Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Olympus was strangely silent.

As Addie followed her friends through the maze of empty buildings and lifeless statues, her hand tucked firmly in Ryan's, she couldn't help but think about New Rome.

And the fact that today and tomorrow were going to be her last days before she... poofed. Disappeared. Ceased to exist.

Ryan squeezed her hand, as though sensing her thoughts. "Everything will be ok," he whispered to her.

They walked through the halls and finally to the throne room. "I guess I should do what my Dad did," Adrian said, staring up at the Poseidon throne. "Typhon is still on a rage. Do you think they captured Poseidon too?"

"It's worth a try," Skye said. She tried to sound optimistic as she flew Adrian up to the seat, hovering as he sat there and concentrated. When he started to smoke she pulled him off.

"Nothing," Adrian said glumly.

"Ok," Maverick scratched his head. "So we're back to square one. Finding the Immortie."

"Will we even be able to go back and change everything in the time we have left?" Waverly pointed out. "We're gonna start dropping like flies. The Romans have today and tomorrow, the rest of us have a day after that, and Adrian has another day after that. That's hardly enough time to fix everything."

"What about our kids?" Evan asked. "They went back to their original timeline, I'm assuming."

"Or they were wiped out of existence," Carmen muttered.

"No, Evan has a point," Skye argued. "We can send the Immortie forward in time, imbued with our power, so they can use it. We can tell them what to do."

"Why would they have more time than us, though?" Reid looked confused.

"The displacement of being so far in the future, and not so close to the actual events of their grandparent's deaths, might give them longer," Skye said. "Hypothetically."

"Hypothetically," Maverick muttered.

"Ok, but we still have to actually find the Immortie." Waverly pointed out. "And where would that be?"

"If the Grigori found the Immortie and disappeared, they would have put it in a place where we would know," Skye said. "So... it could be hidden at camp. Or..." her eyes lit up. "Somewhere hidden, where Lily knew I would know to go to when we were in trouble."

"Where?" Adrian asked.

"When we were little," Skye started, "Lily visited camp a couple times with her parents. No one was supposed to know that they were there, so Lily and I mainly played in the woods. We had a secret hiding spot for whenever someone came close. It was an old tree that had been struck by lightning and was impervious to fire or storms. I think a god blessed it or something."

"My dad told me about that," Adrian said. "Some god tried to woo the nymph inside. She prayed and the tree was struck by lightning, but was maintained. Her life force still guards the tree."

"Perfect," Waverly said. "Somewhere the Titans or exiles wouldn't know to look."

"Ok," Evan nodded. "This is starting to sound like a plan."

Suddenly there was a ding of the elevator door opening. The demigods scattered, hiding behind the thrones as Kronos ran into the room, bellowing in Luke's body and shouting about destroying the last symbol of the gods before he took over the world.

"We have to get out of here," Ryan hissed.

"Too late," Addie gestured to the elevator. "Look."

Percy, Thalia, and Grover had just emerged from the elevator. They watched as the walkway crumbled beneath them.

"Annabeth was the reason Luke was able to destroy Kronos," Ryan said, paling. "They won't be able to defeat him without her."

They watched as Kronos paced the thrones. Ciara scrambled out from behind Ares' throne when he chopped off the arm of it.

"A girl!" Kronos roared.

"Ciara!" Thalia cried out. They watched as Ciara bared her blade, advancing towards Kronos. Behind Zeus's throne, they watched as Skye flew Adrian rapidly to the ground and then came back up and grabbed Evan.

"She's not gonna have time to get all of us," Addie said, and then she scrambled out from behind the throne.

Ryan followed her. Lighting his hands on fire, they pushed Kronos back. Addie raised her hands- there was plenty of precious metals here, and she could use them to her full advantage. She was able to pin Kronos against the Hera throne, trapping him as Skye came back for Carmen, then Maverick, then Waverly.

"Go!" Addie shouted, her arms shaking as she struggled to hold Kronos back. Skye stumbled coming over to Ciara, nearly falling as she took them to the ground. When she came back up for Reid her face was pale as a sheet.

"Go!" Addie said again. Ryan grabbed her hand. "You don't have enough strength to come back up," she told Skye.

"You won't survive," Skye insisted. "I... I can do it. I can find... the strength."

"No," Addie said. "I can't lose you, Skye. I can't."

Skye started to cry. The metal cocoon around Kronos was shaking harder, little pieces coming off. "Please," Skye said.

Addie closed her eyes. "Go," she said, her voice breaking. When she opened her eyes, Skye was gone.

Kronos broke through the metal, his face as Luke shimmering as he started to assume his true form. Bright rays of light peeked through, and although Addie closed her eyes, she could still feel the burning at her eyelids.

Ryan kissed her. "I love you," he said. "I love you so much, Adrianna. I love you."

"I love you," Addie whispered, and then everything turned to white.