How Doth the Little Crocodile?

"You're not seriously going to do this?" Percy asked, walking faster and coming to stand next to me as we made our way back to the Plaza.

I didn't even glance at him as I answered, "I have to. He's got my brother." My grip tightened on the letter opener. "I'm not going to pick the alternative. I've caused enough suffering."

"And what if he kills you? Then what?" Percy persisted.

I finally looked over at him and met his gaze. "Then you have one less thing to worry about."

I started walking faster. Percy faltered in his steps, falling behind before jogging to catch up with me again.

"I thought you said you weren't helping him anymore," he said in a dangerous voice.

"I'm not," I snapped. "But you all seem to think I am, so it doesn't really matter if I actually am or not, now does it? If I'm gone then you can stop worrying your silly little heads about whether or not I'm going to suddenly turn on you guys and focus on winning this war. Besides, out of the two us, Dan should be the one who lives."

"Tori—" Percy tried again.

I stopped walking and faced the son of Poseidon, forcing them all to stop. "This isn't your decision, Percy. I appreciate that you continue to care about me, but you need to stop and focus on what's more important in the bigger scheme of things. I have two options here, stay with you and let Kronos kill my brother, or give myself over to Kronos and save my brother's life. If you have anyone you care about—doesn't have to be a family member—wouldn't you do the same thing?"

Percy blinked and I could see him contemplating this.

"Then at least let me come with you, to the exchange," he said finally.

"No," Thalia said, stepping closer to me and Percy. "You need to rest." She told him. "Once night falls again Kronos is going to throw all he's got at us. We just barely managed to survive last night. We need you in top condition."

Percy looked like he wanted to object, but I spoke before he could. "It's fine. I'll get one of my siblings to go with me. Thalia's right, you need to rest. After all, you're leading this regime."

I could tell he wanted to argue, but there was no argument to come up with. Without another word we started walking again. When we got to the Plaza, I went to go find my siblings as Percy, Thalia, and Grover went off to rest.

I hated to wake the rest of the Apollo cabin when they needed their rest, also, but they deserved to know what was going on. Dan was their sibling, too.

When I'd gathered all of them I told them what'd happened. They insisted they all come, for support and to help treat Dan when we got him back. I argued that they needed their rest and really only needed one person to go with me, but they insisted. I finally reluctantly agreed. After deciding that, our cabin broke apart, to get food or water, to prepare their bows and quivers, or to just pace.

I searched for Kayla and pulled her aside, making sure none of the others saw or were even in the vicinity.

"I need you to do something for me," I told her in a quiet voice. "It's important."

Kayla looked back at me warily. She was slightly taller than me with mocha brown skin and dark, twinkling eyes. Her hair was the color of chocolate and curly, cut short so it wouldn't be a huge hassle in battle.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked carefully.

"If Prometheus doesn't keep to our agreement, if Dan is…dead," I started, pausing and swallowing hard, willing myself to force the words from my mouth. "I want you to kill me." I finally managed.

Kayla blinked and took a step back. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to form words, but nothing coherent came out. She started shifting on her feet and looking around the penthouse suite.

"Why?" she finally asked. "And why me? We have other siblings who are-are probably more capable than I am. I can't—how can you ask me to do something like that?"

"I'm sorry, truly, that I'm putting this pressure on you, but I'm asking you because I know you are capable." I explained. "Out of all of our siblings, you're the strongest. If something goes wrong, you need to kill me.

"Kronos needs me, for some reason, and he will do anything to achieve that goal. But I want to make sure that Dan is safe and still alive before he can get to me or he'll have all the leverage, which I don't want."

Kayla opened her mouth, probably to object, but the words never came out. She shook her head and looked around the suite again.

Finally her dark eyes met mine, serious and piercing, exactly why I picked her to ask.

"Tori, I hope you realize what you're asking of me," she said in a low voice. "This is a very serious request."

"This is war," I reminded her, meeting her gaze. "I know what I'm doing. You don't have to do this for me if you don't want to, but I had to ask."

"No, I'll do it," Kayla said. "I just want to give you a chance to think this through a little more. If you change your mind before we leave, tell me."

I nodded. I didn't think I was going to, but she was right, this request was serious and dangerous. And I was putting a lot of pressure on her, not just for being able to kill one of her siblings, but also the aftermath that would come with it. After living with her for a several months and seeing her in battle, though, I knew she'd be able to do it.

"Try and get some rest while you still can," I told her. Kayla snorted and started to head off. "And, Kayla?" She stopped and turned to look at me over her shoulder. "Thank you."

She gave me a worried, concerned look, her chocolate brown eyebrows furrowing. Without a word she turned back around and went to find somewhere to crash. Or probably pace. I didn't think I would be sleeping either.

When the time finally came, we gathered in the living room, grim looks on all our faces, before heading to the elevators.

When we exited the building and entered the park, I glanced behind me and locked eyes with Kayla. She nodded once, gripping her bow tighter. I turned back to face front.

I went to the picnic bench that I'd first seen Prometheus sitting at when we arrived at the Heckscher playground. I sat on the edge of one of the benches, at the end of the table, facing outward so my legs wouldn't get tangled up in the bench if a fight broke out. I also had my weapons on me in case something went wrong. I was sure they were going be confiscated as soon as we made the exchange, but for now, they were keeping me somewhat calm.

Will took a seat on the opposite side of the table, mimicking how I was sitting. My other siblings milled around, too agitated to sit.

The wait was torturous. With every passing second my mind thought up of worse and worse things that Kronos could've had those empousai do to Dan. My heart started pounding faster and harder behind my ribcage. I felt my ADHD kick in even though there was no present threat. My hands itched to pull my sword on something I couldn't even protect myself from physically or otherwise: my own thoughts.

"Hey," Will's voice broke through the roaring in my ears. I jerked and looked over at him. "He's going to be okay. Dan, I mean." He was looking at me, but I had a feeling he was saying it for all our sakes.

I took a deep breath. "I know, I just…don't trust titans…" I trailed off and stood up when I saw four figures in the distance. I walked around the table, my siblings right behind me, Will next to me.

My heart started pounding faster, but the urge to fight had vanished momentarily. One of the figures was obviously Prometheus. He stood above the other three and still wore his tuxedo, he also walked ahead of them. The other three were, I assumed, Dan and the two empousai who'd been set to guard (and probably torture) him. They had him between them, holding him up with his arms around their shoulders.

My heart ached. I took a step toward the group, but Will grasped my arm, keeping me where I was standing. Probably smart of him, too. I didn't care what Prometheus would do to me, but I was ready to dust those two empousai for daring to hurt my brother, for daring to even touch him.

Watching them come to us was just as excruciating as the wait. They were moving at a slow pace, most likely because of Dan's broken leg, and as I got closer I could see just how much damage he'd taken. Or rather sense it, being the daughter of the god of medicine. Though, it occurred to me I could only sense all injuries—visible or not—when it came to my own siblings. I wasn't too sure about others.

I felt the atmosphere change when the rest of my siblings sensed his injuries too. Will tensed beside me. I glanced over at him and wondered if I'd have to restrain him, or any of the others. But I knew how protective Will was, specifically, out of all of us. It became more and more prominent with each lost sibling.

Dan's skin was pale and he looked sickly. His breathing was labored because of the pain he was probably in, but also because he had broken ribs. There were bruises all over his body. His black eye looked worse in person and without his gag I could see that his lip had been busted open. There were small prickly, stinging sensations across his arms, shoulders and neck, but I couldn't tell what those were from. His broken leg was swollen and if we didn't treat it quickly he might lose it.

I cursed silently at myself for not saying half an hour. I should've been thinking about his injuries.

They finally came within ear shot, stopping several feet away from us.

"Sorry we're late," Prometheus said in that same cool tone he'd used when I first met him, which made me angry. He glanced behind him at the three before meeting my eyes. "We were…held up."

I growled and stepped toward him, my hands going to my sword, but Will grabbed my upper forearm with both hands.

"Tori," he warned in a low voice. Breathing heavily, I forced my body to step back and removed my hands from my sword. The others shifted restlessly behind me.

Prometheus stepped aside. "You're brother, as you last saw." On cue the empousai threw him forward. On instinct he tried to catch himself which only jostled his hurt leg. With a cry of pain, he started falling.

Will and I rushed forward and caught him, carefully lowering him to the ground, making sure to keep away from his injured leg.

"Oh my gods," I whispered, tears filling me eyes as I saw his wounds and bruises up close. Now that I was right next to him I could see bite marks on his neck, shoulders, his arms, and I suddenly realized what the prickly sensations had been. My blood boiled and my sight tinged red.

Dan was speaking to me, but I could barely hear him over the roar of blood in my ears.

"Help me get him to his feet," I said to Will in a strained voice, it sounding muted and far away. Together we slowly worked him to his one good foot. I felt him tense every now and again, but my mind had gone into tunnel vision. All I could think about was getting him to safety as fast as possible. "I love you," I whispered to him quickly before gently pushed him closer to Will. "Take him," I instructed in a louder voice.

Austin came forward to help Will and me.

"Tori," Dan said raggedly as Austin and Will put Dan's arms around their shoulders. "Don't—"

"You don't get a choice here," I interrupted in a thick voice, more tears filling my eyes. I looked at Will and Austin. "Go. Now."

With one last look, Will and Austin started leading Dan back to our siblings. Half of them left the playground with Dan, half stayed, gripping their bows and looking like they desperately wanted to pull their arrows on the titan and his empousai. Kayla was among them.

I gave them all one last look before turning toward Prometheus.

"Lead the way," I said coldly. He glared down at me.

"First thing's first," he replied in the same cold tone. The she-demons came up to me, one of them grabbing my arms, digging her talons into my flesh, and holding them behind my back while the other removed my weapons, ripping my sword from my waist, making sure to get my dagger in its ankle sheath, and breaking the strap of my quiver. Thankfully they didn't break the string of my bow, but they still took that too.

When they'd confiscated all my weapons, the empousa behind me let go and stepped back. The one standing in front of me, however, suddenly threw my weapons down and slapped me. I felt a small prick of pain blossom near the edge of my lip and I hit the ground.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position and wiped the blood from my lip, glaring up at the empousa standing over me.

"That's for killing my sister," she hissed, her red eyes glowing and hair flaring.

I wiped the blood off on my jeans and looked up at her.

"Which one?" I asked, smirking.

With a snarl, she lunged at me. I turned away from her and my right side hit the ground hard as I felt her claws rake through my upper forearm on my left side. The pain was akin to what I felt when the hellhound had shredded my shoulder and arm, but a little less because she'd hit a smaller area.

It was so sudden I couldn't hold back the cry of pain. I thought for sure I was done for, which was kind of my plan, but no other attack came. Through the haze of pain I forced my eyes open and looked up. The empousa was gone. In fact both of them were gone. I looked to my right and noticed the rest of my siblings who'd stayed had their bows draw, some with empty bows, others had already notched another arrow.

"You just love to cause trouble, don't you?" Prometheus regarded me frostily. I chuckled darkly and struggled to sit up, reaching up to grab my bleeding arm and stem some of the flow at least. The gashes were pretty deep and there were at least four of them, though, so I might bleed out before I made it to wherever Kronos was hanging out until nightfall.

"On your feet, Kronos is waiting," the titan said, bending down to pick up my weapons, though I wasn't sure why he'd need them. Maybe Kronos was going to give them to someone else in their army. I was too much in pain to be angry that someone would be using my weapons against my family and friends.

I struggled to my feet, not daring to look back, afraid I wouldn't be able to go forward if I did.

By the time we finally reached the Titan's HQ I was ready to collapse. Prometheus had done nothing to help with walking or healing my wounds, so I'd been bleeding the whole time. It was a slow and steady trickle, but I was still losing blood, and over a long period of time I was surprised I'd made it this far without completely bleeding out. I was certainly starting to feel it, though.

Things were hazy, but I could make out that the place wasn't the most glamorous place they could be hanging out. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a forest and a singular, crumbling road with other rotting, unoccupied buildings and billboards that were peeling and faded. The warehouse we approached had a large fence—well the remains of large fence, anyway—surrounding the yard which contained all kinds of statues. I was too busy being in pain to make out what they were of.

There was a bright red sign hanging above the front doors of the building, but I didn't have the energy to make it out. The fact that it was in cursive wasn't making it any easier.

Half of the roof was currently lying on the floor and there was another sign, big and yellow stapled to the door. I didn't have the energy to read that one either.

I slogged through a maze of tents and campfires surrounding the warehouse, looking around at all the monsters, demigods, and even a few humans in battle armor. In the back of mind, behind the pain and exhaustion, I felt worry and concern for my friends and siblings. Kronos's army was vast and huge.

Just outside of the building was a purple-and-black banner flanked by two of Hyperboreans.

Prometheus pushed the doors open and stepped inside. I followed more slowly. I could feel my world tilting, my legs trembled with the effort to stay standing. Someone was speaking, but their words got lost somewhere along the way from whoever was speaking to my ears. I'd only made it a few steps in before my body decided it was done.

My knees buckled and I hit the floor. My world swam and the lights and colors started fading. Then something strange happened.

"Tori!" someone called frantically. Through my watery, blurry vision I swear I saw someone kneeling down in front of me, a hand outstretched.

I willed my own hand to move toward the one reaching for me. I couldn't get it off the ground, but I managed to push it toward the person in front of me.

"Luke," I whispered, because that's the voice I swear I heard when my name was called. I blinked and then they were gone, just as well, because my vision slowly faded before I was swept out to sea, leaving me wondering if I had hallucinated hearing Luke or if it had been real. That only left an ache in my chest that, even with all the healing in the world, I'd never be able to get rid of.

When I came to the first thing I registered was that I was bound and gagged, much like Dan had been. My arms were tied behind my back, but with cuffs that were made from leather and covered my whole lower forearm—from wrist to elbow. There was no chain in between, holding them together from what I could tell, only a very short, thick strap of leather. My feet were also bound, but much more loosely. The same leather cuffs were around my ankles, but much smaller. And the chain connecting them was at least two feet long.

A piece of duct tape covered my mouth.

The second thing I noticed was that my arm was no longer bleeding. Or even in pain. Upon closer inspection it was like I'd never even been wounded. No residual pain, not even a scar or trace I'd been wounded. The only thing that told me I hadn't imagined being attacked was the fact that my sleeve was shredded and torn.

Now, determining if it had been Luke I'd really heard before passing out was a whole other issue I didn't want to get into. Not yet, anyway.

I looked around where I was sitting. The statues that were scattered about in the large room caught my attention first. They were life-sized statues of terrified people, frozen in mid-scream, along with monsters and nature spirits. I had a feeling who had made them, but didn't want to think about it too much.

I was in the far corner, the doors we'd entered in the other far corner, diagonal from me. I had an empousa standing in front of me, guarding me. To my left were a bunch of picnic tables that seemed to have been pushed aside to make room for Kronos and his guards, along with his council. A Lastrygonian giant was sitting at one of the tables near the edge, chowing down on French fries.

To my right, sitting between a soda dispenser and pretzel warmer was a gold throne. Sitting on the golden throne was Kronos, his scythe across his lap. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. If it wasn't for the golden eyes, I would've thought it was Luke, because the titan was dressed in simple jeans and T-shirt with a moody expression on his face. And, I mean, it was Luke, but he wasn't the one in control right now.

I quickly looked away and focused on anything but that. I couldn't afford to show weakness in a place like this.

"Oh, look, awake just in time for dinner," a voice sounded in front of me. Another empousa had showed up with a plate of mystery meat and a plastic fork sticking out of the mound in one hand, the other held a bottle of water.

I glared up at her as she dropped the plate and bottle in front of me, causing some of the meat spill onto the ground and bottled water fall into the pile.

The she-demon then came over and pulled me to my feet by grabbing one of my arms. The other empousa undid my binds, but put them back on only my hands were in front of me now so I could use my hands.

"This might hurt just a tad," one of them said right before ripping off the piece of duct tape. I winced but gritted my teeth on a yelp. She pushed me back and pointed to the food.

"Eat," she ordered. I sat back down, but didn't make a move to pick up the fork or the bottle of water, despite how hungry I was. I also had a headache and my head felt a bit fuzzy, which probably meant I was dehydrated, too. Still, I decided I was going to refuse to eat, see how far I could push my luck here before Kronos got so angry he killed me.

I was actually surprised that he'd kept me alive. I thought for sure he wanted me to be able to kill me. I'd angered him enough already, I thought as soon as he could, he would've gotten rid of me.

When the empousai realized I wasn't going to eat, one of them knelt down and pulled the bottle from the meat before grabbing the fork and scooping up the slop. She then grabbed my chin and tried to force the food into my mouth.

"I said eat," she hissed as she did this. The thing was she'd made the mistake of making my hands more accessible to me. I reached up and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from my face, and jerked them down, throwing her off balance. She started falling toward me so I brought my head forward and slammed it into her nose. She cried out in pain and I took this moment to let go of her as she reeled back and brought my feet up, kicking her in the stomach, sending her tumbling back into the picnic tables.

I didn't think I'd hit her that hard, but she broke through the wood of the table easily, disappearing for a moment in rubble. She was out of the pile, in a crouch, fangs bared not a moment later. Her red eyes glowed and she snarled at me, her hair full on flame.

Before she could lunge at me, however, someone's voice interrupted us.

"What," he started in deadly calm voice, "is going on?"

I looked to my left. Kronos had left his throne and was now standing next to the other empousa, looking between me and the crouching she-demon with cold, golden eyes. He gripped his scythe in one hand.

"She refuses to eat," the empousa, still crouching, hissed, shifting slightly.

Kronos looked over at her. "Stand down."

The empousa's eyes went from me to her master.

"But, sir—" she started.

"Questioning an order?" Kronos interrupted, gripping his scythe even more, his golden eyes glowing. The empousa instantly straightened up and took a step back, looking down at the ground.

"No, sir," she said quickly. It was odd to see the she-demon look afraid, because they never had before.

Kronos turned his golden eyes on me. I swallowed hard and tried not to shift uncomfortably underneath his gaze, but met his eyes evenly.

"Why do you insist on being so much trouble?" he growled.

"If I'm too much for you, you could always let me go. Or kill me." I quipped.

Kronos looked like he wanted to answer, but stopped himself, his jaw taught.

"There are ways to get you to eat," he threatened. And while I was definitely scared of finding out what they were, I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. I wasn't going to let him know he'd scared me. I was going to push him until he cracked.

So I steeled my nerves, glared up at him and narrowed my eyes. "I'd like to see you try."

He moved so quick I almost didn't catch what he was doing. If it hadn't been for my ADHD, I wouldn't have seen it all. The back of Kronos's hand came at me lightning quick and I instinctively flinched away, but he froze just before he actually hit me. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and opened my eyes to see why he'd stopped.

He was still glaring down at me, his golden eyes swirling with uncontained rage and hatred. The knuckles on the hand that was gripping his scythe were white. But something seemed to be stopping him. The hand near my face shook like he was fighting against himself.

Or Luke was fighting against him, a voice in the back of my mind thought. I quickly tried to quench those flames of hope, not wanting to get my heart broken if that wasn't true. It was already hurting enough.

Either way, the titan of time seemed frozen in it for a long moment as he struggled with whatever was going on. It wasn't until the doors to the warehouse swung open and Ethan stepped through did Kronos finally move again.

His hand slowly lowered and he turned to face the one-eyed demigod who looked extremely nervous.

"Keep guard," Kronos ordered the two empousai. "I'll deal with her in a moment." He went back to his throne and took a seat, his scathing gaze now trained on Ethan. "Nakamura," he greeted. "What did you think of the diplomatic mission?"

Ethan paused and I saw the muscles in his neck go. "I'm sure Lord Prometheus would be better suited to speak—"

"But I asked you," Kronos interrupted, his voice dangerously low.

Ethan's eye darted around the room as he thought. "I…I don't think Jackson will surrender." He paused. "Ever."

"Anything else you wanted to tell me?" Kronos asked.

"N-no, sir," Ethan stuttered.

"You look nervous, Ethan," Kronos commented, sounding amused.

"No, sir," Ethan answered quickly. "It's just…I heard this was the lair of—"

"Medusa?" Kronos finished. The statues suddenly made much more sense to me and I shuddered. The titan lord continued, "Yes, quite true. Lovely place, eh? Unfortunately, Medusa hasn't re-formed since Jackson killed her, so you needn't worry about joining her collection. Besides, there are much more dangerous forces in this room." His voice became menacing.

Kronos looked over at the giant still chomping down on French fries. With a wave of his hand, the giant froze, a fry he'd just thrown up freezing in midair, feet away from his mouth.

"Why turn them to stone," Kronos asked in a soft voice that held contained power behind it. "When you can freeze time itself?" He turned his burning gaze back to Ethan. "Now, tell me one more thing," Kronos requested. Ethan swallowed hard again and shifted uncomfortably. "What happened last night on the Williamsburg Bridge?"

Ethan trembled under Kronos's hard stare; the light in the room reflected off the beads of sweat on his forehead. "I…I don't know, sir," his answered his voice on the brink of shaking.

"Yes, you do," Kronos amended in a warning tone, rising from his throne. "When you attacked Jackson, something happened. Something was not quite right. The girl, Annabeth, jumped in your way."

"She wanted to save him."

"But he is invulnerable," Kronos reminded, his voice deadly quiet. "You saw that yourself."

"I…can't explain it," Ethan said. "Maybe she forgot."

"She forgot," Kronos said, impatience clear in his voice. "Yes, that must've been it. Oh dear, I forgot my friend is invulnerable and took a knife for him. Oops." Had this not been such a horrible situation, I might have laughed at a titan who'd been alive for millennia use sarcasm. "Tell me, Ethan, where were you aiming when you stabbed at Jackson?"

Ethan's brow furrowed as he went back to the battle. He mimed holding his sword, thrusting it forward. "I'm not sure, sir," he said, still on the bridge for a moment longer before he eyes focused back on Kronos. "It all happened so fast. I wasn't aiming for any spot in particular."

I couldn't see Kronos's expression, but he tapped the blade of his scythe, so I figured he wasn't pleased with this answer. "I see," he finally said in a tone that made chills run down my spine in waves. "If your memory improves, I will expect—"

Abruptly the titan flinched. I noticed the giant unfreeze, his French fry dropping into his mouth. Kronos fell back, sinking into his throne. My heart pounded in my chest, making my headache worse.

"My lord?" Ethan asked in a small voice, taking a few steps toward the titan's throne.

"I—" His voice was weak, but for that second, it was Luke's. I had to stop myself from calling out his name. The flame I'd tried to extinguish earlier roared to life, becoming a firestorm, sucking all the air from my lungs instantaneously.

So I hadn't hallucinated Luke calling my name before I'd passed out. Seeing me hurt to the point of death must've jolted him. It dawned on me, perhaps that was why Kronos hadn't hit me, because Luke would've either taken hold of his body again or had been the one stopping Kronos in the first place.

The moment passed and the titan took control once again. He raised his hand, flexing his fingers, like he was forcing them to do what he wanted.

"It is nothing," Kronos said in his cutting voice. "A minor discomfort."

"He's still fighting you, isn't he?" Ethan asked bravely. "Luke—"

"Nonsense," Kronos snarled. "Repeat that lie, and I will cut out your tongue. The boy's soul has been crushed. I am simply adjusting to the limits of this form. It requires rest. It is annoying, but no more than a temporary inconvenience."

"As…as you say, my lord." Ethan agreed quickly.

"You!" Kronos turned his attention to a dracaena wearing green armor and a matching crown, pointing his scythe at her. "Queen Sess, is it?"

"Yessssss, my lord," she hissed.

"Is our little surprise ready to be unleased?"

Queen Sess bared her fangs in a contorted, demonic smile. "Oh, yessss, my lord. Quite a lovely ssssurprissse."

"Excellent," Kronos said, with an approving nod. "Tell my brother Hyperion to move our main force south into Central Park. The half-bloods will be in such disarray they will not be able to defend themselves. Go now, Ethan. Work on improving your memory. We will talk again when we have taken Manhattan."

Ethan bowed and then scurried out.

No sooner had the doors closed did Kronos come back over to me. He smiled coldly at me, but didn't address me. Instead, he turned to the empousai and told them something in very hushed tones. They both gave me smirks before heading out of the warehouse. Kronos gave me one last smug look before going back to his throne. A stone starting forming in the pit of my stomach, but I tried not to let it get to me. Whatever he was planning, I could handle.

My resolve wavered with every passing minute, though, as my mind speculated what Kronos could be possibly planning. It was starting to become evident that he couldn't hurt me without invoking Luke, so that meant whatever he might be planning would be done by someone else. It couldn't be torture, because even if someone else hurt me, if Kronos saw the state I was in, so would Luke.

So I wasn't really sure what was in store for me. Which scared me more than knowing or even having guesses. I was completely and totally unprepared for whatever might be coming for me.

I don't know how long it was, but the empousai finally returned. They came up to me and each grabbed one of my upper forearms, pulling me to my feet, before leading me out of the warehouse. I glanced over my shoulder as the doors closed to see that cruel smile on Luke's face. The cold stone in my stomach became heavier.

They led me through the maze of tents and campfires, to the outskirts of the army, nearer the woods. Night was falling, which meant the army would be off soon, so I wasn't sure where they were going to take me. Out to the woods, possible? Chain me to a tree? I wasn't sure why they thought that as cruel.

But as we got closer to our destination, I realized that the place we were heading wasn't a grove of trees. Statues of ten-foot-tall giants had been gathered into a large rectangle, made just so, so that if someone was thrown in, they wouldn't be able to get out. It was a prison, made from Medusa's statue collection.

I still wasn't sure how this could be such a horrible punishment, but maybe I was missing something. My stomach was in knots now and my heart was beating as fast as a humming bird's wings. My alarm bells were on overdrive, adrenaline coursing through my veins, ADHD in overdrive. I could feel a panic attack coming on, which was not something I really needed on top of everything else.

As we neared the cage, three of the Lastrygonian giants moved aside one of the statues. We stopped at the opening, one of the she-demons taking off my restraints, from both my ankles and wrists before shoving me inside. I turned and was about to bolt, make an escape, because it had taken them a few seconds to move the statue out of place, it would probably take about the same amount of time to move it back into place.

Before I could even move, however, the hellhound appeared. It blended in with the oncoming shadow of night, but its glowing red eyes and bared fangs showed just fine in the dim light of the fading sun. I felt my heart skip a beat and stop before ramping it up. I instinctively reached for all my weapons, my bow and arrow, my sword, my dagger. When I found nothing, I slowly started backing further into the cage as the hellhound slowly advanced.

I could feel the panic rising within me, like when the water was rising in the car that one time Kronos had tried to kill me and convince Luke I'd abandoned him. No weapons to protect myself.

Now, maybe I could've handled being trapped in this cage with one of those demonic dogs—it wasn't going to hurt me because, again, if Kronos saw I was hurt, so would Luke. And Kronos was already having trouble controlling Luke's body, he didn't need to use up more energy when he could be using that energy to win this war. But then another hellhound came in, growling and baring its fangs, red eyes trained right on me.

And then another. And another. And another. They flowed in like high tide, only they never receded. The statue was moved back into place, leaving me in a sea of hellhounds, all their eyes on me.

Having spent so much time around them on the ship, I thought for sure by now I'd be okay with having to face them, or fight them. Especially now, because they weren't going to attack me. But I was dead wrong.

Without any weapons to be able to protect myself with, just in case, my brain panicked and went into overdrive. My whole body trembled. Slashes of blood red covered my vision. My mother's voice screaming for my father's help rang in my ears, hitting me full force.

I was suddenly thirteen again, helpless to save my mom as a hellhound ripped her open, killed her.

I fell to my knees, my heart beating wildly, painfully. I brought my hands up, clamping them to my ears, trying to drown out my mom's cries for help, her scream of pure agony when the hellhound found its mark.

Blood.

So…much…blood.

I curled in on myself, my whole body tense, reliving the night my mom died, over and over and over, on a constant, never-ending loop.

Paralyzed with fear, on the ground, surrounded by my worst fear, my worst nightmare, the monster under the bed.

"No, no, no," I sobbed in a whisper. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop." I sunk further down, sitting on my legs, resting my forehead on my knees, moving my arms up to cover my ears and knotting my hands in my hair, pulling at it painfully, thinking this would help the visions.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I tried to dispel the ever-growing fear and panic that never seemed to peak. My heart felt like it was going to give out at any moment, my body kept pumping adrenaline it no longer had. I felt like I was going to throw up, but I hadn't eaten anything. Besides my stomach was in such a tight knot I didn't think it would even be able to let anything through.

This torture, this agony seemed to last forever. I was drowning in it.

Something touched my shoulder. I gasped and jerked away, scrambling to get away from any potential threat or danger. I had squeezed my eyes shut so tight for such a long time that I couldn't see for a good ten minutes. So I sat there, gasping and breathing hard, trying to get my vision to come back so I could see where and what the danger was.

When my vision finally cleared and the blurriness went away, I saw Kronos, standing a few feet away from me. He looked on with a cold, emotionless expression. There were two hellhounds at his side. Through the empty spaces in the prison he'd created with the statues I no longer saw tents and campfires. The sky was already dark.

Through my weary, tired haze, I almost called Kronos Luke, but I met his golden eyes and was reminded of the grim truth.

"Are you ready to obey me, now?" Kronos asked.

I felt a retort rise, but as if they knew what I was going to do the hellhounds sitting at Kronos's heels snarled and I was instantly reminded of the hours I'd just gone through, having to relive my mother's death over and over and over again. The mere thought of having to go through that again was enough to get my heart going. My hands started shaking. The retort died in my throat and I nodded, not trusting my voice.

Kronos didn't like that, though. It wasn't enough. He turned slightly, pointing to his ear. He didn't say anything, but I knew what he was asking.

I swallowed hard, my eyes darting between the two hellhounds before finally going back to Kronos.

"Yes, sir," I managed.

Kronos straightened up and regarded me with a smug look. "Very good." He gestured to someone off to my left before exiting. The two hellhounds stayed where they were sitting, glared at me with those red eyes. An empousa came forward, then, and threw my weapons on my feet. I jumped and scrambled back slightly. The she-demon snorted and I looked up at her questioningly.

"Prepare for battle," she said with a sneer before walking off, exiting the make-shift prison. I stared down at my weapons for a long moment before carefully reaching out and grabbing them. I paused for a millisecond to make sure no one was going to yell at me before hesitantly getting to my feet and strapping my sword (in its scabbard) to my waist, and the dagger to my ankle. Lastly, I threw my new quiver of arrows over my shoulder, followed by my bow.

I started toward the exit, my two guard dogs following close behind. I tried not to panic and run. As I exited, Kronos approached me along with a golden chariot and at least a dozen Laistrygonian giants holding torches. Two Hyperborean giants carried his purple-and-black banners.

"Ready to go betray your friends?" he asked, smiling wickedly. My first instinct was to ask him what he meant—what was he going to do that would make it seem like I'd joined their side? My second instinct was to say no. I wanted to tell him I didn't really have a choice, but I couldn't even get myself to glower at him with the hellhounds behind me, reminding me what would happen if I did.

"Yes, sir," I said, instead.

Kronos's smile grew.

"Very good, Victoria," he mocked. "You're a fast learner. That might just keep you alive these next few hours."

That wasn't comforting in the slightest, but I stayed silent. I felt utterly defeated. Kronos had managed to break me. And he hadn't even touched me.

All right, another chapter for ya'll. And pretty intense stuff there.

As always, hope you enjoyed!

The title is the very first line of one of Lewis Caroll's poems that appears in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight