BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

85.

EDEN HATED BASILISKS.

  She just hated snakes in general. They were just . . . ugh.

  A basilisk didn't look like much — just an arm-length serpent with yellow eyes and a white frill collar — but it moved fast and could kill anything it touched. A dozen were swimming around the giant's legs. The only good thing: underwater, basilisks wouldn't be able to breathe fire, but that didn't make them any less deadly.

  Two of the serpents shot towards Percy. He sliced them in half. The other ten swirled around him, just out of blade's reach. They writhed back and forth in a hypnotic pattern, looking for an opening. One bite, one touch was all it would take.

  "Hey!" Perfect Jason yelled. lHow about some love over here?"

"Hell yeah!" Eden smirked.

  The snakes ignored him, but then five more went toward Eden.

"Oh shit," she cursed under her breath.

  The giant stood back and watched with a smug smile, apparently happy for his pets to do the killing. Fucking coward.

  "Kymopoleia." Perfect Jason pleaded. "You have to stop this."

  She regarded him with her glowing white eyes. "Why would I do that? The Earth Mother has promised me unrestricted power. Could you make me a better offer?"

  The basilisks closed in on Percy. He blasted them away with currents of water, but they just kept circling. Eden growled and got out throwing knives, embedding them one by one into each basilisk. After multiple knives, they all crumbled to dust, thank god.

Then a diffuse cloud of yellow light billowed through the depths, like someone had poured liquid neon into the water. The light hit Perfect Jason's sword and sprayed outwards in five separate tendrils, zapping the rest of the basilisks.

  Their eyes went dark. Their frills disintegrated. All ten serpents turned belly-up and floated dead in the water.

  "Next time," Perfect Jason said, "look at me when I'm talking to you."

  Polybotes's smile curdled. "Are you so anxious to die, Roman?"

  Percy raised his sword. He hurled himself at the giant, but Polybotes swept his hand through the water, leaving an arc of black oily poison. Percy charged straight into it faster than Eden could yell, what the fuck, dude?

  Percy dropped Riptide. He gasped, clawing at his throat. The giant threw his weighted net and Percy collapsed to the floor, hopelessly entangled as the poison thickened around him.

  "Let him go!" Perfect Jason's voice cracked with panic. Loser.

  The giant chuckled. "Don't worry, son of Jupiter. Your friend will take a long time to die. After all the trouble he's caused me, I wouldn't dream of killing him quickly."

  Noxious clouds expanded around the giant, filling the ruins like thick cigar smoke. Eden gagged at the poison, staggering as she tried to make it go away with anything. Perfect Jason's dress whirled the poison away from him. Kymopoleia wrinkled her nose and waved away the darkness, but otherwise it didn't seem to affect her.

  Percy writhed in the net, his face turning green. Perfect Jason charged to help him, but the giant blocked him with his huge trident. Eden swam toward the giant, but the poison was affecting her mind. She was suddenly pushed under the net, and she clawed to get out.

  "Oh, I can't let you ruin my fun," Polybotes chided. "The poison will kill them eventually, but first come the paralysis and hours of excruciating pain. I want them to have the full experience! They can watch as I destroy you, Jason Grace!"