, but she didn’t like to draw attention to herself. She didn’t even like to participate at campfire sing-alongs. Now her words filled the mess hall. Everyone listened, transfixed.

She finished the first verse. No one spoke for a count of five.

‘Pipes,’ Jason said, ‘I had no idea.’

‘That was beautiful,’ Leo agreed. ‘Maybe not … you know, Calypso beautiful, but still …’

Piper kept the snake king’s gaze. ‘What are your real intentions?’

‘To deceive you,’ he said in a trance, still swaying. ‘We hope to lead you into the tunnels and destroy you.’

‘Why?’ Piper asked.

‘The Earth Mother has promised us great rewards. If we spill your blood under the Parthenon, that will be sufficient to complete her awakening.’

‘But you serve Athena,’ Piper said. ‘You founded her city.’

Kekrops made a low hiss. ‘And in return the goddess abandoned me. Athena replaced me with a two-legged human king. She drove my daughters mad. They leaped to their deaths from the cliffs of the Acropolis. The original Athenians, the gemini, were driven underground and forgotten. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, turned her back on us, but wisdom comes from the earth as well. We are, first and last, the children of Gaia. The Earth Mother has promised us a place in the sun of the upper world.’

‘Gaia is lying,’ Piper said. ‘She intends to destroy the upper world, not give it to anyone.’

Kekrops bared his fangs. ‘Then we will be no worse off than we were under the treacherous gods!’

He raised his staff, but Piper launched into another verse of ‘Summertime’.

The snake king’s arms went limp. His eyes glassed over.

Piper sang a few more lines, then she risked another question: ‘The giants’ defences, the underground passage to the Acropolis – how much of what you told us is true?’

‘All of it,’ Kekrops said. ‘The Acropolis is heavily defended, just as I described. Any approach aboveground would be impossible.’