“How interesting,” Kronos mused, his sythe glinting at his side. “Our little hero, Percy Jackson, merciless at my heels. And your girlfriend, Annabeth, under my control.”

The mockery in his voice wasn’t so great. That enclosed room we were in made me sweat and feel tired. Couldn’t he at least have picked an old ice cream place or something? Don’t villains like to hang out there? Panting, I saw Kronos’ ugly minions staring deep into Annabeth’s eyes. A sort of hypnotism, only very, very, very advanced, if you know what I mean. For a split second, we made eye contact, and her eyes seemed grayer than ever. I knew she was trying hard to fight back, but couldn’t take any more. I was becoming desperate.

“Luke…” I murmured. A twisted look crossed his face, but quickly turned into a sneer.

“Luke is no more than a mere disguise,” Kronos declared. “He will be of no use when my powers are fully restored.”

I felt my hands curl into a fist.

“Ha. You’re just as weak as he is,” I scoffed, which is a pretty dangerous thing to do to a Titan. “C’mon, if you think who you really are, then fight me, and give Annabeth back. Or do you not want to get your womanly hands dirty?!” Womanly hands? I would’ve laughed at that, if I wasn’t face-to-face with the ultimate Titan who’s possessing Luke, and of course, wanted to kill me.

“Give Annabel back? Do I look like a fool?!” he snarled. I stared at him, Riptide clenched in my hands, but feeling annoyed. Annabel? What is she, some kind of cow? No offense Bessie, no offense. I took this moment of anger as a chance. Swiftly, I jumped up and swung my sword at those ugly faced cronies of his. Grabbing Annabeth, we ran. I threw a bowl of peaches at Kronos, just for a bonus, and we ran outside, jumping into the freezing water of the ocean. Being a son of Poseidon, I wasn’t cold and I made the wateraround us warmer so Annabeth wouldn’t turn into an icicle. We bounced in the water for a while, and I noticed how sad Annabeth looked. Soon, thank the gods, we sat in the distance, and quicly shrugged off what I saw of Annabeth. She was probably still in shock after being in the hands of Kronos.

Controlling the currents, we bobbed closer until we were near enough to the boat, or I should say, cruise ship. The thing was massive, with its shiny dark coat, gleaming in the night, a figure on the boat saw us, and pointed to the ladder. Weary Annabeth and I climbed to the top, where we were greeted by someone I’d never thought I’d never see again.

“Thalia!” Annabeth screamed, running up to her. Thalia grinned and I noticed that being a hunter, she looked less Goth. Thalia took us to a room, where she told me is totally safe (for demi-gods, that is) and asked us to sit down. There, a young girl entered the room and sat down on a big chair only a few feet away from ours. Immediately I realize who this was. Artemis, the goddess of hunting and the moon.

“We meet again, Percy, Annabeth,” she said in a formal tone. “Do you understand why we are here, so close to the Princess Andromeda?” Annabeth and I shook our heads. Her wise looking eyes seemed to soften.

“We are here to help you,” she said in barely a whisper, leaning closer to us. “We are here to help you defeat the Titan Lord, Kronos, once and for all. “I sat there, speechless. I really didn’t know what to say. Annabeth was just the opposite, and I noticed that she had the sad look on her face again.

“We thank you, Lady Artemis,” she said. “But I’m afraid there’s something else we’ve got to do on that ship.” Thalia and I looked at each other by coincidence and wondered what that something else was.

“What do you mean?” I asked, Annabeth’s eyes began to get watery.

“They’ve got… Grover,” she sniffled, looking away to hide her face. A dead silence filled the room. Someone gave a sharp cough, and we looked back up at Artemis again.

“We’ll try, but we can’t be so sure about finding him,” she said softly, patting Annabeth. I felt awkward sitting there, silent.

What was I supposed to say? Well, sorry to interrupt, but, oh gosh, I don’t know, like, there’s my best friend who needs rescuing right now.

“I’m ready,” sniffed Annabeth after awhile. The door creaked, and Annabeth and I whisked our heads around.

“Good. ‘Cus I have a plan.” Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, said, grinning.

“Oh, Percy, have you come back?” cooed a monster. “What’s the matter? Have you finally figured out that we are the ones to side with?” She glided the tip of her nail, or claw, against my cheek, someone doing all this without being blown away from the airstream. I shuddered.

The monster sighed, looking bored.

“Oh, well, I knew you could never get that idea through that thick skull,” she hissed, raising her hand to slice me to confetti. I turned my head away, seeing Grover tiptoe, giving me a thumb up.

“Nice performance,” I said as I watched him quickly leave. The monster raised a part of where the eyebrow should be. “You can’t kill me. Actually, you need me. To defeat the Olympians, of course.”

The wind stopped revolving around me, shimmered as it twirled to the left. Immediately the monster bowed her head and got on her knees.

“Vinco,” she hissed. I understood it to be “master”, or something like that. Luke was in front of me again, and he looked happy. Snapping his fingers, a big curtain behind me raised.

“Bessie!” I shouted, as she splashed around the glass tank. “H-how…”

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” asked Kronos. I narrowed my eyes.

“Yeah. Let’s get this done with. For I am Percy Jackson, son of the sea god Poseidon!” I charged in, including Demeter and Persephone. Kronos called out all his other monsters, and the battle began. I glanced from Bessie to the battle. I didn’t want to hurt her. Grover put a shaky hand on my shoulder.

“Percy, you know what you have to do.” He said with some confidence. I looked at Annabeth. She nodded slowly. Turning back, I walked to the tank. Beside me, Grover grabbed a huge torch. Closing my eyes, I commanded the water to bring Bessie.

“Moo.”

“Sorry Bessie,” I whispered as I regretfully slashed Riptide through her.

“No! Stop him!” I ignored Kronos’ cries. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I grabbed us. Nico knocked the entrails out of my hands into the fire, and it bursted in flames as Kronos lunged forward. Then, I blacked out.

“W-what?” I asked. I squinted my eyes, but there was nothing to see. It was pitch-black.

“It’s time for you to decide, young hero.” I gulped. Woohoo. Time to Overthrow Kronos. A shadowy person emerged, and somehow, I could see him in the darkness.

“I want to overthrow the Titans,” I blurted out. The figure nodded its head.

“Very well.” Those words echoed in the silence, and I blacked out again.

“Annabeth?” I mumbled. The girl laughed.

“You get into a battle. Lose your conscious, and all you could think about is Annabeth?” My vision cleared to see Thalia standing over me. I looked away, feeling my cheeks turn red. Oh man, how embarrassing.

“W-what am I doing here?” Thalia laughed again. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her do that.

“We did it, Percy. You did it,” she whispered. “Kronos is gone forever now; thanks to you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, getting up. I looked around. We were back at camp.

“What do you mean? He collapsed on the floor and Nico took his sythe and slayed him. Mysteriously, Kronos bursted into flames,” Thalia explained. I nodded.

“But it seemed too easy to get rid of him,” I murmered. “Why couldn’t other people do it in the past?”

“Well, Percy, it was not a happy ending,” said Chrion as he entered the room. “Nico has died.” I sat there, silent. I was too stubborn to let a few tears fall. “but you were brave, and save many lives. Remember that.”

With that, he left the room, leaving me and Thalia. But Nico di Angelo was gone. Just like his sister.