Another Love ─── L. Castellan

lxi. andi and i dye our hair matching colours

"So you're another coward?" I said.

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

"I wasn't wrong," Puck managed. He looked terribly weak, and he spoke every word as if it were painful. I almost felt sorry for him, but one look at Andi had me backtracking on that thought. "Brooke, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus with the rune. 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. I could imagine Bessie in that pool. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure I could hear Bessie mooing.

But, then I stopped, seeing Brooke shake her head. I focused on anything else; Andi, my mother, Annabeth, Thalia, Sally Jackson and her poker player statue.

"Brooke, call the Ophiotaurus," Puck persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."

"Puck..." 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 mother did nothing for us. She never even claimed us! The gods have no right to rule the world!"

Brooke shook her head. "Free Andromeda and Annabeth. Let them go."

"Please, Brooke, 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."

Brooke almost stepped forward, but I placed my hand across my path.

"No," Puck watched me, betrayal in his eyes as I shook my head. "We must fight them."

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

"Brooke, no," Zoe muttered.

Behind Puck, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, I saw images in the mist all around us: 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," Puck promised, in a voice so strained it was hardly his. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Brooke. We are not weak. Not anymore."

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 other things I couldn't even name. The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds, many more than I'd seen on board last summer. And they were marching toward us. In a few minutes, they would be here.

"This is only a taste of what is to come," Puck grinned. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, the places of power of the gods. All we need is your help."

For a terrible moment, Brooke hesitated. She gazed at Puck, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she levelled her knife, pointing it at his heart. "You aren't Puck. You're not my brother. I don't know you anymore."

"Yes, you do, Brooke," he pleaded. "Please. Don't make me...Don't make him destroy you. You're my sister."

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