Three chapters in less than 24 hours! Yay! Thanks for the reviews 4everepic, sassiecassie218, Cookie Spasms, and Artemis Lovegood. Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George are children of Mercury. None of the other Weasleys are related to the gods in any way except Molly cheated on Arthur with one. Mercury did not know she was married cause I don't want to make him a bad guy. To Cookie Spasms, all will make sense after the second gigomachy. This is the start of The Last Olympian. It will probably have more chapters than the other books.

Chapter Fifty Three: Explosives and Council

Sally and Paul took Rachel, Percy, and me to a private stretch of beach. Percy was practicing his driving even though we weren't turning 16 for another week. I had gotten really close to Rachel over the last couple of weeks. She went to Percy's high school so she was his closest mortal friend. I'm pretty sure she's the only thing keeping my brother and me sane with the whole Titan war going on. Right now, Percy and I are on call for a mission. Any day now, Beckendorf was going to come get us so we could go blow up the Princess Andromeda. Rachel asked if we could go to St. Thomas with her and her family. We told her no because that would mean we would be out of Manhattan on our birthday, the supposed start of the Apocalypse. We couldn't be away when Olympus was either supposed to fall or be saved by us.

Rachel started to flirt with Percy and I just started laughing at how clueless he was. Rachel was trying to get him to kiss her and he looked like one of my boyfriends sacred cows-slow, dumb, and bright red. I was lying down on the sand laughing my head off when I heard 8 crunches. Hey, Nina. Nice car!

Aw, Sil, that's my step dad's! Now he'll never let me drive it! What are you doing here?

I looked up and saw who was riding. "'Sup, Percy, Nina."

"Hey, Beck," I sighed ushering the two pegasi off the car. Blackjack was the other pegasus and Beckendorf was riding him. Sil wouldn't let anyone but me ride her unless they said they had my permission. Don't even think about lying to her either. Apollo blessed her so she could sense lies.

"Time?" Percy asked.

Beckendorf nodded grimly. I sighed and jumped up. "Hi," said Rachel, looking up at Beckendorf.

"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me...uh, I mean he's mentioned you."

Rachel raised an eyebrow and looked at Percy. "Really? Good. So, I guess you guys have to go save the world now."

"Pretty much," I agreed, hopping onto Sil's back. "Would you tell Paul and Sally-"

"I'll tell them. I'm sure they're used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood." I nodded my thanks. Bet this is the last time Paul loans us his car. Rachel stood on her tiptoes and kissed Percy before he could do anything. "Now, get going half-bloods. Go kill some monsters for me." Percy climbed up on Blackjack behind Beck.

We shot off into the sky. "So," said Beckendorf, breaking the silence, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Lavender."

"Oh, gods. Don't even think about it," was Percy's answer. Beck and I chuckled. Poor Percy, he's having girl troubles.

It was dark by the time we reached the Princess Andromeda. Silvermist and Blackjack were getting really antsy. They were held captive here for gods know how long and I hated bringing them back here. Our pegasi set us down on the lowest stern deck. "Don't wait for us," Percy told them.

But-started Sil.

"Trust us," I said. "We'll get out by ourselves." Sil nuzzled me before flying off with her twin. Beckendorf pulled out a piece of paper. At first, I thought it was a map. I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the low light-Silena's smiling face. They had finally started dating at the fourth of July fireworks last summer. Even with everything going on, Beck and Lena had been happier than I'd ever seen them. They were really in love and I was going to do everything I could to make sure Beck got back to his girl.

"Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces," he grinned, carefully putting the photo away. Beck led the way through the ship's maze of hallways. He stopped at a metal door. Engine room he mouthed. Beck pulled some chain cutters from his bag and broke the lock. I cast the muffliato charm around us so the monsters wouldn't hear the breaking metal. We dashed inside the room and Percy quietly shut the door. A telkhine was hunched over a control panel. I stabbed him with Mov before he even knew we were there. Beckendorf tossed my brother and me a couple jars of greek fire. I summoned duct tape from my bracelet. Percy and I worked on attaching the jars of liquid fire to the consols. Beck taped his jars to the turbines.

I looked up as I heard monsters coming down the steps. "How much longer?" I asked.

"Ten minutes at least. I need to wire the receiver and prime the charges."

"I'll distract them," said Percy. "Nina, you stay and help Beckendorf."

"Good luck," I said, hugging my brother for what I hoped wouldn't be the last time. Percy ran out the door and slammed it shut. I helped Beckendorf wire everything up, using magic to speed along the process. I just did what he told me. I had no idea what he was doing. Eventually, he looked up and nodded at me. We ran out of the room. We made it to the galley when we heard people coming. We rushed inside and grabbed a bunch of cans, stuffing them in Beck's now empty bag. We rushed out and started racing towards the engine room. The monsters surrounded us.

Beck and I stood back to back. Beckendorf was using a hammer as a weapon and I had Mov out. The monsters surrounded us. A demigod with a black eye patch was in front of me. Beck and I fought hard. At the end of the fight, about half the monsters were disintegrated at our feet. The demigod had my arm twisted behind my back and my own knife at my throat. That was seriously messed up. Beckendorf was being held between two Laistrygonian giants. Most of his shirt had been ripped off and his muscular, dark skin was soaked in sweat. I had three scratches across my stomach and my shirt had torn off below my navel. "Have you set the explosives?" the demigod asked.

"No, we were heading to do that when you ambushed us. They're in my bag," Beckendorf replied coolly. Thank the gods the demigod was too dumb to check. He dragged us up to the top deck.

"Nakamura!" I heard a cold voice call.

"Success, my lord," the demigod said as he and the giants dragged Beckendorf and me forwards. Percy was leaning against the rail., clutching his arm. He looked at us imploringly and I nodded. He smiled slightly before his face turned serious again. "We found them just as we were told."

"We found them amidships," one of the giants added, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat them now?"

"Soon," said Kronos, scowling at the demigod holding me. "Are you sure they didn't set the explosives?"

"They were going toward the engine room, my lord."

"How do you know that?"

"Er..." Ethan let his grip on my knife loosen slightly. "They were heading in that direction, and the boy told us. His bag is still filled with explosives."

"Open his bag." The two giants ripped the bag away from Beckendorf. It was dumped upside down and the cans of peaches rolled out. "Did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?" The demigod scrambled back in terror, dropping me and my knife. I subtly picked it up and slipped it into my sheath. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Perseus and Christina Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks. We have a spy." Kronos held up a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm. The Titan Lord's symbol. It was a communication device. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now, drop your sword and surrender to me, Percy Jackson, or your friend and sister die."

Go I mouthed to my brother. He shook his head. Beckendorf glared at him. I love you Percy mouthed before jumping off the side of the ship. Before Beckendorf could push the button on the side of his watch, I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his waist. We went over the side of the boat. Beck hit the button and we were blasted away from the ship. We landed hard in the water. Beckendorf was unconscious and it took everything I had to keep us afloat. I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

A melody was playing softly through the warm summer air. I looked up and saw a fiery red bird. "Siria," I gasped, recognizing Apollo's familiar. The phoenix trilled and swooped down. I grabbed ahold of her tail feathers and gripped Beck's hand with my other one. Siria pulled us out of the water. The sun was rising behind us as Siria flew us towards what I'm hoping was Long Island.

Beckendorf woke up by the time we landed. We were on the beach of Camp Half-Blood. Everyone who was there ran towards us. Lav and Vati hugged me so tightly I couldn't breath. "There's a counselor's meeting. Everyone thinks you two are dead. When Percy came back without you guys...Beck, I suggest you get to the meeting right now...Lena's a mess..." gasped Vati and Lav together. Beckendorf and I ran off to the meeting. As we were running down the halls of the Big House, Clarisse was thumping her way in the other direction. When she saw us, her eyes lit up a little.

"Glad you two aren't dead. Now, get in there and go cheer people up!" I grinned at me friend as she continued her way out of the Big House. Beck and I ran into the rec room. Everyone was there. Michael Yew had replaced Lee as head of the Apollo cabin. He smiled when he saw us, but didn't point us out. Jake Mason was sitting in Beckendorf's place. Silena was sitting with her back to us, as was my brother. Beck walked up behind Silena and scooped her out of her chair. He spun her around and she squealed.

Lena looked up at him. "Charlie?" she asked, confused.

"'Sup, Lena." Silena through her arms around and kissed him hard. Beck fell back against the wall, his hands at his girlfriend's waist. Percy had spun around and stood up when he saw me. He wrapped me in a hug and I gently hugged him back. Everyone came up to greet us and Jake left after hugging his half brother. The rest of us sat down to hear the Great Prophecy.

"Two half-bloods of the eldest dogs..."

"Er, Percy?" Annabeth interrupted. "That says gods. Not dogs."

"Oh, right. Two half-bloods of the eldest gods...shall reach 15 against all odds...And see the world in endless sleep, The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall...shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze." The room went silent.

"Raise is good, isn't it?" asked Connor Stoll.

"Not raise," Lena said. "R-a-z-e means destroy."

Connor leaned back against his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. I leaned against my brother and he wrapped me in a hug. Silena was clinging to Beckendorf like he was her lifeline. "We have other problems. We've got a spy," said Percy. Silena whimpered and hid her face in Beck's shirt. I looked at him curiously and he shrugged his shoulders.

Everyone started arguing about who the spy could be. It was really annoying. THey were all blaming each other. I jumped up. "Everyone shut the Hades up! We are in the fight of our life and you're all acting like little kids!" Everyone blushed and looked down. I sat back down.

"She's right," Pollux said. "Accusing each other doesn't help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too."

Everyone agreed and Chiron set up some mist image. A giant monster appeared on the screen. It was covered in ash and smoke so I couldn't make out any features. It appeared to be vaguely humanoid. It was so tall, it could have used the Chrysler building as a baseball bat. "Typhon," I gasped. I waited for Chiron to say 'No, that's Joe. He's coming to rip Kronos into a million pieces and throw him back in Tartarus. I had no such luck. He just nodded. I looked at Percy and he nodded. We need to take the Curse.