This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―xix. olympus perseveres, the hero falls

PERCY'S ONLY THOUGHT WAS to keep Kronos away from Annabeth. Grover and Naomi were at her side. Grover had lost his reed pipes somewhere. Naomi's hands trembled as she fed Annabeth ambrosia.

Everywhere Kronos stepped, the roots wrapped around his feet, but Grover had stopped his music too early. The roots weren't thick or strong enough to do much more than annoy the Titan.

Percy and Kronos fought through the hearth, kicking up coals and sparks. Kronos slashed an armrest off the throne of Ares, then backed Percy up to Poseidon's throne.

"Oh, yes," Kronos said. "This one will make fine kindling for my new hearth!"

Their blades clashed in a shower of sparks. Kronos was stronger than him, but for a moment, Percy felt the power of the ocean in his arms. He pushed Kronos back and struck again, slashing Riptide across his breastplate so hard he cut a gash in the Celestial bronze.

Kronos stamped his foot again and time slowed. Percy tried to attack, but he was moving at the speed of a glacier. Kronos backed up leisurely, catching his breath. He examined the gash in his armor. He could take all the timeouts he pleased. He could freeze Percy in place at will. Percy's only hope was that the effort was draining him. If he could wear the Titan down...

"It's too late, Percy Jackson," Kronos said. "Behold."

He pointed to the hearth and the coals glowed. A sheet of white smoke poured from the fire, forming images like an Iris-message. Percy saw Nico and his parents down on Fifth Avenue, fighting a hopeless battle, ringed by enemies. In the background Hades fought from his black chariot, summoning wave after wave of zombies out of the ground, but the forces of the Titan's army seemed just as endless. Meanwhile, Manhattan was being destroyed. Mortals, now fully awake, were running in terror. Cars swerved and crashed.

The scene shifted, and Percy saw something even more terrifying.

A column of storm was approaching the Hudson River, moving rapidly over the Jersey shore. Chariots circled it, locked in combat with the creature in the cloud.

The gods attacked. Lightning flashed. Arrows of gold and silver streaked into the cloud like rocket tracers and exploded. Slowly, the cloud ripped apart, and Percy saw Typhon clearly for the first time.

Typhon's head shifted constantly. Every moment he was a different monster, each more horrible than the last. Looking at his face would've driven him insane, so he focused on his body, which wasn't much better. He was humanoid, but his skin mottled green, with blisters the size of buildings, and blackened patches from eons of being stuck under a volcano. His hands were human, but with talons like an eagle's. His legs were scaly and reptilian.

"The Olympians are giving their final effort." Kronos laughed. "How pathetic."

Zeus threw a thunderbolt from his chariot. The blast lit up the world. Percy could feel the shock even here on Olympus, but when the dust cleared, Typhon was still standing. He staggered a bit, with a smoking crater on top of his misshapen head, but he roared in anger and kept advancing.

Typhon stepped into the Hudson River and barely sank to mid-calf.

Now, Percy thought, silently imploring the image in the smoke. Please, it has to be now.

Then, like a miracle, a conch horn sounded from the smoky image. The call of the ocean—the call of Poseidon.

All around Typhon, the Hudson River erupted, churning with forty-foot waves. Out of the water burst a new chariot—this one pulled by massive hippocampi, who swam in air as easily as in water. Percy's father, glowing with a blue aura of power, rode a defiant circle around the giant's legs. As he swung his trident, the river responded, making a funnel cloud around the monster.