Killian
_

They brought the babies to camp the next day. Like Bianca said, they did take after each of them, which just confused my idea of genetics. Alexios and Andromeda both had Michael's dark hair but, like Bianca said, Alexios looked like her and Andromeda looked like Katie, which, again, confused my idea of genetics.

As for their living status, they were actually living in an apartment in the same building Alex's mother was in. It was partly to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe, and partly to keep from annoying all the demigods with constant crying babies.

It was weird not having them at camp all the time anymore. Not only that, but that left me and Zoe in the same cabin, which I wasn't the greatest fan of. Bianca often shadow traveled to camp, usually only taking either Michael or Katie and one or two of their kids. Bianca had learned to shadow travel during their training stint with the primordial gods. She trained almost every day with Zoe and Luke, learning to fight and how to battle Kronos. If he fought the same way that he did last time like Percy said, then Luke was definitely the right guy for the job.

There were a few ideas being thrown around about the war. I didn't like many of them. One was that we had a spy in our midst, but no one could be identified. Percy hoped it wasn't Silena again and felt pretty good that she wasn't, but the worry still stuck in his mind.

Another rumor was that Zoe, Michael, or I might turn traitor because our parents were Titans. This particular comment faced a quite violent backlash, more so from Zoe and Lilly than from Michael or me. All of our friends backed us up and said we'd never turn traitor, but it still ran through the camp rumor mill. I had an idea who had started it but didn't have any proof so I couldn't do anything.

The last thing that pertained to the war efforts was my suggestion that Bianca bathe in the Styx. I guaranteed Alex did the same thing. When I had fought Kronos in Alex's body in the labyrinth, my sword, a gift from Daedalus himself, had just glanced off him.

That was met with some resistance, mostly from Katie and Nico. Bianca wasn't too open to the idea, afraid of the consequences should she not be strong enough, but wasn't 100% against it, either. Michael was up for it, though. If she was to face the Titan Lord, he wanted her to have every advantage she could get.

The only problem with this plan was that in order to bathe in the Styx, one needs their mother's blessing. And Bianca's mother was a little ...dead. She'd have to go to the underworld to find her, hopefully in Elysium.

When I brought that up to her, she wasn't exactly psyched about it. She said she'd need permission from her father to even see her mother. She claimed it was against some ancient laws for people to see their dead relatives, which I thought was odd, but didn't argue against it. Most of those laws have a reason for being there.

A smack on the head brought me back to what was going on. I was surrounded by a small group of friends. Just Lilly and I, Beckendorf, Silena, Nico, and Lee. We were on the beach, planning an attack on Kronos's forces.

"If we don't do anything, that ship will be in New York by dawn," Lee said, using the touch screen on Daedalus's computer to do calculations. Michael was certainly right when he said Lee was one of the smartest people in camp. "Based on its size and observed speed, our best chance is to go now." He looked up at Beckendorf. "Do you have the bag of Greek fire?"

Beckendorf nodded, lifting the bag.

"Good. If you strap it in the engine room... here." He pulled up a schematic of the boat. "That should destroy the boat."

Beckendorf nodded again. "Sounds good, Lee. Killian and I will blow up Alex's ship."

"You bet I will," I chimed in.

Silena looked super worried about her boyfriend going on this mission. "Be careful, Charlie," she said. "Promise me you'll come back."

"You know I can't, Silena," Beckendorf said. "But I promise I will try."

"He's not dying on my watch," I said, slapping him on the back. "I'll bring us both back."

"You'd better," Silena looked uneasy.

"Nico," Lee said, getting the son of Hades' attention. "You ready?"

He nodded. "Whenever they are."

Silena hugged Beckendorf one last time as I hugged Lilly. Then we gathered on either side of Nico. Lee and the girls waved goodbye and Nico shadow traveled us onto the Princess Andromeda, on the lowest level.

"Okay, when should I come back for you guys?" Nico asked.

"Don't," Beckendorf said.

"What?"

I hushed him. "We already talked about it," I told him. "We've got this, you aren't risking yourself for us."

"But-"

"It's okay, Nico," Beckendorf told him. "Killian and I can manage on our own. We'll get off this boat, don't worry."

Nico obviously didn't like it, but we were pressed for time. "Fine," he relented. "But I will not be the one to break the news to your girlfriends."

"Don't worry, Nico. We'll take responsibility for that."

With one last reproachful look, Nico disappeared.

I flipped a switch on my watch and Vorkna sprang to full size—three feet of deadly Olympian Marble, cooled in Stygian water, glowing white in the dusk. It was a magnificent sight.

Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I hoped 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.

"We'll make it back to camp," I assured him, taking the note. "But you need to be on your A-game if you want this back."

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 pieces."

Beckendorf led the way as I watched the back. 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 says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice—a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meatloaf sandwich!"

"Meatloaf 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 started to fade.

We finally 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.

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.

I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something was wrong. As he leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, I stepped into his path, slicing Vorkna upwards, and he exploded into dust.

"One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go." He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most precarious magical substances in the world. Then he threw me the other essential tool of demigods—duct tape.

"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. If Lee's calculations were right, the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn. We did not have long to stop it.

As I attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps—there were enough creatures coming down that I could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign, that's more than 4.

I locked eyes with Beckendorf and mouthed "How much longer?"

"Too long" He mouthed back, tapping his watch, which was our remote control detonator. "Ten more minutes."

We didn't have that long.

"I'll get this," I mouthed, pointing towards the stairs.

"Killian—" he audibly protested.

I winked and went to the door.

He looked like he wanted to argue. The whole idea had been to get in and out without being spotted, but alas, I'd have to improvise.

I charged out to meet a half dozen telkhines tromping down the stairs. I cut through a few faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing—past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive so he could raise the alarm and get his friends to follow me. Also I liked his lunch box.

I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. The carpeted hall had likely once been very plush, but over the last three years of monster occupation, it had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (unfortunate experience).

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. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than my body.

Normally, crabs' mouths are all foamy and gross with whiskers and snapping bits, and this one didn't look any better blown up. Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I could see it was intelligent and angry.

"FFFFffffff," it hissed, foam sizzling down from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like microwaved fish.

Alarms blared. I was going to have lots of company soon and I had to keep moving.

"Hey, buddy." I inched around the edge of the courtyard. "I'm just gonna try and ignore you—"

The crab moved with amazing speed. It scuttled out of the fountain and came straight at me, pincers snapping. 1 dove into a gift shop, plowing through a rack of T-shirts. A crab pincer smashed the glass walls to pieces and raked across the room. I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Sir Crabby turned and followed.

"There!" a voice said from a balcony above me. "Intruder!"

I'd succeeded in creating a distraction, but this was not where I wanted to fight. If I got pinned down in the center of the ship, I wouldn't make it out.

Professor crustacean lunged at me. I sliced it with Vorkna, taking off the tip of its claw. It hissed and foamed, but wasn't as hurt as it should have been.

I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Percy had told me about a monster crab—something about Heracles crushing it under his foot? That wasn't going to work here. This crab was a bit bigger than me.

Then a weird thought occurred to me. Near the end of the summer, Percy had taken Zoe, Lilly, and I to a cabin at Montauk. Percy had taken me crabbing, of all things, 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 bellies.

The only problem was getting to the belly.

I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks. An idea occurred to me... a really bad idea that could go terribly wrong. The crab didn't care about my decision-making process. It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing, and I ran straight at it, not yet certain with myself.

You got this Killian, just keep calm and focus. What calms me down?

I recalled an image of Lilly. During the same trip we went crabbing, we had gone out to the beach in the middle of the night, just her and I. Percy never even knew we were gone. We sat together on the pier, and just... talked. And it felt natural, sitting there with the moonlight reflecting off the waves. I told her a joke, and she laughed that beautiful laugh... I refuse to die here before I can see that laugh again.

Just before we collided, I hit the ground and slid on the wet marble floor straight under Dr. Angry Fish. 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 was going on, I stabbed Vorkna 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. 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. Vorkna, 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.

In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of dracaenae slithered across my path. From the waist up, they were women 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 isss thisss?" one said. "A prize for Kronosss!"

I wasn't in the mood to fight the snake ladies, but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display. I ripped it off the pedestal and hurled it at the first dracaena. The boat smacked her in the face and she went down with the ship. 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.

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—two years younger than I was when I'd first arrived at Camp HalfBlood.

That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brainwashed—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.

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 definitely stupid and jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it.

"Get off this ship now if you want to live," I told him. "Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next floor.

I kept climbing.

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.

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. Zoe or Poseidon would notice us and hopefully take us away from the ship and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter-mile away.

I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Killian."

Alex stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops like he was just a normal high school-age kid, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.

"We've been expecting you for days." At first, he sounded normal, like a regular teenager. 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, 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 Alex. 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 fast unless they'd known I was coming.

I looked up at Alex, and anger boiled inside me. I didn't know if Alex'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. Alex 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?

According to that big prophecy, Bianca was supposed to make a choice that would end the war. That was only four days away. Why don't I do it first? Bianca was weaker, and not ready. I, on the other hand, was rearing to have another go at Kronos. Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before. Why not a Titan?

As if reading my thoughts, Alex 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 wrist and found that my watch had returned to me. I flipped the switch and Vorkna grew into a sword.

Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands—a six-foot-long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. Just looking at the thing made my knees turn to Jell-O. But before I could change my mind, I charged.

I struck at Kronos, but I was too slow. I made the mistake of looking at his face—Alex's face—a guy who was once just a regular half-blood like me. As much as I hated him, it was hard to kill him.

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.

I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Alex should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.

Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Vorkna, 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's 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.

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, Killian Vixon. Alex tells me you were never his match at swordplay."

My vision started to blur. I knew I didn't have much time.

"I'd heard that Alex 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."

"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." My arm was throbbing. Black spots danced in my vision.

"And why would that be?" Kronos's golden eyes glittered. His face—Alex'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?"

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.

"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.

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? Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.

"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"

"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?"

"Er . . ." 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! 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. 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 had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.

I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.

"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?"

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.

Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Killian Vixon. 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. Alex learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."

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.

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 his 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 grabbed Beckendorf. I focused hard, and he went up in flames.

I turned and a spear sailed past me. Monsters closed in around me. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands together.

Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut. The entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off their feet. The ship rumbled. Explosions sounded below deck. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain.

The next explosion shook the world. Heat seared my entire body. I might've been immune to fire, but it still hurt super bad. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.

Then, darkness consumed me.