Alternative Chapter Title: Kronos Delays The Inevitable One Final Time
(A/N: Before we start off, if you hadn't already guessed, the ending scene of the last chapter was set three days later on the 19th of August. This is after the Battle of Manhattan is over. So.. you might be wondering, what exactly happens on the Greek side in between now and then? Well.. starting with this chapter.. you are about to find out. You might already have a good glimpse into what happens if you read the books, though of course.. given how crazy I've taken the story in the recent chapters.. it's safe to say that nothing is certain in regards as how this plays out.. sure the Olympians will win, but the question is.. how, given that so much is changing.
Remember when I wrote in this all the way back in Part One that Colton's parents were killed by a Lydian Drakon? Well, we're about to come full circle back to the trauma that started it all for him. Let's just say, for those that control Typhon that you still have a long time to find out about, his parents' deaths and him meeting Kelli were all part of the story that leads to what happens starting in the next chapter. Or in short, this was all fated to happen from the start.
Let's just say.. that changing things - or Kronos pulling the smart move considering the fate of this particular Drakon - may prove smart in the short-term, but doesn't really help him out in the long-run. He'll learn that the hard way soon enough though. As to what smart move Kronos pulls here with the Drakon, here's a hint: what do you get when you combine a son of Hecate, a Drakon, and a cloning spell?
Check out later on in the chapter to see if you guessed right.
Shout-outs to all the usual suspects as well, including @-JASONSGRACE .
Also, I know you have all seen climaxes of increasing power in the last two arcs - "Sea Of Monsters" and "Battle Of The Labyrinth" - but trust me, the climax of this book next chapter will absolutely dwarf all of that. Just a hint at what will come next chapter for you all right here. Anyways, enjoy this!)
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August 17th
Day Three Of The Battle Of Manhattan
Compared to yesterday, morning came as normal for the forces in Manhattan, though once more because of the storm, it was hard to tell whether it was daylight or still nighttime. Nevertheless, the action of the day started almost immediately as soon as the demigods had woken up as a chorus of shrieks, hisses and screams from the north informed them that action had already flared up along the Harlem River.
Unlike the fighting for the bridges of the past two days, the fights taking place along the many bridges in Northern Manhattan was purely monster vs monster, with demigods this time coming from Kronos' army. Still, Alexander from Hermes could only watch in horror as his friends were either crushed by boulders, ripped apart by beasts, or had their heads taken off by swords or what else. Although damage to the bridges and casualties to mortals was limited again, the fact that Kronos' army was making no progress at all, despite multiple, determined charges on the bridges, was a testament to just how much Khan's forces, despite heavy casualties, were putting up a savage and fierce fight for Northern Manhattan.
It definitely caused the demigods, satyrs, party ponies (centaurs), and hunters in the building to pick up the pace, that was for sure.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -
If anyone among our number were expecting a quiet morning similar to yesterday, the sounds of battle to the north the minute someone opened the doors of the lobby clearly gave us a rude awakening. If anything however, it got me more energized than ever to be honest. Nothing like combat to energize a son of Ares in the morning, nothing like that at all.. honestly.
"What the hell?" Travis muttered. "No break for us this morning?"
"Travis, don't.." Percy said. "Looks like our work has started earlier than we expected. Remember everyone. Defend the bridges and tunnels, just like yesterday. Colton, Kelli.." He was rapidly getting over whatever dislike he had for Kelli now, which was good. Speaking of Kelli, she had a look of foreboding on her face today. I don't know why or how, but she just did.
"...Kayla, and Michael.. you all are with me, Belle and Annabeth once again.." Percy continued. So I was once more with the dude who thought that he was going to die.. when I had doubts about it being him that would be the one in the prophecy to actually die from this battle. It was likely not going to be him, I was really very certain about that. Great.. just my luck, I thought to myself. At least I have Kayla fighting alongside me today once more. God, I love and cherish that girl totally.
No time to be sappy, I had to tell myself mentally. You're literally fighting in the battle of your life dude. Get a fucking grip on yourself. Are you dumb?
Dumb, I was not. I could not afford to be so right now. Not when Kronos was once more trying to reach Olympus. Not when the life of myself, my friends, my girlfriend, and everyone's futures quite literally hung in the balance here. No one could afford to be so. We had literally trained our whole time at camp for this exact thing more or less. Sure, it had not been one hundred percent what we expected, but then again, it definitely had gone better for us than we expected as well. That was for sure definitely in my opinion.
We could not fail here. Not when literally the fate of the fucking world hung squarely on our shoulders. Percy's more than anyone else.
Percy kept going. "...so everyone, stay alive. Do your best. And good hunting to all of you.." he finished, right before Rachel pulled him off to the side. I had to admit, he definitely was good with giving words of encouragement if I had to be honest here. He was really, really good.
Even so, believe me when I say I was definitely anxious about today what might bring. Everyone looked a bit worse this morning than they did yesterday. I be willing to bet that they got.. that nightmare again. I hated this honestly. Why does it have to be me that terrifies the shit out of everyone in their dreams?
I had my bets that the mysterious blurry figure they saw in their dreams was the Monster King, because their descriptions of the blurry figure were too eerily similar to the figure that had appeared in my dreams and then in that vision to me and Kayla. It was honestly the only figure I could even think of that would match. Even so, it was very troubling.
As the last demigods, satyrs, party ponies (centaurs), and hunters left the hotel, I overheard something Rachel said to Percy, something that left me wondering if Rachel Elizabeth Dare was just a clear-sighted teenage girl. Because call me crazy, with this, I had a funny feeling that Rachel Dare could be the next Oracle, no joke about it at all.
"Something will happen later today Percy.. I don't know what, but something will happen.." she said cryptically.
Like, was this girl born with an actual gift for prophecy or what? I haven't seen anything like it.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -
Unknown to everyone involved in this, by now in the middle of the day, Tyson and the forces of Poseidon.. plus the Satyrs under Grover, as well as those related to the Titans and Gods that weren't demigods or monsters had also suffered the same nightmare everyone else except Colton and Kayla had suffered the night before too. In broad daylight too at that. By this point, the clock under the surface of the water in the Central Park Reservoir was now at just under twelve hours of time to count down.
Typhon by this point had turned east and entered the Atlantic Ocean, only to be taken down by Poseidon, Tyson, and an army of Cyclopes and sent back to Tartarus. Even so, as his defeat released lots of storm spirits, Typhon had cackled loudly, telling the Olympians that he had served his purpose perfectly.. dropped a bombshell on them that only one other person knew about now. Kronos.
Simply put, things about the Great Prophecy were not what they seemed now. But, more on that later. For now, the Gods, Tyson, and the other Cyclopes could only wonder what exactly Typhon had meant in saying what he had said there.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -
The words from Rachel's lips still rang in my head nearly three hours later.
"Something will happen later today Percy.. I don't know what, but something will happen."
What the fuck did she even mean by that? It confused me so much. Still though, I couldn't really afford much to do things like that right now - that is, waste time trying to decipher what Rachel meant. I mean.. we were already deep into the fight right now. No use trying to figure stuff out in a literal life or death situation. I wasn't that fucking stupid.
As to what exactly I'm doing right now that requires me not to waste time thinking? Oh, it's very simple. Basically, it's once more firing an MG42 like a madman at monsters pouring in from the southern zones of Manhattan because surprise surprise, Kronos still had plenty of troops concentrated in Brooklyn. Like yesterday, we had been pushed back from the bridges and tunnels in the south, but with the assistance of both the party ponies and the Wardens, plus some monsters sent south from the group to the north of us, we were able to give up ground at a far less rate than before, which meant that we still had breathing room to spare before things could be considered desperate.
Generally speaking, as of this moment, this assault was starting to ebb and wane right now, thanks to the fact that the line had stabilized due to ferocious resistance, although the Party Ponies were really taking a beating right now. Kelli and Annabeth had left to get more ammo for me, since the MG as always was going through ammo like a very lethal disease ripping through an unprotected population. I mean, what do you expect from a gun that can fire 1,200 rounds per minute, though with different bolts can fire as much as an insane 1500 rounds per minute? It's like an inferno as it fires off ammo that fucking fast. So of course, the requests from more ammo were frequent. Luckily for me, Kelli didn't go slow which was very nice to be honest. Like, that woman knew how to haul ass.
It definitely was showing benefits here as I piled up more and more kills on the approaches to Olympus. I already had so many kills from this alone that I had lost track rapidly of where my kill count stood at. All I could tell that I definitely was competing with Jackson on who had the highest kill count right now.
Anyways, eventually the monsters had enough and broke off the assault, just as Annabeth and Kelli came back. "Percy!" Annabeth called out in a nervous tone, which immediately caught my attention, as it did Belle's attention too.
"What's up, Wise Girl?" he asked her.
"Rachel wished to speak with you.." she said a little bit filled with jealousy, though as per usual, he seemed oblivious to it. He simply nodded and called for us - Michael, Kayla, Kelli, Belle, and I to come along. So we did, following the two back up to the hotel.
Personally, I wondered exactly what Rachel had wanted to speak to Percy about. Hopefully, it was something that would clear up what she had cryptically said earlier. One could hope.
- — - — - — - — -
It turned out that I wouldn't get to hear what was being said by Rachel to Percy. An emergency had arisen in the Midtown Tunnel sector. Kronos' forces had secured a permanent toehold around the United Nations building. Michael, Kelli and I, much to the consternation and worry of Kayla, were sent in by Percy at Annabeth's insistence to help shore up the defenses and prevent his forces from making an end run on Olympus.
The initial wave that had established this beachhead at the United Nations had forced back the Hephaestus Cabin out of the Midtown Tunnel before heading for the building, meaning that no monsters were there to prevent Michael and I from taking up an excellent position in the building at the corner of Second Avenue and East Thirty Sixth street, overlooking the entrance and exit on the Manhattan Side of the Midtown Tunnel. Kelli once again took ammo trip duty.
Needless to say, the next wave to come out of the tunnel were shocked to be riddled with lead from our perfect spot. They fell back into the cover of the tunnel, pinned down by the exits under a rain of fire by the MG42. Every move they made to try to force their way out of the tunnel, we could see it and we just ripped them to shreds at every attempt. This in turn rallied nearby forces, including the shaken Hephaestus Cabin, to rally and help prevent any further progress on this front for now.
Let's just say.. these monsters were shocked to be under fire from the veteran duo that had without a doubt carried the Battle Of The Labyrinth for camp last summer. They were not expecting this at all, if I had to be perfectly honest with you. We mowed them down like grain from a scythe.
I had to admit, by this point, I think Michael and I were best friends at this point, which was remarkable really. Two summers ago, we had basically been enemies for the most part. Now, because of Kayla, here we were, fighting side by side like dogs in the fight that truly mattered. Austin, Sherman, and I would probably make our dad proud, I don't really doubt that to be honest here.
Back to the here and now though. Stopping all of them was too easy. Really too easy, which eventually, started to worry me lots.
"Something's up.." I told Michael. "This is suspiciously too easy." The monsters were simply holding up in the tunnel now, as if biding for time. Michael instantly understood.
"You're right. It is.. and I got a bad feeling about what this even means.." he said back to me, just as Kelli busted open to the room we were in, ammo boxes and the Whitworth in her hands.
"Kronos just sent in a Lydian Drakon.." she said and I was instantly seeing red. That son of a bitch had killed my parents all those years ago.. and now, here in this fight, was a chance for payback. I got up from being on my knees, took the Whitworth from Kelli's hand and simply growled.
"That fucker's going to get what is coming to him. Where is he..?" I said viciously, and Kelli couldn't help but gulp and back away in fear.
"At.. At the hotel.." she said hesitantly, and that was all I needed to hear before I was moving at breakneck speed with Michael close behind, both out of rage and monumental concern as well, because the hotel.. that's where Kayla was at along with Belle, Percy, and Annabeth. The last thing I was going to let happen now today was history repeating itself and that fucking Drakon taking away the one person that meant the world to me. Not if I could fucking help it, on gods. I would make sure of that.
- — - — - — - — -
Kelli filled me and Michael in on the situation as the three of us made a mad dash back towards the hotel. Apparently, right before the thing that had killed my parents had appeared, Rachel had told Percy something further about what would happen. It was something that went simply like this.
"A trick that ends in postponing the inevitable, a life saved, and a monster redeemed."
It was confusing, to say the least. Believe me, it was really confusing. But just like before, I had no time to dwell on it much. Not when Kayla's life was in danger. That alone had me picking up the pace as the three of us, despite carrying lots of equipment - with Michael having the MG42 slung over his back, ran like madmen back towards the hotel. Hopefully, we weren't too late when we got there. Besides, there was a special fate about the Lydian Drakon that basically made it a prime target for any Ares kid who happened to be in the area. It is destined to be killed by a child of Ares, which made it all the more convenient for me to try to be the one that kills it.
We were holding for the most part in every other sector of the battlefield, but even so, we could only do so by leaving gaps in our lines to hold key positions. This is why the Drakon had managed to sneak all the way through to the hotel - or wherever it was. God, the emotions I had about maybe being able to finally take my revenge on that monster for what it did to my parents all those years ago felt like I had the blessing of Ares surging through me. I didn't.. of course, but you get the idea of how strong the feelings that I felt were.
Anyways, we had taken a route that took us through Central Park - all the trees and such that had disappeared the previous day were back plus without much foot traffic - we easily took a route that brought us into the treeline just south of the playground and the hotel. There, out on 5th Avenue, I through my red laced vision could see the beast that had killed my parents three stories up on a nearby skyscraper next to the hotel and below it was Belle, Annabeth, Kayla, Percy and Ms. O' Leary trying to unsuccessfully fight her off.
"Michael, drop the MG. Go help them.." I told Michael and he did as he was told. As the Drakon slithered its way to the ground off of the building, I loaded the Whitworth like a madman once more, hoping to get a good kill-shot on it. Kelli stood there, waiting for something.. I don't know what. I was about to fire as Michael and Percy had it distracted while Ms. O'Leary was helping Annabeth, Kayla and Belle get back away to safety.. when we heard the familiar sound of chariot wheels coming up from the south.
"ARES!" a familiar voice shouted.
Kelli and I turned our heads to the south. There, fast approaching, were thirteen war chariots. Each of them had a red banner with the symbol of the head of a wild boar on it and were pulled by skeletal horses that literally had manes of fire. On board were twenty eight more fresh warriors.. the rest of the Ares Cabin.
I breathed a sigh of relief. My sister had realized what an idiot she was. Speaking of my sister, she was in the lead chariot by herself - with one of our other siblings driving - in red armor and a boar's head helmet covered her face. Seven chariots peeled off to the east to assist the forces containing Kronos' bridgehead at the Midtown Tunnel while the other six, lead by my sister, came straight at the Drakon.
It should have been okay. Clarisse was here now. There was absolutely no way that nothing could go wrong with this.
.
.
.
.
.
.
That's when I noticed that it was not my sister leading the charge towards the Drakon. First, I didn't see Chris there with her, which was unusual since by now they never went anywhere outside of camp without each other. The second thing that tipped me off to it - and probably the most crucial part of it all - were her eyes.
My sister had dark eyes.
This 'Clarisse' had.. blue ones, and if you looked closely, they had fear in them.
"That's not my sister.." I said at last, as the chariot sped up to the Drakon. I leveled my rifle once more at the Drakon, preparing to fire and save whoever this 'Clarisse' truly was. 'Clarisse' jumped out of the chariot, charging towards the Drakon.
I quickly turned to Kelli, but she was already moving. She had already transformed and had dashed straight out of the woods, much to the surprise of everyone there except 'Clarisse' and the Drakon, and headed straight for her. The other chariots stopped dead in their tracks, their occupants paralyzed from seeing Kelli.
The Drakon looked down at 'Clarisse', and just as it spat poison at her..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
..Kelli grabbed 'Clarisse' by the waist at the last moment and yanked her out of harm's way, using her body to shield her from the poison. Kelli yelped and hollered in pain from it, as the poison did do damage to her. I winced, then heard the sound of another chariot coming up. I turned and this time, I knew this time that it was who I thought it was.
Another chariot came up Fifth Avenue, and in this one was my sister - the real Clarisse La Rue - with Chris Rodriguez driving the chariot for her. She was without her armor, leaving no doubt that this was the real Clarisse.
"NO!" she screamed, visibly distressed. She obviously had seen Kelli's brave act in saving the fake Clarisse. The Drakon had its head smacked into a brick wall for some reason, but had now removed it and was about to spit more poison on Kelli and the fake Clarisse. I growled, and I knew what I had to do. I leveled the rifle once more, aimed directly at the back of the Drakon's head, and fired.
BLAM!
The bullet bounced off the back of the Drakon's head, stunning it just enough that Chris was able to get Kelli and the fake Clarisse out of the way while Clarisse grabbed her electric spear from the fake Clarisse. She charged at the Drakon with it, leaping aside as the Drakon pulverized the ground in front of her and jumping onto the monster's head with ease. I reloaded frantically as all of this played out. As the drakon reared back, my sister violently stabbed the Drakon with the spear in its one good eye. Its whole body shuddered as electricity arced across its head, and she jumped off and rolled to safety on the sidewalk as smoke rose from its mouth before we were all treated to the sight of the monster's hard flesh dissolving away, leaving nothing except a hollow, scaly tunnel of armor there on Fifth Avenue.
The drakon was dead, but for some reason, the victory felt hollow, as if we hadn't gotten revenge for my parents' deaths. I didn't know why, and I wasn't given long enough to find out.
A loud gasp and then Clarisse's cry of "YOU?!" directed my attention over to the crowd gathering around Kelli and the fake Clarisse, where my sister, the other Ares Campers, and Chris had gathered. Noticing Belle, Annabeth, Michael, Kayla, and Percy running over, I did as well.. after noticing the boar's head the fake Clarisse was wearing having come off. I looked over the heads of the crowd.. only to gasp in absolute shock.
Underneath the helmet.. was the last person I expected to impersonate my sister.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -
The 'Clarisse' that Kelli had saved was actually none other than Silena Beauregard. Colton had to admit.. he did not see that coming honestly. Michael went to heal Kelli and did so with Kayla's help.
"What were you thinking?" Clarisse asked her as she cradled the scared but still alive Silena in her arms.
"You.. wouldn't.. listen.." Silena gasped. "The rest of the cabin.. aside from Colton, Sherman, and Austin would.. only.. follow you."
"So you stole my armor.." Clarisse said. "..you waited until the cabin was asleep last night.. you stole it and pretended to be me." My sister turned to glare at her other siblings sans me, with a very deadly gaze. "And none of you even noticed?!"
"Don't blame them.." Silena said, shaking off the fear now. "They wanted to believe that I was you."
"You stupid Aphrodite girl.." Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"
"All my fault.." Silena replied, sobbing now. "The drakon, Charlie's death.. camp endangered.."
Colton's head put two and two together.. and realized the horrible truth. His body shuddered at it, since even he was having trouble to terms with it. All this time.. the spy had been right in front of us the whole time and we didn't even notice.. god am I stupid, he thought to himself as he fought back tears.
"Stop it! That's not true.." Clarisse said back to Silena. That's when Colton dropped the question that changed.. everything.
"You were the spy, weren't you, Silena?" he asked causing basically everyone but Silena's eyes to go wide and look at him.
Silena's hand shook as she nodded and opened her fingers, revealing the silver bracelet with a scythe charm on her palm. The mark of Kronos.
"You were the spy" Percy said now, horrified. Kayla worryingly clutched Colton's hand in hers, and her boyfriend gave her a reassuring squeeze. Silena nodded and continued. "Before I liked Charlie.." she explained. "..Luke was nice to me. So charming, handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised that I was saving lives." Silena started sobbing again and Clarisse just cuddled her.. so unlike Clarisse. "Fewer people wouldn't get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt Charlie. He lied to me."
"He was being manipulated by Kronos.." Colton said back in an empathic manner. "What did you expect?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Silena wailed back. "I should have died! I should have gone to see Charlie!"
"Do you really think sacrificing yourself like that would be worth it if Olympus falls? I know Charlie wouldn't really think so.." Colton said to her, and he was right. Knowing Charles, he probably wouldn't see it that way.
Silena realized that and started to calm down. "Yeah.. you're right.." she said at last. "He wouldn't. I hope you all can forgive me.. with what I've done."
"Yeah.. we do.." Clarisse said, and Colton nodded. Kayla offered a heartwarming smile, and Chris put his hands on Silena's shoulders. "We're all in this together.." Chris said truthfully.
Clarisse turned to Kelli, who had transformed back into her human form. She glared at her for a few moments, before her expression softened. "You.." Clarisse started, and Kelli braced for the worst, closing her eyes. But it never came. When Kelli opened her eyes after feeling someone's arms wrapping around hers and crying, she was surprised to find Clarisse hugging her, letting her tears flow and into Kelli's cheerleader uniform.
"Thank you.. so, so much.. I wasn't expecting you of all people to do that.." Clarisse said while sobbing, and Kelli couldn't help but smile.
"Believe me when I say.. it's a long story as to what convinced me that I was in the wrong.. now though, I'm here to make up for my mistakes and misdeeds.." she said, and Clarisse simply looked up and smiled.
As happy as this moment was, it was shattered by the howls of monsters to the south, bringing everyone back into reality.
"Looks like the monsters at the UN Building broke through the perimeter.." Colton growled as he raced back over across 5th Avenue into Central Park, grabbed the MG42, handed it over to Michael, and with Kayla at his side and with Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Ms. O' Leary and a couple of his siblings behind him, took off to the south, towards Olympus. Clarisse, meanwhile, picked up a sword from one of her siblings - Silena's driver - that had died from the poison spewed by the drakon earlier.
"Kronos.." Clarisse hissed. "..is going to pay."
Then she, Silena, Chris, and the rest of the cabin sped off to the south as well.
What no one realized is that the Drakon Clarisse had slayed was actually a clone of the Lydian Drakon, created by Alabaster as one last ditch attempt to prevent the rise of the Monster King. Because as you shall see, Kronos is many things, but when it comes to the Monster King, he's aware of how limited of a time window he (Kronos) is operating on. Either way, bottom line was that despite the sense of triumph, the real Drakon was still out there unknown to the Olympians.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -
We slammed into the attacking column from the north, just as they reached the outskirts of the Empire State Building. Under the circumstances, there was no time to get the MG42 set up so Michael resorted to handing his bow and arrows off to Chris, who used them to very good effect even as he rode along with his girlfriend, who had attached a grappling hook from her chariot to the carcass of the drakon and had attached to the back of their chariot - dragging it along with them like some gruesome trophy, while Michael simply used a few of the 50 round drum magazines and just fired the MG42 from his fucking hip. Suffice it to say, it was an awesome sight to behold indeed.
Kayla was also firing off arrows while I just took potshots at monsters left and right. Still, Clarisse did most of the work for us. She drove her chariot right into their midst and tore monsters and enemy demigods alike apart left and right, even without her armor or her spear, which Chris had slung on his back.
My sister was so inspiring that the Centaurs rallied, and the campers from camp formed a shield wall reinforced by the rest of my cabin, pushing forwards and together, we drove them down Thirty Fifth Street. Clarisse charged after the enemy forces, and as she did so, an aura of red fire had begun to glow around my sister, illuminating her. I knew exactly what this was. The Blessing of Ares.
"The blessing of Ares.." Thalia said, panting and looking as amazed as most of the rest of us, except me honestly. "I've never seen it in person before."
The blessing gave Clarisse the same degree of invulnerability Percy had on the Williamsburg Bridge. It was unfortunately temporary, so Clarisse had to make the best of it while it lasted.
Chris was in for a wild time, as their chariot came on at the enemy forces. "I am Clarisse, drakon-slayer!" my sister bellowed. "I will kill you all! Where is Kronos? Bring him out! He is a coward!"
"CLARISSE!" Percy shouted. "STOP IT! WITHDRAW!"
I turned to him. "Percy.." I told him. "..don't. My sister will be fine. She has Chris to watch over her."
"What's the matter, TITAN LORD?!" Clarisse continued to bellow as she charged onwards in her chariot with Chris. "BRING IT ON!"
"See?" I continued. "They'll be fine."
"What about the camp?" Percy continued. "Is anybody left there?"
Benjamin walked up. "Only the nature spirits and Argus.." he told Percy. "Peleus is still guarding the tree."
"They won't last long.." Percy said glumly. "But I'm glad you all came.."
"Chris tried to reason with Clarisse.. she wouldn't listen.." Benjamin continued. "She eventually came around and told us she would lead us here today. Said it last night. I honestly think something about the weird storm had something to do with it. Or the nightmare we all had last night.."
Wait, nightmare? Don't tell me, I thought to myself.
"Did.. you just say.. 'nightmare'..?" Percy asked grimly.
Benjamin shuddered, as if he had just remembered what he had seen. "Yeah.. why?" he asked, hesitantly.
"You have no idea of what's been going on here since the 15th.." Percy muttered. He soon shook off the trembling he had and returned to focused mode. "But like I said, glad you're all here. This probably will be over soon. Maybe."
"My hunters will help you all stand guard.." Thalia added. "..and I agree Percy. Tonight might be the night that ends this."
- — - — - — - — -
People could tell one thing, one thing accurately on this night. Kronos was getting desperate. He had tried three times to reach Olympus.. and failed each time, losing even more heavily with each new attempt than the preceding attempt. We could tell that the massive slaughter of his forces, thanks to our unexpected allies, definitely left him in a difficult situation now because of their handy intervention in our favor.
As night fell, we could all sense that this might be over soon enough. Of course, anything could happen between now and when this actually ended, so who knows. We definitely weren't letting our guards down, for sure.
I still was in a bit of shock over the revelation that Silena had been the spy all along. At least she had inspired my sister to fight and slay the Lydian Drakon.
I will admit this, however.. about the whole "Clarisse slaying the Drakon" thing. Something about it seemed off to me. I do not know what about it seemed like something wasn't right in that scene, but something about the Drakon just seemed off. It was a gut feeling honestly, so maybe I was wrong about it. Maybe I was just going crazy from all of the action the past couple of days.
That was probably it, right? Hopefully it should be. I mean.. there's no way it was something else, like could it? I probably shouldn't think too much about it now. We weren't fighting for our lives at the moment, but like I said before.. we were not letting our guards down. Not when it seemed.. judging from the movements of the Titan Army on the opposite side of both the New Jersey side of the Hudson and the Brooklyn and Queens side of both the East and Harlem rivers looked more desperate than ever before. Something was about to happen soon enough.. besides, they still had that toehold at the United Nations Building, now secure thanks to the monsters now controlling the intersection at Second Avenue and East Thirty Sixth Street where Michael and I had pinned them down in the Midtown Tunnel earlier in the day.
Aside from the blocks in between the UN building and the intersection, they also held a block to the north of the UN building and one block to the south of it. So while they had gained more ground, their bridgehead was at least contained.. still it was their only permanent one they had developed during this whole battle.. and in a worrisome position.. within an easy match to the Empire State Building and Olympus. We all knew it full well.
That's why we were all on our guard this night.
The four of us - Kayla, Kelli, Michael, and I - had been in the lobby of the Empire State Building for a long while, the security guard having booked it a long while ago somehow. I don't know how or where he went. The point is, we were all sitting in there, having moved all of our ammo supplies and spare barrels from the hotel into the building over the course of two hours when Percy, Annabeth, Belle, and Grover.
"Hey guys.. you mind coming up with us to Olympus please?" Percy asked us.
"Sure.." I said while nodding.
Kayla, Kelli, Michael and I simply followed Percy, Annabeth, Belle and Grover up to Olympus. I couldn't exactly figure out why I felt this way, but there was definitely a foreboding feeling rising in my stomach looking down from the elevator towards southern Manhattan for some unknown reason that I was powerless at figuring out.
Maybe I was just going crazy from the past days of battle or something. I have no idea.
- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -
Kronos was indeed desperate, no doubt about that visibly. He was running out of time. Why was the Lord Of Time so concerned about running out of time, and why go to the trouble of having Alabaster create a clone of the Lydian Drakon? It's purely simple, and elementary. He's fully aware of the prophecy handed down by the Fates to him while heading to Toronto, on the information from Silena about Colton's birthday party.
Blood Of Ares Boil Bright
When Drakon Comes In Sight
Time's Fall Thus Ensured
Monster King Arise And Behold
He knew full well what this prophecy was.. his fate. This is why he was trying so hard to reach Olympus.. to have his revenge and thwart the prophecy that predicted his demise at the hands of a child of Ares.
It seemed like a contradiction given what the Great Prophecy had said, that Kronos would fall at the hands of a child of the eldest gods, the Big Three. But the funny thing people can forget about fate is.. that the simplest things, things that seem so minuscule and minor at first, can alter fate. Thus, the way a prophecy plays out in one universe may very well be different in another. That was exactly the case here. Typhon's masters - those controlling him - had altered the Great Prophecy and the events beyond simply by making Colton the Monster King.
Kronos was running out of time.. so he decided to make one last attempt to take Olympus and he decided to lead it personally himself. So it was that his forces at the UN left for Olympus a couple minutes after 11:20 pm.
As Kronos set out on this final assault from the United Nations building, no one else bothered to look at the time, which was currently 11:24 pm. What no one else had also bothered to do was make sure someone was there to keep an eye on the real Lydian Drakon. This mistake would prove to be.. a fatal one soon enough.
On the clock beneath the Central Park Reservoir, the clock had ticked down to the thirty minute marker with the hour hand on eleven. As if once more this was a cartoon, a big dot with a few blobs of red and black color and two pairs of red eyes appeared in the middle of the clock. They got bigger.. and bigger.. and bigger as they got closer to the screen, revealing themselves to be the mysterious rider and his demonic horse from the nightmares and Kayla and Colton's vision on Olympus. When they were about life sized inside the clock, they seemingly leapt through the clock out into the water towards the screen with the demon horse opening its mouth of sharp teeth, letting out its familiar roar and filling the screen full of its red and black energy in its mouth before it turns to black, with the sound of the mysterious figure's familiar malevolent laughter echoing from when the duo leap through the clock into the water to a good while after the screen had gone dark.
It was now 11:25 pm.
A half hour remained.
Tick..
Tock.
To be continued..