──── chapter thirteen

{ 🔮 }  · till your bones break . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪

THE HORRIBLE THING WAS: Endora could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoë, the same cold proud look in his eyes that Zoë sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times more evil. 

"Let Artemis go," Zoë demanded.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Zoë opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers. "Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility." 

Endora looked at Annabeth. She was desperately trying to tell them something. She motioned her head toward Luke and Alabaster. But all the girl could do was stare at her. She hadn't noticed before, but something about her had changed. Her blond hair was now streaked with gray. 

"From holding the sky," Thalia muttered, as if she'd read my mind. "The weight should've killed her."

"I don't understand," Percy said. "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 Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."

He approached them, studying Endora, Thalia and Percy. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."

"Fight us," Percy said. "And let's see."

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead." he looked towards Endora, "And family issues resolve within each other."

"So you're another coward," Percy said. 

Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia. "As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed. He looked terribly weak, and he spoke every word as if it were painful. If Endora didn't hate his guts so much, she almost would've felt sorry for him. "Thalia, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

He waved his hand, and next to us a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for the Ophiotaurus. 

"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods." 

"Luke. . ." her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world!"

Thalia shook her head. "Free Annabeth. Let her go."

"If you join me," Luke promised, "it can be like old times. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia, if you don't agree. . ." his voice faltered. "It's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."

Endora didn't know what he meant, but the fear in his voice sounded real enough. If she couldn't see past his facade, Endora might have believed that Luke was in danger. He tried to act as if his life depended on Thalia's joining his cause. And Endora was afraid Thalia might believe it, too.

"Do not, Thalia," Zoë warned. "We must fight them."

Luke waved his hand again, and a fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.

"Thalia," Endora said firmly, her voice laced with charmspeak she learned from the Aphrodite children. "Don't."

Behind Luke, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, Endora saw images in the mist all around them: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around them, made of fear and shadow.

"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, in a voice so strained it was hardly his. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak."

He pointed toward the ocean, and my heart fell. Marching up the side of the mountain, from the beach where the Princess Andromeda was docked, was a great army. Dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and much more. And they were marching toward them. In a few minutes, they would be here.

"This is only a taste of what is to come," Luke said. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help."

For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Luke, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she leveled her spear. "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."

"Yes, you do, Thalia," he pleaded. "Please. Don't make me. . . Don't make him destroy you." 

There was no time. If that army got to the top of the hill, they would be overwhelmed. Endora met Annabeth's eyes again. She nodded. She looked at Percy, Thalia and Zoë, and decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this.

"Now," Percy said.

Together, they charged.  

Thalia went straight for Luke. The power of her shield was so great that his dragon women bodyguards fled in a panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone. But despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.

As for Percy, he did the stupidest thing in his life Endora had ever seen, which is saying a lot. The boy attacked the Titan Lord Atlas. He laughed as Percy approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armor. "Go on, then!"

"Percy!" Zoë said. "Beware!"

Endora, however, swiftly moved out of her place, letting the energy from the spell hit the wall behind her, a place where her face was seconds ago. She didn't waste any moments, sending one her own towards the brunette boy. She didn't hesitate to fire a string of hexes and jinxes that first came to her mind, seeing as her brother didn't show any mercy with her own magic. This was not her brother. He had changed in such a short time. He became someone she didn't know. He became something she feared. Alabaster sent a stunning spell towards her, but she dodged it. Flashes of green, yellow, red and blue were exchanged between the siblings, none of them backing down.

"Dora, my sister," Alabaster tried to taunt her, which was doing its job really well, "I missed you."

"Hell you did," Endora said, sending a stunning spell his way.

"That's not a way to treat a family," her brother said, smirking slightly at her state. Endora's jacket was long forgotten somewhere, exposing her black veins, "I know you well, Dora. I know what is your weakness and what is your power. I know you."

"You think so? Remember that I'm the one who thought you what you know," Endora said, her hands covered in black mist, her brain swirling with laughter and her breath uneven, "Remember that I'm the first child of Hecate here. I'm more then you'll ever be."

Alabaster's eyes narrowed and his hand's sparked blue. He trusted it forward, knocking Endora off her feet, but she didn't back down. She caught herself before she hit the ground, sending black mist towards her brother, lifting him up before dropping his body. The boy didn't back down.

"I know you better then you know yourself, Ally," Endora said, rolling to her left as her brother sent a hex at her, "I know you like your coffee with extra shot of vanilla. How you like you add sugar to your lavender tea, which is your favorite."

"Shut up!"

Endora got back to her feet, her blood boiling but she didn't care, "I know you like brewing potions more then creating spells and how you like to seal all your bottles."

"Things change." her brother said, "And so do people."

"This is not you, Ally," Endora said and groaned. She held the side of her head. "You'll never get that approval of our mother like this. She doesn't want her children fighting one another."

Alabaster grinned a bit, "You think so? Mum's thinking about joining this side," her brother said and Endora, for a split second stopped, "The winning side."

Endora started at her brother, ""What?"

Her brother hummed, "Kronos has offers she can't resist."

"That's not true."

"Come on, Dora, we both know mother doesn't care for us." Alabaster went on, "If she cared, she would have stopped me from joining. She would have stopped that spirit from attaching itself to you. But she didn't. She knows what will happen, yet she doesn't want to interfere."

Endora knew that gods were selfish. They only cared for themselves and nothing else. They used their children to do their work while they helped if the help is needed. But deep down, the girl wanted to believe her mother truly cared for her children. And maybe she did. After all, Hecate had a face of a Mother within her three faces.

"I don't know you anymore." Endora said sadly, "You chose a side that gives you power you desire, but makes you fight those you share blood with. You're not a person I got to know these past few years. You choose the easy way out. But I can tell you, it will hunt you in the future. You're a traitor. You're not my brother. You're nothing to me."

Alabaster faltered for a second but that quickly went away. Rage and anger overcame his body, his fingers catching in blue spark before sending them at his sister, this time knocking her completely of her feet. She threw a spell after spell as she crawled away, but every time she did, her brother would send another one at her.

By the time Endora managed to get to her feet, the space between them was closing slowly and slowly. Behind her, she heard Thalia cry out in pain, and her mind stopped for a moment. She couldn't loose her friends. She couldn't loose any of her family. She couldn't loose this battle.

He inched closer to her and Endora felt she had nowhere to go. Turning her back would be a suicide. She couldn't slip behind a pillar or a wall because they were all reduced to rubble. The space was closing in and her brother was within ten feet of her. She was starting to panic. She didn't know any spells that could get her out of there. She did everything she new. But she still tried.

Let me help you, a voice in her mind said. Let me help you experience real power. Let me help you win. Endora couldn't let that happen. She will not let the Hollow have her. But she was so tired of fighting against her brother. She was too tired of this whole thing.

But Endora Prince will not back down.

The girl threw yet another stunning spell at her brother, but he knew what she would do. He disarmed her and she wanted to cry there and then. But, she didn't. She never would. She was foolish to think she could save the others when she couldn't even save herself. She knew nothing of this world. She was still a young witch even after practicing magic for years. There was more to her knowledge, things she didn't experience.

After all, life at Camp never gave her any chances to learn more.

Alabaster grinned and with just a flick of his wrist, Endora soared though the air.

Her spine cracked as she hit the stone and her body collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. Her hair flew around her and her beautiful pale skin was now caked in dirt, dust and blood. She felt a pain like she never felt before and her vision blurred. She tasted a metallic taste spread in her mouth and a wet substance leaked out of the corner of her mouth.

Endora laid hopeless and in agony and her part of the prophecy fulfilled.

And one shall experience magical pain.

Every muscle in Percy's body turned to fire. His bones felt like they were melting. He wanted to scream, but he didn't have the strength to open his mouth. Percy began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing him.

Fight back! Grover's voice said inside his head. Don't give up.

The boy concentrated on breathing. If he could just keep the sky aloft a few more seconds. Percy thought about Bianca, who had given her life so they could get here. If she could do that, he could hold the sky. 

Percy's vision turned fuzzy. Everything was tinged with red. He caught glimpses of the battle, but the boy wasn't sure if he was seeing clearly. There was Atlas in full battle armor, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And Artemis, a blur of silver. She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Or perhaps that was just my fevered brain. Zoë shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.

Thalia and Luke went spear on sword, lightning still flashing around them. Thalia pressed Luke back with the aura of her shield. Even he was not immune to it. He retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.

"Yield!" Thalia yelled. "You never could beat me, Luke."

He bared his teeth. "Well see, my old friend."

Endora was fighting with her brother, a boy Percy knew she was close to. Flashes of yellow, green, red and many more colors were exchanged between the pair of siblings, and none of them backed down. Endora's hands were enveloped with black mist, her veins black and her eyes almost the same, and for the first time, Percy realized that she was scary when fighting and casting spells. She didn't look like the girl he saw around the Camp ─ always with her siblings, smiling and hanging around with the Hermes Cabin. She was a girl that Percy never wanted to get in fight with because even if he knew his way with sword, with a snap of her fingers, he knew she would end him ─ and that's what scared him, but fascinated him too.

Sweat poured down his face. Percy's hands were slippery. His shoulders would've screamed with agony if they could. He felt like the vertebrae in his spine were being welded together by a blowtorch. Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward Percy.

Get ready, she spoke in his mind.

Percy was losing the ability to think through the pain. His response was something like Agggghh-owwwwwwww.

"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."

He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. Percy saw the trick coming. Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" Zoë screamed. She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks. Percy wanted to shout her name, run to her aid, but he couldn't speak or move. He couldn't even see where Zoë had landed. Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face. Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.

"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward. 

As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her, Percy saw him coming down on top of him and realized what would happen. The boy loosened his grip on the sky, and as Atlas slammed into him, Percy didn't try to hold on. He let himself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all he was worth. The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" he bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

Percy tried to stand and fell back again, dazed from pain. His body felt like it was burning up. But the sudden flash of blue made his eyes snap towards it. He watched as Endora's body slammed into stone wall, her figure sliding down in a painful manner.

No.

With all his strength left, Percy uncapped his sword and charged at Alabaster. The witch didn't see it coming and as he turned to block it, Percy swung his sword, knocking the boy off his feet. The two boys dueled, one with magic and the other with a weapon. Percy could see that the witch was getting tired and he was happy about it. The fury and wrath he felt in his body couldn't be put to words, but his sword showed it.

"Give up, son of Poseidon," Alabaster said, "This is a war you can't win."

"I say different," Percy said, swinging his sword down at the boy. They were at the edge of a cliff. The brunette boy looked behind him as he sent a jet of blue mist towards Percy, before turning around, grinning and jumping off the edge.

Thalia backed Luke to the edge of a cliff, but still they fought on, next to the golden coffin. Thalia had tears in her eyes. Luke had a bloody slash across his chest and his pale face glistened with sweat. He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Luke's sword spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to his throat. For a moment, there was silence.

"Well?" Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but Percy could hear fear in his voice even from where he was with Endora's head laid in his lap as he held her body in his arms. She was breathing, thankfully, opening her eyes and slowly chewing the ambrosia Percy had given to her from her bag. The boy didn't understand how that was possible, but he didn't want to question it, only glad that she was alive.

Thalia trembled with fury.

Behind her, Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. "Don't kill him!"

"He's a traitor," Thalia said. "A traitor!"

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He. . . he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"

Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear. 

"No!" Annabeth shouted. But it was too late.

Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell.

"Luke!" Annabeth screamed. 

The two girls rushed to the cliff's edge. Below them, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. They were staring at Luke's broken form on the rocks. Percy wanted to believe he was still alive, but that was impossible. The fall was fifty feet at least, impossible to survive.

One of the giants looked up and growled, "Kill them!"

Thalia was stiff with grief, tears streaming down her cheeks. Annabeth pulled her back as a wave of javelins sailed over their heads. They ran for the rocks, ignoring the curses and threats of Atlas as they passed.

"Artemis!" Percy yelled.

The goddess looked up, her face almost as grief-stricken as Thalia's. Zoë lay in the goddess's arms. She was breathing. Her eyes were open. But still. . . The witch slowly rose from where she was in Percy's arms, grinning tightly onto his shoulder for some support. She motioned with her head to go towards them, and even when Percy didn't want her to move, he could see there was no fighting with the girl - she would be stubborn till she got her way.

Placing Endora's arm over his shoulder, Percy placed his around her waist, helping her stand up and walk slowly towards the goddess and the rest.

"The wound is poisoned," Artemis said.

"Atlas poisoned her?"

"No," the goddess said. "Not Atlas."

She showed us the wound in Zoë's side. Percy'd almost forgotten her scrape with Ladon the dragon. Even when Endora had healed the wound, the bite was much worse than Zoë had let on. The magic couldn't heal such wound. And Zoë had charged into battle against her father with a horrible cut already sapping her strength. 

"The stars," Zoë murmured. "I cannot see them."

"Nectar and ambrosia," Percy said and tried to hand some. "Come on! We have to get her some." 

No one moved. Grief hung in air. The army of Kronos was just below the rise. Even Artemis was too shocked to stir. They might've met their doom right there, but then Percy heard a strange buzzing noise. Just as the army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, We must get Zoë and Endora away from here."

She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin. Zoë's eyes were fluttering.

The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. Percy realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's. . . my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement. 

They didn't have time to admire his flying. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. Dr. Chase would be in trouble soon. Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer Percy had ever seen. It landed right next to them.

"Get in," Artemis said.

Annabeth got Thalia on board while Percy helped Endora. Then the boy helped Artemis with Zoë. They wrapped the two girls in blankets as Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Percy murmured, still dazed with pain.

Endora let out a painful laugh and winced afterwards.

Artemis took time to look back at Percy. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

Seeing them safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed them like an honor guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.

Behind the group, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky. 

niki speaks!

my bby getting hurt <<<
percy being overprotective >>>
i love them with my whole heart
can't even say it in words
p.s. i might have foreshadowed something
in this chapter, so pay attention!

driving school is confusing me
as days past and i have two more
weeks of it before the test, is yay!

have a nice day/night!
bye!