Disclaimer: Same as always. Credit given to where credit is due.
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Chapter 30
Once Percy went to sleep that night, he lost all control of his body.
He woke up without any control. But he could still see, almost as if he was watching a movie in first person. The weird thing was that he could still feel things. He felt the cold air blowing past him. Then his eyes turned downward and he saw his body. He wore the same outfit he usually wore, except there was no Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. He'd put it in safekeeping weeks ago.
There were telekhines around him, as well as a terrified Luke. Percy didn't know what had happened, but he was forced to look straight ahead.
He saw Bianca and an Asian dude with an eye patch. They stared at him in disbelief and horror.
"This body has been well prepared." For some reason, Kronos' voice was coming out of his mouth. His voice was like a razor blade. It was Percy's, but not Percy's. Underneath his voice was another, more horrible sound—an ancient, cold sound like metal scraping against rock. "Don't you think so, Bianca di Angelo?"
That was when Percy realized that he had been possessed by the Titan Lord. Alarms went off in his head and he felt like he needed to get out, but suddenly that feeling was suppressed by a powerful force, and Percy was forced to watch. He could only watch in horror as the titan moved his body for him.
Bianca and the eye patch dude glanced at each other.
Kronos threw back his head and laughed.
"Percy Jackson saw potential in you, Bianca di Angelo," the Titan's voice said. "It is sad that you decided against the beautiful vision we share."
Bianca's voice trembled. "You're a monster. Percy didn't want you to rise to power!"
Kronos continued laughing. "Of course not! That boy is insolent. Do you hear me, Percy Jackson? You are a stupid hero, the stupidest of any I have ever heard of. Would you not rather have died than sacrifice your body to me where I have complete access to all your thoughts and memories? I know you told the daughter of Hades about your weak spot. In fact, I know where that weak spot is. What a wonderful vision in the Styx!"
Percy suddenly felt angry and tried to speak. Pain seared through his entire body as he fought the strange, external force of the Titan inside his body.
"He's fighting with you," Bianca pointed out. "He hasn't given up!"
"Silence!" Kronos bellowed, and Percy was muted. "Percy Jackson will die! His soul shall never be reincarnated. There will never be a hero with the determination of this boy. So even as demigods and mortals fight for their lives, they shall surrender in fear with no hope, not a single drop of Elpis."
Percy fought back as hard as he could, thinking in his mind, NOOOOOO!
In that moment when he caught Kronos off guard, Bianca lunged at him with a pure black sword, thrusting her blade right into his left armpit. Percy winced when the blade bounced off because it still hurt and also because she had missed. Kronos took control, and Percy felt the amusement emanating from the Titan's presence. He flicked his hand, and Bianca flew across the room.
She slammed against a pillar. She struggled to her feet, blinking the stars out of her eyes, but Kronos had already grasped the handle of his scythe. Percy watched in awe as his hands grabbed the six-foot-long weapon. It was the signature weapon of Kronos. Funnily enough, the scythe was often used as an agricultural tool. Not something you'd expect the Titan of Time to wield.
"Ah…much better," Kronos said. "Backbiter, Luke calls it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely, it shall indeed bite back."
"What have you done to Percy?" Bianca groaned. "And Riptide."
Kronos raised his scythe. "He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is he is weak. I am not. As for his petty sword… Luke wields it now."
Percy's eyes widened… well, he probably would have widened his eyes in shock if he could. But he watched Luke pull out Riptide gently. The son of Hermes looked at him with a strange message in his eyes. And Percy could immediately tell that the message was meant for him, not anybody else: I will protect the sword with my life.
That's when Bianca ran. She ran past the eye patch dude, and he followed her quickly.
But there was a suddenly change in the room's mood. Bianca and the eye patch dude were suddenly running in slow motion, as if the world around them was turning into Jell-O. Percy could feel the power resonating through him. It was almost as if the power was being sucked in from Tartarus and directed through his body.
"Run, little heroes," Kronos laughed. "Run!"
Percy felt Kronos ordering the body to move forward. Percy felt like his mind was being ordered what to do, and in unison, he and the Titan Lord walked. It was horrifying because as hard as he tried to fight, he couldn't move his body. Kronos swung the scythe around as if he were enjoying the feel of having it in his hands again. No weapon in the world could stop him. No amount of celestial bronze.
But then, out of the corner of his peripheral vision, Percy saw something Kronos didn't.
"BIANCA!"
There were two girls: a red-head and Thalia.
Something flashed in the air, and a blue plastic hairbrush hit him in the eye.
"Ow!" Percy yelled, and for a moment, he realized it was his own voice, full of surprise and pain. He could feel the power stop.
"Percy?" He heard Thalia's voice. She sounded stunned beyond belief. "What—?"
A few seconds later, Percy felt Kronos' presence return. He looked up and saw that the four mortals were gone. Kronos' rage built up rapidly. "AFTER THEM!"
There was a distant shout and then there was a giant tremor. Luke ran forward, and Percy followed suit, full of a feeling of curiosity and hope so strong that not even Kronos could hold him back. He hoped that they had made it out of there. He hoped the four survived, even if he didn't know two of them.
When he turned the corner, he saw a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen-wheeler right where the entrance to the fortress should have been. The front columns of the building had come crashing down. Dust had billowed everywhere.
Relief flooded Percy for a single moment before Kronos' anger swelled up in his chest.
The sudden anger slowly died down. Kronos turned toward Luke. "You will send monsters after them! They will not get back in time to save the camp from its destruction."
"Of—of course, my lord!" Luke scrambled off. As much as Luke was scared of the new Percy, Luke was far more afraid of the Titan Lord. He'd had dreams and he feared what would happen if he didn't get his way. Luke knew Percy was right, but he didn't have the balls to defect. Not like Percy, who'd defected twice.
Fight, Percy, Luke thought. Keep fighting.
Bianca had never seen a military operation like this at camp before. Not even during Capture the Flag. The mood was serious and somber. Nobody laughed. Nobody smiled.
Everyone was at the Zeus' Fist clearing, dressed in full battle armour. The Hephaestus cabin had set up traps around the entrance to the Labyrinth—razor wire, pits filled with pots of Greek fire, rows of sharpened sticks to deflect a charge. Beckendorf was manning two catapults the size of pickup trucks, already primed and aimed at Zeus' First. The Ares cabin was on the front line, drilling in phalanx formation with Clarisse calling orders. Apollo's and Hermes' cabins were scattered in the woods with bows ready. Many had taken up positions in the trees. Even the dryads were armed with bows, and the satyrs trotted around with wooden cudgels and shields made of rough tree bark.
It was hard to believe that just two days earlier, the day when Thalia went to find a clear-sighted mortal she saw in Manhattan; Percy Jackson had appeared at camp. Bianca remembered catching him talking to Silena Beauregard. She never heard what they spoke about, but it wasn't two minutes before he found her and tried to reason with her again. Bianca refused again, though this time Percy didn't overreact. He nodded curtly before proceeding on to Zeus' cabin.
Fortunately, Thalia hadn't been there. But it was scary to think about how easily they could invade.
A mix of feelings swirled in her chest when she thought back to Kronos' possession of the son of Poseidon. She had shouted out to a Titan defending Percy. Why? Hadn't he declared her his enemy? She didn't help him. That meant she was his enemy. But why did she feel sorry for the demigod? Why was she worried about him? Why did she feel relieved when Percy fought back against Kronos?
It was horrifying.
She stood next to Ethan Nakamura and Thalia Grace. Ethan Nakamura was a son of Nemesis they had managed to convince to join their side back in the Labyrinth. When they had passed through Antaeus' Arena, Ethan joined them and swore to the River Styx to fight for balance instead of revenge, his mother's more kind aspect.
He was a skilled swordsman. But he was nowhere near the level of Thalia or Luke or Percy. Bianca quickly realized she had natural talent at sword fighting, but after sparring with Clarisse and Thalia, she knew she was a bit behind. Fortunately for her, she had lots of power. More often than not, she could summon big groups of the undead to help her fight. And if monsters were coming after them, she had the real advantage.
"Stay with me, children," Chiron said. "When the fighting begins, I want you to wait until we know what we're dealing with. You must go where we most need reinforcements."
"I saw Kronos," Bianca said, still feeling stunned by the fact. "I looked straight into his eyes. It was Percy… but it wasn't."
Chiron ran his fingers along his bowstring. "He had golden eyes, I would guess. And in his presence, time seemed to turn to liquid."
Thalia nodded. "How could he take over a mortal body?"
"The Olympians said he bears the curse of Achilles," Bianca said. "If he leads the attack…"
"I do not think so, child." Chiron was clearly worried about the note about the curse of Achilles, but he did his best not to show it. "I would sense if he were drawing near. No doubt he planned to, but I believe you inconvenienced him when you pulled down his throne room on top of him."
Bianca stared at the ground.
"You did what you had to," Ethan grunted. "For now…"
He trailed off. The ground underneath them was trembling.
Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing. Clarisse barked a single order: "Lock shields!"
Then the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.
The first thing Bianca saw were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly her ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flatten cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors sent flying away like rag dolls.
"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults launched into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armour of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in the armour, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.
But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them.
Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs. O'Leary—leaped out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.
"GO!" Chiron ordered Ethan.
Ethan nodded, and with a determined look on his face, he charged.
It was amazing how someone could change, Bianca thought.
Then something caught her attention. An enemy warrior was shooting flaming arrows into the trees, sending their archers and dryads into a panic. Someone from the Hephaestus cabin immediately came out with a big hose and doused the flames with water.
Thalia grimly watched and spoke to the centaur: "I'm going in to fight the half-bloods."
Chiron nodded quickly, and the daughter of Zeus charged in. Bianca never asked why, but Thalia had somehow recovered her shield, Aegis, and monsters scattered as she ran towards the half-bloods. Bianca saw an enemy half-blood fighting with a son of Dionysus, but it wasn't much of a contest. The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Dionysus' son went down. Immediately, Thalia rushed in and used her spear like a sword, swinging the weapon like a bat. She drove up, right above the breastplate and beneath the chin, and yanked out just as quickly.
Unlike most of the combatants, she killed mercilessly. Maybe it was because she was angry or whatever, but Bianca could empathize with her. These were half-bloods who were coming to destroy her home. They would not get away with what they were doing.
"Bianca, go!" Chiron shouted, pointing down toward a group of dracaenae. They broke away from the main fight and slithered down the path that led toward camp, like they knew where they were going. If they got out, they could burn down the entire place, completely unopposed.
She took a deep breath and held out her black sword. "Serve me," she called.
The earth trembled. A fissure opened in front of the dracaenae, and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth—horrible corpses in military uniforms from all different time periods—U.S. Revoluntionaries, Roman centurions, Napoleonic cavalry on skeletal horses. As one, they drew their swords and engaged the dracaenae. Bianca felt a drop in her energy, but she continued forth with the battle.
They were holding their own. For a second, when Bianca thought they might have had stood a chance, there was an unearthly shriek that echoed out of the Labyrinth. Bianca froze in fear.
Kampê shot into the sky, her bat wings fully extended. She landed on the top of Zeus's Fist and
surveyed the carnage. Her face was filled with evil glee. The mutant animal heads growled at her waist.
Snakes hissed and swirled around her legs. In her right hand she held a glittering ball of thread—
Ariadne's string—but she popped it into a lion's mouth at her waist and drew her curved swords. The
blades glowed green with poison. Kampê screeched in triumph, and some of the campers screamed.
Others tried to run and got trampled by hellhounds or giants.
"Di immortales!" Chiron yelled. He quickly aimed an arrow, but Kampê seemed to sense his presence. She took flight with amazing speed, and Chiron's arrow whizzed harmlessly past her head.
Bianca watched as the campers tried to run from her. She knew she had to do something. She ran toward the lines and shouted, "Stand! Do not run from her! Fight!"
Kampê landed on the Athena command tent, smashing it flat. Bianca ran after her and found Thalia and Ethan at her side, keeping pace, their weapons in their hands.
"This might be it," Ethan said.
"Could be," Bianca shrugged.
"Hopefully not… but if so, it was nice fighting with you two," Thalia added.
"Ditto."
Together they leaped into the monster's path. Kampê hissed and sliced at them. Bianca dodged, trying to distract her, while Ethan and Thalia went in for strikes, but the monster was a lot faster than she remembered. She blocked Ethan's sword, and Ethan had to jump back to avoid the cloud of poison. She knocked Thalia to the side and now it was only Bianca and Ethan. Just being near Kampê was like standing in an acid fog. Bianca's eyes burned. Her lungs couldn't get enough air. They couldn't stand their ground for more than a few seconds.
"We need help!" Bianca shouted.
But no help came. Everyone was either down, or fighting for their lives, or too scared to move forward. Three of Chiron's arrows sprouted from Kampê's chest, but she just roared louder.
"Now!" Bianca said.
She and Ethan charged together, dodged the monster's slashes, got inside her guard, and almost… almost managed to stab Kampê in the chest, but a huge bear's head lashed out from the monster's waist, and they had to stumble backward to avoid getting bitten.
Slam!
Her eyesight went black. The next thing she knew, she and Ethan were on the ground. The monster had its forelegs on their chests, holding them down. Hundreds of snakes slithered right above me, hissing like laughter. Kampê raised her green-tinged swords, and she knew she and Ethan were out of options.
Then, behind them, something howled. A wall of darkness slammed into Kampê, sending the monster sideways. And Mrs. O'Leary was standing over them, snarling and snapping at Kampê.
"Good girl!" said a familiar voice. Daedalus was fighting his way out of the Labyrinth, slashing down enemies left and right as he made his way toward them.
"Watch out, Mrs. O'Leary!" Thalia's voice suddenly screamed.
The hellhound leaped back as and huge explosion of electricity flashed in front of them. Bianca could feel the heat of the lightning exploding in front of her. It was searing hot, blazing like superheated fire. Kampê screamed in pain, and the electric blast continued until the monster dissipated into the wind. Thalia stopped to catch her breath.
Nevertheless, a cheer went up from the campers. But their enemies weren't done yet. One of the dracaenae yelled, "Sssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronosssssss will flay you alive!"
Apparently, that threat was more terrifying than the campers. The giants surged forward in a last desperate attempt. One surprised Chiron with a glancing blow to the back legs, and he stumbled and fell. Six giants cried in glee and rushed forward.
"Bianca!" Clarisse shouted.
Like instinct, Bianca raised her arms and shouted, "Be gone!"
The ground shook violently underneath her, but everywhere there were monsters on the battlefield, cracks and fissures opened up. The ground ripped apart like a snapping mouth. Flames erupted from the fissure and monsters were swallowed by the cracks with surprised expressions, and the monsters that remained after Thalia cleaned up with one last blast of electricity.
Bianca noticed that enemy demigods hadn't been swallowed. Good, she thought. I can fight them myself.
She charged, joined by Ethan on one side and Clarisse on the other, and engaged in combat. Bianca wasn't sure if it was because she had a fierce expression on or if it was because they were outnumbered, but the enemy half-bloods fled. Bianca showed them no mercy and cut them down as they ran.
"And don't come back!" Clarisse shouted as she speared one from behind.
The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle was over. The clearing was quiet except for the fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.
Bianca helped Thalia to her feet. Ethan, Clarisse and Beckendorf helped them get to Chiron.
"Are you all right?" Thalia asked.
He was lying on his side, trying in vain to get up. "How embarrassing," he muttered. "I think I will be fine. Fortunately, we do not shoot centaurs with broken… Ow! … broken legs."
"You need help," Bianca said. "I'll get a medic from Apollo's cabin."
"No," Chiron insisted. "There are more serious injuries to attend to. Go! I am fine."
Before she could argue, Ethan spoke out: "Bianca," he said quietly. "It's Quintus."
The daughter of Hades turned around. Daedalus had a few scratches that were bleeding golden oil, but he looked better than most of them. Even though she didn't feel tired, Bianca knew summoning those warriors and fissures had taken its toll on her body. It was only the adrenaline keeping her going.
"Daedalus," Bianca said uncertainly.
"Hello, Bianca," the inventor said. "I made a very bad mistake. I came to correct it."
Mrs. O'Leary loomed behind him, licking the wounds on her master's head so Daedalus' hair stood up funny.
"But, Daedalus…" Bianca hesitated for a moment, unsure how he felt about her after she exploded at him earlier. "The Titan army is still down there. Even without the string, they'll be back. They'll find a way sooner or later, with Kronos leading them."
Daedalus sheathed his sword. "You are right. As long as the Labyrinth is here, your enemies can use it. Which is why the Labyrinth cannot continue."
Bianca blinked. "But you said the Labyrinth is tied to your life force. As long as you're alive—"
"Precisely, Bianca," Daedalus agreed. "When I die, the Labyrinth will die as well. In my travels, I met with a broken man, a man whose life had been shattered by death and betrayal, and he reminded me of being a child of Athena. That is why I must give my fellow siblings a present."
He slung a leather satchel off his back, unzipped it, and produced a sleek silver laptop computer—one of the ones she'd seen in the workshop when they'd found out Luke and Percy had already obtained Adriadne's string.
"My work is here," he said. "It's all I managed to save from the fire. Notes on projects I never started. Some of my favourite designs. I couldn't develop these over the last few millennia. I did not dare reveal my work to the mortal world. But perhaps you will find it interesting."
He handed the computer to Malcolm, who stared at it like it was solid gold.
"This is compensation for the way I have acted," Daedalus said. "Do this for Annabeth. I have faith that you will become architects greater than I ever was. Take my ideas and improve them. It is the least I can do before I pass on."
Everyone looked down.
"You won't get a fair trial," Thalia said. "The spirit of Minos sits in judgement—"
"I will take what comes," he said. "And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn't it?"
He looked straight at Bianca, and her face darkened.
"I don't know, but I suppose so."
"Will you help my release my spirit?" Daedalus asked.
Bianca couldn't bear to look at the inventor any longer. As terrible as some of the things he'd done, she couldn't help but feel sad about his passing. She shook her head, "I don't know how to release your spirit. What… what do I have to do?"
Daedalus smiled sadly. "I believe you know in your heart, Bianca. Do not despair. No soul can be pure. Every soul has its faults. Including mine. And as a favour, could you please care for Mrs. O'Leary. I cannot leave her alone, and she has no desire to return to the Underworld."
She looked at the massive black hound, who whimpered pitifully, still licking Daedalus' hair. Bianca wondered if the reason he asked her was because she was a daughter of Hades. She gave his feet an uncertain look.
"It's not because of that," Daedalus said. "Do not worry. If anyone can give a good name to children of Hades, it will be you."
She closed her eyes and sighed. "Okay. I will."
"Mmhm." Daedalus closed his eyes. "One thing I should probably say… I was the one who told Percy Jackson the location of Camp Half-Blood in the Labyrinth. You might ask why I did that. There is something strange about the son of Poseidon. He told me that he wishes for a world where neither gods nor titans exist. He told me about a girl… a daughter of Athena. The tone of his voice sounded like that of a close friend… or perhaps more. I assume she is dead. The boy is broken. That much I can tell."
"His body is being controlled by Kronos," Bianca said darkly.
Daedalus' expression faltered. "Ah. I see. Well, the boy had a strong spirit. Perhaps that is why everyone feared him. Luke Castellan told me he feared Percy Jackson. I haven't seen anyone like him before. If my inference is right, he has taken a swim in the River Styx… and the mortal cord tying him to mortality was this Annabeth girl."
"But what does that mean?"
Daedalus winced. "Even I do not know the answer to that…"
"But if I make my best guess," Chiron interjected with a dark tone, "it means Percy Jackson has already begun fading. Slowly but surely, his soul will burn up and his body will become a shell of what it was. He will no longer be able to fight against Kronos and—"
Bianca realized the truth. "Kronos will rise and win the war."
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