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FIC: The Final Sacrifice, chpt 17
Title: The Final Sacrifice (Daughter of Wisdom 5)
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, Charles Beckendorf/Silena Beauregard, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, OCs, multiple others
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Word Count: WIP, estimated 100K+ (3334 chapters planned)
Summary: The war on Olympus is heating up, and Annabeth Chase is right in the thick of it. Bad enough that she's gearing up for battle while wrestling with the emotional turmoil over two of her dearest friends that is turning her heart inside out. She doesn't need more mysterious glimpses about the Great Prophecy and how it connects to her own history. But in order to understand what lies in her future, Annabeth has to dig into the past. What she finds will shape her choices … and change the course of the final battle. An alternate PoV retelling of The Last Olympian. Part 5 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: The Titans Throw Down Their Trump Card
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Athena, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, Chiron, Titans, OCs, Greek pantheons and other minor character references
Word Count: 3,365
Chapter Summary: Overnight, the situation inside and outside camp gets dire.
Notes: Izzy and the Necklace of Harmonia refer back to the third story in this series, The Necklace of Harmonia. The Mount St Helens references draw from events in the previous fic, The Impossible Maze.
Percy's fatal flaw is an interesting one. 'Personal loyalty,' as many readers (and Percy himself) have noted, seems like one of those interview answer questions ('What's your biggest weakness?'/'I work too much ...') But as Athena astutely points out, the most dangerous flaws are the ones that appear good ... and I would speculate that it is the appearance that they are good even in excess of moderation-because the line between taking them too far and displaying them just enough is so hard to see. I'm a firm believer (and more so after writing this series) that there aren't really 'flaws' and 'virtues', just characteristics, and taking them too far in the wrong circumstance tips the balance.
I've tried not to beat people over the head too hard with this point, but as you can probably read, I couldn't resist throwing my two cents in. I have loads more to say on this, but rather than make this note way too long, I'm going to put it in a separate post.
Back to Fic Content Page
The Philadelphia raid was quick. Clarisse and Michael returned with their teams the next day, having taken out a handful of monsters, razed two enemy chariots, and brought back the last one loaded with nectar and ambrosia from the Mütter Museum. It was the first straight-out success we'd had in a while, which raised everyone's spirits considerably.
That is, until the fighting started.
It began when the Apollo kids tried to wheel their new flying chariot into a parking space behind their cabin. Clarisse planted herself in the way, arms crossed.
'Oh no-that chariot's Ares property.'
'No way,' Michael said. 'It's our spoil of war.'
Clarisse brandished her spear. 'We ran the raid.'
'And we liberated the chariot.'
'What is going on here?' Chiron clopped across the green just as Clarisse and Michael were about to come to blows. One look was enough for him to size up the situation. He picked them up, one in each arm (though he managed Michael with considerably more ease) and hauled them off to the Big House. The other counsellors and I exchanged looks before following them.
In the rec room, Clarisse and Michael's argument resumed in full force. Luckily, Chiron had had the presence of mind to strip them of their weapons before he set them down. They stood on opposite sides of the ping-pong table, hurling words at each other like missiles.
'I led the raid.' Clarisse thumped her right fist against her chest. 'That makes the spoils of war mine.'
'Oh? You didn't seem to use those rules when you got that gold sword on Beckendorf's quest.'
'The gold sword you cost me!'
'Exactly how was that my fault?'
Chiron broke in before this could escalate into another brawl about the panacea incident. 'Enough! If you cannot settle this peacefully, we will arbitrate the matter. You will each present your case-one by one,' he added when they opened their mouths at the same time. 'Michael, you start. What happened when you got to Philadelphia?'
'We found the monsters right where you said they'd be.' Michael nodded to me and Beckendorf. 'About ten dracaenae, couple of harpies, ten demigods, hanging around the Liberty Bell. Clarisse and her team went straight into phalanx formation, just like in training, and my guys gave them distance cover with our arrows.'
Clarisse muttered something under her breath that sounded like, 'Cowards.'
Michael ignored her. 'We drove them away from their chariots and my team went in to free the pegasi. Sherman and Ellis set fire to two, but we used the last one to loot the museum.'
'Loot it?' I said sharply.
'Yeah. I mean, not on purpose, but it was already raided by the time we got there. Windows smashed and everything. Maybe the monsters trashed the place for kicks, I don't know. Couldn't find Panacea or Delphyne. So we just helped ourselves. But I left some drachma to cover what we took.'
'We wouldn't have,' Connor and Travis said in unison.
Michael glared at them. 'We're not thieves.'
'Funny, because you're stealing my chariot,' Clarisse snapped.
'For the last time, it's not your-'
Chiron raised his voice. 'And what happened next, Michael?'
'Well, like I said, we loaded the meds in the flying chariot. I sent Austin and Cynthia ahead with the loot and the rest of us went back to help Ares. They were still fighting in the park, so we gave them aerial cover until the enemy fled.'
'Thank you,' Chiron said. 'Clarisse, your version?'
Clarisse concurred sulkily with Michael's story. 'But you heard him-Ares fought the monsters. If it wasn't for us, his whole wimpy cabin would've been monster chow from the beginning. And then they ran off halfway to that museum.'
'We were supposed to pick up supplies.'
Clarisse shook her fist. 'You still left us to do the heavy lifting, so the chariot should be ours!'
'We were there at the start! We took it fair and square. Maybe if you hadn't burnt up the other two, you could've gotten your own.'
Chiron stroked his beard. 'He has a point, you know.'
'A point?' Clarisse looked angry enough to punch Chiron. 'We do all the fighting and you think they deserve the chariot?'
'Be reasonable, Clarisse,' Chiron said. 'Apollo cabin-'
'Oh no.' Clarisse stuck her hands on her hips. 'Every single time!' She listed every slight she'd received from the Apollo cabin, from Michael's interference with her initiation rituals to the loss of her golden sword. 'All you guys ever do is treat us like we're your personal thugs. Well, I'm sick of it.'
She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.'
Michael stuck his tongue out at her retreating back. 'Can we go now? I got a chariot to polish.'
Chiron sighed and nodded.
I put my head in my hands. 'We shouldn't have sent them together. It was a bad idea. I should've seen it.' I'd known there was bad blood between them, but I'd overlooked it. It was true they hadn't had an altercation after Fireworks night-a possible sign that they'd moved past their differences-but there was a simple reason for my oversight. 'I-I was distracted.' My stomach turned over as I remembered the fight with Percy ... right before I'd deployed Ares and Apollo for the mission.
'It isn't your fault, Annabeth,' Chiron said. 'I would have hoped as well that they could set aside their difference in the face of a larger threat, but it seems I was wrong.'
+++
That night, I dreamt I was on the summit of a shaking mountain. The slope was barren, its vegetation killed off by a sulphurous cloud of haze. Rivulets of lava ran between the rocks, eating away at any plant life that remained.
Three massive figures tromped up the mountain, splashing through the lava like it was only a rain puddle. They were all giants, at least twenty feet tall. The largest glowed even brighter than the lava, so bright that it hurt my eyes to look directly at him. His light cut through the haze, shining a path straight to the spurting volcanic peak.
The other two giants were dull compared to their blazing brother, but each would have been impressive on his own. One had large, curly ram's horns sticking out on either side of his head. The other had a wreath of white ringlets framing his face, like an evil Santa Claus. The ram dude's hands bore what looked like a great twisted knot. A thousand eyelids fluttered sleepily along the length of the serpent's body-Delphyne, the guardian of Panacea's pharmacy. And evil Santa was marching Panacea herself ahead of him.
I sucked in my breath. The enemy we'd routed in Philadelphia must have been only a vanguard of a larger strike ... and we'd been too late. This must be why Panacea's pharmacy had been trashed.
This was really bad. The capture of a goddess-even a minor one like Panacea-was no small matter. Only another god, or a Titan, could have managed it. Which meant that these three giants had to be ...
Ram Titan wrestled his prisoner onto a slanted slab of rock. 'Will this do?'
'A good place,' said Santa Titan. His hollow voice echoed like it was travelling down a wind tunnel. 'We shall do it here-the final sacrifice to wake our slumbering friend.'
Gold Titan uncapped a bottle in his hands and sprinkled its contents over the surface of the rock.
'You fiends!' Panacea twisted in her captor's arms. 'The panacea is meant to heal, not harm!'
'Oh, but it will heal,' Gold Titan assured her in a smug voice. 'Our brother Kronos planned it all well. His spy told us everything we needed to know-the location of your pharmacy, the secrets of your cure-all. They even handed over the herb of invulnerability.'
Ram Titan gave a raspy laugh. 'With its help-and a little contribution from you and your pet, of course-' he indicated Delphyne, twisting on the rock, 'we will bring forth the giant trapped beneath the mountain!'
'Indeed, Krios,' Santa Titan agreed. 'It would have happened eventually. Typhon has been stirring since that Jackson kid set off his volcano last year. But I doubt he would have broken free in time to join us had Kronos not devised this plan. I am the Titan of intellect, but even I bow before our brother's craftiness. He is well-dubbed the Crooked One.'
'Suck up,' Krios muttered. 'You can save the flattery, Koios. It's not like he's listening. There's no way that pathetic form he currently inhabits can offer him Titanic omniscience. Why, it's almost insulting to take orders from that weakling body.
'Peace,' said Koios calmly. 'You know Kronos had no choice but to secure a temporary form to bind his essence together. But it will not be long before-'
A deep rumble from the earth cut him off. The ground shook, almost toppling all three Titans to their knees.
'Quick,' Koios said. 'Hyperion, proceed with the sacrifice.'
Golden Hyperion produced a dagger with a long, jagged blade the colour of rust. He slashed it across Panacea's arm. The goddess cried out as golden ichor dripped from the cut. It mingled with the panacea on the rock in a burbling hiss. Delphyne writhed, every one of her billion peepers stretched wide in alarm.
'Now the serpent,' Koios ordered. 'Flesh from Typhon's previous servant.'
Hyperion's dagger came down again. Fortunately, my dream spared me the gruesome visuals. A white mist enveloped me. The trembling ground evaporated from under my feet. I was transported to a different slope, a different mountain.
I stood in the centre of a stone circle, next to an altar of white marble. Each of the stones surrounding me were carved in the image of a regal goddess with an owl etched into her chest: my mother, Athena.
A young girl in a white chiton approached the altar. Brambles stuck out of her braided hair. Her clothes were torn and stained. But her eyes-so pale her irises nearly blended in with the whites of her eyes-shone bright with determination.
It was my friend Izzy, the recruitment officer for the Hunters of Artemis. But this was a scene from her past, before she'd joined them. I'd learnt about it when trying to break the curse on the Necklace of Harmonia two years ago. Izzy had come here, to the Temple of Athena, to make a sacrifice that would lift the necklace's deadly curse.
I watched her slide the cursed necklace onto the altar and dedicate the dagger she carried to Athena. Lightning streaked the sky, momentarily blinding me. When my vision cleared, Izzy was gone. Standing in her place was Athena herself. The breast plate of her armour had an owl etched into it, so that she looked just like the stone carvings that encircled us. In her hands, she clasped Izzy's dagger.
'Mother?'
She studied the dagger, turning it over slowly. 'Every great victory comes with great sacrifice.' She sighed and offered me the knife, handle first. It fit my palm like a familiar glove.
'I do not have much time,' Athena said. 'Kronos has played his trump card. We gods must rise to his challenge.'
My gorge rose at the thought of the unspeakable deeds the three Titans had committed. 'That mountain-the volcano. It was-'
'You recognise it,' Athena said. 'Of course, you have been there, deep inside.'
'Mount St Helens.' My heart sank. I had so many conflicting feelings about that volcano. My experience inside it had been one crazy rollercoaster package: passion and loss, courage and failure.
All of this seemed to be reflected in Athena's eyes. I had no doubt my mother was keenly aware of everything that had transpired in the volcano's fiery heart. And that she did not believe I'd acted wisely at all.
'I warned you several times about Percy Jackson,' she said severely.
I shifted my weight nervously from foot to foot. Was she talking about the disastrous explosion we'd caused last year ... or that other thing that had happened between us? 'It wasn't all his fault Typhon's volcano erupted.'
Athena regarded me coolly. 'Was it not? What happened when you went ahead to scout Hephaestus's forge? Rather than sit and wait, he decided to act. As a result, he almost killed you both.' She shook her head. 'The daughter of wisdom and the son of the sea were never meant to be a team. The combination is too volatile.'
'I-'
'I know the choice you made. You provided him with a source of power-and you continue supply him. That power, left unchecked, is as dangerous as his fatal flaw.'
'What-' I meant to ask what Percy's fatal flaw was, but before the question was out, I thought I already knew. From the first week I'd known him, when he'd sacrificed his own ticket to safety to save Grover and me, Percy had already shown how deadly his loyalty to his friends could prove to himself.
Athena seemed to read my thoughts. 'It goes beyond personal loyalty. His need to protect, to save-it is greater than simply sacrificing himself for a friend. He insists on taking on the hero's mantle. When a demigod feels he must be the one to solve everyone's problems ... that is a dangerous thing.' She fixed me with a stern glare. 'How much has he overextended? His family. You. Grover. Even the di Angelo boy. He did not even know the full details of the prophecy when he rashly tried to claim it to spare young Nico. What will he choose when his need to play the hero conflicts with the wisest course of action? I am not at all secure to have the fate of Olympus rest on his hands.'
'Then that line in the Great Prophecy ...' I swallowed hard. 'A single choice ...'
Athena pursed her lips. 'That is not what I meant. You know it is not wise to try and interpret a prophecy. Claiming a prophecy-presuming yourself to be instrumental in how it will unfold ... such hubris is deadly.'
Chastised, I looked down. 'My fatal flaw.'
'A flaw of many a demigod-and god, too, for that matter,' Athena said. 'Take Hermes, for instance. His son was his pride and joy. And look how far the boy has fallen. Hermes is quite distraught.'
I frowned. 'But ... Luke never knew his dad. Hermes abandoned him and his mom before he was born.'
Athena's arched eyebrow reminded me that all the gods had pretty much abandoned their children-including her. But I hadn't meant it as an accusation. 'I mean, Luke always said Hermes didn't care about him at all.'
Athena sniffed. 'I told him it wouldn't work. When he realised ... well, he insisted on trying to thwart Luke's fate. But he was short-sighted. He let his love for the boy blind him.' She straightened her war helmet. 'Relationships are like architecture. The key to building a permanent one is a strong foundation. If you get that wrong ... well, rarely do we get the chance to go back and re-lay the groundwork.'
Luke's mom drifted through my mind, with her strange eyes and crazy talk. It wasn't often that I felt fortunate about my own childhood, but compared to Luke, I'd been lucky. Even if he hadn't been great at showing it, my dad had cared. He hadn't been completely absent.
Luke's relationship with his godly father had been doomed from the beginning.
I wet my lips. 'Do you think ... could I still save him?'
'You think yourself capable?'
I was about to lift my chin and assert that I was, but something in Athena's tone stalled me. She wasn't derisive, merely inquisitive, as though she'd issued a challenging test question and was curious to see if I'd get the right answer. Nevertheless, my confidence faltered.
Hubris is your fatal flaw, I reminded myself. How many times had it gotten me in trouble already? Believing I had the answers, the right decisions, the wisdom to act ...
I ducked my head.
Athena tipped my chin back up. 'Do you know what makes a fatal flaw, Annabeth?'
'The things that make it easy for our enemies to manipulate us. That ultimately lead to our downfall.'
To my astonishment, she shook her head. 'They are simply traits carried to extremes. As dangerous as a flaw can be, lacking that trait completely can be just as bad. Take the story of Icarus: he is famed for pushing too high and toppling from the sky. Yet people always forget that he swooped too low as well and wore down his wings. Excessive pride can be your downfall ... but so can a lack of it. You still need to believe in yourself.' She touched the crown of my head. 'Do you understand?'
'I-I think so.'
'Good. Now, we must talk strategy.'
My laptop appeared on her altar, open to Daedalus's folder of city defences. I'd grouped them by function and numbered them according to their level of complexity: one for simple physical fortifications, two for adaptations of natural terrain; and so on. Athena scanned through the folders rapidly.
'He was always one of my most brilliant children. I am glad he passed on his legacy to you.' She trailed her finger over the touchpad, selecting five folders, including the one Beckendorf had vetoed at our war council. This was Daedalus's most complicated defensive activation sequence. I'd labelled it number twenty-three: the most complex of them all. It involved a chain of command across a series of carefully-placed city statues.
'Do you think we will need plan twenty-three?' I asked.
Athena nodded grimly. 'You should always be prepared for the worst. Remember-Kronos will have his secret weapons and back-up plans in place. But crafty as the Titan lord is, as long as I am the goddess of strategic warfare, we will always have something in reserve as well.'
She straightened her armour. A purple cape materialised on her shoulders, fluttering out behind her. In her full battle regalia, her commanding presence stole my breath.
'I may not have the chance to see you again before the Titans' assault arrives,' Athena warned. 'You must remember all I have said. Make me proud, daughter. Do not let me down.'
I woke up feeling like my brain had run a marathon. My mother's mixed praise echoed in my head, along with her command to bear all her advice in mind. Her warnings about Percy, her doubts about Luke, her analysis of fatal flaws ... There was so much of it, my head spun just trying to organise it.
It was almost enough to drive out the first part of my dream. Except we all got the brutal wake-up call at breakfast.
Argus came up to the head table, which was a bad sign. He never joined us at meals, preferring to eat where no one could see the eyes on his tongue. Now, he marched right up to Chiron and spread a newspaper over his plate.
Chiron's face went so pale, a hush fell across the tables almost immediately. Beckendorf and I ran up to the head table at once.
'What happened?' Beckendorf asked, but I already had a feeling I knew what the headlines would be.
Chiron turned the paper around. Maybe because I was expecting it, I had no trouble reading the text: MT ST HELENS ERUPTION BLANKETS PACIFIC COAST.
The black-and-white image underneath showed a massive crater in the side of the volcano, oozing lava and billowing plumes of smoke. I guess that was all the mortals would see. But behind the Mist, there was also a face in the smoke-a distorted, monstrous face with pitted cheeks and malevolent eyes. And the lava extending from the crater looked like misshapen figures crawling out of the mountainside.
Typhon, the storm giant, the biggest threat to the gods in history, had been released.
Chapter 18
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, Charles Beckendorf/Silena Beauregard, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, OCs, multiple others
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Word Count: WIP, estimated 100K+ (3334 chapters planned)
Summary: The war on Olympus is heating up, and Annabeth Chase is right in the thick of it. Bad enough that she's gearing up for battle while wrestling with the emotional turmoil over two of her dearest friends that is turning her heart inside out. She doesn't need more mysterious glimpses about the Great Prophecy and how it connects to her own history. But in order to understand what lies in her future, Annabeth has to dig into the past. What she finds will shape her choices … and change the course of the final battle. An alternate PoV retelling of The Last Olympian. Part 5 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: The Titans Throw Down Their Trump Card
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Athena, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, Chiron, Titans, OCs, Greek pantheons and other minor character references
Word Count: 3,365
Chapter Summary: Overnight, the situation inside and outside camp gets dire.
Notes: Izzy and the Necklace of Harmonia refer back to the third story in this series, The Necklace of Harmonia. The Mount St Helens references draw from events in the previous fic, The Impossible Maze.
Percy's fatal flaw is an interesting one. 'Personal loyalty,' as many readers (and Percy himself) have noted, seems like one of those interview answer questions ('What's your biggest weakness?'/'I work too much ...') But as Athena astutely points out, the most dangerous flaws are the ones that appear good ... and I would speculate that it is the appearance that they are good even in excess of moderation-because the line between taking them too far and displaying them just enough is so hard to see. I'm a firm believer (and more so after writing this series) that there aren't really 'flaws' and 'virtues', just characteristics, and taking them too far in the wrong circumstance tips the balance.
I've tried not to beat people over the head too hard with this point, but as you can probably read, I couldn't resist throwing my two cents in. I have loads more to say on this, but rather than make this note way too long, I'm going to put it in a separate post.
Back to Fic Content Page
The Philadelphia raid was quick. Clarisse and Michael returned with their teams the next day, having taken out a handful of monsters, razed two enemy chariots, and brought back the last one loaded with nectar and ambrosia from the Mütter Museum. It was the first straight-out success we'd had in a while, which raised everyone's spirits considerably.
That is, until the fighting started.
It began when the Apollo kids tried to wheel their new flying chariot into a parking space behind their cabin. Clarisse planted herself in the way, arms crossed.
'Oh no-that chariot's Ares property.'
'No way,' Michael said. 'It's our spoil of war.'
Clarisse brandished her spear. 'We ran the raid.'
'And we liberated the chariot.'
'What is going on here?' Chiron clopped across the green just as Clarisse and Michael were about to come to blows. One look was enough for him to size up the situation. He picked them up, one in each arm (though he managed Michael with considerably more ease) and hauled them off to the Big House. The other counsellors and I exchanged looks before following them.
In the rec room, Clarisse and Michael's argument resumed in full force. Luckily, Chiron had had the presence of mind to strip them of their weapons before he set them down. They stood on opposite sides of the ping-pong table, hurling words at each other like missiles.
'I led the raid.' Clarisse thumped her right fist against her chest. 'That makes the spoils of war mine.'
'Oh? You didn't seem to use those rules when you got that gold sword on Beckendorf's quest.'
'The gold sword you cost me!'
'Exactly how was that my fault?'
Chiron broke in before this could escalate into another brawl about the panacea incident. 'Enough! If you cannot settle this peacefully, we will arbitrate the matter. You will each present your case-one by one,' he added when they opened their mouths at the same time. 'Michael, you start. What happened when you got to Philadelphia?'
'We found the monsters right where you said they'd be.' Michael nodded to me and Beckendorf. 'About ten dracaenae, couple of harpies, ten demigods, hanging around the Liberty Bell. Clarisse and her team went straight into phalanx formation, just like in training, and my guys gave them distance cover with our arrows.'
Clarisse muttered something under her breath that sounded like, 'Cowards.'
Michael ignored her. 'We drove them away from their chariots and my team went in to free the pegasi. Sherman and Ellis set fire to two, but we used the last one to loot the museum.'
'Loot it?' I said sharply.
'Yeah. I mean, not on purpose, but it was already raided by the time we got there. Windows smashed and everything. Maybe the monsters trashed the place for kicks, I don't know. Couldn't find Panacea or Delphyne. So we just helped ourselves. But I left some drachma to cover what we took.'
'We wouldn't have,' Connor and Travis said in unison.
Michael glared at them. 'We're not thieves.'
'Funny, because you're stealing my chariot,' Clarisse snapped.
'For the last time, it's not your-'
Chiron raised his voice. 'And what happened next, Michael?'
'Well, like I said, we loaded the meds in the flying chariot. I sent Austin and Cynthia ahead with the loot and the rest of us went back to help Ares. They were still fighting in the park, so we gave them aerial cover until the enemy fled.'
'Thank you,' Chiron said. 'Clarisse, your version?'
Clarisse concurred sulkily with Michael's story. 'But you heard him-Ares fought the monsters. If it wasn't for us, his whole wimpy cabin would've been monster chow from the beginning. And then they ran off halfway to that museum.'
'We were supposed to pick up supplies.'
Clarisse shook her fist. 'You still left us to do the heavy lifting, so the chariot should be ours!'
'We were there at the start! We took it fair and square. Maybe if you hadn't burnt up the other two, you could've gotten your own.'
Chiron stroked his beard. 'He has a point, you know.'
'A point?' Clarisse looked angry enough to punch Chiron. 'We do all the fighting and you think they deserve the chariot?'
'Be reasonable, Clarisse,' Chiron said. 'Apollo cabin-'
'Oh no.' Clarisse stuck her hands on her hips. 'Every single time!' She listed every slight she'd received from the Apollo cabin, from Michael's interference with her initiation rituals to the loss of her golden sword. 'All you guys ever do is treat us like we're your personal thugs. Well, I'm sick of it.'
She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.'
Michael stuck his tongue out at her retreating back. 'Can we go now? I got a chariot to polish.'
Chiron sighed and nodded.
I put my head in my hands. 'We shouldn't have sent them together. It was a bad idea. I should've seen it.' I'd known there was bad blood between them, but I'd overlooked it. It was true they hadn't had an altercation after Fireworks night-a possible sign that they'd moved past their differences-but there was a simple reason for my oversight. 'I-I was distracted.' My stomach turned over as I remembered the fight with Percy ... right before I'd deployed Ares and Apollo for the mission.
'It isn't your fault, Annabeth,' Chiron said. 'I would have hoped as well that they could set aside their difference in the face of a larger threat, but it seems I was wrong.'
+++
That night, I dreamt I was on the summit of a shaking mountain. The slope was barren, its vegetation killed off by a sulphurous cloud of haze. Rivulets of lava ran between the rocks, eating away at any plant life that remained.
Three massive figures tromped up the mountain, splashing through the lava like it was only a rain puddle. They were all giants, at least twenty feet tall. The largest glowed even brighter than the lava, so bright that it hurt my eyes to look directly at him. His light cut through the haze, shining a path straight to the spurting volcanic peak.
The other two giants were dull compared to their blazing brother, but each would have been impressive on his own. One had large, curly ram's horns sticking out on either side of his head. The other had a wreath of white ringlets framing his face, like an evil Santa Claus. The ram dude's hands bore what looked like a great twisted knot. A thousand eyelids fluttered sleepily along the length of the serpent's body-Delphyne, the guardian of Panacea's pharmacy. And evil Santa was marching Panacea herself ahead of him.
I sucked in my breath. The enemy we'd routed in Philadelphia must have been only a vanguard of a larger strike ... and we'd been too late. This must be why Panacea's pharmacy had been trashed.
This was really bad. The capture of a goddess-even a minor one like Panacea-was no small matter. Only another god, or a Titan, could have managed it. Which meant that these three giants had to be ...
Ram Titan wrestled his prisoner onto a slanted slab of rock. 'Will this do?'
'A good place,' said Santa Titan. His hollow voice echoed like it was travelling down a wind tunnel. 'We shall do it here-the final sacrifice to wake our slumbering friend.'
Gold Titan uncapped a bottle in his hands and sprinkled its contents over the surface of the rock.
'You fiends!' Panacea twisted in her captor's arms. 'The panacea is meant to heal, not harm!'
'Oh, but it will heal,' Gold Titan assured her in a smug voice. 'Our brother Kronos planned it all well. His spy told us everything we needed to know-the location of your pharmacy, the secrets of your cure-all. They even handed over the herb of invulnerability.'
Ram Titan gave a raspy laugh. 'With its help-and a little contribution from you and your pet, of course-' he indicated Delphyne, twisting on the rock, 'we will bring forth the giant trapped beneath the mountain!'
'Indeed, Krios,' Santa Titan agreed. 'It would have happened eventually. Typhon has been stirring since that Jackson kid set off his volcano last year. But I doubt he would have broken free in time to join us had Kronos not devised this plan. I am the Titan of intellect, but even I bow before our brother's craftiness. He is well-dubbed the Crooked One.'
'Suck up,' Krios muttered. 'You can save the flattery, Koios. It's not like he's listening. There's no way that pathetic form he currently inhabits can offer him Titanic omniscience. Why, it's almost insulting to take orders from that weakling body.
'Peace,' said Koios calmly. 'You know Kronos had no choice but to secure a temporary form to bind his essence together. But it will not be long before-'
A deep rumble from the earth cut him off. The ground shook, almost toppling all three Titans to their knees.
'Quick,' Koios said. 'Hyperion, proceed with the sacrifice.'
Golden Hyperion produced a dagger with a long, jagged blade the colour of rust. He slashed it across Panacea's arm. The goddess cried out as golden ichor dripped from the cut. It mingled with the panacea on the rock in a burbling hiss. Delphyne writhed, every one of her billion peepers stretched wide in alarm.
'Now the serpent,' Koios ordered. 'Flesh from Typhon's previous servant.'
Hyperion's dagger came down again. Fortunately, my dream spared me the gruesome visuals. A white mist enveloped me. The trembling ground evaporated from under my feet. I was transported to a different slope, a different mountain.
I stood in the centre of a stone circle, next to an altar of white marble. Each of the stones surrounding me were carved in the image of a regal goddess with an owl etched into her chest: my mother, Athena.
A young girl in a white chiton approached the altar. Brambles stuck out of her braided hair. Her clothes were torn and stained. But her eyes-so pale her irises nearly blended in with the whites of her eyes-shone bright with determination.
It was my friend Izzy, the recruitment officer for the Hunters of Artemis. But this was a scene from her past, before she'd joined them. I'd learnt about it when trying to break the curse on the Necklace of Harmonia two years ago. Izzy had come here, to the Temple of Athena, to make a sacrifice that would lift the necklace's deadly curse.
I watched her slide the cursed necklace onto the altar and dedicate the dagger she carried to Athena. Lightning streaked the sky, momentarily blinding me. When my vision cleared, Izzy was gone. Standing in her place was Athena herself. The breast plate of her armour had an owl etched into it, so that she looked just like the stone carvings that encircled us. In her hands, she clasped Izzy's dagger.
'Mother?'
She studied the dagger, turning it over slowly. 'Every great victory comes with great sacrifice.' She sighed and offered me the knife, handle first. It fit my palm like a familiar glove.
'I do not have much time,' Athena said. 'Kronos has played his trump card. We gods must rise to his challenge.'
My gorge rose at the thought of the unspeakable deeds the three Titans had committed. 'That mountain-the volcano. It was-'
'You recognise it,' Athena said. 'Of course, you have been there, deep inside.'
'Mount St Helens.' My heart sank. I had so many conflicting feelings about that volcano. My experience inside it had been one crazy rollercoaster package: passion and loss, courage and failure.
All of this seemed to be reflected in Athena's eyes. I had no doubt my mother was keenly aware of everything that had transpired in the volcano's fiery heart. And that she did not believe I'd acted wisely at all.
'I warned you several times about Percy Jackson,' she said severely.
I shifted my weight nervously from foot to foot. Was she talking about the disastrous explosion we'd caused last year ... or that other thing that had happened between us? 'It wasn't all his fault Typhon's volcano erupted.'
Athena regarded me coolly. 'Was it not? What happened when you went ahead to scout Hephaestus's forge? Rather than sit and wait, he decided to act. As a result, he almost killed you both.' She shook her head. 'The daughter of wisdom and the son of the sea were never meant to be a team. The combination is too volatile.'
'I-'
'I know the choice you made. You provided him with a source of power-and you continue supply him. That power, left unchecked, is as dangerous as his fatal flaw.'
'What-' I meant to ask what Percy's fatal flaw was, but before the question was out, I thought I already knew. From the first week I'd known him, when he'd sacrificed his own ticket to safety to save Grover and me, Percy had already shown how deadly his loyalty to his friends could prove to himself.
Athena seemed to read my thoughts. 'It goes beyond personal loyalty. His need to protect, to save-it is greater than simply sacrificing himself for a friend. He insists on taking on the hero's mantle. When a demigod feels he must be the one to solve everyone's problems ... that is a dangerous thing.' She fixed me with a stern glare. 'How much has he overextended? His family. You. Grover. Even the di Angelo boy. He did not even know the full details of the prophecy when he rashly tried to claim it to spare young Nico. What will he choose when his need to play the hero conflicts with the wisest course of action? I am not at all secure to have the fate of Olympus rest on his hands.'
'Then that line in the Great Prophecy ...' I swallowed hard. 'A single choice ...'
Athena pursed her lips. 'That is not what I meant. You know it is not wise to try and interpret a prophecy. Claiming a prophecy-presuming yourself to be instrumental in how it will unfold ... such hubris is deadly.'
Chastised, I looked down. 'My fatal flaw.'
'A flaw of many a demigod-and god, too, for that matter,' Athena said. 'Take Hermes, for instance. His son was his pride and joy. And look how far the boy has fallen. Hermes is quite distraught.'
I frowned. 'But ... Luke never knew his dad. Hermes abandoned him and his mom before he was born.'
Athena's arched eyebrow reminded me that all the gods had pretty much abandoned their children-including her. But I hadn't meant it as an accusation. 'I mean, Luke always said Hermes didn't care about him at all.'
Athena sniffed. 'I told him it wouldn't work. When he realised ... well, he insisted on trying to thwart Luke's fate. But he was short-sighted. He let his love for the boy blind him.' She straightened her war helmet. 'Relationships are like architecture. The key to building a permanent one is a strong foundation. If you get that wrong ... well, rarely do we get the chance to go back and re-lay the groundwork.'
Luke's mom drifted through my mind, with her strange eyes and crazy talk. It wasn't often that I felt fortunate about my own childhood, but compared to Luke, I'd been lucky. Even if he hadn't been great at showing it, my dad had cared. He hadn't been completely absent.
Luke's relationship with his godly father had been doomed from the beginning.
I wet my lips. 'Do you think ... could I still save him?'
'You think yourself capable?'
I was about to lift my chin and assert that I was, but something in Athena's tone stalled me. She wasn't derisive, merely inquisitive, as though she'd issued a challenging test question and was curious to see if I'd get the right answer. Nevertheless, my confidence faltered.
Hubris is your fatal flaw, I reminded myself. How many times had it gotten me in trouble already? Believing I had the answers, the right decisions, the wisdom to act ...
I ducked my head.
Athena tipped my chin back up. 'Do you know what makes a fatal flaw, Annabeth?'
'The things that make it easy for our enemies to manipulate us. That ultimately lead to our downfall.'
To my astonishment, she shook her head. 'They are simply traits carried to extremes. As dangerous as a flaw can be, lacking that trait completely can be just as bad. Take the story of Icarus: he is famed for pushing too high and toppling from the sky. Yet people always forget that he swooped too low as well and wore down his wings. Excessive pride can be your downfall ... but so can a lack of it. You still need to believe in yourself.' She touched the crown of my head. 'Do you understand?'
'I-I think so.'
'Good. Now, we must talk strategy.'
My laptop appeared on her altar, open to Daedalus's folder of city defences. I'd grouped them by function and numbered them according to their level of complexity: one for simple physical fortifications, two for adaptations of natural terrain; and so on. Athena scanned through the folders rapidly.
'He was always one of my most brilliant children. I am glad he passed on his legacy to you.' She trailed her finger over the touchpad, selecting five folders, including the one Beckendorf had vetoed at our war council. This was Daedalus's most complicated defensive activation sequence. I'd labelled it number twenty-three: the most complex of them all. It involved a chain of command across a series of carefully-placed city statues.
'Do you think we will need plan twenty-three?' I asked.
Athena nodded grimly. 'You should always be prepared for the worst. Remember-Kronos will have his secret weapons and back-up plans in place. But crafty as the Titan lord is, as long as I am the goddess of strategic warfare, we will always have something in reserve as well.'
She straightened her armour. A purple cape materialised on her shoulders, fluttering out behind her. In her full battle regalia, her commanding presence stole my breath.
'I may not have the chance to see you again before the Titans' assault arrives,' Athena warned. 'You must remember all I have said. Make me proud, daughter. Do not let me down.'
I woke up feeling like my brain had run a marathon. My mother's mixed praise echoed in my head, along with her command to bear all her advice in mind. Her warnings about Percy, her doubts about Luke, her analysis of fatal flaws ... There was so much of it, my head spun just trying to organise it.
It was almost enough to drive out the first part of my dream. Except we all got the brutal wake-up call at breakfast.
Argus came up to the head table, which was a bad sign. He never joined us at meals, preferring to eat where no one could see the eyes on his tongue. Now, he marched right up to Chiron and spread a newspaper over his plate.
Chiron's face went so pale, a hush fell across the tables almost immediately. Beckendorf and I ran up to the head table at once.
'What happened?' Beckendorf asked, but I already had a feeling I knew what the headlines would be.
Chiron turned the paper around. Maybe because I was expecting it, I had no trouble reading the text: MT ST HELENS ERUPTION BLANKETS PACIFIC COAST.
The black-and-white image underneath showed a massive crater in the side of the volcano, oozing lava and billowing plumes of smoke. I guess that was all the mortals would see. But behind the Mist, there was also a face in the smoke-a distorted, monstrous face with pitted cheeks and malevolent eyes. And the lava extending from the crater looked like misshapen figures crawling out of the mountainside.
Typhon, the storm giant, the biggest threat to the gods in history, had been released.
Chapter 18