NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

eighteen: the vengeful.

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, Percy, and Brooklyn leaped. But Annabeth was in no shape for jumping. She stumbled and yelled, "Percy!"

He caught her hand as the pavement fell, crumbling into dust. Her feet dangled in the open air. Her hand started to slip until he was holding her only by her fingers. Then Brooklyn curled two of her fingers, and with a rush of wind Annabeth was completely on the pavement.

"Thanks," she told Brooklyn, appreciation in her eyes.

"Don't mention it," Brooklyn helped her up. "Keep moving!"

They 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.

Annabeth 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," she 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 Weedwacker.

"Kronos's scythe," Percy said.

They followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. Brooklyn 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 mountaintop 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 them, 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 grumbled. "He'll pay for that."

They were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of Brooklyn's father and stepmother when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.

"Look out!" Grover yelped. The archway crumbled. Brooklyn looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling Hera topple over on them. She, Annabeth, and Percy would've been flattened, but Thalia shoved them from behind and they landed just out of danger.

"Thalia!" Brooklyn yelled.

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

They tried desperately to move it, but even Brooklyn's gust of air didn't work. When they tried to pull Thalia out from under it, she yelled in pain.

"I survive all those battles," she growled, "and I get defeated by a stupid chunk of rock!"