Hello everyone,

Thank you all for reading my story. Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

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SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 15

A Family Reunion

"You'll never get away with the sacrifice," I said, glaring at the General with as much hatred I could muster up.

"Or can we?" he grinned.

The mystery that he laced in his voice was too much for me to take. I wriggled my hand into my left pocket, activated Triametalla, and stabbed Atlas' hand. He roared in pain but just tightened his grip around me.

"I don't see why Kronos wants you alive," Atlas growled. "If it were up to me, I would have killed you long ago, Perseus Jackson."

"Why don't you kill me?" I goaded. "Kill me and you get rid of a huge problem. Right? You won't have to deal with one of the most influential demigods to live in history. Then you can isolate Thalia to herself and convince her to join your cause, right?"

"Percy! What are you doing?" Luke yelled.

"Shut up!" a dracaena said and whacked Luke's head with the flat of her sword.

"Maybe I should," mused the Titan.

I gulped, not really meaning what I said. Sure I'd sacrifice myself for the greater good...but sacrificing myself right now would be utterly pointless. Even killing myself while fighting inside of Talos gave my friends a chance at escaping.

"And maybe I can tell Luke about how you're going to blackmail him," was the next thing I said. Then I really felt like I should have worn a filter around my mouth. "You know, about threatening to kill Annabeth."

I was lucky Atlas was only fifteen feet tall. In anger, he threw me forcefully to the ground. I landed painfully and stayed on the ground, as still as plywood. My chest felt like exploding and my right arm felt dislocated.

"Heal up the boy and bound him in celestial bronze cuffs," Atlas ordered. "Make sure he stays alive. Kronos will be greatly upset if you fail."

I couldn't tell anyone's reactions to it, but I felt rough, scaly hands pick me up. I was carried over to an infirmary and immediately thrown into a bathtub. They turned the water on and filled up the tub. Turns out some monsters actually have brains.

I felt strength return to my body. Slowly, my bones stopped aching and I no longer felt like my ribs were going to poke through my heart. But before I could regain enough strength the dracaenae who'd taken me to the infirmary put celestial bronze cuffs on my hands. I immediately felt the power of the water drain from my body. It was still healing me, but I couldn't summon the water to my will anymore. It was as if the cuffs sucked my demigod abilities away from me. The feeling was a weird sensation, as if trying to move my arm but unable to.

"Should we bring him back to the massssster?" asked one dracaena to another.

"He'sssss not fully healed," said one. "He will be ssssoon. Then we will force him to watch the daughter of Zeussss dessstroy her father'sss home. It will be wonderful, even better than watching demigodsss die!"

Once they determined me healthy enough to get out, the dracaenae took my out of the prison area. My eyes widened when I realized that I was in a section of Alcatraz, a prison based on an island just offshore of San Francisco.

The sun was beginning to set now, but I was quickly ushered onto a water taxi that led to the Princess Andromeda, a giant cruise ship that was anchored offshore of Mount Tam.

I was led ashore by the dracaenae and shoved roughly off the boat. I was met by Ethan Nakamura, of all people.

"Percy Jackson," he greeted. "It is...nice to see you again."

"Traitor," I spat. "Why would you do that to Annabeth? You're a cruel, heartless person."

He winced, as if my comment hurt him. "Come, Percy. You will want to see Thalia again, won't you? I promise that you will get to see her again. I make no guarantees that this will not be the last time."

I softened at the mention of Thalia but I still kept a stiff face on. "Either way, Ethan, you're a lying, deceitful, treacherous being. Why would you tell lies to a goddesses face? Why would you trick a young girl, someone who used to look up to you as her role model's best friend? Why would you think that you know someone because they talked openly to you? Why did you betray us, Ethan? You know that you were trusted by everyone, including Chiron. Why? Just tell me why."

His eyes hardened. "My mother—"

"Don't even start on that bullshit," I interrupted. "You know what you're doing is not right, yet you still do it. Why?"

His face contorted with anger. "Why? WHY? You know what, Percy? I've told you this too many gods damned times! The Olympians have disgraced this world. What have they given us? Tell me, do you think the Olympians, aside from your father and Hestia, think of you more than a tool, an item that will cause the fall or preservation of Olympus? You yourself may not join the Titans, but I know you just enough to know that you have a distaste for some gods and goddesses. You think lowly of them, like Artemis, the one you're supposedly saving."

"What makes you think I think lowly of her?"

"You hate that the Hunters are sexist," he justified. "You hate that Artemis treats men with low respect. You grew up thinking selfishly, that you are the center of the world. You may not think that way outwardly, but inside, you thought of none beside yourself. What happened when Viola died? You told me she couldn't catch up to you in the blizzard. Maybe if you hadn't run away so quickly she'd still be with you. What happened when your mother died? You told me Zeus had killed her, but did he really? You told me that Poseidon had a choice of who to save, but did he really choose before your mother fell off the railing? Maybe if you hadn't sat there like the coward you are, she would be alive and healthy now! You could have pulled her up."

Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes. What he said was true. What if I had kept Viola with me instead of running away? What if I'd tried pulling my mother up?

Anger boiled in my veins. "Ethan, you are the son of Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and balance. What balance are you bringing to the world by helping Kronos?"

"Always with blaming the leader," he growled. "Look at demigods and gods alike. Where is the balance there? Do unclaimed kids feel balanced with claimed kids?"

"You know Kronos, Ethan," I pleaded. "You know that he only destroys. He doesn't build. What happened during the so called 'Golden Age' when the Titans ruled? Nothing. The term Golden Age was a misnomer for what happened. You say you know me. But you forget that I know you as well. You don't want—"

Ethan punched me. "Shut up, Percy! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"

He picked me up and grabbed me by the front of my neck. His good eye bored into me, into my soul, as if he were a son of Thanatos. "You will go up there and watch your girlfriend become the only person who will be able to take down the gods by herself. Then I will see that you are executed slowly and painfully."

He grabbed me in a choke hold. "After this, Kronos will have no more use for you. You should be glad that my lord is merciful. Otherwise you would be dead by now."

Ethan squeezed my neck hard before throwing me to the ground. Coughing, I tried to recover and catch my breath again. Then I looked up at the figure of the son of Nemesis.

I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. There was this wild look in his eyes, as if Kronos were driving him crazy. His face was pale and weary, but from his grip, he wasn't as weak as he looked.

"Come on, Percy," he sighed after he noticed me staring at him from the ground. "Let's go. I really don't want to drag you up the mountain."

Ethan helped me up, which seemed bipolar of him. Then he stood next to me, and we walked, as if we were still back at Camp Half-Blood when I was twelve.

"You'd really kill me?" I asked when had taken no more than five steps up the side of the mountain. "If Kronos didn't want me on his leash, you'd really kill me."

Though he kept walking, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he turned to me, a masked emotion glimmering in his eyes. "After this, if Atlas fails, Kronos will deem you killable."

"First of all, why? Second of all, why are you telling me this when you should be keeping it a secret?"

"The sacrifice," Ethan said bluntly. "If Thalia won't do it, Atlas planned to have you do it. When I told him he was foolish, he beat me up. Now I have this scar." He pointed to the scar that ran through his eye patch. "And about keeping that a secret...well, why should I? You already know you will be on the Wanted List for all creatures, whether they're monsters, gods, Titans or demigods, who have allied themselves with Kronos."

"True enough," I agreed. "Though...about calling Atlas foolish. Why was he foolish? This plan could work."

Ethan smirked. "Oh, naive little Percy. Atlas' plan contradicts much with Kronos' plans. Don't you realize that? If we needed Thalia on her own, we needed to get rid of the Hunters. It was your fault that the skeletons went after you. If Atlas wanted to kill Zoe, he needed the skeletons to go after her. You also ruined that."

He sighed tiredly. "Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. One shall be lost in the land without rain. The bane of Olympus shows the trail. Campers and Hunters combined prevail. The Titan's curse one must withstand. And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

Just then, lightning struck down from the sky, slamming down at the other side of Mount Tamalpais.

"Spy," I guessed.

"Of course," he said. "Despite all of this, you still must realize you are quite dense at times. Had you really paid attention to your surroundings, you would have found the spy by now. Friends never last. That's the unbalance I've experienced my entire life."

I glared at him. "Don't even start at the dense part."

"There is a different between dense and stupid."

"Not much."

"You, Grover, Thalia, Zoe and Bianca go west to Artemis, who is in chains," Ethan started, ignoring my answer. You were lost to the other four in the land without rain. The Ophiotaurus showed the trail, did it not? It must be tied to Thalia, if you had disappeared in Arizona. Well, it seems as though Atlas will fail as campers and Hunters combined prevail, meaning if you combine, you'll win. The Titan's curse one must withstand. Ooh! Backburner! Who's going to do that? And one shall perish by a parent's hand, you know, like Zeus smiting his own daughter."

"He wouldn't."

Ethan shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe he would. The god is very paranoid. He'd do the stupidest things to try and stop something from happening."

"You wouldn't care if Thalia's dead now?" I asked. "If she's dead, the sacrifice won't work. You know that I won't do it, no matter what."

He nodded. "Unfortunate, but I'd like to see Kronos punish Atlas for his horrible plan." Ethan's face darkened. "Revenge has its quirks."

We stayed silent, marching up the hill to reach the top of Mount Tam, where Mount Othrys was rising again.

Once we reached the three-quarters-point, I turned to Ethan. "You said a long time ago that you gave a lot to Camp Half-Blood, but never received anything in return. You said that it was an imbalance between give and take. You said no one paid attention to you on Olympus when you visited. What does Kronos give you now? Don't you feel like you're getting too much attention now? Atlas said that you had a special role in all of this. You paled. What's happening, Ethan?"

He stiffened up next to me and took a shaky breath in. "I get the respect I wanted. I get enough attention. My special role is nothing important to you. It only affects me because I'm the son of a minor god. What's happening is the beginning of the downfall of Olympus."

But I could tell something was wrong with him. He wasn't telling the entire truth.

"Ethan," I said. "Come back. Your friends want you back. They want the boy who gave them lots, not because they wanted things, but because they had forged strong relationships with that boy. You know, Thalia said that Luke trusted you. Then you backstabbed us. Thalia said that he is less extroverted now, that he is different."

"What about you?" asked the twitching son of Nemesis. "What happened to you? You hated the Hunters when you first met them. I learned that well from Dr. Thorn, that stupid manticore. Why come to save Artemis as well? I can tell you want to save that goddess."

I looked up at the sky. "I've learned things."

"Like what?"

"Things about male heroes. Things you wouldn't understand."

"Then that's my answer."

"Answer to what?"

"To your 'plead' for me to betray Kronos," he said, his confidence beginning to grow back. "I've learned things about the gods, things you wouldn't understand."

"You can't just steal my line—"

"Percy." Ethan Nakamura stared at me. "I just have one piece of advice for you. Not only should you avoid getting stuck between a rock and a hard place, never get stuck in the Devil's Triangle."

I frowned. "Hestia told that to me once. What does that mean?"

"The Devil's Triangle is a triangle of attributes that acts like the Bermuda Triangle, sucking people in and never letting them out until they pay the price of death. Greed, power, ambition."

I knit my eyebrows. "What does that—"

"Shut up," he said. "We're here."

As soon as he said that, we broke to the top of the mountain.

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains.

Luke was standing up ahead, looking forward as Ethan walked up to stand next to him. Towering over them was Atlas.

I was shoved next to Annabeth, who had a knife point at her neck.

Then Zoe, Bianca and Thalia burst to the top, oblivious to the scene in front of them.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before aside from my dream, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

"Ah, how touching." Atlas' voice boomed like an amplifier.

Bianca, Thalia and Zoe whirled around to find us standing, guarded by two dozen dracaenae. Thalia's eyes widened when she saw me, her eyes disbelieving.

Ethan spoke up. "Thalia. How do you like Luke now?"

The daughter of Zeus whirled to him. "What?"

"He's on our side now."

"No," she growled. She turned to Luke. "You aren't are you?"

The son of Hermes seemed to gulp. "I am...Thalia. I...I am."

Betrayal shone in her eyes like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Meanwhile, Zoe had a stare-down with Atlas. "Hello again, my little traitor."

"You are no father of mine," she spat venomously.

Ethan laughed. "Isn't this wonderful? A family reunion!"

"Yeah," I said bleakly. "Wonderful."

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks to those who've put this on their favorites, followed and reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts taken from Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.

I also apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719