This chapter is relatively short. I'm sorry about that, but I couldn't keep you waiting. Especially what I did with the last chapter. This one starts out in Max's POV, then switches to Percy's. And if you look carefully, you can figure out who the Voice is. Not that I'm going to tell you directly, yet. Enjoy this chapter, which I think isn't really up to par. I felt kind of rushed when I wrote it.
The sub-reality flashed out of my mind, and I found myself where I was before. Lying on the ground in a forest. I tried to move an arm. Nothing. I tried a leg. Still nothing. I was paralyzed. How convenient.
My eyes were open, I could hear, but I couldn't move. Loud clangs echoed through the forest. Percy and that jerk Kronos II were fighting. I couldn't do anything. It sucked.
Did that actually happen? I asked myself. The dream had felt so...real. And if it was real...then Jeb was dead.
A response came, surprising me. Yes. I had almost forgotten the Voice. It sounded sober.
All of it? Ari killing Jeb?
The Voice was silent. Figures, it never answered when I needed it to. Like now, for instance. But then something occurred to me.
How do you know?
Still silent. It was almost as if it didn't want to tell me.
The sounds of battle suddenly ceased. An angry voice ripped through the fray. "I may not be a god," it said viciously. "But I can still kill you."
And then I realized something. Something I should've seen before. Something I was an absolute idiot not to notice. But I couldn't worry about it now. Percy needed help.
I struggled, and my arm moved. Faintly, but it moved. The bow materialized in my hands as I formed the intention of shooting. I silently drew back a silver arrow, and shot as accurately as I could.
I missed.
Percy's POV:
A silver Hunter arrow flew right over Kronos II's shoulder. Right over. Couldn't Max have aimed a little better? Kronos II spun around, snarling. I seized the oppurtunity and swung Riptide. He heard the swish, and turned back toward me.
Too late. His hand was on the ground, smoldering. I have no idea why. Too bad it was his left hand. He fought with his right.
He stared at the stump in disbelief, holding his sickle in a defensive position. His eyebrows creased and he roared something incomprehensible to the sky. I watched in horror as his hand...the bones in his hand...they were growing back. Just the bones. Shoot.
He was laughing now, laughing hysterically. "Go on, then! Kill me, boy!"
I thought, What the heck? Why not? I drove Riptide through his heart. A wave of fire consumed him. I stepped back, thinking he was finished. The fire lessened, and I saw how wrong I was.
A full skeleton, glowing with flames, was there. It looked more menacing than the ones that Atlas had set on us. And deadlier, of course. It dropped the sickle and screeched, like fingernails on a chalkboard. I clapped my hands over my ears.
Max and Fang were struggling at consciousness, and the rest of the flock were still asleep. Max shot an arrow. Right through the head. Kronos II didn't even blink. Wait, he didn't have eyes anymore. He didn't even twitch.
I leapt forward and cut him in half, marveling at how easy it was. He didn't even try to stop me. Flaming bones clattered to the floor. Then they started repairing themselves, just as I had feared. I had an now-immortal crazy flaming skeleton after me, and Thalia and Annabeth appeared to have ditched me. What a fine way to die.
I raised a wave, trying to put out the fire. The water appeared to sate the fire, but then it came back, glowing bright acid green. So that wouldn't work, either.
"Over here!" yelled a voice. Annabeth's. I could never forget it, anywhere.
Something whistled through the air. Something struck Kronos II right where the heart would be. He wailed, and began to disintegrate. I looked closer. It was a Hunter's knife.
There was only one person, let alone a Hunter, that I knew could do that to immortal skeletons. I turned.
Bianca di Angelo.
Cliffie! You know how I love those. As usual, I'll want seven reviews. And it will be enforced. The skeleton thing, its a mistake in the genetic code. You're not supposed to experiment with immortals.
