Shattered

Chariot

[A/N: I blame Josh for the brevity of this chapter.]
Zoe ignored her screaming muscles and shot to her feet.

"Percy!" She screamed before stumbling over.

Her aching bones begged for reprieve, but she refused.

She finally managed to scramble over to the form of the son of Poseidon.

He was clearly out cold, his body was disfigured at horrible angles, all of his bones seemed to have been broken, he was covered in enough blood to paint his entire visage red.

Zoe's vision began to blur as tears began to form.

He couldn't die.

He was the only good man left on the planet, he couldn't just die...

She didn't even have any idea why he was dying in the first place! During the midst of the moment, he had just suddenly collapsed, and was immediately caked in blood.

Zoe barely noticed anything around her, she only held the boy close to her chest.

She gasped.

Lubb Dub, Lubb Dub.

Heartbeat!

The boy she loved was alive!

Her mind backpedaled at the chosen words she thought within her mind.

Loved?

Yes, of course she loved her friend.

As a friend.

Only a friend.

More?

The weight of the sky had made her simply insane. Less than lucid. That was the only logical explanation she could give herself to reason with the fact that she was arguing with herself over whether she held feelings for the boy she clutched in her chest.

She was a hunter for crying out loud!

But on the other side, Artemis seemed to like the boy enough.

She cleared her mind from all thoughts when she heard footsteps approach her.

Athena was at her side; her eyes were still glazed over. Zoe averted her eyes from the virgin goddess. Thalia was leaning heavily on Bianca, as she limped over to Percy's downed form.

"How is he? He's holding on?"

Thalia's eyes were welled up with tears. She had just lost two of her friends, she didn't want to lose another.

"Barely, his-his heart is beating."

Zoe flinched at how timid her voice sounded. She was supposed to be the proud lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis, and yet here she was, crying over a insolent boy who was clutched close to her chest.

"We have to get to Olympus. The meeting of the Winter Solstice is set to begin quite soon."

Zoe nodded in agreement.

"Annabeth needs a funeral." Bianca muttered somberly.

Athena's stormy gray eyes darkened, she had killed her own daughter.

Athena stepped back hesitantly towards the fallen form of Annabeth Chase.

"I love you, my daughter."

Athena placed her palm on Annabeth; her form was enveloped in a white glow and her body was wrapped in a shroud made of gray silk embroidered with black and brown owls. Then, the body then disappeared.

"Her body is on Olympus. Her shroud will be burnt in the camp that she held so dear."

Athena was visibly upset.

The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Tamalpais in the north. The goddess was so upset she flickered with silver light.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Athena stated. "I will not be able to take all of you, but I will send help."

Athena called for her chariot, a gray structure with owls engraved onto the painted wood. It was similar to Artemis' but a flock of gigantic owls replaced the deer that Artemis would have on her own moon chariot.

"I shall take Percy with me, I will get him to Apollo as soon as possible."

Zoe wasted no time before she spoke up, "I will come too."

Athena narrowed her eyes. The wisdom god hesitated, before meeting Zoe's eyes and nodded, "Very well."

Zoe raised herself off the ground and lifted Percy bridal style. She clambered onto the wooden chariot and collapsed on the seat. Her strained body could only take so much.

"Climb to the bottom of the mountain and go to the bay, Poseidon will help."

Athena climbed onto the chariot and took off before the two could open their mouth to ask how Athena would manage to convince her mortal enemy to help the daughters of Zeus and Hades.

Zoe felt the wind rush past her, making her disheveled hair to become more of a mess, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Soon, San Francisco was only a glittering crescent behind them, with an occasional flicker of lightning in the north.

The only thing on her mind was Percy and pain.

The latter seemed to be getting overtaken by the former though.

She brushed some of the blood soaked hair away from his forehead. His body was covered in gashes and he was bleeding heavily. Zoe didn't even care that the blood was staining her hunters' parka.

The towns were zipping by faster now, islands of light thicker together, until the whole landscape below was a glittering carpet. Dawn was close. The eastern sky was turning gray. And up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before them—the lights of New York.

"There it is." Athena's voice rang out, breaking Zoe away form her thoughts. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It hasstarted."

"What's started?" Zoe asked. Her body was still reeling from the pain, both emotional and physical, to make complete sense of the world.

Then she looked where the goddess was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The winter solstice," Athena said. "The Council of the Gods."