ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

5

𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎,
𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜;
𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝--
𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢
𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔

𝚒𝚜𝚛𝚊 𝚊𝚕-𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚑

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴. They stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at their feet.

"Jump!" Grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat.

He sprang to the next slab of stone while the first tilted sickeningly.

"Gods, I hate heights!" Thalia yelled as she and Polaris leaped. Percy followed.

But Annabeth was in no shape for jumping. She stumbled and yelled, "Help!"

Polaris lunged but she was too late. Percy caught Annabeth's hand as the pavement fell, crumbling into dust. For a second Polaris thought she was going to pull them both over. Her feet dangled in the open air. Her hand started to slip until he was holding her only by her fingers. Polaris lunged again, grabbing her other hand. Then Grover and Thalia grabbed their legs, and Polaris found extra strength. Annabeth was not going to fall.

Together they pulled her up. Polaris immediately wrapped her up in a hug, and pulled Percy in to join. It took her a second to realize what she'd done, then she blushed and tensed.

"Um, thanks," Annabeth muttered.

Percy muttered something. Polaris smiled awkwardly and nodded.

"Keep moving!" Grover tugged her shoulder. They untangled themselves and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. They 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."

"The gods are getting weaker," Polaris realized. "If this fails— "

"The gods won't move on to another country this time," Thalia said. "This will be the end of Olympus. The final end."

"I was thinking we all fall to our deaths," Polaris muttered, "but yeah, that too."

They 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.