Nothing is mine.

And How Can Man Die Better?

Hunch-backed harpies sat on the supports of the bridge, staring down with sharp, dark eyes through the fading fog.

'Won't be long,' Thalia said, pointing her spear at the gathering horde on the far side of the bridge. 'They always attack as soon as the bridge is clear.'

'And them?' Annabeth eyed the harpies with a glint of worry in her grey eyes. 'I designed a cage for the other bridge to keep those out during the fight. There's enough bits of car and building lying around for Hephaestus's children to make another here. Thalia can't keep exhausting herself to drive them off.'

Clarisse snorted. 'If it keeps them out, how do we fight?'

'It goes over the top,' Annabeth said. 'Like a helmet. They can still get in along the ground to the front of the phalanx.'

'Do it, princess.' Clarisse shrugged and leant on her spear. 'I've been clawed twice by them already and it's not much fun.'

'Be wary of Luke.' Annabeth's hand slipped to the knife at her hip. 'He carries the Blessing of the Styx, like Achilles he will have a weak spot, but I don't know how it works. Mother wouldn't tell me anything.'

'He is bound to the mortal world,' Percy said. 'If he forsakes that bond, he will die. And given he's over there and Thalia is over here...'

How can he not have forsaken whoever it is, doing what he's doing?

'Me?' Thalia scowled. 'What have I got to do with it?'

'Well…' He shot her half a grin. 'There's only one thing we have that's strong enough to endure after death and he seemed really glad I saved you from the camp garden centre.'

What?' she demanded. 'What is it?'

Annabeth chewed her lip. 'Love. It's love, isn't it.'

'Ten points to Owlclaw.' Percy chuckled. 'Annabeth's right. Avoid Luke if you can. Leave him to me.'

'How do you know?' Annabeth whispered. 'Percy, you didn't know anything about this when we were in the Underworld, how do you suddenly know?'

'Ah, well, see—' Percy eyed her feet and took a small step back '—I remembered what you said about Achilles knowing and got Nico to take me to see Achilles before he dropped me back off here. He told me about it.'

She balled her fists. 'And then you did something stupid, didn't you? If you'd just asked, you wouldn't be backing away like you were expecting me to want to pummel your stupid kelp-face…'

'I figured out why you kept calling me kelp-brain.' A small smile crept onto his face and he reached out, wrapping his fingers around Clarisse's spearhead and clenching his hand; the skin between his shoulders tingled and prickled. 'So leave Luke to me.' Percy opened his hand, displaying the bare, unmarked skin of his palm.

Annabeth kicked him in the shin with a low growl. 'You complete utter ass. You didn't even say a word! It was just take Annabeth back, Nico, she's hurt and then you went and tried to kill yourself!'

'I'm still alive.'

'You came back from Ogygia in complete denial!' Her voice climbed an octave. 'There's no way you went into that river thinking you were coming back out for sure!'

'Actually, I never even thought about not coming back out,' Percy said. 'I kind of assumed if it went wrong, it'd be later on. Like Achilles. Some sudden, disappointing fall from grace.' He snorted. 'At this rate I'll be wearing those fish pyjamas for it. I borrowed this camp t-shirt from Grover, but there's no way it survives more than a few days with my track record.'

Iphi laughed. 'You are a foolish boy, Percy.' Her eyes strayed to Anaklusmos. 'Don't forsake her.'

Annabeth's grey eyes flashed and she stomped on Percy's foot. 'You stupid, fish-brained idiotic, moron! Not so evil now, is it?!'

'Ow.' Percy stared at his foot in mock horror. 'My mortal point... Annabeth… I always… knew that… you would… betray me...' He clutched his chest and let out a long rattling breath. 'Was it my super hot younger brother nobody knew about that seduced you into it with sweet whispers about Doric columns on the beach? Or did you really just hate my fish pyjamas that much this whole time?'

She flushed. 'Oh Gods above, just shut up.' Her lip trembled. 'I'll kill you for real if you do something stupid. I swear, Barnacle-breath.'

'Good thing you can't anymore.' Percy grinned. 'Sucketh to be thee, Feather-face.'

'You're so stupid!' Annabeth threw her hands up in the air and let out an exasperated sigh. 'I'm not letting you out of my sight. Who knows what idiotic thing you'll do next—'

'Perce.' Thalia pointed across the bridge. 'Trouble.'

A tall figure bearing a white flag strode across the wreckage of the bridge, winding through the burnt-out chassis of cars and vans. The simple grey loose robe hanging off him fluttered in the wind as he grew near, his footsteps thudding through the piles of golden dust, stirring little eddies of it from the scarred, cratered tarmac.

'A titan,' Iphi whispered.

The titan stopped in the middle of the bridge and waved the flag.

'I guess we should go chat,' Percy said. 'Anyone coming with me?'

'Me,' Annabeth snapped.

'The rest of us should stay,' Thalia said. 'Just in case.'

'Alright then.' Percy strode out through the gap between the destroyed SUVs, scuffing his trainers through the golden dust to the centre of the bridge.

The titan's dark eyes tracked him every step of the way.

'Don't do anything stupid,' Annabeth hissed. 'He can't attack us unless challenged, remember.'

'I hadn't forgotten,' he said. 'I'd really rather not get hit by another titan. I could barely scratch Atlas and I had a fair amount of help to do the scratching.'

'Percy Jackson, I presume.' The titan reached out with one hand and thrust the flag through the roof of the SUV with a metallic screech; the white cloth rippled in the breeze upon the bridge. 'I am Prometheus.'

'I can only assume you're here to surrender,' Percy replied. 'I accept. Where's Luke?'

Prometheus laughed. 'Luke is resting. In his stead, I bring my counsel and I come bearing gifts.'

'Beware,' Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear. 'He is cunning. It's a trick.'

'All mortals should be wary when the Gods come to grant them choices.' Prometheus gestured all around him. 'Long ago, against the will of the Gods of Olympus, I brought mortals the gift of fire. Look at all that has been kindled from that spark… I foresaw this greatness when I stole the flame, but I foresaw also the forging of blades and the ensuing slaughter, the burning of homes, temples and cities…'

'We can probably make our own fire now, there's no way Grover doesn't have a lighter stashed somewhere to smoke pot behind the cabins,' Percy said. 'So I hope you've got a new present this time.'

Prometheus reached out one hand, a great rough clay pithos appearing in his grasp. 'I gift you hope, Percy Jackson. And I hope you remember the gift I have given you.'

'Hope…' Percy studied the sealed pithos. 'It's a bit big to easily carry around, you know.'

'Allow me.' Prometheus waved his hand and the pithos shrank to the size of Percy's fist. 'Let me offer you some words with this gift. You have fought hard and well. Yet many times your number still come against you. And soon, Kronos himself rises. The Gods are absent. Hope—' he smiled at the pithos '—is all you have. Do with it as you believe best.'

'That's it?' Percy asked.

'No.' Prometheus tugged the flag from the car and tossed it away, watching it unravel into nothing. 'Hyperion comes to fulfil his king's command. No mortal can defeat one of us, Percy Jackson, not even you…'

Percy watched him walk back down the bridge toward the clustering horde of monsters. 'Well, that was a waste of time.'

'No,' Annabeth murmured, drawing him aside. 'We have hope now. Prometheus gives us an important gift.'

'I thought it was a trap.'

'Perhaps,' she said. 'If you were to unseal and set hope free, we are as likely to lose heart as gain it, and if we do, he could claim to Kronos this was intent all along. But Prometheus did not fight for Kronos when he was toppled before, and spoke of our greatness and gifting us fire against the will of the Gods… And he gives us hope now, when you've returned to hold it for all of us, not before when they were despairing and desperate and more likely to fall for a ruse…'

'So…?' Percy screwed his face up. 'It's not a trap? What do I do with it? Open it? Keep it? Give it to someone?'

Who would I give it to? Artemis? My Dad? Hestia?

'I can hear you trying to wring the kelp out inside that head of yours.' Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'I think he gives you hope so you can prevent Kronos from destroying the greatness he kindled.'

A towering figure in a shining golden loin-cloth and glowing golden helm stepped through the horde. The monsters shrank back from its path, slinking after it as it strode down the bridge.

'Hyperion,' Iphi whispered. 'Distant father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn. There are few titans of his power.'

Annabeth gulped. 'It's impossible to defeat any titan.'

'Impossible is just a word for those who've given up.' Percy's eyes dipped to the pithos.

Don't give up hope, right, Zoë? He pulled Anaklusmos from his pocket and smiled at the bare bronze. I'll keep it. It's my choice. I should choose well, not hide from it.

He pressed the pithos into Annabeth's hands and led her and Iphi back to the phalanx. 'Look after this. Hyperion can't attack us. We just have to defeat the monsters again.'

'Ready?' Clarisse shoved her helm on and bared her teeth. 'My brothers and I are ready. We'll give them nothing but our spears.'

'Annabeth?' Percy poked her in the side.

She jumped. 'Right.' A determined gleam shone in her grey eyes. 'All the other bridges were collapsed except Brooklyn, where everyone else is, and the tunnels are all flooded. They have to come down this bridge or that one. Iphi, you and your sisters focus on the dracaena, stop them shooting at Clarisse and the phalanx. Thalia will protect us from attack from above with her power. Clarisse—'

'I know my job, princess,' Clarisse said, a broad grin beneath her sharp nose. 'We hold the line. Until death.'

'Percy…' Annabeth chewed her lip. 'You stay in reserve.'

'Waterboy again…'

'If the phalanx needs a breather, you can push forward to that gap between the SUVs and the other cars and hold them there,' she said. 'But be careful. You probably chose your mortal point to be your lobster-face or something stupid, so don't get all cocky and stay out in front for ages.'

'I'll be fine, Wise-girl,' Percy murmured. 'I won't die. Not until I forsake the bond.'

And I haven't yet.

Annabeth's lip trembled and she pulled him back through the phalanx's ranks as Hyperion stopped at the centre of the bridge. 'Have you not already?' she whispered. 'What do you think she would say if she knew she was the one? Isn't that forsaking her and what she believed in?'

A cold trickle of dread snaked down Percy's spine. 'As long as it's not selfish, I don't think she'll be offended,' he murmured. 'I hope not, at least.'

I'm sorry if you are. He stared down into the gleaming bronze blade in his hand. I hope I haven't disappointed you.

A flash of bright light caught the corner of his eye; Hyperion drew a burning blade of golden flame from the air and thrust it down the bridge. The monsters surged past him, scrambling over the ruined cars and across the tarmac. Hellhounds streaked out in front, bounding forward in streaks of black fur and blazing red eyes.

'Brace!' Clarisse yelled.

Silver arrows flashed over her red crest, snatching monsters from the wave in puffs of golden dust. The hellhounds burst through the gap in the SUVs and slammed into the front of the phalanx with a deafening crash, clawing and biting, bursting into dust spear thrust by spear thrust.

Annabeth growled. 'Iphigenia! Aim at the dracaena at the back. They'll drown us in arrows if they're not stopped! Kill them as fast as you can!'

Iphi gave her a terse nod and flashed a few hand signs at her sisters, angling her bow up and releasing an arrow high over the bridge. It arced down into the front row of the ranks of dracaena with a flash of gold. A shower of silver shafts rained down after it, tearing holes in the neat files. A ragged handful of dark arrows rose from the dracaena, hissing down onto the phalanx and bouncing off bronze helms and shields.

The rest of the horde clambered over the SUVs and hammered into the bronze hoplons, hissing and spitting and hacking with crude weapons. Harpies and Stymphalian birds streaked down from the sky, diving through the volleys of silver arrows; golden dust showered from the sky like rain.

'Thalia,' Iphi called. 'Above!'

Thalia thrust her spear aloft with a fierce white flash, scattering the flock in all directions and sending scorched feathers floating down into the phalanx.

'Keep going!' Clarisse yelled. 'They will break against our shields like they always do! We will grind every one of them to dust and send them to Tartarus!' Her cleft red crest gleamed in the front rank as she drove her spear into the throat of a cyclops and wrenched it free. 'And if any of you sissies take a step back, I'll make you lick the inside of my armour clean later!'

Percy snorted. 'That's our Clarisse. Inspiring through love and kindness.'

'Shut up,' Annabeth muttered. 'You might need to jump in soon, to force them to break before the weight gets too much for them to hold.'

'I can do that.' He spun Anaklusmos in his hand and took a deep breath. 'Whenever you think's best.'

The horde broke, flooding back through the SUVs toward Hyperion. Silver arrows flashed over the top of the fleeing monsters, snatching dracaena from their neat rows as they marched forward.

Hyperion cut the first empusa in half, slicing through her with one swing of his broad golden blade, and thrust his archaic sword into the bridge, barring their path. 'Thou wilt fight on until they are all dead… or thou art.' His golden eyes blazed bright as the sun. 'I will not brook disobedience from a single one of thee.'

The dracaena raised their bows and Percy thrust his thyreos over Annabeth's head; dark shafts showered down, pinging off his drakonscale shield and bouncing off his shoulder. A sharp gasp rang across the bridge and one of Iphi's sisters slid off the top of the car, an arrow sticking out from above her collarbone. Another clutched at the arrow stuck through her bleeding arm, tears in her eyes.

'Get back! Get back against the walls!' Iphi leapt from the roof of her ruined car and ushered her sisters back against the sides of the streets. 'But keep shooting at them! If you can fire an arrow, keep shooting!'

Silver arrows flashed back down the bridge, but the dracaena's arrows arced over the SUVs into the upraised hoplons of Clarisse's phalanx, drumming on them like heavy rain and bouncing off to the ground. Shields dropped and the phalanx shivered, shrinking, withering beneath the torrent of arrows.

'Stay close together!' Clarisse yelled. 'Fill in any gaps!' An arrow thunked into the crest of her helm and stuck there. 'Honour and immortality!'

'They're coming back!' Thalia called.

'Brace!' Clarisse ordered. 'Front rank shields down with me. Second rank cover us from behind with your shields as best you can.'

An arrow punched through her bicep, spraying red across the bronze hoplon behind her, and a second tore a thin line across the cheek guard of her helm. Clarisse snapped the arrow in her arm off and thrust her spear into the air; blood soaked her sleeve, spreading down to her shoulder.

'Father!' She yelled. 'Witness our glory!'

A beautiful death. Percy smoothed a soft ripple of rage out into cool, clear calm. No, Clarisse. Not today.

He stepped forward.

'Not yet!' Annabeth cried. 'Wait until they hit the phalanx.'

'No.' Percy shook his head, shoving his way through and out the front, ignoring the arrows hammering into his chest and stomach and the fierce tingle of the handprint upon his back. 'I'll stop this now. Nobody else dies.'

He drew the sea back within himself, pulled it up and up, sweeping it into a towering steaming wall of cold black water so high it scraped the sky.

Bring it down, Percy. As I brought low the walls of Troy. His father's words hung in the looming shadow of the wave, hovering upon the foaming peak, soft as the wisps of pale smoke curling from its crest. Show them the strength of the sea. Shatter this little strip of stone and steel. Send them to the depths.

Hellhounds streaked forward before the thundering horde, their burning red eyes fixed on him.

Percy thrust Anaklusmos forward and let the wave break.

A ripple of force tore through the bridge, throwing the horde to its knees; the cables snapped in metallic twangs, lashing through the rows of dracaena in gushes of gold, and the left hand column shattered, toppling like a tree into the river with a huge splash. Manhattan bridge groaned and the left side slumped into the river with a vast splash; the monsters slid into the water, scrabbling at the tarmac. Hyperion leapt twenty metres into the air and landed atop the narrow side as the bridge sank into the water. A hundred hands veiled in tattered seaweed and streams of silver bubbles seized hold of the thrashing monsters, dragging them down into the dark past the furious blue eyes and wild hair of the river god.

Hyperion's burning gold eyes bored into Percy as the river rose past his feet, hissing and bubbling against his bronze skin; clouds of steam poured off him as it rushed past his waist. He raised his bright sword high above his gleaming golden helm and swept it forward.

The monsters on the far side clustered at the edge, shoving cars off the broken road onto the sunken bridge, piling them above the swirling river water. Harpies swarmed around a yellow bus, hoisting it aloft and dropping it into the shallow water rushing over the bridge's edge. The river poured through its windows and doors and the bus trembled and wobbled, but held firm, its yellow roof sticking up above the water.

Dracaena leapt down onto the cars, prowling forward across the top of the bus as the harpies flooded back toward the road.

They're going to keep coming. As long as Hyperion is here, they're just going to keep coming until there are none of us left.

Percy glanced back over his shoulder.

Clarisse grit her teeth as Thalia tied a severed hoodie sleeve around her bicep. Her brothers nursed arrow wounds, slashes and gashes, wolfing down sandwiches from the ruined shops along the street; a handful of them lay upon their hoplons at the edge of the road, pale and still. Iphi's sisters huddled around their fallen friend, battered, bruised and bloodied.

They fought bravely. He pressed Anaklusmos against his forehead and took a long shaky breath. It's my turn now.

'Percy!' Annabeth yelled, cradling the pithos against her stomach. 'Don't you dare!'

He shot her a grin. 'You can come with me the moment you learn to walk on water, Wise-girl.'

'You can't defeat a titan,' she yelled, 'it's impossible!'

Iphi stared past the phalanx from within the huddle of her sisters, her bow in her hands and a soft gleam in her brown eyes.

Percy read the words she mouthed under her breath with a small smile. Impossible is just a word for those who've given up. He raised the blade to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the cool bronze. Be brave.

He turned and leapt down onto the water; it shivered, turning still as stone and clear as glass beneath his feet.

Hyperion's archaic guardless golden blade stretched as long as Percy was tall, shivering with heat upon the titan's shoulder; the river steamed and hissed upon his bare bronze skin, bubbling and boiling around him.

He looks a lot scarier than Atlas did. Fear trickled through his veins in little washes of ice. And this time it's just me. And fighting Atlas didn't exactly go well.

The river god stared up from beneath the surface, his long blue hair streaming away toward the sea. 'Son of Poseidon,' he whispered through the rush of the waters, thrusting half a hundred hands up at Hyperion's blazing golden figure. 'You helped scour those who have tainted my waters from this world, delivering them to my arms. A debt is owed, Prince of the Sea. Though I cannot hold him for long, you will not fight this foe alone.'

I can do this. Cold dread pooled in his stomach, but he dragged his eyes away from the shimmering heat of Hyperion's archaic curving blade. Be brave. He clutched Anaklusmos's hilt tight in sweat-slicked fingers and sucked in a deep breath, his pounding heart echoing in his ears. Don't disappoint them.

'Hyperion!' Percy levelled Anaklusmos at the titan's chest and strode across the river, drawing all the sea he could seize hold of back into a tight ball within his chest.

'I am the light beholden to this world. More than the sun, the moon, or the breaking of dawn. I came before and stand above all thy kind hath ever seen and I will be here after all thou hath known is gone. A mote of dust should not dare to challenge the brilliance that illuminates its brief dance through existence.' Hyperion's golden eyes glowed with furious contempt as he raised the sword in mock salute before his simple gold helm. 'I will send thy severed head to Kronos, foolish little godling. The dogs will feast on the rest of thee.'

'I think that counts as animal cruelty,' Percy replied. 'I don't have any dogs, mom thinks they're too messy to have in the flat, but I could probably ask dad to find me some sharks or something if being eaten is your preferred funeral arrangement?'

Hyperion lifted the blazing sword from his shoulder; bright flame burst from his helm, trailing it in shimmering flowing golden swirls. 'Insolence.' Flurries of light whirled in his sword like eddies of liquid amber. 'Thy tongue will be the first thing the mongrels eat. I will cut it from thy mouth with mine own hand.'

The river god surged from the depths beneath Hyperion, driving Ethan's xiphos through the titan's left shoulder. The point burst through the bronze skin beneath his collarbone and golden ichor splashed into the river. Hyperion let out a sharp cry, staggering forward, but the river god seized hold of his legs and waist with all his hundred arms and held him fast upon the sunken bridge edge.

Percy leapt forward, ducking the slash of the golden sword; its searing heat whispered past the nape of his neck. Cold adrenaline flooded through his veins, washing through his hammering heart in a wave of ice. He thrust Anaklusmos at Hyperion's chest.

The blade pierced Hyperion's raised left hand and the titan snarled, ripping Anaklusmos from Percy's fingers with a spray of ichor and bringing his golden blade hissing back around.

Percy leapt back, snatching himself away from the sword like a shell swept out to sea on the tide.

Golden light swirled and danced within the shivering blazing heat of the blade as it hissed past his face, bright as dawn.

Anaklusmos sprang back into Percy's hand and he slashed at Hyperion's left hand, forcing it down into the water in a spray of golden ichor. The river god grabbed the bronze limb with a dozen hands and yanked, dragging Hyperion toward the edge of the ruined bridge.

Hyperion drove his blade into the waters, shoving it deep into the metal bridge; the river god flinched from its heat as the seaweed cape blistered and burst, and steam billowed up from around the blade.

'When Kronos reclaims his throne—' Hyperion set his feet, straining against the river god's grip, and tugged his blade back out '—I will sear this pathetic stream dry forever and smile as thou fade from existence, little river spirit.'

The river god's arms tightened in gush of small silver bubbles, but Hyperion remained still as stone, every sinew standing out beneath his bright golden armour, and the river god's pale skin burnt, blistering and bubbling like melting plastic.

Percy threw the full force of the sea at Hyperion, hurling the wave into every swing of his sword.

Hyperion swatted his strikes aside with a sneer and shoved his fist into Percy's chest, sending him stumbling to his knees on the water. The tip of his blade blurred forward and slammed into Percy's ribs, driving the wind from him and sending the drakonscale thyreos skipping across the river; it sank beneath the water into the gloom. 'Thou art a strong little godling, son of Poseidon, but just a mortal in the end and thy strength hath run dry.'

Percy took a deep breath and poked a finger through the scorched hole in his shirt. 'You missed.' The sea trickled through his fingers, dwindling away like a cup of water poured onto hot summer sands. 'I'm not dead yet.'

But I can't beat him. He's too strong. Too fast. And this is when he's only got one arm and can't move. His heart sank, drifting down into the cold deep dark beneath the sea, crushed into the depths by all the weight of the waves and ground into less than a grain of sand. How am I meant to win?

Hyperion's golden eyes burnt with fury. 'The blessing of the Styx. But I am still above any strength thy can muster, thou are but a mote of dust before me.'

He's right.

The river god stared up from beneath the waves, the pale skin of his arms raw and weeping, streams of ichor curling from his wounds into the current. He fixed his furious blue gaze on Hyperion's right arm.

But I don't have to be stronger. He tugged his heart back up from beneath the endless flood of black. No mortal can defeat a titan, but I just have to get his hand close to the river for a moment. Percy clawed what remained of the sea up, clutching the dregs of his power tight in his fist, and pushed himself to his feet. Stand or fall. And I won't fall. I promised.

'At least I don't have a sword sticking out of me,' he said. 'Actually, mom made me swear not to get a piercing until I was twenty-one, so I can't let you stab me at all.'

Hyperion's eyes flashed. 'Thy mocking words are unwise, little godling.' Bright wisps of golden light flickered along the length of his blade. 'When Kronos is crowned, thou wilt have eternity to rue thy insolence. And even when thy eternity is done, thy name and deeds long forgotten, I will still stand above this world.'

'I'm not well known for my wisdom,' Percy admitted, weighing Anaklusmos in his hand. 'But I'm not planning on letting Kronos be crowned, so none of that other stuff is going to happen either…'

'I will melt the flesh from thy bones.' Hyperion raised his blade, tongues of flame ripping along it, and the flowing swirls of light trailing from his helms burst forth in bright stabbing rays. 'Thou wilt burn forever in the afterlife. And for all thy eternity, any who see thee will know thee by thy fate and pity thee thy impudence.'

Percy leapt forward, bringing Anaklusmos down at Hyperion's head. His blade hammered into Hyperion's, forcing it down a couple of inches.

'There is one bit of thee that bleeds, little godling.' Hyperion's lips curled into a sneer and he twisted his great sword, turning the burning hot edge toward Percy's neck. 'And though thy thoughts and secrets are shadows to me, I will find it.'

Too late. Percy threw the sea forward, shoving Hyperion's burning blade a few inches further toward the steaming, roiling waters.

The river god lunged, seizing hold of Hyperion's arm with a score of limbs and dragging it down into the waves. The light of the golden blade burnt below the surface and the water bubbled and boiled, releasing clouds of steam in a fierce hiss.

Percy wrapped both hands around Anaklusmos and swung with all his strength.

The blade sheared into Hyperion's neck, sticking fast in his spine; golden ichor fountained into the waters, the fierce rays of light cresting his helm faded and the burning blade's flames guttered out, crumbling into dark dust.

'What… shame,' Hyperion spluttered, spitting steaming ichor into the water with a bitter sneer. 'What… unbearable… shame.'

Percy grabbed the forehead of his helm, forcing Anaklusmos through his neck and out the other side. The river god ripped Hyperion's corpse away and cast the crumbling body into the depths with a wordless cry of triumph, lifting Percy back up to the bridge upon the open palms of a dozen scorched hands.

Silence hung over the shattered bridge.

Shining, steaming ichor dripped from Anaklusmos onto the tarmac, each drop of gold as loud as the splash of a stone cast into still waters, and Percy's heart thundered in his ears, pounding in his chest. Awestruck wide eyes stared back from beneath bronze helms and from the quiet streets beyond as the harpies perched upon the lampposts and traffic lights fled, scattering in a ragged flock of fearful wingbeats.

Hyperion's severed head crumbled to dust in his hand.

'Strategos,' Clarisse whispered, sinking to one knee; the cloven red crest of her helm fluttered as she bowed.

Her brothers knelt around her, lowering their heads. Thalia, Iphi and their sisters followed them down one by one along the road.

No father was more proud of his son, Percy. His dad's words broke upon his ears like the crash of the storm, a rush of fierce feeling as strong as its howling winds. Not one. Heracles stood alone among mortal heroes for aeons. No longer.

A small smile crept onto Percy's lips. Thanks, dad. He clutched Anaklusmos tight in his hand, a hot lump swelling in his throat. I hope I made them proud.

'You killed a titan… An immortal…' Annabeth glanced around and dropped to one knee. 'Hyperion is… That's - it's… it's impossible.' She swallowed and offered the pithos up to him with trembling hands, chewing at her lip. 'It's impossible…'

'Impossible is just a word for those who've given up hope.' The words tumbled from Percy's lips as he stared at the rough clay pithos, fading to a whisper. 'Don't give up hope…'

He spared a glance for the gold smeared along Anaklusmos and at the small pile of dust beside his feet on the tarmac. But it is impossible for a mortal to kill a titan alone. I didn't really defeat him. It was the river god who held him back. Not me. Percy took the pithos and tucked it under his arm, a tight ball of water churned with bitter waves. All I did was swing a sword and be brave. That's all. And you all did that too.

'They can't attack here anymore. The river won't let them.' The last of the adrenaline drained away and his heartbeat stilled; a dull ache crept into his limbs, settling into a sharp raw twinge deep within his muscles. 'You should guard the other bridge if you can still fight.'

'Yes, strategos.' Clarisse pounded her spear on the tarmac and grimaced; fresh blood spread across her sleeve as she picked herself up. 'Come on, little brothers, get up, the battle isn't done yet.'

'You destroyed the entire bridge and killed Hyperion.' Thalia shook her head. 'Perce, that's insane.' She hauled herself up on the SUV and flashed him a grin. 'I told you that it had to be you.'

It doesn't have to be me. Percy drifted through the kneeling children of Ares and down the street past Artemis's bowing companions on shaking, trembling legs. It just should be me. A little ripple of anxiety swept through him. Don't think about any of that. Just choose well.

'Let Percy be,' Annabeth said behind him as he staggered toward the park. 'He's probably exhausted. Leave him to rest.'

The small cluster of silver tents sat amidst quiet green, surrounded by the soft rustle of the trees and gentle birdsong. Its peace eased the worry, balmed the anxious little waves tugging at his heart.

Percy stumbled through it and sagged down beside the cold ashes of the firepit. 'Hestia,' he whispered, setting the pithos down beside it. 'I entrust this to you.'

'Why do you offer this to me, Percy?' Little tongues of flame sprang up from the ashes and soft warm arms drew his head down onto her lap. 'Hope was given to you. Is it not yours to keep?'

'I don't know,' he said, wrestling with a niggle of doubt. 'I mustn't give it up, but I don't think I should keep it all to myself. It's meant to be for everyone, isn't it? And I think you're much less likely to make a mistake with it than I am, so it seems better to give it to you.'

Hestia's orange eyes glowed warm as the dwindling embers of summer beach bonfires as she lifted the pithos from the ground and set it in the flames. 'There,' she murmured as it crumbled away. 'Now all those who hold me dear may find hope with me.'

The niggle of doubt faded like ripples upon a pond.

Hestia reached out and pulled a slim stick from the fire, blowing upon its tip. The little dancing tongue of flame there swelled white-hot and Percy's dripping drakonscale thyreos appeared on the ground before her bare feet. She drew the tip of her stick across it, tracing letters of burning orange flame down the thick, dark spine of the shield with a soft smile on her lips.

'Elpis.' She poked the stick back into the flames and ran her warm fingers through his hair. 'Hope was gifted to you, Percy. You should keep a little for yourself.'

'Keep it?' Percy watched the word glow through heavy eyelids. 'What does it do?'

'It is as much aid as I am able to give you.' Hestia shifted on her white cushion, cradling his head in her lap as ran her hand through his hair. 'And it is for you, Percy. Don't give up hope, remember. You need only stand tall a little longer now.'

'I won't forget. I promised—' A yawn swallowed his words and soft warm darkness tugged at his thoughts. 'I think I'm about to fall asleep...'

'Then rest,' she murmured, her words as soft as his mom's quiet humming as she baked in the little kitchen of the flat. 'There is nothing to fear with me. No need to be brave. Sleep easy, Percy. Sleep well.'

AN: Check out the linktree to find all my other stuff, the Discord for an early access chapter, and how to support me and read all my original

works . linktr . ee / mjbradley