The air in the jar smelled of stale breath and tarnished metal. He willed his dream forward, right to the surface of the jar. The giants lumbered off into the gloom, and Percy turned toward the jar. “Though I still think those ballerina costumes from Swan Lake would look lovely-” “We will set a new standard for entertainment! If Mother is pleased, we can write our own ticket to fame and fortune!” “I was hanging in that block of ice suspended over the River Lethe for six months, and we didn’t even get any media attention.” “That’s what you said about our last stunt,” Otis mumbled. “Excellent.” Ephialtes rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Ah, well, what about our talented friend? Is she ready to receive her visitor?” “Otherwise, the seven won’t take the bait and rush to save him.”
“We need him alive for a few more days,” Otis reminded his brother. Couldn’t we suspend it above a fire, or dissolve it in a pool of acid or something?” Roman ghosts adore this sort of thing.”Įphialtes looked unconvinced. “Well, then, they all die,” Otis said, “and we start the destruction of Rome.
Besides, I’m not paying overtime for those gladiator ghosts!” That’s when Mother wants to destroy those stupid demigods and really rub it in Juno’s face. “July First, the Kalends of July, sacred to Juno. “And this thing.” He waved at the bronze jar in disgust. “The man-eating tigers, the spinning blades…But I still think a few ballerinas would be nice.” “Fine.” Otis didn’t sound very enthusiastic. Now, how are the preparations coming along?” “I’m still not sure about that stage name.” Or you can use my stage name: The BIG F!” “And don’t call me Ephie,” Ephie demanded. They had to be twins, because their faces were identically ugly. “That was yesterday! When you showed up in the yellow toga!” “I thought you were wearing the yellow toga today.” You could wear anything but the black turtleneck!” “Otis, why do you do this to me every day? I told you I was wearing the black turtleneck today. The only difference between the two giants was that the second one’s hair was green rather than purple. He wore exactly the same black outfit, right down to the curly shoes. Percy heard something shuffling in the distance. “Where’s the splash? Where’s the value?” He yelled into the darkness, “Otis!” “No, no, no,” the giant muttered to himself. He paced back and forth in front of a raised platform, examining a bronze jar about the size of Percy. He wore the largest black turtleneck Percy had ever seen, black pants, and black leather shoes with points so long and curly, they might have been jester slippers. He had a ten-foot spear strapped to his back-a giantish weapon. Nevertheless, his long purple hair was braided in a ponytail of dreadlocks, woven with gold and silver coins, which struck Percy as a giantish hairstyle. He also looked more human than a typical giant, without the dragonlike legs of his larger kin. He was about twelve feet tall-a respectable height for a Cyclops, but only half as tall as other giants Percy had dealt with. Then he saw the giant…or at least Percy guessed that he was a giant. Percy heard machinery creaking in the darkness, huge gears turning, and water rushing through pipes. Piled around the chamber, wooden crates were labeled PROPS, WEAPONS, and COSTUMES. Percy couldn’t see very far in the shadows, but hanging from the ceiling were pulley systems, sandbags, and rows of dark theater lights. Freestanding braziers cast a dim red glow over the floor. Rows of stone pillars marched off in every direction, holding up the ceiling about twenty feet above. He stood in a vast gloomy space like an underground parking garage. Just when he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, the dream changed. If Percy started to believe he could drown… Thalia couldn’t, maybe because she was too afraid to try. Her brother, Jason, could fly by summoning the winds. He thought about his friend Thalia, who was scared of heights even though she was the daughter of the sky god. But he also suspected that if he didn’t control the fear, it might start controlling him.
He could never admit this to anyone, but it had even made him nervous about going in the water. But since the muskeg experience, he’d developed a fear of suffocation. I’ll wake up.īut that didn’t make it any less terrifying. For the first time in his life, he understood what it was like to drown. He found himself choking in mud, unable to move or see or breathe. He was hiking along a mountain road, but as soon as he stepped off the shoulder he was swallowed by the bog-muskeg, Hazel had called it. First he dreamed he was back in Alaska on the quest for the legion’s eagle. Percy wanted Leo to invent an anti-dream hat.