The journey to the Garden of the Hesperides had tested them all, but nothing could have fully prepared the group for the sight that met them at the edge of the sacred garden. The Garden was an oasis of lush greenery, golden apples gleaming in the sunlight, but their focus was not on the precious fruit. No, their eyes were fixed on the massive, multi-headed dragon that coiled protectively around the entrance—Ladon.
Ladon was a beast out of nightmares, his one hundred heads weaving through the foliage, each with sharp, glistening fangs and eyes that glowed like embers. The air around them seemed to hum with the low growl emanating from the dragon's throats, and the demigods felt the sheer weight of his presence pressing down on them.
Zoe, standing at the front of the group, took a deep breath. She had expected this. She knew Ladon well—too well. She had once served in this very garden, had once been part of the Hesperides who guarded it. But that was before, before Heracles, before she made a choice that changed everything.
Zoe's hand twitched toward her bow, but Thalia placed a firm hand on her arm, stopping her. "We can't fight him head-on," Thalia whispered urgently. "We'll never win that way."
"Then what do we do?" Reyna asked, her voice tense as she kept her eyes on Ladon's many heads.
Zoe swallowed hard, her mind racing. She had once served in this garden, had once known the secret paths and hidden ways. But that was long ago, and she had been exiled for her betrayal. There was no guarantee that the old paths would still be safe, or even accessible.
But there was one way—a path she had taken before, a path that led directly to the alcove where the weight of the sky rested. It was dangerous, but they had no other choice.
"There's another way," Zoe said quietly, her voice steady despite the fear gnawing at her insides. "A hidden path, one that leads directly to the alcove. But it's risky. We'll have to move quickly and stay close."
Thalia nodded, her eyes hard with determination. "Lead the way."
The group began to make their way around Ladon, using the thick foliage and shadows to conceal their movements. They were careful, every step calculated, every breath measured. But even the most careful plans can go awry.
One of Ladon's heads suddenly snapped in their direction, nostrils flaring as it caught their scent. The dragon's eyes locked onto Zoe, and a low, rumbling growl escaped from all his heads simultaneously.
"Zoe Nightshade," one of Ladon's heads hissed, the voice like gravel grating against stone. "You dare return?"
The other heads joined in, hissing and snarling as they all turned their gaze on her. Zoe froze, her heart hammering in her chest. She had known this was a risk, but facing Ladon again, here in the garden she had betrayed, was more overwhelming than she had anticipated.
Before she could respond, the Hesperides appeared, stepping out from behind the trees like wraiths. Their faces were cold, beautiful, and utterly devoid of the warmth they once held for Zoe. They moved with the grace of goddesses, their golden hair shimmering in the light, but their eyes were hard as they fixed on Zoe.
"Traitor," one of the Hesperides spat, her voice dripping with venom. "You dare return to the garden you betrayed?"
Zoe's breath caught in her throat. She had known this confrontation would come but hearing the hatred in her sister's voice cut deeper than she expected. "I didn't betray you," Zoe said, her voice steady, though her heart was anything but. "I did what I had to do to protect what I believed in."
"You gave Heracles the weapon he used to steal from us!" another Hesperide accused, her eyes flashing with anger. "You sided with a mortal over your own family! You are no sister of ours."
The words struck Zoe like a blow, but before she could respond, Thalia stepped forward, her blue eyes blazing with anger. "Back off!" she snapped, placing herself between Zoe and the Hesperides. "She made a choice, but she's trying to make things right now. We're here to stop Atlas and save Artemis, not to get into some petty fight with you over something that happened ages ago!"
The Hesperides bristled at Thalia's words, but they didn't move to attack. Instead, they glared at Zoe with a mixture of betrayal and disdain.
"Your mortal friend is brave to speak for you," one of the Hesperides said coldly. "But it does not erase what you have done."
Ladon's heads were still focused on Zoe, their growls rumbling through the air like distant thunder. "You betrayed the garden, Zoe Nightshade," one head hissed. "And now you bring mortals here, to desecrate it once more?"
"We're not here for your golden apples," Annabeth interjected, her voice cutting through the tension. "We don't care about your treasures. We're here to stop Atlas and save Lady Artemis. Isn't that more important than holding onto an old grudge?"
The Hesperides exchanged dark looks, clearly torn between their hatred for Zoe and the seriousness of the situation. But Ladon wasn't so easily swayed. His heads coiled tighter around the entrance to the garden, his eyes blazing with fury.
"You will not pass," Ladon growled, his voice like the rumbling of an earthquake. "This garden is sacred, and you are not welcome here."
The roar of battle echoed through the Garden of the Hesperides as Zoe, Thalia, and Reyna squared off against Ladon, the massive dragon guarding the entrance to the alcove. The dragon's one hundred heads snapped and hissed, each one a deadly weapon in its own right. It was a chaotic dance of survival, with the demigods dodging and weaving, trying to avoid the lethal strikes that could end them in an instant.
Annabeth, standing back with Bianca, observed the battlefield with sharp, calculating eyes. There was no way they could win a head-on fight with Ladon—not with his sheer size and the advantage of home turf. But Annabeth wasn't about to let a little thing like a hundred-headed dragon stop them. She had a plan forming in her mind, one that required precision, timing, and a little bit of deception.
"Bianca," Annabeth called, her voice urgent but controlled. "Can you use the Mist to create some illusions? We need to make Ladon think we're everywhere at once."
Bianca nodded, her expression serious. "I can try, but I'll need cover to do it."
"Leave that to me," Annabeth replied, her mind already spinning with possibilities. "Your shadow manipulation will help too. We need to make Ladon see us in multiple places—confuse him long enough to slip past and reach the alcove."
Bianca took a deep breath, focusing on the Mist. She closed her eyes, reaching out with her senses to manipulate the very fabric of reality. The air around them shimmered, and suddenly there were more figures on the battlefield—identical copies of Zoe, Thalia, Reyna, and even Ladon. The illusions darted around, moving with a lifelike fluidity that made it nearly impossible to tell which were real and which were fake.
Bianca then used her shadow manipulation to enhance the confusion, as Annabeth stood guard. She cloaked their real selves in darkness, making it even harder for Ladon to distinguish between illusion and reality. The dragon's heads snapped at the false images, striking out at shadows that vanished as soon as they were touched.
Zoe and Thalia took advantage of the chaos, pressing their attack with renewed vigor. Zoe's arrows flew true, each one charged with Thalia's lightning, sparking explosions on contact. The dragon roared in fury, lashing out blindly at the attackers, but each strike met only air or illusion.
Annabeth darted through the battlefield, her movements swift and calculated. She kept her eyes on Ladon, gauging the dragon's reactions, looking for an opening. The illusions were doing their job—Ladon was growing more frustrated by the second, his heads snapping in all directions as he tried to pin down his elusive foes.
"Bianca, now!" Annabeth shouted, signaling the Greek demigod.
Bianca nodded, her expression focused. With a wave of her hand, she pulled the shadows tighter around them, masking their real movements completely. The battlefield seemed to dissolve into darkness, with only the flickering images of their illusions remaining. Ladon was practically thrashing at this point, his many heads whipping back and forth, his eyes wild with confusion.
It was then that Annabeth made her move. She signaled to Bianca, who had been waiting for the right moment. With a final surge of concentration, Bianca unleashed a powerful wave of Mist manipulation, creating a massive illusion that enveloped the entire garden. It was as if the very ground beneath Ladon's feet shifted, the landscape warping and twisting in ways that made the dragon's senses reel.
Reyna, Zoe, and Thalia exchanged a quick glance, both recognizing the opportunity Annabeth had created. "Let's move!" Zoe urged, her voice sharp with urgency.
The three demigods—Zoe, Thalia, and Reyna—charged forward, their weapons ready as they moved to strike. But instead of attacking Ladon directly, they used the illusions to slip past him, weaving through the chaos and confusion. The dragon, distracted by the seemingly endless copies of his enemies, didn't realize they were bypassing him entirely.
At the last moment, just as they were about to be cornered by one of Ladon's heads, Reyna grabbed hold of Zoe and Thalia, pulling them into the shadows. They vanished from sight, using Reyna's shadow travel ability to reappear on the other side of the dragon, right at the entrance to the alcove.
"Go!" Reyna urged, her voice strained from the effort of the shadow travel. "We're almost there!"
Zoe didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted toward the alcove, her heart pounding in her chest. Thalia and Reyna were right behind her, their breaths coming in ragged gasps as they pushed forward with every ounce of strength they had left.
Annabeth and Bianca stayed behind, continuing to manipulate the Mist and the shadows, keeping Ladon occupied as long as they could. The dragon was still thrashing, trying to swat away the illusions that swarmed around him, but he was losing ground, his movements growing more erratic and desperate.
Finally, Zoe, Thalia, and Reyna reached the alcove, they stumbled inside, gasping for breath, but there was no time to rest. They could still hear the distant roars of Ladon, and they knew they had only moments before he realized he'd been tricked.
"We did it," Reyna panted, her eyes wide with a mix of relief and fear. "But we're not done yet. We still have to get Artemis and Silena out of here."
Zoe nodded, her expression hardening with resolve. "Let's finish this."
Thalia, still catching her breath, gave them both a determined look. "We'll save them. No matter what."
The three of them turned their focus to the task ahead, ready to face whatever came next. They had made it past Ladon, but the real challenge was just beginning. They were in the heart of the garden now, with the weight of the sky resting on their shoulders—literally and figuratively.
Annabeth and Bianca appeared beside Zoe, Thalia, and Reyna in a swirl of shadows, courtesy of Bianca's shadow travel. The moment they landed, the group's eyes were drawn to the scene before them.
In the center of the alcove knelt Artemis, her face set in a grimace of determination as she bore the crushing weight of the sky on her shoulders. Her silver eyes, usually sharp and fierce, were dim with pain, but she held strong, refusing to let the burden break her. Kneeling beside her was Silena, her delicate hands whipping the sweat on Artemis' forehead, softly trying to ease the strain on the Goddess. Silena had clearly stayed beside the Goddess all this time tending to her, for that loyalty Zoe's opinion of the daughter of Aphrodite rose exponentially. Silena's usually kind eyes were narrowed into a furious glare, directed at Luke, who stood a few feet away with that infuriatingly smug look on his face.
The moment they laid eyes on him, Thalia's hand went to her spear, electricity crackling around her like a storm about to break. Annabeth wasn't far behind, her grey eyes blazing with anger as she stepped forward, her voice cold and cutting.
"Luke," Annabeth spat, her voice dripping with venom. "I should have known it would be you behind this. Poisoning Thalia while she was a tree? Even for you, that's low."
Luke's expression didn't falter. If anything, the smirk on his face grew wider. "Annabeth, Thalia… it's so good to see you again," he said, his voice oozing false charm. "I was hoping we'd get a chance to talk."
"Talk?" Thalia's voice was a growl, her knuckles white around her spear. "You mean like how you talked me into trusting you, only to stab us all in the back?"
Annabeth felt her heart twist at the sight of Luke, at how familiar and yet foreign he had become. The boy she'd once looked up to, trusted, even loved in a way, was gone. All that was left was this twisted version of him, standing with the enemy.
Luke's eyes flickered with something—regret, maybe, or guilt—but it was gone in an instant, replaced by that same calculating look he always wore. "You don't understand, Thalia," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I did what I had to do. The gods… they don't care about us. They use us, throw us away when we're no longer useful. I'm trying to change that, to build a world where we're not just pawns in their games."
"You're trying to build a world where you're in charge," Annabeth snapped, her voice laced with bitterness. "This isn't about justice, Luke. This is about power."
"And I suppose the gods are so much better?" Luke shot back, his smirk finally fading as anger crept into his tone. "They've been playing their games for eons, and we're the ones who pay the price. Look at Artemis, reduced to this," he gestured to the goddess, struggling under the weight of the sky. "She's a goddess, yet even she isn't immune to the whims of fate."
Thalia stepped forward, her spear sparking dangerously. "You can try to justify it all you want, but we're not falling for your lies again. We're not joining you, Luke. You betrayed us—betrayed everything we stood for."
Annabeth's heart pounded in her chest as she glared at Luke, her hands trembling with the urge to do something, anything to wipe that smug look off his face. "You poisoned Thalia," she repeated, her voice trembling with barely restrained fury. "While she was defenseless. How could you do that?"
Luke's gaze softened for a moment, and for a split second, Annabeth saw a glimpse of the boy she had once known. "I'm sorry, Annabeth," he said quietly, and for a moment, she almost believed him. But then his eyes hardened again, and the cold mask was back. "But this is bigger than us. I'm offering you a chance to be part of something great, something that will change the world. Don't you see? We can do better than this—better than them."
Thalia's eyes flashed with something like pain, but it was quickly overtaken by rage. "We don't want any part of your twisted vision, Luke," she said, her voice like ice. "And we'll stop you, whatever it takes."
Luke's smirk returned, colder this time. "I was afraid you'd say that," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "But no matter. If you won't join me, you'll be just another obstacle to overcome."
As the tension between the old friends simmered, Bianca, Zoe, and Reyna had moved to Artemis' side, their faces filled with concern as they looked at the Goddess who had given them so much. Zoe's heart ached to see her lady brought so low, and she exchanged a look with Bianca and Reyna, knowing what needed to be done.
"We have to get Atlas to take back his burden," Zoe whispered, her voice filled with urgency. "It's the only way to free Artemis."
Reyna nodded, determination hardening her features. "But how? He's not just going to hand it over."
"We'll have to make him," Bianca said, her voice steady despite the gravity of the situation.
But before they could move to act, a cold wind swept through the alcove, and the very air seemed to darken. The shadows deepened, and a figure loomed at the entrance, his presence suffocating.
Atlas.
The Titan of Endurance and the bearer of the sky stood before them, his massive form radiating power and malice. His eyes gleamed with a cruel light as he took in the scene before him, his lips curling into a menacing smile.
"Well, well," Atlas rumbled, his voice like an earthquake. "What do we have here?"