The Titans Curse: Apollo's Daughter

Thalia's Stand

Percy's POV

No one spoke. It made terrible sense. Thalia was only two days away from turning nineteen. She was a child of the Big Three. And here was a choice, a terrible choice that could mean the end of the gods. It was just like the prophecy said. I wasn't sure if I felt relieved, horrified, or disappointed. I wasn't the prophecy kid after all. Doomsday was happening right now.

I waited for Thalia to tell the manticore off, but she hesitated. She looked completely stunned. "You know it is the right choice," the manticore told her. "Your friend Luke recognized it. You shall be reunited with him. And you're little Daughter of Apollo. You shall rule this world together under the auspices of the Titans. Your father abandoned you, Thalia. He cares nothing for you. And now you shall gain power over him. Crush the Olympians underfoot, as they deserve. Call the beast! It will come to you. Use your spear."

"Thalia," I said, "snap out of it!" She looked at me the same way she had the morning she woke up on Half-Blood Hill, dazed and uncertain. It was almost like she didn't know me.

"I... I don't--"

"Your father helped you," I said. "He sent the metal angels. He turned you into a tree to preserve you." Her hand tightened on the shaft of her spear.

I looked at Zoe desperately. She gave a small nod towards the water and I was glad she got the message that we needed to do something.

I willed the water from the ocean behind me to spray up and create a thick mist around us, Dr. Thorn, and the guards that were still focusing on Zoe.

The manticore yelled, "Stop him!"

Zoe let loose two quick arrows that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke. The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in our direction, but they ricocheted off my lion's coat.  

"Bessie! Dive deep and stay down!" I shouted loudly at the ocean, hoping the creature could hear me from where he was under the dock.

"The cow..." Thalia muttered, still in a daze.

"Come on!" I pulled her along as we ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier. We dashed around the corner of the nearest store. I heard the manticore shouting at his minions, "Get them!" Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.

We scrambled to the end of the pier. We hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystal, wind chimes, and dream catchers and stuff like that, glittering in the sunlight. There was a water fountain next to us. Down below, a bunch of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks.

The whole of San Francisco Bay spread out before us: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the green hills and fog beyond that to the north. A picture-perfect moment, except for the fact that we were about to die and the world was going to end.

"Go over the side!" Zoe told me. "You can escape in the sea, Percy. Call on thy father for help. Maybe you can save the Ophiotaurus."

She was right, but I couldn't do it."I won't leave you guys," I said. "We fight together. We have to get word to camp!" Then I noticed the crystals making rainbows in the sunlight. There was a drinking fountain next to me... "Get word to camp..."

I uncapped Riptide and slashed off the top of the water fountain. Water burst out of the busted pipe and sprayed all over us. Thalia gasped as the water hit her. The fog seemed to clear from her eyes. "Are you crazy?" she asked.

But Zoe understood. She had already fished out a golden drachma, tossing it into the rainbows created by the mist and yelled, "O goddess, accept my offering!"