𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xxxv ━━ she's the death you chose (you're in terrible danger)

01. chapter thirty-five

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

ENCELADUS LEAPED THE CRATOR IN A single bound, planting his feet on either side of jason. the giant raised his spear, its tip hovering six feet over jason's chest.

jason laid there helplessly. he didn't put up a fight or try to escape. watching it made my heart feel like it was being sawed down the center with a butter knife.

leo yelled, "heads up!"

from the long cannonlike thing, leo shot an ax blade. how it worked, i had no idea, but the blade was the size of a washing machine and it wedged itself into the giant's chestplate.

"jason, get up!" piper called.

he sat up, piper grabbed him under his arms and hauled him to his feet.

"don't die on me," she ordered. "you are not dying on me."

"yes, ma'am."

amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free. he yelled in pain and the mountain trembled. golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but enceladus stood.

shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear.

"good try." the giant winced. "but i cannot be beaten."

as they watched, the giant's armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing.

leo ran up to them, saw the giant, and cursed. "what is it with this guy? die, already!"

"my fate is preordained," enceladus said. "giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."

"only by both," i said. the giant's smile faltered, and i saw in his eyes something like fear. "gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."

"you will not live long enough to try!" the giant started stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

"anyone have a god handy?" leo asked.

my heart filled with dread. i looked at the giant below us, struggling to get out of the pit. i looked to jason. i knew what we had to do.

"leo," jason said, "if you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready."

jason leaped at the giant with no weapon but his bare hands.

"enceladus!" piper yelled. "look behind you!"

it was an obvious trick, but her voice was so compelling, even i bought it. the giant said, "what?" and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back.

jason tackled his legs at just the right moment. the giant lost his balance. enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom. while he tried to rise, jason put his arms around the giant's neck. when enceladus struggled to his feet, jason was riding his shoulders.

"get off!" enceladus screamed. he tried to grab jason's legs, but jason scrabbled around, squirming and climbing over the giant's hair.

i slid down the crater with surprising gracefulness (the ambrosia cubes really did help). my sword drawn, i began to slash and stab at the giant's legs. golden ichor poured and the giants staggered around like a drunk.

suddenly i could smell a metallic scent. darkness swallowed the sun. the giant froze, sensing it too.

jaosn yelled, "hit the deck!"

i dropped flat on my stomach as fast as humanly (or demigodly) possibly. and every hair on my body stood straight up.

crack!