Chapter Thirteen

Rest for the Not-Quite-Wicked

The sun had fallen sometime in the battle, the sky now dark, yet the stars nowhere to be seen.

Everyone knelt over Zoë, everyone looked sick with worry, but no one looked more distraught then Artemis.

Zoë murmured something Percy couldn't quite hear. Percy couldn't see any visible injury on her, but she was still clutching her stomach.

Atlas… hit her pretty hard. It must be internal…

"Can't you… heal her, or something?" Percy said shakily. "You are a goddess…"

"Life is a fragile thing. If the Fates will a string to be cut… there is little I can do to stop that. But… I will try, nonetheless."

Artemis went to lay a hand on her stomach, but Zoë gripped her wrist. Percy saw some kind of understanding pass between them.

And at that moment, Percy realised how this was going to end.

"Have I… served thee well?" Zoë whispered.

"With great honour," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."

Zoë relaxed, and she suddenly seemed content. "Rest… at last."

She turned to Thalia. "I am sorry we argued. We… could've been sisters."

Thalia still looked sickly pale, but that wasn't her concern. "I'm sorry too. You were right about Luke, that's for sure."

Then Zoë turned to Percy.

"Perseus… when I first met thee, I disliked… thee instantly."

"Uhh…"

"But, slowly overtime… I grew to tolerate you. Then… thou proved me wrong, and I am thankful for it. " She reached to her side, and unsheathed her silver hunting knife. "This blade has served me… for well over two thousand years. Take it."

She held the handle out towards him.

"Zoë…"

"You do not need to say anything Perseus. Its name is I̱miséli̱nos… it belongs to you now. Treat it well friend."

Percy took the knife. He didn't know what to say, and his mind drew a blank.

Zoë turned her gaze back to the sky.

"Stars," She whispered. "I can see the stars again my lady."

A tear feel from Artemis's eye. "Yes my brave one. They are beautiful tonight. They came out just for you."

Percy looked up, and suddenly there they were. It reminded him of when they all camped outside the godly junkyard for the night. The first time Percy had truly seen the stars in their full glory.

Except this was twice as brilliant. He could've sworn he saw shooting stars here and there as well.

By the time Percy looked down again, Zoë's gaze was fixed towards the night sky.

She wasn't moving.

For a moment, no one made a sound. Everyone's eyes were rimmed red.

Artemis cupped her hands above Zoë's mouth, and muttered a few words in a language Percy didn't recognize. A bright silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from her mouth, and was caught in Artemis's hands.

Zoë's body began to glow and shimmer like the stars she loved so much, and then she disappeared.

Artemis breathed into the wisp in her hands, and released it into the sky.

Percy noticed the change almost immediately. A few stars that weren't there before appeared, and shone twice as bright as the ones around them. They formed a shining constellation. A girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"Let the world honour you my huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."

Way I figure it… over two thousand years is a long time to be alive. She deserves the rest.

Artemis said she'd called a ride to take her to Olympus, and others to take everyone else, that they'd be here soon.

Percy walked over to the cliff, looking out over the ocean. The army that had been climbing up the mountain was nowhere to be seen. He only just saw a giant white cruise ship sailing off into the distance.

Luke probably told them what Thalia did. They were afraid.

At that moment, Thalia walked up beside him, looking over the cliff with him. Her eyes no longer shone ridiculously bright, and were back to her normal colour.

"You had me worried back there." Percy said.

Thalia frowned.

"With the whole Ophiotaurus thing. Thought you were going to help Atlas and Luke for second."

"I won't ever help Luke. Not anymore."

"Sounds like you two have history."

"You could say that." She didn't elaborate.

Okay then, not talking about that.

Percy wasn't sure why, or what in particular they were talking about. It was probably to keep their minds off Zoë.

"Did you plan it? The pretending to make the sacrifice for them?"

"No… I didn't. They had me in a tight spot, and well… I had to improvise."

"Hell of a way to improvise."

She laughed a little. "Yeah… but the power, I'm not entirely sure how it works. I can't feel it anymore. And plus, I noticed this, soon after."

She showed Percy the back of her hand. On it was a strange, black mark in a swirling pattern. It was circular on the back of her hand, but had two points sprouting from the top and bottom. One ran along her index finger and the other ran over her wrist. It gently pulsated and shone a sky blue every few seconds.

"Huh. Weird."

"You look like crap by the way."

"Gee, thanks."

"No, really. Your hair's all grey."

"Seriously? Why? I can't see it."

"Holding the sky does that to a person."

Wait… hold on… that was the sky? We held the sky?

Artemis called out to them. "Our transport is here."

They turned and walked back to the others.

THE SKY?!

Then, a bright silver chariot flew down from the sky, drawn by… a pack of flying deer?

"We must go to Olympus immediately, but I cannot take you in the moon chariot." Artemis said. "There, your rides are coming."

That's when three winged horses descended from the sky, galloping towards them as they hit the ground.

"Uh, we have to fly all the way to Greece on those?" Percy asked.

"Nope." Thalia replied. "Mount Olympus hasn't been in Greece for a long time."

"So where is it then?"

"New York."

Percy deadpanned. "Are kidding me? I've been living there for two years, and I haven't noticed any mountain of the gods."

"It's floating above Manhattan."

"Pretty sure I've you know, looked up before."

"It's floating really high."

The flight wasn't as long as Percy had thought it'd be. He'd only been asleep for around five minutes, before he felt Grover nudge him from behind, who was sharing the flying horse with him. Thalia, who'd also fallen asleep, took another one with Annabeth. Bianca was asleep on her own horse.

She hadn't spoken a word since they left San Francisco.

"There's New York. We're almost home." Grover said. There was a twinge of quiet hope in his voice.

There and back again, huh?

The flying horses began flying upwards, climbing higher. And then… Percy could see Olympus.

Floating high above the empire state building, was what looked like the top of a mountain that'd been sheared off. There were torches and braziers of a hundred different colours lighting up the sky, and the white marble buildings all around the mountain. But the biggest and brightest palace, was right at the top.

How in hell have I never noticed that before?

The flying horses flew around Olympus, getting lower and lower, and closer and closer to the peak. Percy got a good view of the streets while they were circling. The streets were absolutely packed with people, bustling with noise, music and a generally happy energy. It seemed like a very lively place.

But as they got lower, Percy remembered. One of the pros of being clear-sighted, he could feel the auras of gods. Except it was more of a con now. He felt the force of a thousand different gods, all with a different feeling to them, all of them conflicting with each other. All of them starting to give Percy a chronic headache.

Please… don't go any lower. Arghhhh…

The flying horses eventually set down in a court yard just outside the top palace, the entry a giant set of silver gates.

Arghh… you went lower damn it…

Before anyone had anytime to say anything, the silver gates opened by themselves.

Percy tried to ignore the head pains.

Everyone looked to each other, shrugged, and walked into the throne room.

Inside the palace, there were twelve enormous thrones in a 'U' shape around a central hearth. The domed ceiling glittered with all the constellations. Including Zoë's.

These were things Percy noticed later, because all of the seats were occupied, by gods five meters tall, every single one of them looking their way. Percy's headache intensified.

Oh… you've got to… ahh…. be Kidding me…

"Welcome heroes." Artemis said.

The goddess slid off her throne, and turned to a normal human size. She walked towards the group. "The Council has been informed of your deeds," She said. "They know Othrys is rising in the West. They of Atlas's attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos."

Uhh… who's… armies?

"We have voted to act" She continued. "At my Lord Zeus's command, my brother Apollo and I shall hunt down the most powerful monsters before they can join the Titans. Lady Athena shall check on the various imprisoned Titans, and ensure they have not broken free. Lord Poseidon has been given full permission to unleash his fury on the cruise ship where the majority of the armies are based"

Artemis turned to the other seated gods. "While the half-bloods present have done Olympus a great service, I believe we have a more urgent matter to discuss before that. You all aware that the Ophiotaurus had returned, and that it had been sacrificed less than a few hours ago, by our Lord Zeus's daughter, Thalia. We must discuss this immediately, and discuss our possible future."

At that point the eyes of every single god went straight to her. Despite the Thalia supposedly had the power to kill them, she looked nervous.

Uh oh…

Author's Note:

For important chapters I'll either have the author's note down the bottom, or it won't be there at all. This chapter and the previous one qualify.

Anyway, yes I'm evil, how could I do this? Why didn't I change things?

Anyway, I have a… semi-urgent thing I need to ask you all.

For the previous chapter, I received a review pretty much stating that the person is leaving because they feel Percy is 'too useless'. I find this strange because Percy hasn't done anything terribly different from canon Titan's Curse.

But are any of you sharing this concern as well though?

Keeping in mind Percy's role in this was never going to be as an excellent fighter or swordsman, or slayer of monsters. 'Everything is stronger than he is' as I pointed out in the summary. I think they may have meant combat wise, because he hasn't done much in that factor and he's not suppose to at this stage.

And the last thing to keep in mind, the story isn't just about Percy. The third person PoV may focus around him, and we may get a glimpse inside his mind occasionally, but it's about Thalia as well. She's the fighter. It'll be about both of them.