BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

64.

EVERYTHING WENT WRONG. As usual.

The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke. They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot. Eden sprinted toward Burnt Hawaiian Pizza, but slots in the floor opened under her feet, and metal walls shot up on either side, separating her from the rest of them.

The walls started closing in on her like the sides of a vise grip. Eden swore and jumped up, grabbing the bottom of the hydra's cage. She caught a brief glimpse of her girlfriend leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards.

Meanwhile Perfect Jason and Percy charged at Princess Prima Ballerina, who pulled his spear and heaved a great sigh, as if he would much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod.

Eden registered all this in a split second, but there wasn't much she could do about it. The hydra snapped at her hands. She swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. The trees changed positions as she tried to run through them, so she slashed down the whole forest with a butterfly knife.

"Wonderful!" Burnt Hawaiian Pizza cried. He stood at his control panel about sixty feet to Eden's left. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?"

"The fuck do you have Spanish Steps in Rome for?" Eden snapped.

The giant pulled a lever, and she glanced behind her. The cage she had just been hanging from was now rising toward a hatch in the ceiling. In three seconds it would be gone. If Eden attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city.

Cursing, she got out a throwing knife and threw it. The Celestial bronze blade sliced through the chains suspending the hydra. The cage tumbled sideways. The door broke open, and the monster spilled out — right in front of Eden.

"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Fairchild!" Burnt Hawaiian Pizza called. "Very well. Battle it here, if you must, but your death won't be nearly as good without the cheering crowds."

Eden stepped forward to confront the monster — then realized she needed fire.

Oh boy, she loved arson.

She rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spit acid, turning the floor where she'd been standing into a steaming crater of melted stone.

Fine then. Eden got out a fire launcher.

"Enjoy, you son of a bitch," she snarled, and then pulled the trigger.

Fire engulfed the thing. Soon it was ashes. Eden grinned and looked to see if her girl was in danger.

At the dais, Kaleidoscope stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' heads. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it.

Good. At least she was safe.

About eighty feet to Piper's right, Perfect Jason battled Princess Prima Ballerina, sword against spear. Princess Prima Ballerina had lost his diamond tiara and looked angry about it. He probably could have impaled Perfect Jason several times, but the giant insisted on doing a pirouette with every attack, which slowed him down.

Meanwhile Burnt Hawaiian Pizza laughed as he pushed buttons on his control board, cranking the conveyor belts into high gear and opening random animal cages.

Percy was looking around for something, apparently done with fighting Princess Prima Ballerina, and Eden sprinted over to him. "The fuck are you looking for?" She asked him.