Thank you all for understanding how difficult it is for me to write nowadays, and for reading my other recent updates for my other stories, if you've read them. Here's the next chapter, enjoy.
Mount Othrys
(Just in case anyone hasn't read my story "Love the Goddesses") Hesperides:
Zoe played by Phoebe Tonkin
Erytheia played by Nina Dobrev
Aegle played by Vanessa Hudgens
Hesperia played by Emma Roberts
Arethusa played by Jodelle Ferland
Percy's POV
I gotta say, my mom would probably love nothing more than to live in a place like this, give or take the dragon. If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Steppingstones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples, like Eris from "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" golden. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.
"The apples of immortality. Hera's wedding gift from Zeus." Thalia said.
"Not Zeus. Gaia." I corrected with a sigh and eyeroll.
I was almost tempted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree. Now, I don't know what you think of when I say dragon. Whatever it is, it's not scary enough. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.
Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Riptide, but Zoe stopped my hand. Then she went in front of Thalia, Annabeth, and I, looking both nervous and irritated at the same time. Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women all in white Greek chitons. No doubt the sisters Zoe had that she was not exactly thrilled to see.
One had dark brown hair just like Zoe. Though her eyes were dark brown while Zoe's eyes were hazel. She also had an athletic body and a luscious tan like Zoe, but she seemed to be slightly older and a little slimmer than Zoe. The second one had black hair that went to the bottom of her neck, dark brown eyes and as luscious skin as the first one, and an average female figure. Although, she seemed like she had a little more meat on her bones than Zoe and the first girl. The third one seemed a little off compared to the other four. She was slim in build with luscious tanned skin, with dark brown hair with many strands being blond and black, and green eyes with some hints of hazel in them. She seemed to stand as a rebellious kind of a girl. And as for the fourth one also had dark brown hair, but blue eyes, and figure wise, was pretty much the same as the second one. They didn't really look much like each other, or Zoe for that matter, but with some immortals it's best to just not think so much about it. It was strange though. I never realized how beautiful Zoe was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked gorgeous and probably very dangerous. Of course, they had nothing on one certain girl, and that girl was carrying my child.
"Sisters." Zoe said.
If I remembered correctly, their names were Erytheia, Aegle, Hesperia, and Arethusa.
"We do not see any sister. We see three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die." The second Hesperides said coldly.
"Well, aren't these chicks charmers." I commented sarcastically.
The girls studied me.
"Perseus Jackson." The first Hesperides said.
"Yes, I do not see why he is a threat." The second Hesperides said.
"Yet." I added.
"They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee." The first Hesperide pointed at Thalia as she glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain.
"Tempting sometimes." Thalia admitted.
"Likewise." I countered.
"But no thanks. He's my friend." Thalia added.
"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus. Only enemies. Go back." The third Hesperides said.
"Couldn't have said any of it better myself." I commented.
"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed.
"Just saying that if it were up to me, I wouldn't be here in the first place." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.
"Not without Artemis. We must approach the mountain." Zoe said.
"You know he will kill thee. You are no match for him." The fourth Hesperides said.
"Artemis must be freed. Let us pass." Zoe insisted.
"You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake." The third Hesperides said.
"He will not hurt me." Zoe said.
"No? And what about thy so-called friends?" The first Hesperides said.
"Only one way to find out." I answered.
Of course, when I said that, I was just joking. But Zoe seemed to apparently think I was serious, because she did the last thing I expected.
"Ladon! Wake!" Zoe shouted.
The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered.
"Are you mad?" The first Hesperide yelled.
"You never had any courage, sister. That is thy problem." Zoe said.
"Still not quite exactly the smartest choice to make." Annabeth commented.
The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.
"Zoe, don't. You're not a Hesperide anymore. He'll kill you." Annabeth said.
"Ladon is trained to protect the tree. Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee." Zoe said.
"Not exactly reassuring." I commented.
"It is the only way. Even the four of us together cannot fight him." Zoe said.
I know I said no one should quote any Walt Disney 1997 Hercules movie quotes during our drive here, but I couldn't help but wonder if any part of Ares' training would possibly involve punching a mountain hard enough to cause a rockslide over the dragon and crush it to death. I really wouldn't mind doing to Ladon what Hercules did to Hades' Hydra in that movie.
Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me. The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end. I remembered the time a rat had died inside our apartment wall in New York in the middle of the summer. This stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus. I promised myself right then that I would never ask for a cough drop ever again.
I had half a mind to draw my sword and tempt fate. But then I remembered my dream of Zoe and Hercules, and how Hercules had failed in a head-on assault. I decided to trust Zoe's judgment, even though I really didn't want to. Thalia and Annabeth went left. I went right. Zoe walked straight toward the monster.
"It's me, my little dragon. Zoe has come back." Zoe said.
Ladon shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion. Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows.
"Fool." The third Hesperide whispered.
"I used to feed thee by hand. Do you still like lamb's meat?" Zoe continued speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped toward the golden tree.
The dragon's eyes glinted. Thalia, Annabeth, and I were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, I could see a single rocky trail leading up to the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world. We'd almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong. I felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoe got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry. Whatever the reason, he lunged at Zoe. Two thousand years of training kept her alive. She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in our direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath. Even though I didn't know why, I drew Riptide to help.
"No! Run!" Zoe panted.
The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoe cried out. Thalia uncovered Aegis, and the dragon hissed. In his moment of indecision, Zoe sprinted past us up the mountain, and we followed. The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but I guess he was well trained to guard that tree. He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes.
We ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind us. The music didn't sound so beautiful to me now, more like the soundtrack for a funeral. At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys." Annabeth whispered in awe.
"Yes. It was not here before. This is bad." Zoe said.
"The mountain fortress of the Titans." Thalia said amazed.
Zoe winced and held her side.
"Zoe?" Annabeth asked concerned.
"It is nothing. But this isn't right. Othrys was blasted to pieces." Zoe said.
"And yet here it is." I commented, crossing my arms.
Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways.
"It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good." Thalia said.
"Why?" Annabeth asked.
"This is Atlas's mountain. Where he holds . . ." Zoe started, her voice was ragged with despair.
"Where he used to hold up the sky." I finished.
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 woman with red hair, green eyes, and a tattered hunter outfit on. It was Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. This is what I had seen in my dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.
"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward.
"Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now." Artemis said.
Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, 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." A booming voice spoke behind us.
We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen Dracaena bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. The mere sight of it had me frozen in place. It brought back my memories of fighting Kronos in the Sea of Monsters and the nightmares I had of him tormenting me, only to wake up and feel like they weren't dreams and they really did happen to me.
"Percy." Kronos whispered in my head in a menacing tone.
I couldn't tell if his voice came from his sarcophagus or if it was just in my head. Either way, it sent a very dark chill down my spine. It was damn near impossible to not lose my resolve.
"Luke." Thalia snarled.
Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C.
"It's good to see you again Thalia. Hello, Annabeth. Percy." Luke said.
Thalia spat at him. Annabeth glared at him. And I was too distracted by Kronos' voice to acknowledge him.
"So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you." The General chuckled.
"Do not respond. Do not challenge him." Artemis groaned.
"Wait, you're Atlas?" I asked, getting out of my state of shock.
"I was beginning to wonder if you would ever figure it out shrimp. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you shortly, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl." Atlas said.
"General. The Titan General. Atlas, general of the Titans. Okay seriously, how could I miss that?" I both asked and face palmed myself, feeling like an idiot.
"We have some unfinished business to attend to, shrimp. But first, we have a family matter to take care of." The General sneered.
"It would appear so, father." Zoe said bleakly.
"Percy." Kronos whispered to me again.
As much as I tried to fight it, I couldn't shake out the fear Kronos was always so easily able to piece into my very soul. Even with Ares' training and the fact that I beat him once, I still felt nothing but absolute terror for my grandfather. It was just so damn hard to ignore. I wondered if Annabeth felt somewhat the same way, considering she was there when he nearly killed us in the Sea of Monsters.
"Percy, are you okay?" Annabeth asked concerned.
"I'm fine." I breathed out, but didn't exactly sound too convincing.
"Let Artemis go." Zoe demanded.
"Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest." Atlas said as he walked closer to the chained goddess.
Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis stopped her.
"No! Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you." Artemis commanded.
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. 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." Atlas chuckled.
"This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Oranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape. Unless someone else takes it from you." Luke added.
"So, these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge." Atlas approached and studied us.
"Look who the fuck's talking, shit eater. Because I remember it being very little effort for me to escape your grasp back at the museum. And I'm in pretty bad shape too, thanks to your Chimera. Makes me wonder if you're really as powerful as you claim to be. Or if you're just simply too damn dense, shallow, and fucked up in the head for your own good." I countered.
Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred.
"I have a very good mind to kill you right now for that insult, shrimp. Even with Kronos' interest in recruiting you and trying to get you to join him for the past few months." Atlas sneered.
That caught all of the girls' attention. Zoe, Thalia, Annabeth, and even Artemis all turned their heads towards me and stared at me both shocked and confused.
"Percy, what is he talking about?" Thalia asked.
I just looked away from everyone. Having to keep something like this to myself was irritating enough. Now the others finding out that I've been keeping this from them is even more irritating.
"He never told any of you? He never spoke of how Kronos has been visiting him in his dreams, trying to recruit a new weapon of destruction?" Atlas mocked.
"Percy, . . ." Annabeth got out, sounding and looking both hurt and betrayed.
If I didn't know any better, I'd suggest Annabeth was starting to think I was some sort of a secret agent for Kronos. A lot of people at camp tend to make that a very enticing offer to say the very least. But I had no intention of helping Kronos with everything. Because unlike Luke, I'm not stupid. I'm smart enough to know that Kronos uses everyone who serves him like puppets on strings. And once you outlive your usefulness to him, he cuts your strings and disposes of you, permanently.
"But I still don't understand why Kronos even bothers with you. Considering months of failing to convert you, I'm starting to believe Kronos is mistaken about you." Atlas said.
"I disagree." Luke said.
"Percy." Kronos whispered loudly.
At the power I felt in that whisper, I couldn't help but grab my head and hiss as if I had a splitting headache and fall onto my knees.
"Percy!" Thalia and Annabeth both said as they and even Zoe came over to me.
Kronos' whispers of my name were very dark and menacing, like some sort of a combination of a lover and a jailer. The more Kronos whispered to me, the more I could sense the sheer power of his will within his voice. It made me feel so cold. The anger, the hatred, the rage, and the darkness, it was all too much of a fear to bear. Kronos' wrath truly did know no bounds.
"Percy, what's wrong?" Thalia said as she and Annabeth wrapped their arms around me and Zoe knelt next to me.
All I could do is shiver and hiss as I still couldn't shake of the feeling of Kronos' power from my head.
"Percy, talk to us, please." Annabeth begged.
Zoe placed her hand on my forehead, but instantly pulled it away.
"He's burning up." Zoe gasped.
"You can hear him calling to you, can't you, Percy. You can feel his presence within you. He calls to you. You can't ignore his call, Percy. And you know he will always find you. There is no running or hiding from the Lord of Time." Luke said.
I want to tell him to shut the fuck up. That I didn't need to be told what I already knew. But Kronos seemed to have me right where he wanted me.
"It's not too late for you, Jackson. You still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!" Luke said.
He 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.
"Call the Ophiotaurus, Jackson. Do it, and you will be more powerful than the gods." Luke persisted.
"Luke, what happened to you?" Thalia asked, her voice was full of pain.
"As I told Annabeth once, I woke up." Luke answered as he waved his hand again, and a fire appeared.
It was a bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.
"No!" Thalia whimpered.
Behind Luke, 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. Just as if things weren't already getting any worse, I heard Kronos again, only this time, he wasn't just whispering in my head.
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here, Percy. Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus." The voice of Kronos spoke from his sarcophagus.
And then, marching up the side of the mountain, from the beach where the Princess Andromeda was docked, was a great army. Dracaenae, Laestrygonians, monsters, half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and many more. The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds more than I'd seen on board last summer. And they were marching toward us. In a few minutes, they would be here.
"Percy, you can't let it be like this." Zoe said, placing her hand on my shoulder.
"We are legion, Percy Jackson. This is only a taste of what is to come. Soon we will be ready to destroy what is left of Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. But you can still save yourself and your loved ones. My army will be at your command, if you do as I ask of you." Kronos said.
"Percy, don't. Please don't." Annabeth begged.
"Percy, I know you've had no appreciation for this quest, but please. We need you. We won't survive." Thalia begged.
"Percy, your girlfriend Clarisse La Rue once said that you'd never abandon her. And you said you'd always fight for her no matter what. If all of that is true, then don't do what Kronos says. Fight for your girlfriend and your child." Zoe said.
"Child?" Luke asked shocked.
"The son of Poseidon is a father?" Atlas asked, also shocked.
"Nice, Zoe." Thalia hissed.
"Sorry." Zoe apologized.
Like Thalia, I was not happy that Zoe went right ahead and revealed that to our enemies. But at the same time, I also appreciated it. Bringing up Clarisse brought warmth into me. It made me crave our future together. And my thoughts on Bessie were turned to how I held her in my arms at the Hoover Dam, how it made me feel like a father, and how badly I craved my child's birth.
Taking a deep breath and letting my thoughts on Clarisse, Bessie, and the baby fill my mind, I slowly got up, with the girls in tow. There was no time. If that army got to the top of the hill, we would be overwhelmed. So, as steadied myself for the fight that was about to begin, I decided that if I was gonna die, I was gonna die a true hero's death. Walt Disney's 1997 Hercules movie be damned.
"You're right about one thing Kronos. You will raise Mount Othrys once again." I started, which got Luke and Atlas to raise an eyebrow at me and get the girls to look at me shocked before I finished.
"So that I can tear it down. Now!" I said.
Together, the girls and I drew our weapons, and charged.
This chapter ended up being a little longer than planned. Hope everyone liked it. And thank you DirtyDelphi for being my beta writer.