Mari remembered very little of what happened after Mason left. A twist in her gut at the name Frankie, Luke's aggravating face and the feeling of a huge weight being lifted from her shoulders. Her aunt under that same weight, a look in her eyes that Mari thought for a second might actually be concern.
Then nothing.
...
"Wake up!"
Mari gasped in a breath of air, nearly choking. It was early evening. She was lying on the cold, dirty ground and her wrists had something hard and rough clamped around them. Chains. She was chained to a tree. And she didn't appear to be the only one in this predicament.
"Thank the gods. I was about to try hitting you," the person next to her whispered.
"My name," Mari rasped. "What's my name?"
"Please, tell me you're making a very bad joke. If you have some form of amnesia I-"
"Annabeth," Mari begged. "Please."
"Your name is Mari," Annabeth said.
Mari took the first steady breath she'd been able to since she woke up. Marion. That was her name. Marion. Not Frankie. If she ever heard that name again in her life it would be too bloody soon. Her forehead hurt. Whatever Mason had done, Mari didn't think she'd heard the end of it. She swallowed, and blinked four times.
"Now cut to the chase. How are you here?" Annabeth asked her, shuffling as close as the chains would allow. She looked different. Obviously tired, and weak. Her clothes were dirty. But most surprising of all was the streak of bright white running through her normally dark curly hair.
"Did you just make a name pun?" Mari asked her.
"What?" Annabeth frowned.
"Cut to the chase. Annabeth Chase. Do I need to elaborate?" Mari asked.
Annabeth gave a long-suffering sigh. "Focus. How are you here?"
Mari's stomach dropped. Ariadne's string! Mason had it, and Mason was with Luke... she needed to do something, she didn't know what, but something. "I can't talk about it. Chiron told us not to. But it is important, I need-"
"Not here!" Annabeth clamped her hand over Mari's mouth. "If it's that important I'd rather we didn't give them direct information."
Mari followed her line of vision and nearly gagged. They were both chained to a big, mossy tree at the edge of a small forest, facing away from said edge and therefore unable to catch a glimpse of whoever was actually holding the sky (probably Artemis). The forest itself looked fine at first glance, but a second revealed a scaled hand wrapped around a protruding tree branch, a snake-leg dangling from foliage. And eyes. Hungry slits glared at them from all sides, like starving vultures being denied a fresh corpse. Dracaenae.
"How many?" Mari whispered. She flexed her wrist - she still had Drys, so clearly Luke hadn't made a habit of finding out which weapons she did or did not have before he first kidnapped her. Mason knew, though. Mari didn't want to ponder what that meant.
"Twelve." Annabeth brightened. "At least you caught on quick."
"Twelve?!" Mari whisper-shouted. "I have my sword. What did you do to need twelve guards?"
Annabeth glared back at the dracaenae before answering. "Don't use it right now, not until we can get these chains off. They had me chained to an old fence first, with just one guard. During a changeover I dug the fence post out and tried to run. Then they tried to lock me on the Princess Andromeda..." Annabeth smirked.
"What did you do?" Mari asked.
"I manipulated a girl called Lou Ellen into getting into a fight with Alabaster Torrington. He'd been guarding me. During the chaos, I snuck out."
Mari held in a laugh. "Wait, how'd you get caught?"
Annabeth's face hardened. "Mason Ray happened to enter the ship at the exact moment I was leaving it. He had Alabaster lock me here with the extra guard. You arrived at the same time, Thorn dragged you and threw you against a tree. They know we can't destroy the tree to escape without killing a Dryad, even if the Dryades have all but retreated into their trunks, this close to the crooked one's fortress. It's smart. If I were Luke I'd have skipped the first two ideas and started here. Still, I almost got out. If not for Maso..." Annabeth trailed off, probably realising who she was talking to.
Mari's stomach squirmed. She looked away, and blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked twice more. It felt robotic but she'd rather feel like an automaton than feel sick. No, she wasn't Frankie. She wasn't. Annabeth touched her shoulder.
"We don't have to talk about him. You've been asleep for a day and a half. I thought you might be dead but they'd have no reason to chain you here if you were. And I saw your hair."
"What about my hair?" Mari asked. She shook her head back and forth so that her hair flew out in front of her face, giving her a glimpse of white, like the hair of an old lady. For a moment she thought holding that burden had sped up her age. She was mad that she'd stopped ageing for five years, sure, but she didn't want to be that old! But no, the rest of her hair was fine.
"It's like mine." Annabeth gestured to the white streak in her own curly dark hair, frowning. "It's called Marie-Antionette syndrome. When somebody experiences so much stress that their hair turns white. How long did you hold the sky for?"
"Don't know. Ten minutes, maybe?" Mari shivered just thinking about it. "I thought I'd feel a whole lot worse when I woke up, but I feel..."
"Fine?" Annabeth asked. "I felt that way, too. But apparently I also slept for twenty-four hours. Listen, something is happening. I'm not sure what, but..." Annabeth lowered her voice again, to an almost imperceptible volume, even for a demigod. "Alabaster Torrington had a conversation with a harpy outside the door, when I was still on the Princess Andromeda. I didn't catch most of it, but he said something about 'preparations for when the bane is slain'. I've been racking my brains for anything that could mean, but I can't figure it out." (Annabeth sounded particularly peeved about that). "What I do know is that whatever it is, it's happening soon, and I'm being used as bait. My best guess is either Percy or Thalia. And when it they get here, I outlive my usefulness."
Oh, that didn't sound good. "So, what? They'll kill you?"
Annabeth's expression was grim. "Do you have any idea what 'when the bane is slain' means?"
"Uh," Mari frowned. "It rhymes?"
Annabeth sucked in a breath. "You're hopeless." Mari couldn't even be offended. If Annabeth was about to die, she was allowed to be as snappy as she wanted.
Something struck Mari. "The quest..." She trailed off.
"You mean the one you're not supposed to talk about?"
Mari nodded. "I Iris messaged Chiron, I don't know how long ago, don't ask why. He told me that for all intents and purposes, I needed to treat the quest as a secondary objective and try to find Clarisse. She was on the quest, too. I didn't think about it at the time, but his sudden change of mind was... weird. He doesn't cancel quests, unless there's no chance of succeeding and the only option is to try and flee to avoid more death, right?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Or, if there's a catastrophic emergency. A quest will be sent out immediately to try and compensate, and any other activity will halt."
Mari thought of Artemis. "I think this qualifies. Do you think that's it, then? Do you think that Chiron called Clarisse and me off because he was already planning a quest to find Artemis?"
"Maybe. There has to be something else, too," Annabeth said. "I don't like the idea of not knowing what the 'bane' means, or who is going to slay it."
"Percy or Thalia, right?" Mari said. Annabeth gave her a quizzical look, and Mari shrugged. "You said you were probably bait for one of them. And 'bane' sounds bad. If anybody is strong enough to slay this thing, it would be a big three kid, right?" Mari asked.
Annabeth frowned for a second, then smiled at Mari. "You know, I just remembered you're a legacy of Athena. I guess you're not so hopeless after all."
"Gee, thanks."
Mari wasn't sure how long she and Annabeth talked after that. Maybe two hours, or three. Eventually, they were broken from their very, very muted discussion. The dracaenae had edged closer and closer as time went on, until the nearest one was barely a metre away, holding a snapped, leafy branch over her scaly face in something she seemed to believe approximated a disguise. Mari almost felt bad for her. The dracaena probably thought that she was subtle. Mari glanced over Annabeth's shoulder, and froze at the sight of Luke walking towards them. At his side was some guy. Mari didn't recognise him. He looked dumb.
He had dark brown hair, slicked back so that it didn't look real, and he was probably muscular enough to punch a hole in the tree they were chained to, if he wanted. His eyes were cold, proud and very very angry. Pompous. All in all, he looked kind of like an underpaid Dwayne-the-rock-Johnson imitator.
"The fuck are you supposed to be?" Mari asked.
"When all this is over, if you are still alive I will very much enjoy flaying you into nothingness until all you can feel is the sting of pain, and all you can hear are your own screams," he snarled at her. "I am Atlas, general of the Titans, Lieutenant of Kronos."
"Uh... the sky hold-y one?" Mari asked.
Atlas seethed. "Yes. The 'sky hold-y one'."
"Do your fucking job. It stinks." Mari told him.
Mari should probably have been more scared than she was. Annabeth looked scared, and Mari had learned by now that if Annabeth was scared of something, then the worst thing to do was to antagonise said thing. But she'd reached her fear threshold for the next month, at least. Also, she didn't really remember much about Atlas, and she had no idea what a Lieutenant was. For all she knew, it could just mean he dusted Kronos's coffin or something. He looked like he was about to say something to her, probably threaten to murder her a bit, but Luke stopped him.
"Patience," he told Atlas. "You may kill her if you wish, once this is over."
Mari bristled. Didn't Mason tell him to look after her? What did he think he was going to tell Mason?
A shock went through her. Luke had lied to Mason about what he did to her. For whatever reason, he wanted Mason to trust him. Mari didn't know why, but he did. And if Mason found out, the first thing he would do would be to jump ship, both figuratively and literally (well, hopefully he'd have a life-jacket if he went about it literally). Luke didn't want her there. He didn't want her anywhere. And the best way to shut her up permanently was to kill her. It would be perfect for him. If Atlas was to kill her in a rage, how the fuck would Mason be able to pin it on Luke? He'd be off scot-free. But didn't he want her as a back-up for Ariadne's string? He needed her alive because of that, right? Which was it, did he want her dead or alive?
"Do not touch me!" Annabeth snarled at him.
Luke's eyes flickered with something that almost looked like sadness as he looked towards Annabeth, before he looked away, nodding at Atlas.
Atlas grabbed Annabeth's arms, chaining them together with normal cuffs. "Stop it!" Annabeth shouted.
"Oi! Leave her the fuck alone!" Mari pulled at the chains again, but her efforts did nothing.
Annabeth headbutted Atlas who snarled, and raised a sword at her.
"No!" Luke looked genuinely scared for a second. Atlas did not look too pleased about his stabbing time being interrupted; he growled at Luke, accusation in his eyes.
"Well, we can't use her as bait if she's dead," Luke told him.
"We have the other one." Atlas jerked his head towards Mari, who glared back at him.
"Thalia and Percy Jackson don't care about the other one."
Wow. That certainly gave Mari the warm fuzzies. Luke was wrong. Mari hoped that Luke was wrong, because she certainly quite liked Thalia, and Percy.
"Just so you know, Percy hates you, and Thalia doesn't know me that well but probably likes me a whole lot better than you right now," Mari told him. "Although that doesn't mean much for me. I promise you, you're not a very high bar."
Luke glared at Mari, before turning to Atlas. "On second thoughts, we can leave her. It's not like we're going anywhere, anyway. Our... guests should be here by now. Gag her, though."
What?! She shared a look with Annabeth, but the other girl looked just as agitated as Mari felt. As Luke was pulling Annabeth up to stand next to him, Atlas shoved a pile of dirty fabric into Mari's mouth. She tried to bite him but he just pushed her head into the dirt, causing her to wince at the impact. When she looked back, Atlas was once again standing next to Luke, who had a knife at Annabeth's throat. Mari blinked four times.
Luke nodded at Atlas, who snapped his fingers.
The trees vanished around them, nothing more than a mist-illusion. Mari cursed inside her head. Luke must have known they'd both be reluctant to hurt a Dryad. She was too weak from the sky, but Annabeth could have probably have gotten them out of this, had she known. Atlas and Luke were joined by some of their friends, monsters who were carrying a huge golden sarcophagus that made Mari feel sick to look at. Mari gulped, realising who was probably inside. Kronos. And he definitely did not pass the vibe check.
Artemis was right in front of them! She probably had been, the whole time! Even worse, Thalia and Percy were there, just like she and Annabeth had theorised. Well, they hadn't expected both of them, but close enough. She couldn't see any particularly formidable-looking monsters, though.
There was another girl, too. She was pretty. Long, dark hair in a plait and a silver circlet around her forehead. She was wearing an equally silvery parka, hand clutching it just under her ribs. There was an injury there. Most people probably wouldn't see it, but Mari and the rest of her siblings had spent the summer half-living in the infirmary. She needed to get that treated, asap. It didn't stop the girl from sprinting forward and attempting to haul the chains off Artemis.
"Ah, how touching," Atlas boomed. Mari glanced back towards him and Luke, and her stomach did a flip-flop. Luke was holding a fucking sword to Annabeth's neck. She'd thought that Luke would at least try to spare Annabeth. Didn't they used to be close?
"Luke!" Thalia snarled. "Let her go!"
Luke smiled at Thalia. Mari thought he looked pale and pathetic. "That is the general's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."
Thalia spat at Luke. Mari already had a pretty high opinion of the girl, but wow, it was growing higher by the minute.
Atlas laughed. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoë. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."
"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."
Mari gulped. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this 'Zoë' girl was probably a hunter of Artemis. An old one, too, if the worry in Artemis's voice was any indication.
"Wait a second," Percy frowned. "You're Atlas?"
"So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. I wonder what that says about your little friend over there." Atlas jerked his head towards Mari, who attempted to deliver what would have been a genius and incredibly eloquent insult that definitely wasn't just a string of curses, but was prevented from doing so by the stupid gag in her mouth. Seriously, what was it made of, Atlas's mouldy socks? Oh, she didn't need that in her head. Stupid brain.
"Yes," Atlas continued. "I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."
"You're not going to hurt Zoë, I won't let you," Percy told Atlas. The titan just sneered.
"You have no right to interfere, little hero," he told Percy. "This is a family matter."
"A family matter?" Percy frowned.
"Yes." Zoë looked like it pained her to say the next words. "Atlas is my father."
Wow. Mari wondered who Zoë's mother was, because she definitely got the good genes. Where Atlas looked pompous, Zoë looked genuinely regal. He had a cruelty to his face that was noticeably absent from hers.
"Let Artemis go!" Zoë demanded.
"Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest." Atlas knelt next to Artemis, attempting to touch her face, but Artemis bit at him and he snatched his hand away. Mari wanted to scream. If he was just a single step closer, just a little, Artemis would have probably been able to roll the burden back onto his shoulders. But he probably knew that, too.
"No!" Artemis told Zoë. "Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."
"Hoo-hoo!" Atlas cackled. "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 centre of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."
Thalia whispered something Mari couldn't quite catch, and Percy shook his head. "I don't understand. Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"
Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaea 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." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone takes it from you."
He studied Thalia and Percy, an unimpressed look on his face. "So, these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."
Good, Mari thought. If he underestimated them, then they had an advantage. And given the situation, they'd need all the help they could get.
"Fight us," Percy told him. "Then let's see."
"Have the gods taught you nothing?" Atlas laughed. "An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."
Mari thought that Atlas really needed to crack open a dictionary and re-evaluate the definition of 'humility', because he was the one who had none. He was also definitely pretending he wasn't scared shitless, because seriously?! 'Beneath his dignity' was the lamest excuse she'd ever heard.
"So you're another coward," Percy told him.
Atlas glared at Percy, before turning to Thalia. "As for you, daughter of Zeus," he told her. "It seems that Luke was wrong about you."
"I wasn't wrong." Luke looked pained as he spoke, almost like he was begging. Mari nearly felt sorry for him, but he was the reason why they were all here in the first place. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"
Ophiotaurus? That meant Serpent Bull. Luke waved his hand, and a pool of water appeared, ringed by black marble. Mari frowned. For a deadly monster (it was part snake so was obviously awful), it seemed like an awfully small habitat.
"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke begged. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."
"Luke..." Thalia sounded strained. "What happened to you?"
"Don't you remember all those times we talked?!" There was a hysterical edge in Luke's voice now. Like he was genuinely terrified and trying to hide it. "All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us! They have no right to rule the world!"
Thalia narrowed her eyes. "Free Annabeth. Let her go."
"If you join me," Luke continued as if Thalia hadn't spoken, "it can be just like old times. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia. If you don't agree..." Luke's voice faltered, "It's my last chance. He'll use the other way if I don't agree. Please."
Mari didn't know what this 'other way' was, but she found that she didn't care. As long as whatever hurt Luke didn't extend past the son of Hermes, she'd be okay with that. He more than deserved it.
"Do not, Thalia," Zoë warned. "We must fight them."
Luke waved his hand again, and a bronze brazier appeared, for sacrifices. It looked almost exactly like the one at camp, and Mari wondered if that was a deliberate attempt at manipulation on Luke's part, or if some part of him missed just being a regular camper and not a self-centred megalomaniac.
"Thalia," Percy said. "No."
The sarcophagus began to glow, not the kind of homey glow that Mari's hands produced, but a angry, red-hot glow that could burn Mari's insides out if she stared for too long. She closed her eyes, praying that when she opened them the glow would have stopped.
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here." Mari heard Luke's voice continue his spiel. Once again, it sounded strained. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak. This is only a taste of what is to come. Soon we will be ready to storm camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help."
Thalia hesitated for a moment, and Mari's heart dropped. Thalia was better than that. Mari knew she was better than that, so why was she hesitating?!
"You aren't Luke," Thalia told him. "I don't know you anymore."
"Yes, you do." He begged her. "Please... don't make me... don't make him destroy you." Luke made it sound like he and Kronos were the same person, like he genuinely thought the Titan was going to take control of his body and force him to kill Thalia. Mari didn't know if that was pitiable or pathetic. Maybe both.
Annabeth nodded at Percy.
"Now!" He yelled to Thalia and Zoë.
Thalia went for Luke, locking him in a deadly combat, sending sparks flying everywhere whenever his sword clashed with her shield. Percy, a professional idiot, decided that it would be a good idea to antagonise Atlas by trying to attack him. Mari wasn't sure why. Zoë, to Mari's surprise, went for her. Not in a bad way.
Pulling a thin silver needle from seemingly nowhere, she attacked the chains binding Mari's hands, a furious clicking sound unlocking them with a clinck. Mari flexed her fingers, before reaching into her mouth and yanking out the gag. She felt like... well, like gagging, because that actually was somebody's sock.
"You're injured," she told Zoë. "You need medical attention."
"How dost thou know?" Zoë helped her up.
"My father is Apollo. Where's Annabeth?"
"I could not get to her, not without getting in Thalia's way." Zoë said no more after that, pulling a bow from the same plane of nonexistence that must have spawned the needle, and sending a volley of silver arrows towards her father.
"You clearly got the good genes, don't worry," Mari told her.
Zoë frowned. "But I am not wearing jeans. These are leggings."
"Fool!" Atlas's face was one of glee as he swatted one of Zoë's arrows to the side. "Did you think, simply because you could challenge a petty war god, that you could stand up to me?"
Percy's sword fell from his hands, and Atlas got him in the chest with his javelin, sending him careening across the battlefield, landing in front of Artemis with a thud. Atlas stalked towards Percy, and Mari dived to get in between, but Zoë held her back, launching an arrow into a gap in Atlas's armour, right at his armpit.
"ARGH!" Atlas turned on Zoë, murder in his eyes.
"Is thou in a state to fight?" Zoë asked her. Mari narrowed her eyes, pressing Drys into sword form. "Are you?"
"Duck!" Was Zoë's only response. Mari did as told, a silver arrow whizzing over her head. Atlas caught it in his fist, snapping it in half with a grimace. Mari sprang up and went to swing her sword at Atlas, but she couldn't find a gap in his armour to hit. Instead, she slashed her sword at his ankles, forcing him to take a step back. What she didn't expect was for him to kick at her face, knocking her on her chin and sending her sprawling to the ground.
A hand gripped her ankle, dragging her away. She went to kick at it, but it was only Zoë, getting her out of Atlas's murder-range. "Thanks." Mari scrambled up. Zoë nodded at her, preparing her bow once again, but froze, for a second, her eyes flashing to a spot behind Atlas. Mari barely had time to follow her gaze before a silver flash zipped in front of both of them, two long, gleaming hunting knives in hand.
Artemis... but if she was here, who was holding up the sky?
Mari glanced at the place Artemis had once stood, and felt torn between laughing and crying. Of course. Of course he would. That amazing idiot.
Zoë went to stand with Artemis, but this time Mari held her back. Zoë turned to glare at her, but Mari shook her head. "If you want to make your wound worse, fine! I can't stop you, but what happens if Artemis gets distracted trying to keep you safe?"
Zoë seemed to listen, reaching for her arrows instead, but there was a resigned look in her eyes.
"I'm going to try and get to Annabeth," Mari told her. Zoë nodded, before turning away towards the fight. Mari sprinted towards Thalia and Luke, who were still locked in battle with each other. Luke had tossed Annabeth to the floor when Thalia attacked, but Mari couldn't see...
There!
A dirty sneaker was sticking out from behind a rock, making Mari's own shoeless feet ache. She'd been on her feet in threadbare socks for how long, now? No, no time for that.
"Annabeth!" Mari crouched down at the girl. It looked like she'd managed to chew through her own gag, if the red marks around her mouth and fabric around her neck were any indication. She was frantically banging her chains against the rock, scowling at them as they refused to break. Upon seeing Mari, she immediately held out her hands against the stone. Mari was about to slam the tip of Drys right through the middle of the chain, when a sound caught their attention.
Artemis had fallen to the ground. Atlas was raising his spear with a sick grin on his face. Mari's breath caught in her throat, fear clutching her stomach in a cold iron grip.
"No!" Zoë leaped in between them, sending another arrow flying, right between Atlas's eyes. It struck, and the Titan roared, sending Zoë flying with the back of his hand.
Then, he rounded on Artemis again.
The goddess was unmoving on the floor, like she was wounded somewhere, even though Mari couldn't see any ichor. Could gods get internal bleeding?
Atlas smiled, raising his javelin again. "The first blood of a new war."
"No..." Mari wondered whose voice had whispered that, but then she realised it was her own. She was too far away to do a thing, and she was too weak to fight Atlas anyway.
Atlas stabbed down.
There was no impact.
Mari blinked, so she did actually miss the movement, but Artemis was glaring up at Atlas, a cold, quiet rage in her eyes. It was a thousand times scarier than Atlas's explosive anger. Her hand was on the end of the javelin, having pushed it into the earth beside her shoulder. Artemis pulled the javelin backwards, and Atlas, who was still clutching the end with a gobsmacked look on his face, went flying over her, towards Percy, who was still struggling under the sky. Artemis kicked him to speed him along a little.
Atlas flew through the air, hopefully getting a taste of the bitter medicine he'd inflicted on Zoë, herself, and Percy. Mari realised what Artemis had done a second before it came to fruition, as Atlas slammed right into Percy, who was more than ready to let Atlas push him out of the way. He dropped and rolled away as fast as he could, leaving Atlas to shoulder the burden once again.
The titan only seemed to realise what had happened as it fell on his shoulders. It almost crushed him, but he managed to scramble to his knees, trying to get out from under the weight, but it was no use. He was stuck.
"NOOOOO!" His screech made the mountain shake. "NOT AGAIN!"
"Mari!" Annabeth got her attention, shaking her hands.
Oh, right. Mari raised her sword and sent it slamming into the chains, breaking them in half. Annabeth heaved a sigh of relief, before her expression dropped.
Apparently, Thalia had taken advantage of the distraction, and used it to back Luke to the edge of a cliff. They still fought on, but Luke was clearly losing. He had a gash on his chest and was shiny with sweat. Thalia didn't have any injuries, just tears in her eyes.
Luke tried to attack again, but Thalia slammed him with her shield, like a one-woman hoplite phalanx. His sword clattered over the edge of the cliff, leaving Thalia free to make a temporary home for her spear, at the base of Luke's throat.
"Well?" Luke gulped, making the spear tremble along with his adam's apple.
Annabeth stumbled away from Mari, her face streaked with dirt. A part of Mari wanted to follow, to make sure she was okay, but it wasn't her place. Thalia, Annabeth and the worm were like some kind of private dysfunctional group. Intruding on it seemed wrong. "Don't kill him!"
"He's a traitor," Thalia told Annabeth. "A traitor!"
"We'll bring Luke back to Olympus. He... he'll be useful."
"Is that what you want, Thalia? To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?" Luke asked.
Thalia hesitated for a second. Luke took that second and desperately grabbed for the spear. Without thinking, Thalia dropkicked Luke, making him lose his balance. There was a flash of horror on his face, and then he went tumbling onto the rocks below.
"Luke!" Annabeth screamed.
Mari sprinted over to Annabeth's side, staring at Luke's form, sprawled out on the rocks below. He looked like a broken doll. Was that it, then? Was Luke dead? No, that was a stupid thought. Even if he was, it wouldn't be over. He'd gone too far now, done too much. Whatever happened, his monster army would carry on without him. Kronos would carry on without him. Percy appeared on the other side of Annabeth, with Thalia next to him. Despite everything, Mari was a little sad Luke was dead. She hadn't wanted anyone to die.
At the bottom of the cliff, Kronos's army stared at Luke's body in silent shock. The silence didn't last for very long. One of the giants glared up, growling to all his monster friends. "Kill them!"
Mari ducked as a wave of javelins were launched over their heads, and then they all booked it away, ignoring Atlas's various yells and uncreative curses. Well, the rest of them ignored him. Mari scooped up a pebble, and lobbed it at his eye. It hit the target perfectly, and Atlas howled in pain. Michael would be proud. "Come on!" Annabeth grabbed her wrist, pulling her along before she could find another pebble.
"Artemis!" Percy yelled. Artemis's head snapped up from where she was cradling a very weak-looking Zoë in her arms, grief splashed across her face like a vivid painting. Mari's breath caught... but no, Zoë's chest was still rising and falling.
"The wound is poisoned," Artemis told them.
Mari's heart sank. She couldn't do severe wounds. Not without the book Chiron had lent her in the infirmary, when she healed Thalia's atrophy - she wasn't Will. And that was when they weren't poisoned...
"Atlas poisoned her?" Percy asked?
"No," Artemis said. "Not Atlas."
She showed them the wound, and Mari gasped. She'd assumed it would be a stab or slash wound, but it was a full-on bite. A really, really bad bite, with yellowy-green spreading from it in the pattern of blood veins.
"The stars." Zoë's voice was faint. "I cannot see them."
"Nectar and Ambrosia, come on!" Percy looked around them all. "We have to get her some."
Nobody moved. It was like they were locked under some kind of grief spell, even though Zoë was still alive. Kronos's army was getting closer... closer... not even Artemis stirred.
Bzzzz
"What was that?!" Mari asked.
Bzzzz
"Get away from my daughter!" An unfamiliar man was driving an airplane through the sky, going dangerously low. A very old-looking plane, like out of a black and white photo. It was equipped with fucking machine guns, which littered the ground around the monsters with bullet holes, and forced them to scatter. The bullets were actually celestial bronze... whoever this was, he was awesome.
"Dad?!" Annabeth's jaw dropped.
"Run!" He yelled, plane swooping away.
Artemis stared at the plane for a second. "A brave man." She sounded like it pained her to admit it. She turned to the rest of them with a determined expression. "Come. We need to get Zoë away from here."
She raised a horn to her lips, the sound clear and bright as it echoed across the valleys below. Annabeth's dad flew his plane close again, and a few monsters threw their spears towards it, but they were met with another rain of bullets. "That's... my Dad!" Annabeth sounded amazed.
Then, the moonlight shone brighter, and a silver chariot materialised in the sky, being pulled by majestic-looking deer. It landed next to them, a couple of deer skidding on the sulphurous monster remains.
"Get in," Artemis told them. Annabeth and Percy helped Thalia, who seemed to still be in shock about kicking Luke off a cliff, whilst Mari helped Artemis carry Zoë. Artemis materialised a silvery blanket out of nowhere, and wrapped it around the huntress's shoulders. Then the chariot sped away from Mount Tam and into the air, Atlas's cries fading with the distance. Good. Zoë shouldn't have to hear that.
Annabeth's father nodded at them, before turning his plane away and following at a safe distance. Mari wondered what the mist would make this look like for mortals - those weird alien conspiracy theorists would probably get a kick out of it.
As night completely fell, they landed in a picturesque field.
Annabeth was the first to hop out of the plane, sprinting towards her Dad and wrapping him in a hug. "Dad!" she cried. "You flew... you shot... oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"
Mari squished down the twinge of jealousy that appeared in her gut. She turned back in as Annabeth's dad explained exactly how he got his hands on celestial bronze bullets. "You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons back in your room in Virginia, the last time you left. I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings." He scratched the back of his head. "Just a little experiment."
"Dad..." Annabeth trailed off.
"Guys!" Thalia was kneeling at Zoë's side, beside Artemis. She was trying to wrap Zoë's wounds, but it was too late. They ran over to help, but even five people were no use. Luke had taken away her nectar, and the rest of them clearly didn't have any. Mari hadn't noticed before, but there was a silvery glow around Artemis, and around Zoë. In the case of the latter, it was becoming dimmer.
"Can you help?" Artemis asked her.
Mari shook her head, staring at her hands. "I'm not... I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry."
"Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked Artemis. "I mean... you're a goddess."
Artemis looked troubled as she answered. "Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the fates will her string to be cut, then there is little I can do. But I can try."
Artemis went to place her hand at Zoë's side, but the injured huntress apparently got a final burst of strength, her hand whipping out to clutch Artemis's wrist. They shared a look which Mari couldn't decipher, and Artemis lowered her hand.
"Have I... served thee well?" Zoë asked Artemis.
"With great honour." Artemis's voice was soft. "The finest of my attendants."
Zoë smiled. "Rest. At last."
"I can still try to heal the poison, my brave one."
For some reason, Artemis did no such thing.
"Daughter of Apollo." Zoë turned her gaze towards Mari. "What is thy name? I would like to know the names of those I die with."
Mari choked down a sob. She didn't know why she was so upset. She barely even knew Zoë, but she'd been kind. She'd freed her and she'd fought with her, even though she had no reason to trust her. And she didn't deserve this.
"I-It's Marion," Mari told her. "You can call me Mari, though."
Zoë smiled at her. She turned towards Thalia. "I'm sorry we argued," she told her. "We could have been sisters."
"It's my fault." Thalia looked like she was blinking back tears. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men, everything."
"Perhaps not all men." Zoë spared Percy a glance. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"
Percy brought his sword forward. Mari wasn't quite sure what this was about, but that didn't matter. "Thou spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. Thou are nothing like... Herakles. I am honoured that you carry his sword."
Zoë shuddered.
"Zoë-" Percy tried to speak but was interrupted.
"Stars," Zoë whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."
"Yes, my brave one." Silvery tears ran down Artemis's cheeks. "They are beautiful tonight."
"Stars..." Zoë whispered, staring at the night sky. Then her eyes glazed over, and she was gone.
Mari's throat clenched. Artemis held her hand above Zoë's mouth, and whispered something in Ancient Greek. A silver misty orb floated from Zoë's lips, caught by the goddess. Zoë shimmered, and then disappeared. Artemis slid to her feet, graceful as a deer, and blew into her cupped hands. The silvery mist floated up and into the night sky. For a second, there was nothing. Then, a new constellation blinked into existence. It looked kind of like a girl, running along, bow and arrow in hand.
"Let the world honour you, my huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."