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.

Hey guys. You all voted for the poll that I put up either on FanFiction or SurveyMonkey. And the winner...LUKE DOES NOT BETRAY THE GODS, THALIA IS NOT KILLED, AND THEY BECOME THE BEST FIGHTING SQUAD THROUGHOUT THE FIRST TITAN WAR. You all also voted for whether I should continue to the Heroes of Olympus series. The winner...THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES WILL CONTINUE.

I'm sorry for those who chose differently, but you are in for a surprise in the next story. For now, however, we must continue this story until the end. Only a few more chapters left.

Unlike other authors, I will continue to post even if my review count does not rise. I'm just that nice.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 16

Bianca Makes Another Choice

Now that I saw Atlas and Zoe do a stare-down, I realized that Zoe really resembled Atlas. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same cold proud look in his eyes that Zoe sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times more evil. He was all the things I'd originally disliked about Zoe, with none of the good I'd come to appreciate.

"Let Artemis go!" demanded Zoe.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

Suddenly, my pocket felt really heavy. Frowning, I looked down and crept my hands towards my pocket to see what had happened.

"But you need the Olympians willing to take it from themselves," Bianca noticed. "What if the Olympians don't agree to hold up the sky?"

Atlas just smiled, a cruel look emerging on his face. "That would just make it all the better, little Hunter. One god or goddess holding up the sky, and no one can do anything about it. I'm sure the Olympians would love to see one of their own under the sky for eternity."

"Then put Dionysus under it," Thalia said. "They would actually love that."

The Titan shook his head. "You expect me to believe that weakling of a god could hold up my burden? You amuse me daughter of Zeus. He would be instantly crushed once taking on the burden of the sky. It would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues."

That was one thing I could agree with.

Then Atlas studied Thalia, as if she were some sort of blueprints. Then he turned to me and smiled. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."

"Fight us," I said. "And let's see."

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."

"So you're another coward," I said.

Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia.

"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."

I saw Ethan nudge Luke's back.

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed to say, his words shaky. "Thalia, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

Ethan waved his hand, and next to us a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for the Ophiotaurus. I could imagine Bessie in that pool. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure I could hear Bessie mooing.

Don't think about him! Suddenly Grover's voice was inside my mind—the empathy link. I could feel his emotions. He was on the verge of panic. I'm losing Bessie. Block the thoughts!

I tried to make my mind go blank. I tried to think about basketball players, skateboards, the different kinds of candy in my mom's shop. Anything but Bessie. And then my hands felt what was heavy in my pocket.

The key!

Stupidly on Atlas' part, there were no dracaenae behind me so they couldn't see what I was doing. Plus, the ones next to me were disregarding me, so it was pretty easy to sneak the key up to the handcuffs.

As I slowly tried fitting the door key into the handcuff lock, the others continued their conversation.

"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."

"Luke…" Her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"

He glanced back at Annabeth, where a dracaena was pushing a blade to her neck. His face contorted with pain and he turned to Thalia with guilt. "It's not what you would think, Thalia. Just...just do this. For me, for Annabeth."

Thalia shook her head. "No. Free Annabeth and...Percy. Don't make me do this the hard way."

Luke closed his eyes and looked toward the ground. Ethan stared at the daughter of Zeus with a hard look. "Thalia. Join us, and you will be let free. Annabeth, Luke and you can live together, just like the way it was before Camp Half-Blood, before Grover found you. Didn't you like those times better?"

I finally got the key into the keyhole. Only the stupid Titans would design the key to be able to unlock the celestial bronze handcuffs. But something else hit me too, when I managed to get the key into the keyhole. Ethan's voice was actually strained, the son of Nemesis a good actor. I could tell that something bad was going to happen: paling when Atlas told him about his special part, his reaction to my interrogation, and now his strained voice.

"Join us, and you will live the way you have always wanted to, Thalia," Ethan insisted. "It is the only way."

"Percy will be allowed with us," Luke said, turning to me. He gave me a pointed look, and I got the message. "He knows the Olympians aren't good. He will change. As soon as he gets out of those handcuffs, when we unlock him, I promise that he will not attack us."

A quiet click and I felt power surge back into my body. I felt the waves of the ocean, which had suddenly gotten stronger against the rocky shore. The winds began to pick up, swirling around the mountain in a circular motion, like a hurricane. Then thunder rumbled in the sky.

"Do not, Thalia," Zoe warned. "We must fight them."

Ethan waved his hand again, and a fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.

In front of me, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, I saw images in the mist all around us: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around us, made of fear and shadow.

"We will rebuild this palace right here, Thalia," Ethan said in an almost urgent voice. "We have the power of the Titans behind us. We will grow, and once more, we will become stronger than all of Olympus. We are not weak, Thalia."

"No," Luke said, still staring at Annabeth and I. "We are not."

"Watch." Ethan pointed down the side of the mountain. "Watch as our great army climbs this very mountain. We are strong. All you have to do is call the Ophiotaurus. You will gain all of the power needed to destroy the gods."

Marching up the side of the mountain, from the beach where the Princess Andromeda was docked, was a great army. Dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and other things I couldn't even name. The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds, many more than I'd seen on board last summer. And they were marching toward us. In a few minutes, they would be here.

"Power," Thalia replied shakily. "Power." She looked at me and I tried to muster up all of my feelings, my emotions, through my eyes.

I quietly grabbed the handcuffs out from behind my back, and mouthed, Turn to them!

She obeyed.

I dropped the handcuffs and caught her attention. I raised up both of my free hands indistinctly. She got the message I was trying to send. Then I put my hands behind my back.

"Annabeth," I whispered.

Not only did she turn, but so did all of the dracaenae. I looked into her eyes and sent the message. She gave a discreet nod.

"What are you doing?" hissed a dracaena.

"Nothing in particular," I said. Just ready to murder all of you monsters.

"Power," repeated Thalia. She looked at Luke, his face betraying all of the lies he'd just said. "What power is there to hold when my friends are not there with me? What power is there to hold when I destroy my family? What life will I have when all is gone? Tell me all that Kronos has done for you. Tell me all that Atlas has done for you. Tell me what the Titans have given you that the gods cannot."

Ethan looked a little speechless, and I immediately knew that he'd run out of good things to say about the Titans. There was no point in repeating things he'd already told us.

"Exactly." Thalia leveled her spear and pointed it at Ethan. Bianca and Zoe immediately had their bows out pointed at Ethan.

"A fight, eh?" Atlas smiled. "I shall enjoy seeing this."

"Actually," I spoke up. "You'll be having some fun, General Atlas. You'll be having a lot of fun."

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about, demigod?"

I grinned and pulled Riptide and Triametalla out. "Next time, design a key that doesn't unlock doors and handcuffs, idiot."

Atlas' face turned red. "You will pay, insufferable demigod."

I made eye contact with all of my friends: Annabeth, Luke, Thalia, Zoe and Bianca. Luke tapped his necklace and turned on Ethan. He growled, "Next time, don't threaten to kill Annabeth to make me lie."

Pale, Ethan yelled, "Kill the daughter of Athena!"

Quickly, I struck the dracaena that had Annabeth at knife point. I pulled out Annabeth's cap of invisibility and put it on her head. Her entire body disappeared, including the ropes that were tied securely around her wrists.

"Now!" Thalia yelled.

And together, they charged.

As I disintegrated the dracaena around me, the golden sarcophagus that held Kronos' essence fell to the ground near me. Looking around to see whether I should open it or not, I decided not to, in fear of what I would see inside.

Instead, I pushed the sarcophagus to the edge of the mountain and pushed it down. It tumbled forward and crashed down the hill, like a bowling ball ready to knock out monsters as if they were bowling pins.

I summoned a decently-sized waved and engulfed the lower part of his army. It sent them into a panic. I watched as the frontline soldiers scrambled out of the path of the sarcophagus, trying not to get crushed by the heavy, gold coffin-like thing. I watched as the monsters than hadn't been swept away in the massive flood of water ran further up inland, crashing into the marching soldiers in front of them.

Then I heard a cry of pain from behind me. I whirled around to see that Annabeth was clutching her face and that Luke was running to help her. He pulled her away from the main battle and whispered something to her before jumping back into action, fighting Ethan.

Ethan continued his combat with Thalia, the former having the slight advantage. Bianca and Zoe stayed a little further back, launching arrows that missed Ethan by millimeters.

In any case, the son of Nemesis was being challenged four on one.

That's when the large, hulking figure behind them registered in my brain. Atlas was watching with amusement, as if the fact that Ethan was pretty much going to lose was exciting. I gave the Titan a sour look and jogged around my friends. I tapped Zoe on the back and pointed to her father.

Zoe nodded and smiled. "Percy. I'm glad you didn't die. I would have been a shame. Now go!"

She pushed me forward before I could ponder on her words.

Atlas seemed to notice me facing him and he turned. As he recognized who I was, his face went red. "Percy Jackson," he said, trying to calm his voice. "You said I would have fun. Indeed, you are right. I am having lots of fun."

I regarded the Titan analytically. I may have fought a Titan before, but this time, I would be fighting the general of the Titan army. There is a big difference between Titan of Intelligence and Titan of Strength.

Then I made my move. I charged Atlas.

He laughed as I approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armor. "Go on, then!"

"Percy!" Zoe said. "Beware!"

I knew what she was warning me about. Chiron had told me long ago: Immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once I attacked, however, Atlas was free to attack back directly, with all his might.

I faked, pretending I would strike before I slid between his legs and jabbed at the Titan's exposed knees. But Atlas expertly swiveled around and blocked the strike.

"Bianca!" Luke yelled. "Help Zoe and Percy!"

Atlas growled and sent my flying with the shaft of his javelin. I flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It wasn't Mist anymore. The palace was rising, brick by brick. It was becoming real.

"Just because you can challenge that petty war god, you think can you outmatch me!" Atlas screamed. "You truly are a fool, Perseus Jackson."

Dazed, I looked up. Bianca rolled to the side as the point of a javelin nearly impaled her through the chest. Then she stood up next to Zoe and let her arrows fly. They flew at Atlas like annoying pests, like bees or something. The Titan swatted them away easily, spinning his javelin like a lightsaber.

"Cowards!" he bellowed. "Stop hiding behind your bows. Fight me like the true warriors you are! Fight me, my daughter! Fight me, Bianca di Angelo!"

I got up and tried to recoup. I breathed in deeply and charged at Atlas once again. Now, Bianca and Zoe had split up, Zoe moving to the further side. Atlas seemed to want to save killing his own daughter for later.

He stepped forward, advancing on the Hunter while swatting arrows as they came to him.

I leaped in front of Bianca and held my sword threateningly. "You won't win, Atlas. Your plan has already failed."

"It does not matter!" he clamored. "As long as I am free from my burden, I will not have failed!"

Then, as quick as a viper, his slashed his javelin at Bianca and me. Before I could react, I was sent flying once again, like a rag doll. I slammed into the ground, my head spinning. I looked up and found I was at the feet of Artemis, still straining under the weight of the sky.

"Run, boy," she told me. "You must run!"

"My lady!" gasped Bianca, who was lying next to me.

"Run, Bianca!"

Atlas was taking his time to get to me. He seemed to ignore most of the arrows that Zoe was shooting at him, keeping his eyes on me. My sword was gone as well. It had probably skittered off the cliff behind us. It might reappear in my pocket—maybe in a few seconds—but it didn't matter. I'd be dead by then.

Annabeth was still on the ground, recovering from the wound on her face. It was cut, blood trickling down her face. Luke and Thalia were fighting mercilessly, though, attacking Ethan will all of the force that they could muster. The difference between Ethan and the other two is that he was quicker.

"Say goodbye, Percy Jackson," said Atlas. He brought his javelin back to impale me.

"No!" Zoe yelled, and a volley of silver arrows sprouted from the armpit chink in Atlas's armor.

"ARGH!" He bellowed and turned toward his daughter.

"No!" Bianca exclaimed. "I get it! The Titan's curse on must withstand. Give me the sky, my lady."

"What? You can't!" I cried. "It'll kill you!"

"The boy is right," Artemis said. Her forehead was beaded with metallic sweat, like quicksilver. "However, you are one of my Hunters. If you have a strong enough will..."

"Yes, my lady," Bianca said. "Give it to me."

Bianca stepped next to Artemis and braced herself on one knee—holding up her hands—and touched the cold, heavy clouds.

"Wait!" I said. "Bianca, are you sure?"

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Yes, Percy. I can do this."

Then Artemis slipped out from under the sky, and Bianca's face contorted into one of complete pain, as if she was on fire. She looked like she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. I gave her a worried look.

"Bianca," I said to the struggling Hunter. "Remember that I came back. Remember that I wasn't dead. Remember Nico, your little brother. You will see him again. If you say you can hold it up, I believe you. You've got the spirit. Good luck."

Tentatively, I turned away from Bianca, knowing she wouldn't be able to formulate an audible answer. Then I watched the battle.

There was Atlas in full battle armor, thrusting with his javelin, laughing irrationally as he fought. And Artemis, a blur of silver. She had two deadly hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she finessed around. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon...a whole bunch of wicked-looking animals. Zoe shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.

I looked over to Luke and Thalia, who had broken their ferocious formation. It seemed as though one of them had been knocked off balance, the other temporarily fighting one-on-one. I don't know how, but Ethan seemed to be getting better at sword fighting every year.

"Yield!" snarled Ethan. He kicked Aegis hard making Thalia's arm snap to the side.

She yelled in pain before Ethan stepped on her shield arm and ripped Aegis off. He threw it to the side like a frisbee and kicked her stomach as hard as he could.

Thalia stayed on the ground.

Then Ethan moved quickly on Luke. In a flurry of strikes, he pressed Luke back, so that Luke was a few feet from falling off the cliffside. My eyes widened and I took a step forward to help.

Out of nowhere, blood still trickling down her face, Annabeth exploded at Ethan, tackling him. The weird thing was that Ethan didn't go down as quickly as he should have, considering the force of the tackle. It was almost as if he was heavier, like he was made of stone.

Annabeth ripped Ethan's sword out of his hands and threw it off the cliff. "How could you do this?" she growled, pointing at her bleeding face. "You're nothing but a traitor, threatening to kill me to make Luke lie for you. Pathetic!"

She brought her knife up before Luke grabbed her arm. "Throw him off the cliff. That way he can think about what he did before he dies."

They grabbed Ethan by the scruff of his neck and held him tight. They positioned him at the edge of the cliff and Luke stood in front of him, Annabeth holding him by his arms.

"This may not be Sparta," Luke said, "but it sure damn is a cliff. You should have thought about the consequences of your actions before you did them."

Then Luke kicked him off the cliff. Luke staggered back a little, but Ethan fell. The only problem was that I didn't have any time to go watch the lying bastard die.

As Annabeth helped Thalia up and pulled her to the cliff's edge, peering over the side, Atlas, behind me, boasted, "You fight well for a girl. But you are no match for me."

He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. I saw the trick coming. Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" Zoe screamed. She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.

"Zoe!" I screamed. Frantically, I switched my vision back and forth between the black rocks and Artemis.

I turned to look at Bianca, who was still struggling in pain. Her foot slipped a little, her body sinking toward the ground even further.

A trick, a feminine voice said in my head. Help Zoe!

I swiveled back to the still body of Artemis. I hoped the goddess was right.

I took off in the direction of the black rocks, just as a loud scream from way down below bellowed an order. I could see javelins appear out of the corner of my eye, Luke pulling the two girls away just in time.

I ran, leaping over a couple of rocks. It wasn't hard to find Zoe, but I could tell she was struggling to stay alive. The blow she took from Atlas was a hard one. I slid on the ground and knelt next to Zoe. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes were fluttering.

I grabbed her hand, which she held tightly. She grimaced.

"Zoe," I said breathlessly. "What—What happened?"

Her free hand clutched her abdomen, a part of her Hunter uniform that had been torn. I furrowed my eyebrows and gently pulled her hand away. I opened up the tear a little more and then paled. It was a horrible cut, poison evident on the wound. But that didn't make sense. How could Atlas poison Zoe?

Then a terrible thought slammed into me.

Below where Atlas held the sky, there was the Garden of the Hesperides. There were those golden apples that gave one immortality if they ate it. But there was one horrifying thing in their way: Ladon, a giant dragon...that is poisonous.

"Zoe, you didn't," I murmured. "Don't tell me that's..."

Another thought hit me. Even though Ladon poisoned her, causing a poisoned wound, it was her father, Atlas, who delivered the final blow. The line of the prophecy, And one shall perish by a parent's hand...

"You knew all along," I guessed. "You knew that Atlas would kill you, yet you still took the quest to save Artemis."

"Yes," she managed. Her eyelids were beginning to flutter.

"Percy!" voices shouted from behind me. I turned around, my eyes getting watery. "Percy, what happened?"

I turned back to Zoe, whose grip loosened.

There was then a sudden bellow in anger, before I heard a large crash. But I kept my eyes trained on Zoe.

"Hang in there!" I told her. "It'll be all right!"

I said this despite the fact that both of us knew she was dying. It was fated.

"I will murder you, cut your organs into slices, and feed them to your parents!" Atlas bellowed. Just then two friendly figures appeared running towards us. I blinked again and realized that somehow Artemis had gotten Atlas back under the sky. Bianca was safe. She looked woozy, though, her steps erratic.

"Zoe!" Artemis shouted.

"My lady," Zoe whispered from below me.

Luke, Annabeth and Thalia stood next to me, staring shocked at the dying daughter of Atlas. They seemed too stunned to do anything.

Artemis rushed to her lieutenant's side, kneeling and putting her hand on Zoe's abdomen. The goddess turned to me, grief-struck. "What happened to her?"

I showed the goddess the scrape in the side of Zoe. It looked even worse now, the skin around it all green. I felt a couple tears drip down my face, but I didn't really care. I could almost feel what she was feeling, the poison coursing through her veins, and the crushing blow from her own father severely damaging her internal organs.

"Nectar and ambrosia," Luke suggested numbly. "We have to help her, right?"

Bianca, still dazed, said, "Prophecy...last line..."

Thalia's eyes widened. "No...but she..." The daughter of Zeus knelt down next to me, putting a helping hand on my shoulder.

I closed my eyes briefly before opening them again and standing up. I turned around. The army of Kronos was just below the rise. As stiff as plywood, I walked forward and pulled the gun out of my pocket. It, miraculously, was still there.

I made sure that it was reloaded and then waited for the army of Kronos to come over the hill. As soon as I saw the first monster, I let a bullet fly. And then as more monsters appeared, I wasted my last few bullets before pulling out my sword.

I knew I was hopelessly outnumbered, even I, one who could take down a group of fifty dracaenae with only minor scratches that were so minor that I'd hardly recognized them, wouldn't be able to take on these monsters.

Artemis was still on the ground, holding Zoe tightly. She seemed to be paralyzed with bereavement.

Just then, I heard a strange buzzing noise. It seemed as though the monsters did as well. As soon as they stopped, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, We must get Zoe away from here."

She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Northern San Francisco. Zoe's eyes were fluttering.

The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. I realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've design and built a whole bunch of celestial bronze bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's…my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

"Dr. Chase!" I yelled. "Don't forget that I need more! I wasted those prototypes."

But his flying wouldn't last long. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. He would be in trouble soon.

Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer I had ever seen. It landed right next to us.

"Get in," Artemis said.

Annabeth, Luke and Thalia climbed in without much difficulty. I helped Bianca get in before helping Artemis get Zoe into the chariot. I could only pray that she wasn't suffering painfully.

We wrapped Zoe in a blanket as Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.

"Just like Santa Claus' sleigh," said Bianca, who was still dazed in pain.

Artemis nodded, taking her time to look at the demigoddess. "Indeed, Bianca. And where do you think that legend came from?"

"Though, I think Hermes came up with the part about a fat guy in a jolly red suit," I guessed. "You can never know with gods and goddesses. Maybe you do have a humorous side."

Artemis raised an eyebrow but shook her head and didn't respond.

Seeing us safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed us like an honor guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.

Behind us, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

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