(Small precision. The events of the book that aren't affected by Zoe's arrival stay the same, so for example, Percy's dream of Hades and Nico revealing the curse Hades had unleashed on her as well as his dream of Rachel coming to New York still happen.)

Thalia put a hand on my shoulder. ''Don't worry Percy, I'll take care of Zoe. Go get some sleep.'' I didn't protest, however looking down at Zoe, she was fidgeting with her gray hoodie, looking at Thalia before looking at me. It looked like she wanted to tell me something but couldn't.

I went to sleep and of course, it was disturbed by dreams. The first one was about Hades. It showed me the night Nico and Bianca's mother was killed by Zeus in the 40's. The Oracle, the body at the top of attic of the Big House, she was cursed by Hades. ''I can see the future, not change it'', she said, as Hades was holding the body of Maria Di Angelo in his arms. He cursed her, the spirit of the Oracle was now bound to a corpse, waiting for someone to deliver her.

My dream switched and then it was Rachel, at the beach. She was writing on sand in Ancient Greek, using a stick. I only recognized my name before the water erased what she wrote. She ran to her father, begging him to return to New York. Only after she promised to attend the Clarion Institute for young girls did he accept. I tried to yell at her to stay where she was, but no use.

Jake Mason woke me up at around 1pm. He quickly did a report of what happened while I was asleep, which wasn't as bad as I expected. Like Thalia said, monster attacks were rarer during the day, so the morning had been calm.

I went to see Annabeth, who was peacefully sleeping with Zoe next to her, blotting her forehead using a towel and cold water. It was a wholesome scene, and it lifted my spirits up after the long night of fighting. ''Hey Zoe.'' I greeted. The girl turned towards me wide eyed.

''I'm sorry if I scared you.'' I said, trying to calm her down.

The girl shook her head, turning back to Annabeth. ''You just surprised me… it's fine.''

I walked towards Zoe, sitting on a chair next to her. ''Thanks for taking care of Annabeth. You seem to be taking this whole mythological world thing well. At least better than I did at first.'' Zoe smiled brightly. ''Aun… Thalia was super kind, she just explained things well…'' I nodded.

''If you ever want more explanations, I'm sure Annabeth would be glad to help you out. She's super smart and she's helped me more than anyone on that front.''

''I know.'' Zoe said, still smiling. Upon seeing the questioning on my face, she stammered. ''Ah… uhm, I mean, Thalia told me that already…''

I nodded. Makes sense. ''All right, well I'm going Zoe. If you need me, I'll be at the cafeteria.'' The girl nodded and returned to her occupation. Before leaving, I turned back to see Zoe, still blotting Anabeth's forehead with water. There was a difference though, it seemed like the water was spreading towards Annabeth's abdomen in an unnatural way, almost like when I used water to heal my wounds. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at the scene again, however the water had disappeared. 'Weird...'' I whispered. A thought then entered my mind. Her eyes looked a lot like mine, and after talking to her and observing her we did share some traits. I couldn't help but think: What if my dad had another kid? As if on cue, my stomach grumbled, cutting me off in my thoughs. ''Yes, yes, food I get it...''

While eating, Thalia came running into the immense lounge of our temporary HQ. ''Percy, you need to come with me, we got visitors!'' I frowned. ''Visitors?'' Thalia nodded and signaled me to come with her. ''There's a Titan who wants to see you, he has a white flag. Says he a messenger of Kronos.''

The Titan was accompanied by an empousa, a demi-god in armor I recognized as Ethan Nakamura and a hyperborean giant, the flag carrier. ''Percy Jackson'', the Titan greeted. He continued. ''What a great honor.'' Just as the other Titans I had seen, he was tall, easily above seven feet. The empousa hissed at me, before the Titan, with a gesture of his hand, indicated her to sit on one of the park's benches. I then looked at the demi-god next to the Titan and finally managed to recognize him. I couldn't at first, courtesy of his helmet, but that was my new buddy master of treacherous blows.

His nose was still broken, after all I couldn't let him go unpunished after stabbing Annabeth. Smashing my shield into his face was quite satisfying, and I itched to do it again, simply for good measure. ''Hey Ethan! Looking good'', I said, taunting him.

He glared at me, his teeth clenched like he was holding back a threat. The Titan put a hand in front of him, signaling Ethan to stay quiet. As a response I smirked at him, and that seemed to piss him off even more. Over the years I figured I had a real talent for pissing people off.

''Let us get down to business mister Jackson.'' The Titan said, reaching his hand out to me. ''I am Prometheus.''

I stayed way too shocked to shake his hand. ''The guy who stole fire from the gods? Aren't you supposed to be chained to a rock somewhere right now, getting your organs eaten by a vulture?''

The Titan's jaw clenched, seems like I talked about a very sensitive subject. ''Let us not talk about those spawn of Evil please. It is exact, however, I stole fire from the gods and was punished for it. As for why I am not imprisoned, well Heracles freed me many years ago. You see, unlike most Titans, some heroes do have a place in my heart, some of your kind are very civil.''

The Titan then pointed at a picnic table, and we went to sit. Prometheus was sitting in front of me, while Ethan stood behind him. He had never stopped glaring at me. Meanwhile, Grover and Thalia were standing behind me, glaring back at Ethan.

''Percy, your position is weak. I will be frank with you… you and your friends will not survive the next assault.''

''We'll see.'' I said, using the coldest tone I could. I couldn't let any hint of fear escape my lips, I knew the enemy would use it.

The Titan sighed. It seemed to pain him, like he was worried about me. ''I am the Titan of Forsyth. I know what will happen.''

''You're also the Titan of the fallacious argument.'' Grover voiced, venom dripping from his words.

The Titan shrugged. ''You are right satyr. However, I sided with the gods during the first war, and I was right. I know whom to side with, and I side with the winners.''

''Yeah right. You're siding with Kronos to get back at Zeus for punishing you.'' I guessed.

The Titan smiled, showing off teeth that would make any dentist faint in amazement. How could someone chained to a rock for thousands of years have teeth so white. ''I will not deny my feelings of vengeance. This is not the only reason as to why I am siding with Kronos however, it is simply the wisest choice.'' He started to trace a map using his index finger, a golden lines formed as if in his finger was a magical pen. ''Here is Manhattan. We have armies here, here, here and over there. We know your effective, we are at twenty against one.''

''Your spy is keeping you updated.'' Thalia scowled.

Prometheus simply gave an excusatory smile. ''Anyways… our ranks grow quickly. Tonight, Kronos will attack, and you will be crushed. You fought valiantly, but you will not be able to defend the city. You will be forced to fall back on the Empire State building, and then you will be slaughtered. I saw it. It will happen.''

I thought back to Rachel's painting I saw in my dream. An army surrounding the Empire State building. I thought back to what the young Oracle had said to Hades: ''I predict the future, I cannot change it.''

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. ''It won't happen.'' I declared. ''I won't allow it!'' I added, pushing every once of conviction I had.

Prometheus shook his head, sighing. ''Try to understand Percy. The Trojan war is replaying today. Patterns repeat themselves throughout history. They come back, just like monsters. A siege, two armies. The difference is you are now the side that is besieged. You are Troy. Do you know what happened to them Percy?''

''You're going to try and fit a giant wooden horse in the elevator of the Empire State building?'' I ironically said. ''Good luck.''

The Titan smiled. ''Troy was destroyed, Percy. You do not want that to happen here. Fall back. Give up and get out of New York with your troops. Your army will be shown mercy, and I will personally watch over your safety as well as your troops. What importance? Typhon will destroy the gods anyways.''

''I see. And I should trust Kronos will show mercy towards the city and its people.''

''Percy, all Kronos wants is Olympus. The strength of the gods is linked to their seat of their power. You've seen how Poseidon was affected when his underwater palace was attacked.''

I grimaced at the souvenir.

''Yes Percy…'' The Titan agreed sadly. ''Once Kronos destroys Olympus, their power will decline. They will become easy to vanquish. Kronos would rather act as long as Typhon is keeping the gods occupied, it would cause less casualties. The day after tomorrow Typhon will reach New York and then you will have no chance. No matter which path you chose, it ends the same way, the destruction of the gods. The second option will simply cause more destruction.

Thalia spoke up. ''I serve Artemis. The Huntress will fight to our last breath. Percy, don't tell me you take this trash seriously!'' She said, pointing at Prometheus.

I turned towards the Titan, thinking he would annihilate her for talking in such a way, but he simply smiled again. ''Your courage is honorable, Thalia Grace.''

Thalia visibly stiffened. ''That's my mother's last name. I don't wear it.''

It was the first time I heard Thalia's last name. It suddenly made her less mysterious, more normal.

Prometheus spoke again. ''You have no reason to be against me. I always helped humanity.'' Thalia immediately cut him off. ''That's bullshit. When us humans started to sacrifice entrails for the gods, you confused them so they could give you the best parts. You gave us fire for the only purpose of pissing off the gods, not because you were interested in us.''

The Titan shook his head. ''You don't understand. I contributed to shaping human nature.'' A ball of clay appeared in his hands, and he shaped it into a small human. The figurine started to walk. ''I whisper in the ears of your specie since the start of its existence. I represent your curiosity, your inventively, your desire for adventure. Help me save you. Do it, and I will grant humanity with another gift, a revelation that will make you progress just as fire did. A new golden age.'' He then crushed the clay figurine. ''Or else, you will certainly disappear.''

I stiffened, but I quickly refocused. I couldn't let Prometheus win.

''Percy, you know Titans and their offsprings aren't all bad. You met Calypso, didn't you?''

''She was different!'' I quickly said.

''How is that? Like me, she did nothing wrong, and yet she was exiled. Condemned forever simply because of who her father is. We are not your enemies, don't let the worst happen. We offer you peace.''

I looked at Ethan Nakamura. ''It must be exasperating.'' The demi-god looked at me questioningly. ''If we accept this peace offering, then you won't get your vengeance. You won't get to kill us.''

His only eye shined with hatred. ''All I want is for people to respect me, Jackson. The gods never bothered giving me that respect. You want me to go to your stupid colony, to just waste away in the Hermes cabin because I'm not important enough?''

He spoke exactly like Luke did when he tried to kill me in the woods four years ago. I felt the scar on my hand tickle, where the pit scorpion stung me. ''Your mother is the goddess of vengeance.'' I answered Ethan. This should inspire us respect?''

Ethan scowled. ''She represents balance! When people are too lucky, she demolishes them. I gave away one of my eye and she swore me that one day, I would have a weight in the balance of power. I will make the other gods respect the minor ones.''

To be completely honest I understood his point. I knew from firsthand experience how the Olympians acted, and there needed to be change. However, I couldn't Ethan know about my feelings on that. ''Your mom sounds awesome.'' I said, irony slipping in my words.

''Well at least she keeps her words. Unlike the Olympians she always pays her debts.''

How ironic. ''Yeah, so I saved your life, and you repay me by being the last demi-god needed to reanimate Kronos. Your mom might pay her debts but you sure as hell don't.''

Ethan put a hand on the hilt of his sword, however Prometheus stopped him. ''Now, now, we are on a diplomatic mission Mr. Nakamura. No violence.'' He then turned to look at me, as if he was trying to figure out where my anger was coming from. His eyes finally lit up after a few seconds. ''What happened to Luke seemed to disturb you. Hestia did not show you the full story. Perhaps I should help you with that.'' Thalia tried to scream to warn me, however before I could do anything, I found myself in a memory.

Luke was having an argument with his father. His mother, while kind to me, was clearly mentally unwell (to not say she was crazy). Luke was complaining to his father leaving him with her. Hermes looked mad. ''Don't badmouth your mother like that! She's doing the best she can. As for me I cannot intervene. The children of the gods need to find their ways by themselves.''

Luke scoffed. ''So, being surviving as a child on the streets was for my own good? Fight monsters and all that?'' Hermes answered with something that only made me want to facepalm. ''You are my son. When I was still a baby, I escaped my cradle, and I went to…''

Before he could finish, Luke cut him off. ''I am not a god! You could've done something, help me when… when mom goes into her delirious rants… When I hid in the closets to avoid her staring at me with those shiny green eyes talking about my destiny.'' In the kitchen, Luke's mother was talking to little Annabeth and Thalia. The two seemed very adamant to get out of this place.

Hermes tried to explain himself, to say that his son was important to him, but that he couldn't intervene. Especially when it came to Luke's ''destiny''. Luke asked his father about it, and the god stayed impassive. I didn't know how, but Hermes knew what the weird delirious phases May Castellan entered in were. I was certain of it, Hermes knew what would happen to Luke one day. He knew he would fall.

Luke begged for his father to tell him of his fate, but he wouldn't budge. He left the house with Thalia and Annabeth catching up to him. Finally, May Castellan fell on the floor, her eyes shining green. ''My son! Danger! Terrible destiny!'' Hermes hugged her, doing his best to comfort her.''

The image dissipated, and I was left gasping for air. ''Percy, what happened?'' Asked Thalia, concerned. I realised I was covered in sweat.

The Titan nodded with compassion. ''The gods know what will happen, and yet they do nothing, even when their children are on the line. How many time did it take for you to receive your prophecy, Percy Jackson. You don't think your father already knows what will happen to you?''

A pit formed in my stomach. Me who normally could come up with smartass comeback on the fly, was left speechless. Grover bleated. ''Percy! He's messing with your head, he's trying to make you angry.'' He could read emotions, and if I had to guess he read mine perfectly. I was angry, that was for sure. I was revolted by what Prometheus showed me, however I hated Kronos even more.

''My turn to make you a proposal. Tell Kronos to stop his attacks, leave the body of Luke Castellan, and return to Tartarus. Then, maybe I won't have to destroy him.'' I was surprised at how calm I was when saying those words. I sounded a lot more confident than I really was inside.

The Titan summoned a Greek vase. ''If you change your mind, I have a gift for you.''

Thalia and Grover gasped. ''Pandora's box…'' The daughter of Zeus whispered to herself. I spent enough time being with Annabeth to know what that was. Pandora opened the box (or Pithos is this case) and let out the demons that now hunted humanity: diseases, hunger, fear…

''You know, there is one thing that I always found strange in this story. Everyone blames Pandora, she was punished for her curiosity. The moral the gods wanted you to get is this one: humans cannot go explore. They have to do what they are told. In fact, this jar was trap made by Zeus and the other Olympians, a vengeance against my family. They knew my brother's wife would open the jar. The gods were ready to punish humanity as well as us.

I thought back to my dream, where Zeus blew up an hotel to kill two demi-gods, killing an innocent woman. And Hades wasn't much better. Since he wasn't powerful enough to take revenge against Zeus directly, he chose to curse the Oracle, condemning a young girl to a tragic destiny. As for Hermes… why had he abandoned Luke? Why did he not warn him about his fall? Maybe Prometheus said all of that to confuse me. ''But what if he was right?'' A small voice at the back of my mind said.

I looked back at the pithos. ''Hope stayed in Pandora's box.'' I stated.

Prometheus smiled and handed me the jar. ''I give you this to remember the true nature of the gods. Keep Eelpis, the spirit of hope, but once you've seen enough death and destruction, let her go. Give up hope, and I will know you surrendered. I promise you Kronos will spare the survivor.''

A horrible feeling crept inside of me. The tentation to open it was strong, and I guessed Pandora was a hyperactive like me. What if this was what the prophecy was talking about? My choice to keep the jar sealed or not. ''I don't want your gift.'' I finally settled.

Prometheus got up, followed by the hyperborean, the empousa and Ethan. ''It's too late now. Goodbye Perseus Jackson.''

''This guy sounded like a meanie!'' A voice from behind us exclaimed. Thalia, Grover and I turned around at the same time to see Zoe, her hands on each side of her waist, a pout on her face and her green eyes shining in anger. I recognized that stance and that demeanor, almost instantly, and so did Grover and Thalia apparently as we all let out a small chuckle. This looked exactly like what Annabeth did after she saw me doing something stupid. As you can probably guess, she hit that stance a lot!

(Sorry if it took too long. I'll try to upload another chapiter in the next few day.)