𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

Get Well Soon, Goldie!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: LYDIA

Things were getting really bleak, really fast. Lydia was starting to think they were trying to fight a battle they'd never win. They were up against a titan and Kronos' army. And Luke, but he was starting to look like Lydia could take him in her state...blindfolded.

"Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

Lydia looked at Annabeth. She was desperately trying to tell them something. She motioned her head toward Luke. But all Lydia could do was stare at her. She hadn't noticed before, but something about Annabeth had changed. Her blond hair was now streaked with gray.

"From holding the sky," Thalia muttered, as if she'd read her mind. "The weight should've killed her."

"I don't understand," Percy said. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"

Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape."

Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you." He approached us, studying Thalia and me. "So, these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."

"Fight us," Percy said. "And let's see."

Lydia's eyes widened at the sheer dumbassery of Percy's proposal. Like, sure he's powerful and all, but Atlas is a titan.

Lydia was scared. She was scared they wouldn't all be leaving Mount Tam together. She gripped Percy's hand in warning. The gesture said, 'please, stop being a dumbass!'

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."

"So, you're another coward," Percy said.

He held Lydia's hand back tightly. They were communicating without sharing words. He was trying to reassure her; to tell her that he had it covered. Lydia swallowed. She trusted Percy with her life, but she wasn't convinced this time.

Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia. "As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed.
He looked terribly weak, and he spoke every word as if it were painful. Lydia almost let herself feel sorry for him, but one look in Annabeth's direction had all that sympathy dissolving like it never existed.

"Thalia, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

He waved his hand, and next to them a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for the Ophiotaurus.

Percy squeezed Lydia's hand once, twice, then three times.

"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."