Sorry for not updating so long! I got a bit carried away with a newly acquired Wii game, and forgot to write. This chapter is being told in the long-awaited Percy's POV. But the end part is in Max's POV. Just so you know, in case it isn't obvious. And this chapter is kind of short.

I stared blankly at Kronos. Sorry, Kronos II. Where'd he get the II anyway?

"I am the servant of Kronos. And a god. But the thing is," he pulled out a wicked looking bloodstained sickle. "I can attack mortals directly. Unlike my subject."

"Your subject?" I was hoping he was bluffing with the "attacking mortals directly" thing.

His laughter rang through the air. "You fool! You mean you do not know?"

I didn't really appreciate being called a fool, but I thought I'd keep my mouth shut. Especially considering he was a god.

Max was deathly pale. "He was cloned from Kronos."

"Exactly." he said. He raised his hand and made a crushing gesture. The flock flew into the air, and went limp. He lowered them to the ground. "I'm here for the freaks. Stop me if you like."

I had already closed half the distance between us, and Riptide was uncapped and in my hand. I drove all my weight through a stab attack. Kronos II flashed into nothingness, his laughter echoing through the dense forest.

The sickle rematerialized right above my shoulder, behind me. I knocked it away, and Kronos II disengaged and disappeared again.

He appeared in front of me. "He's manipulating time!" Annabeth yelled. That explained the disappearing/reappearing thing. But it was kind of discouraging.

I tripped on a root, and fell practically right on top of him. I decided to use this to my advantage, swinging Riptide. But he time-stopped...with my hand on his chest. I felt like I wanted to hurl, the world was spinning. It settled in a bluish-tinged version of the forest. The only sounds I could hear were Kronos II breathing and my own heart beating. Everything else was silent and unmoving.

He was breathing hard. It must have tired him out to inadvertently take me with him through the time barrier. I slashed Riptide at his face. He snarled and ducked, then came at me with the sickle. I knocked his hand aside and flipped Riptide, catching him in the chest with the hilt. Now he was almost wheezing. I swung again. He moved out of the way, but not quickly enough. I clipped his shoulder. Blood, red as ripe cherries, flowed from his wound. We both stared at it in shock.

Red blood?

"Im-impossible," he said, faltering. "I...I am a god! They tricked me!" The blue-tinged environment faded, and sound filled the forest. I had almost forgotten how much there was. He had released the time-stop. Thalia and Annabeth were nowhere in sight.

"Aargh!" he roared, and barreled toward us, swinging the sickle angrily. He seemed to know exactly where to hit, where it was most difficult to block from. And he was moving quickly...too quickly. I couldn't keep this up forever. A particularly vicious lunge ripped my shirt, and drew a thin line of blood down it. I hardly felt the pain.

Riptide was on the ground. The sickle was at my throat. He had stopped time again.

"I may not be a god," he said viciously. "But I can still kill you."

Max's POV:

A clone of Kronos, huh? What happened to biomedical ethics? There was something about his voice, it felt like I'd heard it before. Not in a dream, just in something I couldn't grasp.

He threw his hand into the air, and pain shot through my entire being. I wanted to scream, but my voice was dead. The last thing I thought before my consciousness shut down is that I was going to be really pissed off if he had hurt the flock.

My vision went black, and surprisingly flared into color. But this wasn't the forest we were in. It was the room with the golden coffin, the one on the cruise ship. A kneeling figure was before the coffin. I looked closer (I know it sounds weird). It was Ari.

A rumbling voice erupted from the coffin. "Those fools! Destroy them."

"Yes, Lord Kronos." Ari replied, not sounding like himself. "I will."

"Good." Kronos gave a booming laugh, and the whole ship shook. Ari stepped through a shimmer in the air, and was gone.

The dream switched to a room full of whitecoats, including Jeb. The air seemed to twist and bend, and Ari came into the scene.

"Why are you here?" Jeb asked.

"The clone you made. You said it was immortal."

"There are some things genetics just can't replicate," Jeb said simply. "Immortality, namely."

"Too bad." A sword with an intricate hilt, glowing white, appeared in his hand. It had to be at least four feet long, but Ari hefted it with ease.

"I know you, Ari. You will not kill me."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Ari snarled. In one fluid movement, he had Jeb by the throat and in the air. With one hand.

"Ari." He choked. "Don't."

Ari wordlessly plunged the sword right through Jeb's heart.

Double cliffie! Don't forget to review! Ari is OOC because serving Kronos is changing him, Kronos is making him think he's being respected. So Ari feels he doesn't need Jeb anymore. Seven reviews for the next chapter. Don't forget. And I apologize a million times more for not updating. It was all my fault.