Chapter 11 - Destined for Greatness

Harry looked between Zoe and Atlas. The resemblance was obvious now – everything he had disliked about Zoe. The regal and proud look was there in his eyes, but a thousand times eviler.

"Let Artemis go," Zoë demanded.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Zoë opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the centre of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

Harry looked at who Percy had said was Annabeth. She was pretty – no doubt. But what Percy's description had said was that her hair was bright honey-blonde and not dull ash-blonde. Her hair was streaked with grey. She was looking intently at Percy – trying to tell him something. Harry shook his head internally. If she had looked into his eyes, they could have gotten somewhere. She motioned her head toward Luke. Harry couldn't understand, and by his look, Percy couldn't understand either.

"Does holding the sky make your hair grey?" Harry asked Thalia quietly.

"Yes," she murmured. "The weight should've killed her."

"I don't understand," Percy said. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"

Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crash down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."

He approached them, studying Thalia, Percy and Harry. "The best heroes of the age… Grace and Jackson." He looked at Harry. "Though your reign has just started, it's fairly obvious that a child of Zeus who has lightning in his blood," Harry flinched, how does he know? "would be enough powerful… Though fighting me, Atlas will definitely be a challenge for you."

"Fight us," Percy said. "And let's see."

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."

"So you're another coward," Percy retorted. Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia.

"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed. He looked terribly weak, and he spoke every word as if it were painful. Even though Percy spoke about him badly, Harry felt sorry for him. "Thalia, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!" He waved his hand, and next to the foursome a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for the Ophiotaurus. Harry could imagine Bessie in that pool.

"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods." He turned to Harry. "Harry Potter… You are destined for greatness. You can do it! Call the Ophiotaurus! Call it!"

Harry glared at him and shook his head angrily. Thalia looked on the verge of breaking down.

"Luke..." Her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world!"

Thalia shook her head. "Free Annabeth. Let her go."

"If you join me," Luke promised, "it can be like old times. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia, if you don't agree..." His voice faltered. "It's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."

Harry didn't know what he meant, but the fear in his voice sounded real enough. It was obvious that Luke was in danger. His life depended on Thalia's - or Harry's - joining his cause. And, problem was that Thalia's resistance might falter.

"Do not, Thalia," Zoë warned. "We must fight them."

Luke waved his hand again, and fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.

"Thalia," Harry said. "No."

Behind Luke, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, Harry saw images in the mist all around them: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around us, made of fear and shadow.

"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, in a strained voice. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak." He pointed toward the ocean, and Harry's heart fell. Marching up the side of the mountain, from the beach where Princess Andromeda was docked, was a great army. Dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hellhounds, harpies, and other things he couldn't even name.

"This is only a taste of what is to come," Luke said. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help." He looked at Harry. "Harry. Please."

For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Luke, her eyes full of pain as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she levelled her spear. "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."

"Yes, you do, Thalia," he pleaded. "Please. Don't make me . . . Don't make him destroy you."

There was no time. If that army got to the top of the hill... Some were already coming - that was certain. But still, ten or so monsters, Harry could manage. If the whole set came... they would all definitely be overwhelmed. Annabeth met Percy's eyes and nodded. She turned to Harry, who was for a moment mesmerized by her stormy grey eyes (which had a great resemblance to Malfoy's). She nodded grimly at him. He understood and looked at Thalia, Percy and Zoë, and he decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this.

"Now," Percy said.

…

Together, Percy and his friends charged. Thalia went straight for Luke. Harry materialized Gryffindor. But then, he did what Percy never expected. With his left hand, he took his dagger. I have never heard of fighting with two swords. The guy is inventing stuff. Is it related to the Ares legacy part? Harry ran at two Dracaenae, which had arrived with a few other monsters. Percy did a quick head count. There were three Dracenae - with a Laestrygonian and four Empousae. Nine. Harry could manage them, he hoped. With a series of slashes and jabs, Harry vaporized both the Dracenae. Percy felt better. Harry can manage them. But how did they get a head start before the other monsters? No time to think about that now. Harry started shooting lightning at other monsters.

Thalia, with her shield, raced at Luke. He was alone. Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power. Percy attacked the Titan Lord Atlas, which was probably the stupidest thing he had done in his life. Atlas laughed as he approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armour. "Go on, then!"

"Percy!" Zoë said. "Beware!"

Percy knew what she was warning him about. Chiron had told him long ago: Immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once he attacked, however, Atlas was free to attack back directly, with all his might. Percy swung his sword, and Atlas knocked him aside with the shaft of his javelin. Percy flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It wasn't Mist anymore. The palace was rising, brick by brick. It was becoming real.

…

"Fool!" Atlas screamed gleefully, swatting aside one of Zoë's arrows. "Did you think, simply because you could challenge that petty war god, that you could stand up to me?" At Atlas' words, Harry quickly slashed across the Empousa and turned at him.

Harry's jaw fell open. Percy – the idiot – was running towards Atlas with his sword raised. I have to agree with Atlas – Percy definitely has acted foolishly. Harry watched in horror as Atlas slashed towards Percy. He ducked and missed it. He bought up his sword – definitely planning to cut off the javelin.

The single Laestrygonian came stomping towards him, which tore his gaze away from Percy. Harry, remembering his wand, pointed his sword toward the giant and released lightning, a method which he had never used before. He was pleased by his success – the lightning pierced straight through the Laestrygonian.

Harry looked back at Percy. The guy was trying to get towards the pool of water. But something was strange around Riptide's aura – Harry could feel it. It looked strange, dark – and reminded Harry about the aura around Ares. Why isn't Percy slashing that damned sword? He was struggling, trying to lift it. Riptide isn't heavy – I know that for myself -

"NO!"

Atlas' javelin hit Percy in his chest and sent him flying. Before Harry could run to help him, a Dracaena slashed at him. Before Harry could deflect the blow, the knife caught him in the arm.

"OW!" The pain was unbearable – it felt like his arm was falling apart. "YOU!"

Harry's pain gave way to anger. He raced after the Dracaena, somehow telling it apart from the other Dracaena. When he reached it, he threw it on the floor. "Aargh!" He jabbed at it, making it disintegrate and vanish. The pain felt a little better – maybe after getting revenge. Harry sighed. He looked back to where Percy had been fighting Atlas. What? Percy was not fighting with Atlas anymore – Artemis was. What? How? He looked at the person holding the sky, and his jaw dropped. What in effing Zeus' name is he doing there? Percy caught him looking and gave him a weak smile. Harry ran to take the load away but an Empousa stood in his way. He finished it but another one came. It was as if all the monsters wanted him to stay away from Percy. He roared in anger and was about to send lightning at all the monsters but suddenly, something in his brain snapped.

The prophecy… ah. The Titan's Curse must one withstand – obviously. Since Percy took the weight before Harry did, it meant that only he would take the weight. Harry was feeling guilty. If he had taken it before Percy did, he wouldn't have to withstand the weight. He looked around for Thalia and Zoe. Thalia and Luke were fighting like demons. Artemis was a blur of silver, with two hunting knives, fighting with grace. She kept changing form – gazelle, deer… Zoë was shooting arrows at Atlas, finding the weak chinks in his armour. It wasn't doing anything to stop him, but he kept getting madder. Harry ran to Thalia and Luke. Getting the power of numbers was one important thing. He reached them, but the remaining monsters - a dracaena, and two Empousae - started chasing him, convinced that he was the single most dangerous thing out there, beside Atlas, of course. He smiled. He didn't like killing people, but when it came to monsters, there was a weird sort of satisfaction.

"We'll see."

He started fighting with his full vigour, killing the dracaena and sending lightning at the Empousae. One was destroyed. Harry gave a grin. Awesome. Not even one monster had reached close to him. He wasn't harmed – other than the long slash which ran from his shoulder to his elbow. As he fought the last Empousa (He thought Empousae used seductive tactics - but this one was undoubtedly good in fighting), he tried to keep the Ares-like aura away from him. He couldn't bear it. The aura was starting to surround him, the aura of death. He was pretty sure he wasn't a son of Hades, to give away death like that. Maybe an Ares thing. But it was irritating. The Empousa, though, wasn't backing away. Argh. Does this damned aura have any advantages? Doesn't seem so. He tried to look at Atlas and Artemis from the corner of his eye, still giving most of his concentration on the Empousa (why in Zeus' name isn't this thing dying?). Atlas was advancing, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leapt over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him to Percy. Harry, with all his energy and will, gave a final jolt of lightning at the Empousa and it disintegrated. Harry ran towards Atlas and Artemis.

"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me." He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. Harry saw the trick and smiled. Good, cunning, Artemis.

Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" Zoë screamed. She leapt between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.

"Zoe!" Harry yelled. He was torn – Zoe or Percy? He decided Zoe and ran for her aid. He was almost about to reach her when –

"The first blood in a new war."

Harry's blood froze. No! "I am sorry, Zoe," he whispered. "I'm so sorry." Saying, he ran back to Percy.

"Dude, stay conscious. You need to conscious for this!" Percy was sweating badly and looking as if he was fainting. Harry, in a split-second decision, almost slashed through the chains but before he could do it, he felt Atlas flying towards him. He moved out quickly. Percy, too, rolled away. The weight of the sky dropped on Atlas' back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden. Percy tried to stand. Harry put his arm around his shoulders and helped him up. He was shocked by how tired Percy was. "Was it difficult?" He murmured to Percy. "Holding the sky?"

"Thanks for the concern, Harry," Percy said weakly. "It was, I'm afraid. I can't believe Annabeth did this."

"She has a lot of will," Harry replied as he looked at the fight between Luke and Thalia. She was backing Luke to the edge of a cliff, but still, they fought on, next to the golden coffin. Thalia had tears in her eyes. Luke had a bloody slash across his chest and his pale face glistened with sweat. He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Luke's sword spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to his throat. For a moment, there was silence.

"Well?" Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but fear was there in his voice. Thalia trembled with fury. Behind her, the girl called Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. "Don't kill him!"

Even without his mind-reading powers, Harry could say that she had feelings for Luke.

"He's a traitor," Thalia said. "A traitor!"

"Where's Artemis?" Percy asked.

"She's gone, to Zoe," said Harry.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He . . . he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?" Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear.

"No!" Annabeth shouted. But it was too late. Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror, on his face, and then he fell.

"Luke!" Annabeth screamed. Harry, still holding Percy, rushed to the cliff's edge. The rest of the Princess Andromeda army had stopped. They were staring at Luke's broken form on the rocks. Even though Harry disliked him, he didn't want him dead.

One of the giants looked up and growled, "Kill them!"

Thalia was stiff with grief, tears streaming down her cheeks. Harry pulled her back as a wave of javelins sailed over their heads. Harry, Percy, Thalia and Annabeth ran for the rocks, ignoring the curses and threats of Atlas as they passed.

"Artemis!" Percy yelled. The goddess looked up, her face almost as grief-stricken as Thalia's. Zoë lay in the goddess's arms. She was breathing. Her eyes were open. But still...

"The wound is poisoned," Artemis said.

"Atlas poisoned her?" Percy asked.

"No," the goddess said. "Not Atlas." She showed us the wound in Zoë's side. Harry had almost forgotten her scrape with Ladon the dragon. The bite was much worse than Zoë had let on. He could barely look at the wound. She had charged into battle against her father with a horrible cut already sapping her strength.

"The stars," Zoë murmured. "I cannot see them."

"Zoe, I'm sorry," Harry murmured, tears glistening in his eyes. "If I had come to you and helped, I'm sure this wouldn't have… I'm so sorry."

"Thee couldn't have, Harry," said Zoe. "Thee couldn't have done anything."

"Nectar and ambrosia. Come on! We have to get her some."

No one moved. Grief hung in the air. The army of Kronos was just below the rise. Even Artemis was too shocked to stir.

A strange buzzing noise was heard. Just as the full army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by. This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe. "A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come. We must get Zoë away from here." She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin. Zoë's eyes were fluttering.

"Hang in there!" Harry told her. "It'll be all right!" The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. Harry couldn't help thinking how similar Albus Dumbledore and Frederick Chase's brains were. Both were mad at the heights of their intelligence. He realized that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into a sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's... my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

No one had time to admire his flying. The giants and Dracenae were already recovering from their surprise. Dr Chase would be in trouble soon. Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by extremely beautiful deer. It landed right next to them.

"Get in," Artemis said. Annabeth helped Percy get Thalia on board.

"Harry, your arm…" Percy said, looking apprehensive.

Harry looked at his arm. Most of the blood had dried. It didn't look too horrifying.

"Will treat it with Ambrosia later," said Harry. It didn't escape his notice that Artemis was looking at him, grudgingly impressed. He then helped Artemis with Zoe. He and Percy wrapped Zoë in a blanket as Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Harry murmured, fascinated. Artemis took time to look back at him.

"Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

Seeing them safely away, Dr Chase turned his biplane and followed them like an honour guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel. Behind the group, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

This is the second-last chapter of the Titan's Curse. I'm so excited! I changed the POV to Harry's in this one cause Percy's POV would just mean copy-pasting everything, which I absolutely hate. I let nine monsters come up quickly (behind the scenes - they were allowed a head start from Luke and came up faster with Atlas) so that Harry could have someone to fight with. I had thoughts about having Harry holding up the sky, but well, that wasn't needed, so I didn't do it. Harry's fatal flaw will be revealed next chapter, but I guess you all know it, so anyway... REVIEW!

Review answering -

[All private messaged]

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Poll counts - Four for Katie Bell, one for Parvati Patil and one for Hermione Granger.

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A. (Lol!) Why should I reveal it now?

Q. Who is Percy's least favourite Greek god?

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PassionBeautyFreedom