𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐃.
she finished admiring her appearance one last time, applying a swipe of lipgloss.
the redhead adjusted her hair. she looked perfect.
the last couple months had been spent in silence. kronos spent everyday training her, and a kelso wasn't finished until she was tired and bloody.
she climbed the ranks of the titan army. nobody expected kronos's right hand man to be a seventeen year old girl.
back at camp, everybody was talking about it. they'd received an iris-message. the sender was unknown.
"they don't care about you." kronos spoke. "they let you go without a second thought. that boy was right. you know nothing of love. nobody loves you."
cherry didn't answer.
mascara stained her cheeks.
"do you think they'll come save you? they won't. i'm not trying to make you feel bad. i'm telling you the truth. they've never respected you. they tiptoe around you. i can give you all the power in the world." kronos offered a hand.
the red-haired girl took it.
the prophecy had become true.
cherry garcia had betrayed the greek gods.
well, technically.
the longer cherry spent with kronos, the more she figured him out.
everybody thought that cherry was some airhead who'd been easily manipulated, just like the demigods on their side. they didn't expect any possible betrayal from her.
when cherry wasn't planning his demise and plotting on his weak spots, she was training the new demigods and monsters,
turning them against kronos.
and, sometimes, killing them.
death was a horrifying thing. but if anybody found out what cherry was really doing, she'd be killed. she couldn't have that.
it wasn't like she was killing everyone.
she actually.. kind of liked some of them.
in a horribly sick and twisted way, they felt like a family. a group of children who'd simply come together in a shared bond of their hatred for gods who they felt had done them wrong.
they were just going about it the wrong way.
cherry could not bring herself to believe that the children aboard were to blame.
that the little boy who'd brought her a cupcake on the morning of her seventeenth birthday was evil and deserved to die.
it wasn't true.
being on their side gave cherry a different perspective, not just in a fighting way.
the only thing that made cherry question her unusual plan, was percy.
she hoped that he didn't think that she was evil. that she had really turned on them. but if that was what it took to save olympus, and eventually his life, she'd have to live with it.
cherry just needed a little more time.
suddenly, the door opened.
the red-haired girl didn't turn to look.
"uh, miss?" the monster at the door called out, too mervous to speak loudly. "he's.. he's here."
cherry looked over almost instantly.
she knew exactly what he was talking about. one of the creatures she'd turned against kronos.
"thank you." cherry spoke, as she rose from her chair.
the redhead walked out of her room, shutting the door behind her.
she walked towards the balcony that overlooked the main deck, and took her spot beside kronos.
everybody aboard the boat knew she was kronos's favorite. even the most evil creature to exist liked somebody.
but that didn't mean he wouldn't be willing to end her life at a moments notice. she was just a little less useless than the others.
cherry glanced at the blonde who was halfway across the deck. she didn't look at him any more than that. she couldn't give off the wrong idea.
she continued down the stairs without drawing any attention herself, making her way around the deck.
"you're late, percy." kronos spoke.
he'd taken over luke's body almost fully, now. he'd just transferred his soul over.
the only different thing about luke's appearance were his eyes. they were solid gold.
"we've been expecting you for days." kronos said, as his face twitched. "come, bow before me."
"yeah, that'll happen." percy muttered.
suddenly, a warm feeling rushed through his body.
arms hung over his shoulders.
it was cherry.
percy's heart stopped.
finally, he understood why annabeth was so insistent on believing luke was still good.
cherry wasn't evil, she never could be, it was impossible.
but she was holding a knife to his throat, and he still thought she was perfect. he looked anywhere but her eyes, because he was sure that if she even looked at him he would betray everything he stood for to be by her side.
laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swim-ming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue.
each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. demigod archers appeared on the roof above kronos.
two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at percy. within seconds, he was surrounded. they'd known he was coming.
"i love you." percy reminded her.
he felt like that's all he needed to do. remind her. she was a good person, she could still change.
"i don't." cherry lied.
percy refused to believe it.
he could feel the way the blade was angled, that just barely avoided cutting him.
"cherry, bring him to me." kronos demanded.
the crowd of monsters parted. cherry moved up the stairs, and percy's heart pounding.
he couldn't believe it.
she'd been tricked. it wasn't her who was doing it. no, she'd never do that to him.
the warm feeling abandonded percy as cherry shoved him away from her.
she could feel the guilt begin to swallow her being whole. she needed to trust that percy knew what he was doing. silena had told her all about their plans; she was the spy.
percy held riptide.
kronos's weapon appeared in his hands. a six-foot-long scythe, half celestial bronze, half mortal steel.
suddenly, percy charged.
time slowed down. literally slowed down. kronos was the lord of time.
kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting percy me to creep towards his death.
percy tried to fight his magic. he concentrated on the sea around him, the source of his power. he'd gotten better at channeling it over the years, but now nothing seemed to happen.
he took another slow step forward.
giants jeered.
dracaenae hissed with laughter.
cherry had a disapproving look on her face.
the entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off
their feet. four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing percy and kronos and everyone on the deck.
mostly everybody.
cherry was still dry.
percy just couldn't get rid of the soft spot he had for her, no matter how evil she was.
the water revitalized him, breaking the time spell, and he lunged forward.
he struck at kronos, but was still too slow. he had made the mistake of looking at cherry's face for too long. kronos had no such hesitation. he sliced downward with his scythe.
cherry turned away, seemingly disinterested in the battle. it wasn't that. it was just that she had no interested in seeing him hurt.
she could feel the wad rage on.
kronos laughed. "a poor performance, percy jackson. luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay."
"luke had a big head." percy said. "but at least it was his head."
"a shame to kill you now, before the final plan unfolds. i would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how i will destroy olympus."
"you'll never get this boat to manhattan."
"and why would that be? perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives? nakamura!"
cherry immediately looked over at the mention of the boys name.
he'd had a crush on her since he'd seen her in the labyrinth. he was also close to kronos, as he'd helped him come back to life.
cherry thought he would be a good resource.
ethan grinned at cherry.
she waved at him with a smile.
"success, my lord," ethan called. "we found him just as we were told."
he clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered for-ward, dragging charles beckendorf between them.
beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. his armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.
he looked at cherry, and her face didn't move. she doesn't seem bothered. but she was.
she tried to fight the memories of them in the workshop. the nights they'd spend in there discussing silena and percy, and their feelings for them.
"no!" percy yelled.
"we found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. can we eat him now?"
"soon." lronos scowled at ethan. "are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"
"he was going toward the engine room, my lord." ethan explained.
"how do you know that?"
"he was heading in that direction. and he told us. his bag is still full of explosives."
"open his bag."
one of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from beckendorf's shoulders. he peered inside, grunted,
and turned it upside down.
panicked monsters surged backward. if the bag really had been full of greek fire jars, they would've all blown up. but what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.
cherry could hear kronos breathing, as he tried to control his anger.
"stupid." cherry crossed her arms, before kronos could say anything horrible.
ethan's heart panged.
a wave of guilt flooded over him.
he'd disappointed her. he couldn't live with himself. he didn't want to disappoint her. what could he do to make it up?
"did you, perhaps," kronos said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"
ethan was pale.
"and did you, perhaps, send someone to actually check the engine room?" kronos began to gore.
ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran.
cherry whispered something to kronos. he nodded his head.
kronos turned toward percy with a crooked smile. "you'll have to excuse my incompetent help, percy jackson. but it doesn't matter. we have you now. we've known you were coming for weeks."
he held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm.
the titan lord's symbol.
silena had the other one.
"communication device.. spy at camp." percy realized.
kronos chuckled, and then his eyes turned to cherry. "you can't count on friends. they will always let you down. luke learned that lesson the hard way. now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."
percy swallowed.
cherry panicked, for a moment.
but he wasn't talking about her.
one of the giants had his hand around beckendorf's neck.
percy was in no shape to rescue him, and even if i tried, he would die before he got there.
beckendorf closed his eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.
percy threw his sword like a javelin at kronos, and then went rushing down the stairs.
"go get him!" kronos demanded.
cherry nodded her head, and picked up the ends of her dress. she ran down the stairs, and barely caught up with percy.
her manicured hands were set on his shoulders. he stopped running, barely collecting himself.
the crowd of monsters were running around. which was the perfect distraction.
"cherry, please." percy begged. "you can come with me. we can be together again. i can vouch for you. please."
"percy!" cherry interrupted him. "i love you."
he had no idea what to say in response.
her hand came off of him.
"go!" she demanded.
percy opened his mouth, but shut it again.
he didn't know what she was doing with kronos. he didn't know why she let him go, or why she refused to come with him.
he couldn't change her mind. he trusted her judgement.
with that, percy jumped off the side of the ship, toward the water a hundred feet below.
he plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take him far, far away.
with that the princess andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.
before percy blacked out, he thought of cherry's face.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
percy had told everybody about cherry. he sounded insane, spewing theories and conspiracies about how she was being tricked.
it took almost every camper to snap him out of it.
they believed that he was being stupid and love was blinding him. cherry had chosen her side, and she'd chosen to go against them.
percy argued that she was brainwashed, but it was no use.
he has bigger things to worry about, like the prophecy that predicted he was going to die, or the fact typhon, the most horrible monster of all, had been freed, and the gods could not stop him.
to make matters worse, kronos's army had loaded up on speedboats and was racing towards manhattan.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
percy was barely catching his breath after defeating over a hundred monsters, when he saw the crowd at the base of the bridge.
the retreating monsters were running straight toward their reinforcements.
it was a small group, maybe thirty or forty demigods in battle armor, mounted on skeletal horses. one of them held a purple banner with the black scythe design.
the lead horseman trotted forward. he took off his helm it was kronos himself.
percy looked behind him, and found who he was looking for.
cherry grinned.
behind her, a bunch of her minions held bags. cherry had done a little shopping.
percy felt like he'd just been stabbed in the heart.
cherry seemed a little evil. and also, a little motherly.
a couple of the younger demigods looked to her as if waiting for instruction.
what had happened to her?
how had percy let this happen?
his eyes finally trailed to the boy beside her. he was holding her hand.
ethan nakamura.
the titan lord's men drew their swords and charged. the hooves of their skeletal horses thundered against the pavement.
the camps archers shot a volley, bringing down several of the enemy, but they just kept going.
they all retreated when percy instructed, and in a matter of seconds, kronos's army was running towards him.
annabeth stayed right beside him, fighting with her knife and mirrored shield.
cherry frowned.
percy tried to wound the opposing army, not kill, which slowed him down. but they weren't monsters. they were demigods who'd fallen under kronos's spell.
behind him, annabeth cried out in pain.
demigod with a bloody knife stood over her. it was ethan.
before percy could demand for him to get away from her, cherry was holding onto the back of ethan's armor.
she'd pulled him away from annabeth.
why?
kronos whispered something to her.
she whispered back with a glare.
the man sensed weakness. maybe recruiting the goddess of love was a bad choice. of course she'd still have compassion for her friends.
suddenly, kronos towered above percy on his skeletal horse, his scythe in one hand. he studied the scene with narrowed eyes as if he could sense that percy had just come close to death.
"bravely fought, percy jackson," he said. "but it's time to surrender, or the girl dies."
"percy, don't," annabeth groaned.
her shirt was soaked with blood.
percy called for blackjack, who sswooped down and clamped his teeth on the straps of annabeth's armor. they soared away over the river before the enemy could even react.
kronos snarled. "some day soon, i am going to make pegasus soup. but in the meantime, i'll settle for another dead demigod."
cherry watched as they fought.
ethan yanked himself from out of her grasp. he had no idea what was wrong with her.
"fight!" he instructed. "unless.. you still love him."
"who i love is none of your business, ethan." cherry spoke to him, and he wanted to cower.
patches of the bridge were half melted from greek fire. the bridge had taken a beating from kronos's blast and the exploding arrows.
"cherry, move!" percy yelled, and then stabbed riptide into the bridge.
the magic blade sank to its hilt in asphalt. salt water shot from the crack like he'd hit a geyser. the bridge shook and began to crumble. chunks the size of houses fell into the east river.
kronos's demigods cried out in alarm and scrambled backward, but the first of them to go was cherry.
the titan lord studied the problem. he looked behind him at the rising sun, then smiled across the chasm. he raised his scythe in a mock salute."until this evening, jackson."
cherry had a strange expression. percy had never seen it before.
for the first time, he didn't know what she felt.
kronos mounted his horse, whirled around, and galloped back to brooklyn, followed by his warriors.