❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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The bridge to Olympus was dissolving. We stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at our feet.
"Jump!" Grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat.
He sprang to the next slab of stone while ours tilted sickeningly.
"Gods, I hate heights!" Thalia yelled as she, Annabeth and Percy leaped. But I was in no shape for jumping, it seemed. I stumbled and yelled, "Percy!"
I tried to start floating but it seemed the poison had affected that.
Percy caught my hand as the pavement fell, crumbling into dust. For a second I thought I was going to pull us both over. My feet dangled in the open air. My hand started to slip until he was holding me only by my fingers. Then Grover and Thalia grabbed his legs.
He pulled me up and we lay trembling on the pavement. I tensed, well aware of Percy's arms around my waist, resting on my back.
"Thanks Fish Face." I muttered, my face flushed.
He tried to say something but it came out as "Uh duh."
"Keep moving!" Grover tugged my shoulder. We untangled ourselves and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. We 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."
We 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.
We followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. I didn't remember the road being so long. Maybe Kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing me 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 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.
