Riptide appearing

I uncapped Riptide, and Annabeth pulled her knife; but before my sword was even out of pen form, Kelli pounced on Rachel. Her hand turned into a claw and she spun Rachel around, holding her tight with her talons at Rachel’s neck.
“Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?” Kelli asked me. “They’re such fragile things. So easy to break!”
Behind us, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom—an eight-foot-tall Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs.
The giant licked his lips when he saw us. “Can I eat them?”
“No,” Kelli said. “Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment.” She smiled at me. “Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl.”


The giant pushed past us and opened the doors. He picked up Annabeth by her shirt and said, “You stay here.”
“Hey!” she protested, but the guy was twice her size and he’d already confiscated her knife and my sword.
Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel’s neck. “Go on, Percy. Entertain us. We’ll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave.”


Percy!” Annabeth yelled at me. “His mother is Gaea! Gae—”
Her Laistrygonian captor clamped his hand over her mouth. His mother is Gaea. The earth goddess. Annabeth was trying to tell me that was important, but I didn’t know why. Maybe just because the guy had two godly parents. That would make him even harder to kill.
“You’re crazy, Antaeus,” I said. “If you think this is a good tribute, you know nothing about Poseidon.”
The crowd screamed insults at me, but Antaeus raised his hand for silence.
“Weapons,” he insisted. “And then we will see how you die. Will you have axes? Shields? Nets? Flamethrowers?”
“Just my sword,” I said.
Daughter erupted from the monsters, but immediately Riptide appeared in my hands, and some of the voices in the crowd turned nervous. The bronze blade glowed with a faint light.

BotL ch.14