VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- twelve

THE BRIDGE TO OLYMPUS WAS DISSOLVING.

they stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at their feet.

"jump!" grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat.

he sprang to the next slab of stone while their tilted sickeningly.

"gods, i hate heights!" thalia yelled as she, annabeth, and percy leaped. but rose was in no shape for jumping.

she stumbled and yelled, "percy!"

percy caught her hand as the pavement fell, crumbling into dust. for a second rose thought she was going to pull them both over. her feet dangled in the open air. her hand started to slip until percy was holding her only by her fingers. then grover, annabeth, and thalia grabbed percy's legs, and percy found extra strength. percy looked determined to get her back up.

he pulled her up and they laid trembling on the pavement. she didn't realize they had their arms around each other until he suddenly tensed.

"um, thanks," she muttered.

"uh duh."

"keep moving!" grover tugged percy's shoulder. they untangled themselves and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. they made it to the edge of the mountain just as the final section collapsed.

they looked back at the elevator, which was now completely out of reach—a polished set of metal doors hanging in space, attached to nothing, six hundred stories above manhattan.

"we're marooned," annabeth said. "on our own."

"blah-ha-ha!" grover said. "the connection between olympus and america is dissolving. if it fails—"

"the gods won't move on to another country this time," thalia said. "this will be the end of olympus. the final end."

they ran through streets. mansions were burning. statues had been hacked down. trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. it looked like someone had attacked the city with a giant weedwhacker.

"kronos's scythe," percy said.

they followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. rose didn't remember the road being so long. maybe kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing her down. the whole mountain top was in ruins—so many beautiful buildings and gardens gone.

a few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop kronos. what remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half.

somewhere ahead of us, kronos's voice roared: "brick by brick! that was my promise. tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"

a white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. the dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city.

"that was a shrine to artemis," thalia growled. "he'll pay for that."

they were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of zeus and hera when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.

"look out!" grover yelped. the archway crumbled. rose looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling hera topple over on them. they would've been flattened, but thalia shoved them from behind and we landed just out of danger.

"thalia!" rose cried.

when the dust cleared and the mountain stopped rocking, they found her still alive, but her legs were pinned under the statue.