"Move," I snapped, glaring at the back of Annabeth's head. "We haven't got all day."
"Rianna, hurry up!" Luke shot over his shoulder some ten metres ahead as he trailed Atlas to the outcrop where Artemis was waiting. "They'll be here any minute!"
"I'm coming," I grumbled, yanking lightly on the ropes binding Annabeth's hands together. "Come on, move."
"Just stick your sword to her throat and see if she'll comply," Luke returned. "Come on."
I sighed as I felt Annabeth tense in front of me, betrayal and hurt likely swimming in those grey eyes, but I unsheathed my dagger and pressed it lightly to her neck. "Move."
"Sorry," I whispered as we trudged towards Artemis. "I'll get you free, just hold on a bit longer."
"Mmmmf," Annabeth replied through her gag.
A sudden roar split the air, followed by a faint cry of pain.
"Ladon," Atlas rumbled, voicing my thoughts. "It's about time."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, a girl, the silver circlet resting on her brow, emerged from the dense fog. She was followed by another girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes, a monstrous shield and spear in hand, and, finally, a boy with the aura of the salty sea.
Zoe. Thalia. Percy.
I took in a deep breath, drawing up my magic, and let it ripple silently across the clearing as I exhaled.
"How touching," Atlas sneered as Zoe cried out and ran to Artemis, yanking futilely at her chains. He stepped out of the shadows, and so we followed.
Percy's eyes instantly shot towards Annabeth, worry and relief filling them, before they darkened as he saw the dagger I held at her throat.
"Who are you?" Thalia snarled, her spear shifting in my direction. "Let Annabeth go."
"I don't believe we've ever met," I smirked, pressing the point in deeper, drawing blood. "Rianna Claire, daughter of Hecate, at your service. And no. That's the General's decision."
Her eyes flickered with lightning but she didn't move, instead skipping to Luke, who was standing right beside me. "Luke."
"It's good to see you again, Thalia," he said, smiling weakly.
She spat in his direction.
"So much for old friends," Atlas chuckled. "And Zoe, my little traitor. It's been a long time."
"Do not challenge him," Artemis ground out. "It's what he wants."
"Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded, her eyes flicking past me to her father.
"Be my guest and take it, then," Atlas countered, walking towards the goddess.
"No! I forbid you from offering, Zoe," Artemis said.
"See? She likes her job. I think I'll make each of the Olympians take turns holding it once Lord Kronos rules again. It'll show them some humility," Atlas said in satisfaction.
Annabeth shifted and I turned my attention back towards Percy, who had resumed staring at her.
Gods, this was slow. Hurry up and start fighting already, I thought. Or you guys will never get out of here. I can't do anything when all you're doing is standing there.
"Why can't she just let go of the sky?" Percy muttered to Thalia. "I don't get it."
Atlas scoffed. "How little you understand. It isn't as simple as that. This is where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia met, where the Earth mother birthed the first of the children, the Titans. Millenia later, the sky still yearns to embrace the earth and someone must hold it, or else it would crush this place and flatten the mountain and everything in a hundred-kilometre radius. There is no escape from the burden unless someone else takes it."
He approached Percy and Thalia, finally turning his back to me. In my peripheral, I saw Luke's gaze fixed intently on Thalia, though she didn't notice, and shoved down the burning sensation in my gut. Focus, I told myself, and fixed my eyes on the centre of Atlas' back, willing the spell to take place. The conversation filtered out, replaced with a quiet buzzing noise before everything sharpened around me again.
I blinked, feeling a trickle of sweat slide down the side of my face, and quickly swiped my finger over it. Gods. Spells were so draining. It had barely been five seconds, yet the string was already starting to tighten.
If only I could use my shadow magic instead of just the magic I have as a child of Hecate, I lamented. Alas.
Suddenly, I was aware of a faint glow behind me and casually shifted so the golden sarcophagus of Kronos entered my peripheral.
Gods, it's glowing, I thought in horror, stifling a gasp as the mist started to swirl around us, creating the images of rising black marble, a palace of fear and shadow, terrible in its beauty, form.
Suddenly, I got tunnel vision and a pathway to Thalia's mind opened. I didn't give myself the time to think about all the ways that things could go wrong and plunged towards the flimsy wall of her mind. Stop thinking about the Ophiotaurus! Focus on something else. You're going to end up summoning it here!
Thalia jerked, alarm shooting through her eyes, and blinked, hard. I'm going crazy, I read, but the glow of the bronze brazier that had appeared before her dimmed alongside the sarcophagus.
Silently, I dropped back into my mind, suddenly seeing the invisible glowing strings of everyone's thoughts tangling through the air. I reined in the shock and apprehension that shot through me, reminding myself that now was not the time to mess around with this strange power. Mind reading had been something that I'd discovered last year; it was there, in Hades' hall, where the ability had appeared and it had allowed me to glean the name of the god responsible for almost starting world war three in Percy's head-Ares.
But I hadn't been able to use it ever since then and had given up after attempting it on Nicole thrice and Alabaster five times.
"This is only a taste of what is to come," Luke said, bringing back to the conversation as he swept an arm towards the ocean, towards the ANdromeda and the monsters marching towards the mountain. The vice around my chest squeezed a bit tighter.
"It's only a matter of time before we storm Camp Half-blood, and then Olympus itself. We just need your help."
It's not Luke speaking to you anymore, I thought at her. You know it. The boy you knew would never condemn the only haven for demigods on Earth.
"I don't know you anymore," Thalia declared, the anguish in her eyes clearing.
"Please, Thalia," Luke pleaded quietly. "Don't make me . . . don't make him destroy you."
This time, I was unable to stifle the shock that zapped through me and flinched. Me. Luke said "me". He'd said me.
Was Kronos visiting him in his dreams every night? Had he, despite everything, already given up hope?
Me.
The word sent a tremor through me and I pulled back from Annabeth before I could accidentally slice her throat open, and fought to get a breath down. Breathe, Clari, just breathe. Perhaps he didn't mean anything by it.
A sharp pain in my left wrist yanked me back to reality and I glanced down to see Annabeth pinch me. "Get ready," she seemed to say and nodded at Percy.
It seemed to be the silent signal because instantly, Thalia and Percy exchanged a glance and charged.
For a moment, I stood there, stunned, before snapping into action. I pulled the mist into a swath around me, forming an image of myself stepping back from the battle, away from the chaos, Annabeth securely in hand. Keeping half my mind focused on the illusion, I sliced through Annabeth's bonds and shoved her to the ground. Quickly and quietly, I darted through the battle towards Artemis, killing the dracaenae with unseen shadows as I passed.
"Give it to me," I panted as I detached the illusion for her. "Hurry!"
"Clari? Weren't you just-Oh," Artemis said as realization flashed across her face. "Of course."
"The sky," I repeated. "Give it to me."
"No. It'll crush you."
"Oh, for Zeus' sake! You know I can hold it. Give it to me."
"Clari, I can't ask you to-"
"You have to," I cut off. "Percy can't fight Atlas himself."
"Yes, but-"
I zoned out, my dagger flashing silver as I sliced through her chains. Trying to argue with Artemis was pointless. I'd just have to get Percy over here, then. I closed my eyes, fighting through the sound of Thalia and Zeus clashing and the general chaos around me to find that string of aqua. Artemis, I whispered to Percy as his mind went Ack! Ackk! Ackkk!
The Titan's curse must one withstand.
Not five seconds later, Percy skidded to a stop in front of the goddess. "The sky," he panted. "Give it to me."
Artemis closed her eyes. Clari, if Hecate kills me, you're taking the blame.
Don't worry, she'll never find out.
"You don't know what you're doing," Artemis warned Percy. "It'll crush you."
"I'll die either way," Percy replied. "Give it to me."
Sorry, I thought as Percy slashed Riptide across the chains, freeing Artemis from her bonds. If there was a way to convince Artemis without asking you to shoulder the sky, I would have done it. But there's no other way. At least the pain you'll feel is imaginary. Though it's still going to hurt.
I sheathed my dagger, quickly wiping the sweat from my palms as the strain of holding the illusion started to tighten even more. As Percy crouched down next to Artemis, I slipped on the other side and braced my hands on the earth, spreading my magic out into the ground to create an invisible barrier of air, stronger and denser than the force of Zeus' master bolt. For a moment, all three of us held the sky together, and it nearly ripped the illusion I was holding out under me.
Breathe, I told myself. It's just like that time when Hades forced you to climb up to the tallest tower of his castle and dangle from the parapets with nothing but your leg strength for thirty minutes. Or when Athena made you hold that plank for an hour. You can do this.
And then Artemis slipped out, leaving me and Percy alone, one in each separate dimension of reality, and the full force of the sky crashed down on me.
And then I blacked out.