XXXI

THEY HAD REACHED THE SUMMIT. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress.

Artemis.

Her legs were bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. Above her, she was holding up something. A roof of some sort.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis stopped her,

"Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Selena had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."

They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

Selena met her grey eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. However, there was just one message she was sending to Selena: RUN

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

Thalia spat at him.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," Percy paused, "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at him. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the Gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe" Percy said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter." 

Percy and Selena frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

The horrible thing was, Selena could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same cold proud look in his eyes that Zoe sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times more evil. 

"Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded.

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

Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoe! 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."

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

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

"I don't understand," Percy commented, "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 the foursome, studying 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."

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

Selena's eyes widened, he was good at getting on the bad side of powerful beings.

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. Selena almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

"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."

"Thals, don't." Selena looked towards the daughter of Zeus.

"Selena, I still don't get it." She looked back over at her old friend, "You still haven't been claimed yet your loyalties stay with the gods. What have they ever done for you?"

"Luke..." Thalia pulled Selena behind her, "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 and Selena join me," Luke promised, "it can be like old times. The four 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."

Selena didn't know what he meant, but the fear in his voice sounded real enough. She believed that Luke was in danger.

His life depended on Thalia's joining his cause. And Selena was afraid Thalia might believe it, too.

"Do not, Thalia," Zoe 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," Selena grabbed her friend's wrist, "No."

Behind Luke, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, Selena saw images in the mist all around us: 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 Selena's 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 other things she couldn't even name. The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds, many more than Selena had seen on board last summer. 

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. Selena met Annabeth's eyes again from over Thalia's shoulder. She nodded.

Selena looked at Thalia, Zoe, and Percy before she decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this.

Percy looked at her and nodded

"Now," he said.

Together, they charged.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top