A web of fates | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

XVII| pan is dead, for good this time.

They ran until they were exhausted. Rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind-only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Daphne couldn't hear anything behind them.

"I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they had been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel.

Daphne was on her own, her mind racing with thoughts. Percy frowned when he saw the daughter of Hermes on her own, lost in thought. She was acting different.

Nico and Percy sat next to each other. He dropped his sword next to his and took a shaky breath.

"That sucked," he said, which Percy thought summed things up pretty well.

"You saved our lives," Percy said.

Nico wiped the dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

"Nice that they trust me so much," Percy shined his flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like a slow-motion rain.
"Nico...you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"That wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now-a child of the Underworld."

Nico frowned. "Big deal."

Percy let it drop. The big figured he was just trying to hide how scared he was, and Percy couldn't blame him.

Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Percy told them what he had seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No," Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't-"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Percy nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. "When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy said. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth yelled. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" Percy snapped. "Why do you keep defending him?"

"Percy, you know nothing about Luke." Now it was Daphne who snapped.

She had spent years allowing people to talk bad about Luke's name to her, and she had grown sick of it.

He wasn't a bad person. Her brother had good intentions.

"Daphne are you kidding me right now?" Scoffed Percy.

"Whoa, you three," Rachel said. "Knock it off!"

Annabeth turned on her. "Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn't for you.."

Whatever she was going to say, her voice broke. She put her head down and sobbed miserably.