[1] 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ― p.jackson ✓

016.

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."

cadie tried touching lilly, but she still seemed in shock. paralysed with fear and realisation. she was shaking, having a breakdown- cadie wasn't sure. but she'd never seen lilly like this before. their chest rose and fell too quickly and cadie tired to calm her down as zoë continued.

"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," percy said. "no."

behind luke, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. as it did, cadie saw images in the mist all around them: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around us, 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 her 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 cadie couldn't even name. the whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds, many more than she'd 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. "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, we would be overwhelmed. cadie met annabeth's eyes again. she nodded. the panicked daughter of euterpe looked at thalia, lilly and zoë, and she decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this.

she nudged lilly softly, and the child of hermes blinked back into reality.

"now." percy said.

together, they charged.

thalia went straight for luke. and as soon as lilly snapped to reality- their gaze hardened, and they too charged for luke. combining the power of thalia's shield (which was so great that his dragon-women bodyguards fled in a panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone) and lilly's speed, they seemed to mostly have luke handled. 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. when he managed to knock back thalia, lilly would sprint her way towards him and shove him into a wall, spear ready.

"lilly, my sister," he tried. her guard was let down for a moment. her eyes softened. but there seemed to be no remorse or love for luke's words. he swiped at her legs, blood dripping from one of them. with one of them in pain- she couldn't run anymore. luke had known that. "i missed you."