Reading the Last Olympian
Disclaimer: First of all guys, I sadly don't own the PJO or the HoO series. All rights belong to a certain Mr Riordan. Anyhow, this is my first fan fiction; I shall try to upload weekly but may be some irregularities. Now let's begin!
Chapter 1
In Olympus the Gods were bickering like children (as usual) at the Winter Solstice.
"MOTHER RHEA LIKED YOU THE BEST!"
"AIR DISASTERS ARE BETTER THAN SEA DISASTERS!"
"I AM NOT YOUR LITTLE SISTER!"
"I HATE CEREAL!"
"ENOUGH!" shouted Lady Hestia, she had grown over 20 feet tall and had a cocoon of flames wrapped around her. All the Gods fell silent under Hestia's wrathful glare. Most Gods had either wet their pants or were very close to. Zeus was probably the most scared as Hestia was normally a peaceful Goddess. "As I was saying, we should get on with the meeting," said Hestia calmly retracting the flames swirling around her, back to her normal self, "was there anything we needed to-"
There was suddenly a flash of light and nine demigods tumbled into the room. All the gods gasped as they saw who they were. There was an emo, a hunter, a kid who was on fire for no reason but was not harmed and seemed to make a cheeky grin, a beautiful girl with kaleidoscope eyes with her arm around a tall blonde boy who seemed to bear a striking resemblance to the hunter, a pudgy Chinese boy, a coloured girl and a girl with blonde hair and starling grey eyes who had an arm around her waist belonging to a boy with raven hair and bright sea green eyes.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU HERE!" shouted Zeus.
"Seriously father don't you recognize me?" asked the blond and the hunter at the same time.
"Father, wait Thalia aren't you a tree?" asked Zeus, "and Jason why are you with Greeks?"
"Long Story," muttered all the demigods.
"Now introduce yourselves with all titles and godly parent," said Athena, studying the blonde girl, she had to be her daughter she had the right eyed, but why was her arm around that Son of Poseidon?
The emo stated, "Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades, The Ghost King, Ambassador of Pluto and Heir to the Underworld." (I know this title is made up, but it suits him and he deserves it.)Hades wondered why he was out of the Lotus Casino.
The hunter said, "Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of the Hunters if Artemis." "Lieutenant? What happened to Zoe?" thought Artemis.
A boy that seemed slightly like a Latino Santa elf with a green jacket, a yellow tool belt and jeans stepped forward. He smirked at everyone before waving his hand up into the air. "Hey everybody! Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus, Fire-user, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, and Supreme Commander of the Argo II at your service!" Hephaestus smiled fondly at his son as he reminded him of Esperanza.
The next girl stood up, she was a beautiful Cherokee, and had choppy brown hair and gorgeous kaleidoscope eyes, and wore a blue ski jacket with skinny jeans and boots. She smiled brightly. "Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite, Charm speaker, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, Girlfriend of Jason Grace"
The next was a Chinese/Canadian boy with a baby face and huge muscles that definitely didn't go together. He wore a blue sweatshirt and jeans and smiled shyly "Frank Zhang, Son of Mars, Legacy of Poseidon, Shape shifter, Defeater of Alycloneus, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, Boyfriend of Hazel Levesque," Everyone gaped when he said shape shifter.
The next girl had cocoa skin, curly hair, and bright golden eyes. She had a slightly innocent look to her and couldn't have been any older than thirteen. She wore a golden T-Shirt and jeans with grey converse. "Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, Girlfriend of Frank Zhang." Zeus was about to open his mouth, but was interrupted by Hades saying. "But... you're dead!" Everyone gaped. "You'll find out later."
The next boy had sky blue eyes and cropped blonde hair with a scar on his upper lip. He had a slight air of authority, and wore a T-shirt that said 'I got the power!' He was well-built and muscled, and smiled before starting "Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, Killer of the Trojan Sea Monster, Slayer of Krios, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, and Boyfriend of Piper McLean."
he next boy stepped forward. He had vibrant, gorgeous yet powerful sea green eyes that held a huge amount of love, tousled, windswept raven black locks, -not 'I've never seen a comb hair', but 'I just finished showering hair'-, a perfect tan, faultless features, and a six pack that was visible even though it was obvious he didn't try to show it. He was at least six feet, and seemed to give of an aura of power, trust, and kindness. He was obviously very athletic like he spent his days fighting monsters. He looked extremely hot, but innocent at the same time, but you could tell by his eyes he'd seen lots of sadness. He was wearing a navy blue T-shirt with a striped jacket and blue jeans with black converses. He smiled a dazzling white smile, revealing a rebellious, troublemaker smile. "Ok, just a warning, this may take a while." The others who knew him nodded, while the goddesses continued to stare, yet the boy remained obliviously innocent. "Okay, so Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon," the gods gasped. "Defeater of the Furies and the Minotaur twice, Retriever of Zeus's bolt and Hades Helm, Defeater of Ares, Sailor of the Sea of Monsters, Defeater of the Hydra, Retriever of the Golden Fleece, Defeater of the Nemean Lion, Bearer of the sky, Defeater of Anteaus, Wanderer of the Labyrinth, Defeater of Phobos and Deimos, Retriever of Ares Chariot, Retriever of the Sword of Hades, ex-holder of the Curse of Achilles, Defeater of a whole butt-load of monsters, Child of the Prophecy, Defeater of Atlas, Iapetus, Hyperion, and Kronos, Defeater of Cacus, Retriever of Hermes Caduceus, Defeater of Polybotes, One of the Seven, Hero of Olympus, Boyfriend of Annabeth Chase." He paused for breath, "That's it, right?" he asked. Poseidon beamed at his son. Annabeth smiled at his cluelessness. "You forgot that you're a Seaweed Brain."
And finally, she had curly blonde hair which was up in a ponytail and she was wearing a grey tank top with an owl on it, and skinny jeans along with black converses. She was obviously athletic and had stormy yet intimidating grey eyes that seemed to be calculating everything in the room. She also had a strange stripe of grey in her hair. "Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, bearer of the sky, Architect of Olympus, Sailor of the Sea of Monsters, Wanderer of the Labyrinth, Hero of Olympus, and One of the Seven, Girlfriend of Percy Jackson."
Suddenly a book fell from the sky and smacked Percy on the head. He winced and muttered, "Why me?"
To which Annabeth replied, "Because you're a Seaweed Brain."
"No, I'm your Seaweed Brain."
"Awww," cooed Aphrodite.
They suddenly started kissing and Thalia and Nico shouted, "THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THE ROOM, KEEP IT PG!" Percy and Annabeth's cheeks suddenly turned a shade of pink.
Frank picked up the book and read the title, "Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian."
Percy asked, "Is this in my point of view?"
"Yes."
"Drat!"
"Any ways, who wants to read?"
A shadow grabbed the book and brought the book over to Nico who smiled smugly, "Me." Hades smiled at his son's impressive power over shadows.
(A/N: Anything which is written in the book will be in bold.) Nico started reading, "I GO CRUISING WITH EXPLOSIVES"
"Wait," asked Piper, "will all of the titles be this weird?"
"Knowing Percy, Yes" stated Thalia
"The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car."
"That can't have been nice," said Apollo and Hermes at the same time.
Up until then, I was having a great afternoon. Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving because I wouldn't turn sixteen for another week, but my mom and my stepdad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me to this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin."
"Isn't that really dangerous, under 16's are not allowed to drive, you could have been seriously hurt," asked Athena.
"Don't get your godly panties in a bunch; it says the answer in one second." Athena looked angry but Nico cut her off before
Now, I know you're thinking, Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah, but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.
"He has a point," murmured Annabeth.
Anyway, Rachel and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen her in anything but ratty T-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million golden drachmas.
Annabeth felt her jaw clench, but it unclenched when Percy whispered to her, "She's the Oracle now, noting can, and will happen."
"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me.
We parked on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic. The sea is always one of my favorite places,-
"Nah sh-" almost shouted Leo.
"Lauguage!" shouted all the Olympians.
but today it was especially nice-glittery green and smooth as glass, as though my dad was keeping it calm just for us.
My dad, by the way, is Poseidon. He can do stuff like that.
Poseidon smiled at Percy who smiled back at him.
"So." Rachel smiled at me. "About that invitation."
"Oh . . . right." I tried to sound excited.
"I so didn't succeed," said Percy.
"Holy Hades! He could so use some help from me, a few lessons should be enough," said Hermes.
Hades looked angry that his name had been used in vain.
I mean, she'd asked me to her family's vacation house on St. Thomas for three days. I didn't get a lot of offers like that. My family's idea of a fancy vacation was a weekend in a rundown cabin on Long Island with some movie rental and a couple of frozen pizzas, and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.
"Cool! I'm defiantly going to spend a lot more time with Rachel!" Leo said excitedly.
Piper rolled her eyes and told him, "I doubt Rachel is going to invite you to the Caribbean anytime soon."
Leo pouted and said, "A guy can dream."
Besides, I seriously needed a vacation. This summer had been the hardest of my life.
Annabeth frowned, remembering that summer. Percy pulled her closer, also remembering while the audience "Awwed," but looked confused, not knowing what they went through.
The idea of taking a break even for a few days was really tempting.
Still, something big was supposed to go down any day now. I was "on call" for a mission. Even worse, next week was my birthday. There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.
"Wait," Zues boomed, "Perseus is the child of the prophecy?"
Percy winced at his full name but nodded, replying, "Yeah, I'm the demigod of the first great prophecy."
The gods looked startled as Athena questioned, "First?"
The demigods nodded and Jason said, "Yeah, there's a second. Which is why the Greeks and Romans know about each other. But we can't tell you about it."
"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"
She had a point.
"She really did. When is Percy not in danger or needed?" Thalia stated.
Annabeth sighed and sadly said, "Never."
Percy frowned and hugged her.
"I really want to go," I promised. "It's just-"
"The war."
I nodded. I didn't like talking about it, but Rachel knew. Unlike most mortals, she could see through the Mist-the magic veil that distorts human vision. She'd seen monsters. She'd met some of the other demigods who were fighting the Titans and their allies. She'd even been there last summer when the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form, and she'd earn my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.
"Whoa, she did?" Leo asked stunned.
Percy nodded and grinned, "Yeah, it was awesome!"
Leo grinned and said, "I reallyneed to spend some time with Rachel."
She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad . . ." Her voice faltered.
Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies Academy in the fall."
"The school where your mom went?"
"It's a stupid finishing school for society girls, all the way in New Hampshire. Can you see me in finishing school?"
"Nope," Nico said, popping the p.
I admitted the idea sounded pretty dumb. Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress. It was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.
She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."
"I would," Leo said with a grin.
Piper rolled her eyes while muttering "boys."
Artemis looked at her approvingly, wondering if she could be a new recruit to her hunters, but brushed the thought off when she saw Zues' son laugh and hug her.
"Which is why he agreed to let me come with you guys on vacation?"
"Yes . . . but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were with us. Besides, there's something I want to talk-" She stopped abruptly.
"Something you want to talk about?" I asked. "You mean . . . so serious we'd have to go to St. Thomas to talk about it?"
"Percy, you're an idiot." Thalia bluntly stated.
Percy rolled his eyes and muttered, "So I've heard."
She pursed her lips. "Look just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple for normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."
I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.
Annabeth glared at Percy again, while he muttered apologies.
We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bags.
Nico snickered at that and said, "You really do have the worst luck, don't you?"
Percy rolled his eyes again and said, "Shut up, Nico."
"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."
She nodded. "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"
Annabeth grit her teeth at the sudden surge of jealously, but tried to calm down, telling herself they didn't actually kiss.
Percy, on the other hand, slowly inched away from her.
"Oh . . ." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows-slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um . . ."
Everyone laughed while Percy blushed and Apollo looked offended.
I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than . . . well, than some other girls I knew.
I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.
Annabeth rolled her eyes while thinking, Sorry I'm harder to understand than Rachel.
I'm not sure what I would have done next-but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!
"Aww, the car was so nice!" Leo whined.
Hey, boss, a voice in my head said. Nice car!
"Ahh! I think like the weird voice in Percy's head!" Leo screamed.
Everyone laughed while Percy mumbled, "I'm not crazy."
Blackjack the Pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put on the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be a real stoked.
"Yeeah, we don't think so either." Thalia told Percy.
"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you-?"
Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get more complicated.
"You're days are always complicated, Percy!" Annabeth said.
"Yeah, but not thiscomplicated." Percy replied.
"'Sup, Percy."
Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, would make most monsters cry for their mommies. He was huge; with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armor smiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos' evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.
"Cool," Leo breathed.
Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.
"Time?" I asked.
He nodded grimly.
"Time? Time for what?" Hazel asked worriedly. Percy was like another brother to her. She didn't want him in danger.
"You'll see," Percy grimly told her.
A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen. Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."
"Oh, hey. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."
"Nice save, Beck." Nico said sarcastically with an eye roll.
Leo pouted. That was an awesomesave.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So, I guess you guys have to go save the world now."
"Obviously," Piper replied.
"Percy doesn't really catch any breaks," Frank said.
"Yeah, we've noticed," Jason told him.
"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.
I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom-?"
"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."
"That must have been a fun conversation," Piper sarcastically said.
"I bet it was the best!" Leo replied cheerfully, not noticing her sarcasm.
I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.
"It was," Percy said sadly.
"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react.
Annabeth instantly stiffened. She had never felt this jealous. She wanted to go find Rachel and choke the life out of her. She tried to calm herself down by reminding herself that they weren't dating yet and that Percy did choose her over Rachel. But she was still mad.
"Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."
My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky. I wondered what Rachel wanted to talk to me about, and whether I'd live long enough to find out.
"Stop being so pessimistic Perce," Thalia said, while warily looking at Annabeth.
"Sorry, I'll keep my thoughts to myself next time," Percy said sarcastically, also looking at Annabeth warily, but also worriedly.
"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."
"Of course not," Annabeth icily said.
"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."
Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.
It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon-a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead-a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.
Piper shook her head, but smiled and said, "You have the strangest thoughts."
Percy grinned while Jason fumed slightly at the attention his girlfriend was giving Percy.
Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda.
"Twice?" Poseidon asked worriedly.
Percy just nodded.
Now it was heading straight for New York.
"You know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind. I nodded. We'd done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as our targets. I knew how little time we would have. But I also knew this was our best chance to end Kronos' invasion before it ever started.
Athena nodded approvingly and said, "good plan."
"Blackjack," I said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."
Gotcha, boss, he said. Man, I hate seeing that boat. Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he finally escaped with a little help from my friends and me. I figured he'd rather have his mane braided like My Little Pony than be back here again.
Annabeth laughed, getting over her jealously and said, "You think?"
"Don't wait for us," I told him.
But, boss-
"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out ourselves."
Everyone who knew what happened looked down sadly, while those who didn't looked at them confused.
Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in my ears. I saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship- dracaenas snake-woman, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines-but we zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. We shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. I climbed off, feeling queasy.
Good luck, boss, Blackjack said. Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!
"Yeah, because that would be bad," Nico said sarcastically.
With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket and uncapped it, Riptide sprang to full size-three feet of deadly celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.
"So cool!" Leo squealed like a fan girl.
Piper nodded while Jason said interested, "Can we see?"
Percy grinned and nodded, pulling out his pen and uncapping it.
"That is cool," Jason said awed.
Leo and Piper nodded in sync.
Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thought it was a map or something. Then I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the dim light-the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of us saying "Duh, you guys like each other!" Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than I'd ever seen him.
"Aww, they'd be so cute together!" Aphrodite squealed.
Piper winced at her mom, but agreed.
"We'd make it back to camp," I promised.
For a second I saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.
"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million of pieces."
"That would be a good thing to do," Hazel said.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Beckendorf led the way. We followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like we'd practiced, but we froze when we heard noises above us.
"I don't care what your nose's says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice-a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meat loaf sandwich!"
"Yes! Percy and Beck are meat loaf sandwiches! Believe it!" Nico said enthusiastically.
Thalia rolled her eyes and hit him, muttering, "Idiot."
"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"
"Bah, your brain isn't on board!"
They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs. We descended as quietly as we could. Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade.
Finally, we came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."
It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter.
Leo made a mental note to sharpen his chain cutters.
Inside, a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice us. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on .
"Really Percy? You're an idiot." Thalia scolded.
Percy pouted.
I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something wrong. He leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, but I blocked his path. He hissed and lunged at me, but one slice of Riptide, and he exploded into dust.
"One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go."
"He's pessimistic too!" Hazel said annoyed.
"Most demigods are," Frank reminded her.
He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid-Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world.
The he threw me another essential tool of the demigod heroes-duct tape.
"Oh yeah, defiantlyessential," Jason muttered.
"It is!" Percy defended himself, while pretty much everyone else rolled their eyes.
"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."
We went to work. The room was hot and humid, and in no time we were drenched in sweat.
The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, I have perfect bearings at sea. Don't ask me how, but I could tell we were at 40.l9° North, 7I.90° West, making eighteen knots, which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.
"Whoa," Leo said awed, "I want awesome fishy powers!"
"Fishy powers?" Poseidon asked amused.
"Yep!" Leo nodded, popping the p.
This would be our only chance to stop it.
I had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps-so many creatures coming down the stairwell I could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign.
I locked eyes with Beckendorf. "How much longer?"
"Too long." He tapped his watch, which was our remote control detonator. "I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes at least."
"Defiantly not good," Frank muttered, while others nodded.
Judging from the sound of the footsteps, we had about ten seconds.
"I'll distract them," I said. "Meet you at the rendezvous point."
"Percy-"
"Wish me luck."
He looked like he wanted to argue. The whole idea had been to get in and out without being spotted. But we were going to have to improvise.
"Percy improvising is notgood," Annabeth said worriedly.
Percy looked offended and said, "Hey, I can improvise!"
"No you can't," Thalia said with an eye roll.
"Good luck," he said.
I charged out the door.
A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. I cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing-past another telkhine, who was so started he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive-partly because his lunch box was cool,
"Percy!" Annabeth scolded him.
"Hey," Percy protested, "I had another reason!"
"Still, your first reason was terrible." Annabeth told him
partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head towards the engine room.
"Fine, that was a good reason," Annabeth conceded.
Percy grinned triumphantly.
I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. I'm sure the carpeted hall had once been very plush, but over the last three years of monster occupation the wallpaper, carpet, and stateroom had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (and yes, unfortunately, I speak from experience.)
"You've actually seen insidea dragon's throat," Jason asked shocked.
Percy nodded uncomfortably, "It was a terrible experience."
Back on my first visit to the Princess Andromeda, my old enemy Luke had kept some dazed tourist on board for show, shrouded in Mist so they didn't realize they were on a monster-infested ship. Now that I didn't see any sign of tourists. I hated to think what had happened to them, but I kind of doubted they'd been allowed to go home with their bingo winnings.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Piper said with an eye roll.
Percy just smiled sheepishly.
I reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and I stopped cold. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab. I'm not talking "giant" like $7.99 all-you-can-eat Alaskan king crab. I'm talking giant like bigger than the fountain. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than my body. If you've ever seen a crab's mouth, all foamy and gross with whiskers and snapping bits, you can imagine this one didn't look any better blown up to billboard size.
Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I could see intelligence in them-and hate. The fact that I was the son of the sea god was not going to win me any points with Mr. Crabby.
"You've already named it?" Hazel asked surprised.
Nico rolled his eyes and said, "Percy's a special boy."
Percy pouted while everyone else laughed.
"FFFFfffffff," it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.
Alarms blared. Soon I was going to have lots of company and I had to keep moving.
"Hey, crabby." I inched around the edge of the courtyard. "I'm just gonna scoot around you so-"
"Yeah, that'll work," Thalia sarcastically stated.
The crab moved with amazing speed. It scuttled out of the fountain and came straight at me, pincers snapping. I dove into a gift shop, plowing through a rack if T-shirts. A crab pincer smashed the glass walls to pieces and raked across the room. I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Mr. Crabby turned and followed.
"There!" a voice said from a balcony about me.
"Intruder!"
"No, friend! He's a friend!" Nico yelled.
"Nico, they can't hear you!" Annabeth said with a sigh.
If I'd wanted to create a distraction, I'd succeeded, but this was not where I wanted to fight. If I got pinned down in the center of the ship, I was crab chow.
The demonic crustacean lunged at me. I sliced with Riptide, taking off the tip of its claw. It hissed and foamed, but didn't seem very hurt.
I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Annabeth had told me about a monster crab-something about Hercules crushing it under his big food?
"Wow, you remembered," Annabeth said with surprise.
"And you sound surprised!" Percy said, faking hurt.
"That's because I am," Annabeth replied with an eye roll.
Everyone laughed while Percy pouted.
That wasn't going to work here. This crab was slightly bigger than my Reeboks.
"Yeah, slightly." Jason said sarcastically.
Then a weird thought occurred to me. Last Christmas, my mom and I had brought Paul Blofis to our old cabin at Montauk, where we'd been going forever. Paul had taken me crabbing, and when he'd brought up a net full of the things, he'd shown me how crabs have a chink in their armor, right in the middle of their ugly bellies. The only problem was getting to the ugly belly.
I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks. I held out my hand, concentrating on the water, and the fountain exploded. Water sprayed everywhere, three stories high, dousing the balconies and the elevators and the windows of the shops. The crab didn't care. It loved water. It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing and I ran straight at it, screaming,
"AHHHHHHH!"
"Love the battle cry, cuz." Nico said.
"Yeah, it's totally original," Thalia added.
"Thanks, but it's not as good as Tyson's," Percy played along.
In sync all three of them yelled, "PEANUT BUTTER!"
Everyone looked at them weirdly as Piper asked, "What, exactly, was that?"
They just shrugged as Thalia said, "Inside joke."
Just before we collided, I hit the ground baseball-style and slid on the wet marble floor straight under the creature. It was like sliding under a seven-ton armored vehicle. All the crab had to do was sit and squash me, but before it realized what I was going on, I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor, let go of the hilt, and pushed myself out the backside.
The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated. The empty shell clattered to the floor in a massive heap.
Everyone blinked. "Whoa," Jason breathed, slightly jealous of how powerful Percy is.
Percy just shrugged it off and modestly said, "I wouldn't have been able to do that if Paul didn't give me the idea.
I didn't have time to admire my handiwork. I ran for the nearest stairs while all around me monsters and demigods shouted orders and strapped on their weapons. I was empty-handed. Riptide, being magic, would appear in my pocket sooner or later, but for now it was stuck somewhere under the wreckage of the crab, and I had no time to retrieve it.
"Whoa, it even reappears in your pocket? So cool!" Leo squealed.
In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of dracaena slithered across my path. From the waist up, they were woman with green scaly skin, yellow eyes, and forked tongues. From the waist down, they had double snake trunks instead of legs. They held spears and weighted nets, and I knew from experience they could use them.
"What is thisss?" one said. "A prize for Kronoss!"
"Yep. Exactly why he's there." Hazel sarcastically said.
I wasn't in the mood to play break-the-snake, but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display. I ripped the model off the pedestal and hurled it at the first dracaena. The boat smacked her in the face and she went down with the ship.
Nico burst out laughing and said through laughs, "Great pun. She went down with the ship… Because you're about to blow the ship up… And she'll go down… With the… Ship."
He slowly stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him as if he were crazy.
Thalia turned back to the gods and smiled sweetly as she said, "Ignore death breath, he's an idiot."
I jumped over her, grabbed her friend's spear, and swung her around. She slammed into the elevator, and I kept running toward the front of the ship.
"Get him!" she screamed.
Hellhounds bayed. An arrow from somewhere whizzed past my face and impaled itself in the mahogany-paneled wall of the stairwell.
I didn't care-as long as I got the monsters away from the engine room and gave Beckendorf more time.
"Whoa," Piper said impressed, "That's so loyal."
As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down.
He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. His armor was half on. He drew his sword and yelled, "Kronos!" but he sounded more scared than angry. He couldn't have been more than twelve-about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brain-washed-trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.
"That is really sad," Hazel said as everyone else nodded in agreement.
No way was I going to hurt him. I didn't need a weapon for this. I stepped inside his strike and grabbed his wrist, slamming it against the wall. His sword clattered out of his hand.
Then I did something I hadn't planned on. It was probably stupid. It definitely jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it.
"If you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next door.
"Percy, that really jeopardized the mission," Annabeth told him.
"Yeah, but I couldn't leave him," Percy protested.
Annabeth sighed, "I know."
I kept climbing.
Bad memories: a hallway ran past the cafeteria. Annabeth, my half brother Tyson, and I had sneaked through here three years ago on my first visit.
I burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted.
"That sounds creepy," Piper commented.
"It was," Percy told her.
All I had to do was cross to the other side. Then I could take the staircase down to the helipad-our emergency rendezvous point. With any luck, Beckendorf would meet me there. We'd jump into the sea. My water powers would protect us both, and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.
"Somehow, I don't see that happening," Jason said.
I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Percy."
Luke stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.
"No," Hermes breathed, upset about his son's fate.
"We've been expecting you for days." At first he sounded normal, like Luke. But then his face twitched. A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful-the voice of the Titan lord Kronos.
The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."
"Yeah, I don't see that happening either," Jason said with a grin.
"Yeah, that'll happen," I muttered.
Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at me. Within seconds I was surrounded. A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so face unless they'd known I was coming.
"There was a spy, wasn't there?" Hazel asked softly.
Percy nodded sadly but replied, "There was, but she died a hero."
I looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside me. I didn't know if Luke's consciousness was even still alive inside that body. Maybe, the way his voice had changed . . . or maybe it was just Kronos adapting to his new form. I told myself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him. A voice in my head said: I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?
Annabeth groaned, "Percy, don't do it."
Percy gave her a guilty smile.
According to that big prophecy, I was suppose to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when I was sixteen. That was only seven days away. Why not now? If I really had the power, what difference would a week make?
"In the demigod world, a big difference, seaweed brain," Annabeth retorted annoyed.
I could end this threat right here by taking down Kronos. Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before.
"Yeah, but have you fought Kronos before?" Thalia asked him, also annoyed.
As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos. I had to remember that.
"Come forward," he said. "If you dare."
The crowd of monsters parted. I moved up the stairs, my heart pounding. I was sure somebody would stab me in the back, but they let me pass. I felt my pocket and found my pen waiting. I uncapped it, and Riptide grew into a sword.
"Don't do it, Perce. Don't do it," Nico worriedly said, on the edge of his seat.
Kronos' weapon appeared in his hands-a six-foot-long scythe, a half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. Just looking at it made my knees turn to Jell-O. But before I could change my mind, I charged.
"Should have changed your mind Perce," Nico grumbled.
Time slowed down. I mean literally slowed down, because Kronos had that power. I felt like I was moving through syrup. My arms were so heavy, I could barely raise my sword. Kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting for me to creep toward my death.
By now, everyone was on the edge of their seat, looking worriedly at an amused Percy.
I tried to fight his magic. I concentrated on the sea around me-the source of my power. I'd gotten better at channeling it over the year, but now nothing seemed to happen.
I took another slow step forward. Giants jeered Dracaenae hissed with laughter.
Hey, ocean, I pleaded. Any day would be good. Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut. The entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off their feet. Four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing me and Kronos and everyone on the deck. The water revitalized me, breaking the time spell, and I lunged forward.
"Whoa," Leo breathed, "Percy is super powerful."
While Jason was once again jealous, he couldn't help but agree.
I struck at Kronos, but I was still too slow. I made the mistake of looking at his face- Luke's face-a guy who was once my friend. As much as I hated him, it was hard to kill him.
"Percy," Annabeth groaned.
"I know, I know, Sorry Annabeth," Percy told his girlfriend, cuddling her.
Kronos had no such hesitation. He sliced downward with his scythe. I leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between my feet.
Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That almost got you, Percy," Annabeth said worriedly.
"Yeah, but it didn't. Relax," Percy told her.
I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Luke should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.
"Oh, you'd know," Nico said with an eye roll.
Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm. It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of my body exploded with pain. I remembered what a sea demon had once said about Kronos' scythe: Careful, fool. One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body. Now I understood what he meant. I wasn't just losing blood. I could feel my strength, my will, my identity draining away.
"That's not good, Perce, get out of there," Thalia said worriedly.
"Don't worry Thals, I'm okay, I'm right here," Percy stated.
I stumbled backward, switched my sword to my left hand, and lunged desperately. My blade should've run him through, but it deflected off his stomach like I was hitting solid marble. There was no way he should've survived that.
Kronos laughed. "A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay."
"Percy's way better than Luke," Nico growled.
Everyone who's seen Percy fight nodded in agreement.
My vision started to blur. I knew I didn't have much time.
"Luke had a big head," I said. "But at least it was his head."
"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus."
"We wouldn't let you," Thalia growled.
"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." My arm was throbbing. Black spots danced in my vision.
"And why would that be?" Kronos' golden eyes glittered. His face-Luke's face-seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit from behind by some evil power. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"
"What!" Leo shouted, "He knew?"
He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!" A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. I knew him, of course: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. I'd saved his life in the Labyrinth last summer, and in return, the little punk had helped Kronos come back to life.
"Percy, you're way too nice," Thalia growled.
Nico nodded in agreement, "Yeah kelp head, you need to grow a back bone."
"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told."
He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging Charles Beckendorf between them. My heart almost stopped. Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.
"No!" I yelled.
"No is right!" Leo growled.
Beckendorf met my eyes. He glanced at his hand like he was trying to tell me something. His watch. They hadn't taken it yet, and that was the detonator. Was it possible the explosives were armed?
"No way," Piper scoffed, "Monsters are dumb, but not that dumb."
Percy hid his amused grin with his hand.
Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.
Piper nodded, "Exactly."
"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"
Leo scoffed, "Can we eat him now? Idiot."
"Soon." Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"
"He was going toward the engine room, my lord."
"How do you know that?"
"Err . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives." Slowly, I began to understand. Beckendorf had fooled them. When he'd realized he was going to be captured, he turned to make it look like he was going the other way. He'd convinced them he hadn't made it to the engine room yet. The Greek fire might still be primed!
Piper looked stunned. "Are you serious? The monsters didn't even look? Complete idiots."
But that didn't do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it.
Kronos hesitated.
Buy the story, I prayed.
"Buy the story," Nico also prayed.
The pain in my arm was so bad now I could barely stand.
"Open his bag," Kronos ordered. One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf's shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up.
Piper's eyes widened, "Oh my gods. Really? Once again, complete idiots."
But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.
I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.
"He should join Clarisse's anger management classes, they've done wonders for her. Now she only tries to kill me, like, twice a week!" Percy said cheerfully.
Nico nodded, "They have, haven't they? She only threatened me four times last time I visited. I thought something was up."
Thalia rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Shut up, idiots."
Nico frowned and said, "I'm totally feeling the love, cuz."
"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"
Ethan turned pale. "Um-"
"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?"
"He should defiantlyjoin those classes with that temper," Percy continued to insist.
Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran.
I cursed silently. Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long?
He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.
"Thank you, Mr. Pessimistic," Hazel said sarcastically.
Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks." He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm-the Titan lord's symbol.
The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, "Communication device . . . spy at camp."
Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."
"Percy doesn't really have much of a choice, does he?" Piper asked annoyed.
"No choice at all when it comes to saving his friends," Annabeth replied sadly.
I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.
Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go.
I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him.
"Percy," Annabeth said sadly.
The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly toward the watch on his right wrist. I wanted to scream, NO!
Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed,
"What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?" Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.
I had no choice. I threw my sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship toward the water a hundred feet below. I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away-a hundred yards, two hundred yards.
Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.
Everyone looked down sadly, knowing Beckendorf didn't make it.
Beckendorf, I thought.
Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.
"Done," said Nico, "who wants to read next?"