Chapter 27

Thalia pov

I was talking with Kyleigh and ava when they started glaring at something behind me. Immediately I knew it was a boy. I turned around to see Percy. "What do you want, kelphead?" I asked. "Hello to you too, pinecone face." I rolled my eyes. "I just wanted to say..Stay safe and please don't die." I can't promise him that. The others might have but I can't. If i do and then i die it'll crush him even more. Besides, I've had a terrible feeling since the gods flashed us up here. I surprised myself by hugging him. "Don't die kelphead." I whispered. "Never." He answered. Just then Olympus started to tremble. Percy yelled, "Demigods! Time to avenge our family! Let's kick some evil butt!!" he yelled. Again everyone cheered. We all ran off.

The hunters and I ran out the doors and into the streets of Olympus. Everywhere I looked there were Minor gods and goddesses and demigods all ready for battle. I surveyed the crowd and realized some of the kids are 6 or 7. Kids this young shouldn't have to fight. It isn't fair. But then again nothing in our lives is fair. I looked ahead as Olympus trembled again. I could see monsters pounding on the barrier in the elevator but other than that we couldn't see any other monsters. I ran to the edge of Olympus and looked down. A drakon was climbing the empire state building. That was the only monster I could see though.

I ran through the crowd searching for Percy.I finally found him talking to his father. I ran up. "Percy somethings wrong. Where are all the monsters." I said. "I know we're working on it. Right now I need you to get all the archers closer to the back of the army. And Thals-''I turned and ran off not letting him finish his sentence. I knew what he was going to say but again, i cant promise him anything. I found the hunters. "Listen up ladies. We are going to be closer to the back of the army. I need you to shoot down as many monsters as possible. I commanded. They all nodded their heads and started to run off. "Phoebe"I called. She turned around, "I need you to help me find as many archers as possible and get them to the back of the army." She nodded and ran the opposite way. I ran around trying to find as many archers as I could. 15 minutes later I made it back to the rest of the hunters. Artemis was with them. "My lady what-" I was cut off by the horn, signaling an attack. All of a sudden I couldn't see. It was pitch black. IT was darker than night. I knew it wasn't just me because I heard people crying out in alarm. When I could see again I saw thousands upon thousands of monsters. "Uh oh" I said. "Yeah" Phoebe agreed. "Archers hold!" I shouted. All the archers brought the bows up and aimed. All of a sudden both armies surged forward. "Fire!" I yelled. All the arrows were released and the final battle started.

Emma pov

Percy disappeared when the horn sounded. I wasn't sure where he went but I have bigger problems at the moment. I started to slash my way towards where Nico was fighting in the middle. Not many people had gotten to him. He was in the last ring of defense around Gaei, Tartarus, Nyx, and Kronos. I was getting closer when I felt a pain on my arm. I turned around and saw a laistrygonian with a bow. I looked down and saw the arrow he had shot had grazed my arm. I ran towards the laistrygonian and slashed at his ankle. He roared as blood came pouring out. Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, sword raised, and found Percy. He had a couple cuts and was covered in golden dust. "You go get Nico, I got him." I nodded and turned towards where I last saw Nico. I ran but I couldn't see him anywhere. Then I felt a sword graze my arm again. I turned and found Nico, sword raised and about to attack. "Nico," I said. He didn't answer and lunged towards me. I raised my sword and blocked his attack. "Nico you there?" He growled and backed up. "Nico, come on we need you. This isn't you"

"This is me now." He said as he swiped at my stomach. I dodged. ���No it isn't. Nico is fun, loyal, and would never betray us." He continued to attack as I talked. "Nico I know you're in there. Fight it please." I begged. He continued to attack. "Remember the first time Percy made breakfast?" I asked. "Remember how he flung a pancake at you and it started a pancake war?" I continued to block his attacks, while talking about memories. Finally after the fifth memory he paused. His eyes flickered. "Come on Nico I know you're in there. Fight it please." I begged again. His eyes turned brown and he dropped his sword. "Emma" He whispered. I smiled through the tears that had started in the second memory. I wiped the tears away and hugged him as hard as I could. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me just as hard. We pulled apart. "Now let's go win a war." He said. I smiled and said, "Lets" We turned and ran off towards The middle of the monster army where Gaei, Tartarus, Nyx, and Kronos were.

Percy pov

After I killed the Laistrygonian I turned and saw Nico attacking Emma as she talked. She would block his attacks but she wasn't attacking. I was going to go over and help but all of a sudden he dropped his sword. They hugged and ran towards the middle of the army. I knew what they were doing and I also knew they would need mine and Emily's help. I found Emily on my way to them. "Emily Emma got Nico back, there on their way to Gaei, Tartarus, Nyx, and Kronos. They'll need our help." "Got it." She killed the monster we were fighting and we ran towards Nico and Emma. When we got to them I clapped Nico on the back. "Nice to have ya back bro" I said. "Nice to be back," He answered, "now can we kill them please." I whined. Emma laughed and shook her head. "Yes but I call Nyx and I'm fighting my sister." She said. "Tartarus" I said. "Gaei'' Emily put in. "Kronos," Nico said. I saw something flash in Emma's face. "No," She said. "What?" Nico asked. "No you can't fight Kronos." She answered. "Why not?" Nico asked. "Please just don't fight him." She begged. "If i don't fight him what am i supposed to do?" He asked. "Cover us and keep the monsters away." 3She answered "Fine." He grumbled crossing his arms. "Thank you" Relief was obvious on her face as her, Emily and I walked towards the enemy. "What was that?" I asked. "If Nico fights Kronos he's going to die." She answered. "What?" Emily asked, stopping in her tracks. Emma nodded glumly. "Remember the day I got scratched by a empousai on the way out of Tartarus?" I asked. "Yeah…"I said, prompting her to go on. "Well i had a dream and he was lighting Kronos but Kronos killed him." She finished. "So that's why you were so happy Reaper was alive." Emily figured out. "Yeah it was so real i didn't realize i was in a dream. So I thought he had actually died." Emma concluded. "That makes sense." I said. Emma nodded and we went silent. We were close enough to the four evil beings that they would hear us if we continued to talk. "Ready?" I whispered to two of my best friends. "Ready as I'll ever be." Emily answered. "Let's do this." Emma said. We turned and ran towards our claimed villain.

Nico pov

They turned and ran off. Im wasn't sure why Emma didn't want me to fight Kronos but I'm not going to. For her sake. I'm gonna do what she suggested and keep the monsters away from them and watch their backs.

Emma pov.

I ran to Nyx. "hello dearie" She said, turning around to look around me. "Hello Nyx" I answered. "Did you miss me?" She asked. "Nope" I answered. She hissed and two dark swords appeared in her hands. I gripped my sword tighter. "You can not defeat me Emma" She taunted. "Maybe not but i can always try." I said and lunged.she laughed and dodged. I turned and lunged, swiping my sword at her stomach. She moved but not fast enough, my sword made a small cut on her side. She hissed in pain "This is war." She said. "Already is but, thanks for joining the party." I said, rolling my eyes as I rolled away from her. She hissed again and lunged towards me, swinging her swords. I rolled again and shot up. "Missed me." I said with fake cheer. She growled and swiped her sword at me. I tried dodging but it nicked my arm. She laughed, "black stone. Hurts doesn't it." It did. a lot. and that was barely a scratch. "Nope." I said. She hissed "Why are you so infuriating?!" She yelled. I rolled and slashed at her feet as I popped back up. My sword nicked her heel. I shrugged. "No idea" I said innocently. She growled but then stopped mid growl. It looked like a light bulb went off in her head. "Uh oh" I said. She slowly turned to look at me. "You should be worried, Emma" She agreed, with a smile on her face. I started to back up. All of a sudden everything went black. I heard Nyx laughing as I stumbled. I felt something cut my leg. Then I heard a male voice laugh. Next I heard Nico yelling my name. I listened as nyx continued to laugh. Her voice came from every direction. I felt something hit my leg again. This time knocking me over. "Poor Emma. Can't see a thing" Nyx taunted. "I don't need to see Nyx," I said. I began to concentrate.

Nico pov

I was fighting the monsters that were going towards my best friends but there weren't that many, seeing as they were focused on the rest of my army. I killed a drakanae and turned to see Emma stumbling around blindly. She stopped and stood still. I saw Kronos come up and slash at her leg. He laughed. He was about to do it again when I yelled "EMMA!" and ran towards Kronos. I slashed at Kronos and hit his wielding arm. He growled and turned around. He saw me and swiped at my chest. I rolled backwards and popped back up. I glanced over and saw Purple smoke rolling off of Emma. I zoned back into my fight. He stepped forward and slashed downward with his scythe. I dodged and stabbed his arm. He growled again. I felt something weird on my feet so I looked down and saw a thin layer of purple mist on the ground. While I was distracted Kronos cut my arm. I hissed pain and fell to my knees. I could see Kronos advancing on me so I raised some skeletons. The hands shot out of the ground and wrapped around his ankles, slowly pulling themselves out of the ground. Will came running over with ambrosia and nectar. "Eat" He said, handing me a piece. I ate it and felt better immediately. "Thanks," I said. The cut Kronos had given me didn't heal and stool hurt but i could still fight. I stood up and made the skeletons disappear.

The purple mist disappeared and I heard Nyx scream. Gaie and Tartarus had been killed a couple minutes ago so it's just me. I jumped and flipped over Kronos landing on my feet behind him. I stabbed the back of his leg. I was about to jump away but Kronos spun too fast. As he spun he plunged his scythe into my stomach. I fell to the ground. He began to laugh.

Emma pov

I used my power over magic to turn off whatever weird thing she was doing to my eyes. When I could see again I killed her as fast as possible and turned. As my eyes found Nico Kronos turned and plunged his scythe into his stomach. "Nico" I whispered. I watched as he fell to the ground. My vision went red and honestly I have no idea what happened but when my vision cleared all the monsters were gone and Kronos was dead. I ran over to Nico and knelt down next to him. I looked down at him, cradling his head. "I told you not to fight him Nico." I said. "I couldn't sit by and watch you get hurt" He answered. He was slowly bleeding out. "Come on stay with us Neeks you can do it." I said, tears streaming down my face. He gently pushed my hand away as I tried to feed him ambrosia. "You know that wont happen." He whispered. "No no Neeks you can't die." I said. He reached up and gently touched my cheek. "I will see you again." He said. He took his last breath, his hand fell, and he went limp. "NO!" I shouted. He was dead. "NO" I shouted again as more tears fell. I felt a hand on my back. I looked up to see Percy and Emily. Gently, I set Nico back down and stood up. They pulled me into a hug. I hugged back as if my life depended on it. " we just got him back and he's gone again." I said. "I know Em," Percy answered. We stayed in a group hug for a couple minutes before Percy had to go find his other friends.

Percy pov

I was walking around. I had already found the seven. None of whom had died. I was walking around looking at all the people mourning when I found the hunters. They all looked very sad. Artemis was with them so I went up to her. "Lady Artemis." I said coming up behind her. She turned around with a sad look that became even sadder when she saw me. "Hello Perseus." I had long ago given up correcting her about my name. "Lady Artemis have you seen Thalia?" I asked. She didn't answer and just looked at me sadly. I began to get worried. "Lady Artemis have you seen Thalia?" I asked again. By now all the hunters were looking at me. Artemis stepped aside and motioned for the girl to do the same. Behind them was a body. The girl had spiky black hair with blue streaks. Her eyes were closed but I knew exactly what color her eyes were. "No." I whispered. Slowly, I walked through the group of girls toward my cousin. "Thals" I whispered, falling to my knees, next to her. "Girls give him some space." I heard Artemis say. The girls knew how much I cared for Thalia, whether they liked it or not, so they walked away. As soon as they walked away I let the tears fall. I had just lost both my cousins. They each meant the world to me and they were gone. As I sat there I remembered that I have to be strong for the campers. I got up and found the seven. They were talking but stopped when they saw my face. "Percy, what's wrong." Annabeth asked. I walked past her and stood in front of Jason. They were all watching me. "Thalias dead" I said, deciding to rip the bandage off quickly. Jason's face drained of all color. "What?" He asked. "th-Thalia's gone." I said, stuttering this time. I felt another tear fall down my cheek. "How?" Jason asked. "I'm not sure but the hunters might know." I answered. We found the hunters. "Lady Artemis" I said. "Perseus." She acknowledged. "We were wondering if anyone knew how Thalia died." I asked. She turned to her hunters. "Anyone?" She asked. A girl in the back raised her hand. She looked about 7 or 8 "It was a girl. I think her name was Kyleigh?" She guessed. I clenched my fists. "Thank you." I said to her. I turned to Lady Artemis, bowed, and me and Jason walked away. We found the rest of the seven talking with Emma and Emily. They both came up and hugged me when they saw us. "We heard about Thalia. I'm so sorry." Emily whispered. When they let go of me they saw the murderous look on my face. "I'm guessing you found out who did it?" Annabeth asked. "Yes'' i answered her, then i turned to Emma "And i'm going to kill your sister." I said to her. "WHAT!!" she yelled, "ugh why is it always her!!" She continued to yell. "First my entire family then my other entire family, then your family, then Thalia!! Oh can i kill her first?" she asked. I was about to answer when there was a flash of light and we were all in the throne room. "Demigods" Zeus shouted. "We have won the war!" A cheer went around the room but it was half hearted. The gods all looked around the room sadly. "I understand there have been many casualties." He said looking at Jason. "So design their shrouds we will have one big burning for them at Camp half blood in 4 days." He finished. So that was it. We won the war but at a great price.