Michael
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The bridge to Olympus was dissolving. We stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at our feet.
"Jump!" Killian said. He sprang to the next slab of stone while ours tilted sickeningly.
"Gods, I hate heights!" Bianca yelled as she and I leaped.
"Keep moving!" Killian tugged my shoulder. We across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. We made it to the edge of the mountain just as the final section collapsed.
Bianca looked back at the elevator, which was now completely out of reach—a polished set of metal doors hanging in space, attached to nothing, six hundred stories above Manhattan.
"We're marooned," she said. "On our own."
"The connection between Olympus and America is dissolving," Killian said. "If it fails— "
"The gods won't move on to another country this time," I said. "This will be the end of Olympus. The final end."
We ran through streets. Mansions were burning. Statues had been hacked down. Trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. It looked like someone had attacked the city with a giant Weedwacker.
"Kronos's scythe," I said.
We followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. I didn't remember the road being so long. Maybe Kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing me down. The whole mountaintop was in ruins—so many beautiful buildings and gardens gone.
A few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop Kronos. What remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half.
Somewhere ahead of us, Kronos's voice roared: "Brick by brick! That was my promise. Tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"
A white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. The dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city.
"That was a shrine to Artemis," Bianca grumbled. "He'll pay for that."
We were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of Zeus and Hera when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.
"Look out!" Killian yelped. The archway crumbled. I looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling Hera topple over on us. I quickly threw up a pillar of ice and froze her in place.
"Keep going!" I said. "Before it falls!"
The ice was already cracking under the weight. We rushed forward just as the ice splintered and broke. The statue fell with a large boom.
The doors of the palace were big enough to steer a cruise ship through, but they'd been ripped off their hinges and smashed like they weighed nothing. We had to climb over a huge pile of broken stone and twisted metal to get inside. Kronos stood in the middle of the throne room, his arms wide, staring at the starry ceiling as if taking it all in. His laughter echoed even louder than it had from the pit of Tartarus.
"Finally!" he bellowed. "The Olympian Council—so proud and mighty. Which seat of power shall I destroy first?"
A dark haired girl stood to one side, trying to stay out of the way of Kronos's scythe. I couldn't recognize her from the back, but something about her seemed familiar. The hearth was almost dead, just a few coals glowing deep in the ashes. Hestia was nowhere to be seen.
Bianca, Killian, and I stepped forward into the torchlight. The girl saw us first.
"My lord," she warned. Bianca gasped at the voice.
"Drew?" she exclaimed.
I saw it now. It was the Asian girl from the Aphrodite cabin. Drew Tanaka. I didn't like her before because of some comments she made about Katie, both in the past and this timeline, but now my anger soared through the roof.
"You're the spy?" I snarled. "You're the one who's responsible for all this?"
She seemed caught off guard by my comment. Obviously she didn't expect us to know her personally, but I remembered her vividly. Why would she turn against Olympus, and for Alex of all people?
Kronos turned and smiled through Alex's face. Except for the golden eyes, he looked just the same as he had four years ago when I met him on Half-Blood Hill.
"Do not put all the blame on her," he chided. "It is not her fault the gods are such abhorrent parents that their own children wish to see them dead. She chose the right side." He sneered at us. "Now, should I destroy you first, Gardner? Is that the choice you will make—to fight me and die instead of bowing down? Prophecies never end well, you know."
"I've survived one before," Bianca snapped. "I can do it again!"
Kronos laughed. "So be it, then."
The two Hyperborean Giants stepped forward to intercept her but Killian and I charged at them, giving Bianca a path towards the Titan Lord. I deflected the Hyperborean's club over my head before rolling in between his legs. I spun around and slashed through his leg. He yelped as he fell over. I jumped on his back as he fell, stabbed him in the neck, and jumped off as he crashed into the floor, breaking into millions of ice.
I looked over to see Killian topple his Hyperborean onto his back with a fireball that exploded in front of the monster. Killian quickly climbed on top and ended him with an impalement of the heart.
A grunt from Bianca grabbed my attention. I snapped my head towards her and Kronos to see her get the butt of Kronos's scythe slammed into her chest. She fell back and her knives clattered out of her hands.
"B!" I shouted as Kronos raised his scythe over her.
Both Killian and I sprinted over and raised our swords just in time to stop Kronos's scythe. We both grunted at the power behind the strike. My knees buckled.
"B, get up!" I urged her. "Now!"
She scrambled to her feet, grabbing her knives. I nodded to Killian and together we pushed our swords upwards with all our might. We threw Kronos's scythe up and actually managed to make him stumble a bit.
Kronos growled in annoyance. He came at me like a whirlwind and my instincts took over. I dodged and slashed and rolled, but I felt like I was fighting a hundred swordsmen. Drew ducked to one side, trying to get behind me until Bianca and Killian intercepted her. They started to fight, but I couldn't focus on how they were doing.
Kronos backed me up against the throne of Hephaestus—a huge mechanical La-Z-Boy type thing covered with bronze and silver gears. Kronos slashed, and I managed to jump straight up onto the seat. The throne whirred and hummed with secret mechanisms. Defense mode, it warned. Defense mode.
That couldn't be good. I jumped straight over Kronos's head as the throne shot tendrils of electricity in all directions. One hit Kronos in the face, arcing down his body and up his sword.
"ARG!" He crumpled to his knees and dropped his scythe.
"Alex!" I yelled. "This isn't you, man. This can't be what you want!"
Kronos flicked his hand. It felt like I was just hit with a giant baseball bat as I flew backward, slamming into a throne and crumpling to the floor. I was vaguely aware of Bianca and Killian yelling my name but it sounded far away.
I looked up and saw Bianca and Kronos trading blows. Dark tendrils sprouted from the ground, smacking the Titan every now and then. He blocked most of them, but every so often he was knocked off balance.
Killian held Drew at swordpoint. Her weapon, a dagger, was on the ground ten feet from her. Killian couldn't do anything to help Bianca without letting Drew go free.
"Look around you, Drew," Killian was saying. "Is this what you want? The world in pieces because you and your mother were disrespected? Because no one thought you were capable of anything?"
Drew, to her credit, held herself together, but I could see that Killian's words dug deep.
Then Kronos suddenly had Bianca by the throat. She clawed at his grip but couldn't overpower him. She let out a muffled scream as he started to squeeze.
"No!" Killian shouted, leaving Drew to run at Kronos. He raised his sword, ready to strike, but Kronos anticipated his move. He threw Bianca at him and they went down like a ton of bricks.
"Tanaka!" Kronos yelled. "Time to prove yourself. You know Gardner's secret weakness. Kill her, and you will have rewards beyond measure."
Drew's eyes flickered over Bianca's body as she picked up her dagger. Even if she couldn't kill Bianca herself, all she had to do was tell Kronos.
Killian groaned in pain. "Look around you, Drew," he said. "The end of the world. Is this the reward you want? Do you really want everything destroyed—the good with the bad? Everything?
"My mother is a laughing stock," she muttered. "No one respects her. No one respects me."
"That's right!" Kronos tried to get up, but stumbled. Above his left ear, a patch of brown hair still smoldered. "Strike them down! They deserve to suffer."
"Your mom is the goddess of love," Killian said to her. I tried to get up, but my legs felt like jelly. I stumbled and hit the ground again. "But not just that. She's the goddess of beauty and passion and life! Too many people focus on her love aspect, but I refuse to. I see her as a facet of creation–one who helps create life, not destroy. Drew, all Kronos does is destroy. He will destroy everything that has been created, everything beautiful and wonderful about this world. Is that what you want?"
Drew looked at the sizzling throne of Hephaestus. Her body swayed, as if listening to some type of music that reminded her of that beauty. She blinked.
Then she charged . . . but not at them.
While Kronos was still on his knees, Drew brought down her dagger on the Titan lord's neck. It should have killed him instantly, but the blade shattered. Drew fell back, grasping her stomach. A shard of her own blade had ricocheted and pierced her armor.
Kronos rose unsteadily, towering over his servant. "Treason," he snarled.
Drew stared at us, her face tight with pain.
"Deserve better," she gasped. "Beauty and...respect–"
Kronos stomped his foot, and the floor ruptured around Drew Tanaka. The daughter of Aphrodite fell through a fissure that went straight through the heart of the mountain—straight into open air.
"So much for her." Kronos picked up his sword. "And now for the rest of you."
