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{ 🔮 } · council is kind of boring . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪
THE THREE FATES themselves took Luke's body.
Endora had never seen the old ladies, but she felt a familiarity washing over her as they looked at her. They looked like three ghoulish grandmothers with bags of knitting needles and yarn. One of them looked at her and Endora watched as her entire life flashed in front of her eyes. She blinked the image away.
It is done, she said.
The Fate held up the snippet of blue yarn ─ Luke's lifeline. They gathered up Luke's body, now wrapped in a white-and-green shroud, and began carrying it out of the throne room.
"Wait," Hermes said.
The god was dressed in his classic outfit of white Greek robes, sandals, and helmet. The wings of his helm fluttered as he walked. The snakes George and Martha curled around his caduceus, murmuring, Luke, poor Luke.
Hermes unwrapped Luke's face and kissed his forehead. He murmured some words in Ancient Greek ─ a final blessing.
"Farewell," he whispered. Then he nodded and allowed the Fates to carry away his son's body.
As they left, Percy thought about the Great Prophecy. The lines now made sense to him. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. The hero was Luke. The cursed blade was the knife he'd given Annabeth long ago ─ cursed because Luke had broken his promise and betrayed his friends. A single choice shall end his days. Percy's choice, to give him the knife, and to believe, as Annabeth had, that he was still capable of setting things right. Olympus to preserve or raze. By sacrificing himself, he had saved Olympus. Rachel was right. In the end, Percy wasn't really the hero. Luke was.
And Percy understood something else: When Luke had descended into the River Styx, he would've had to focus on something important that would hold him to his mortal life. Otherwise he would've dissolved. Luke had seen Annabeth. He had pictured that scene Hestia showed the boy ─ of himself in the good old days with Thalia and Annabeth, when he promised they would be a family. Hurting Annabeth in battle had shocked him into remembering that promise. It had allowed his mortal conscience to take over again, and defeat Kronos. His weak spot ─ his Achilles heel ─ had saved them all.
Next to Endora, Annabeth's knees buckled. She caught the girl at one arm, while Percy caught her other. The blonde cried out in pain.
"Jackson!" Endora scolded.
"Oh gods," Percy said. "Annabeth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to!"
"It's all right," she said.
But it wasn't as she passed out in the pair's arms.
