¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

016.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter sixteen

━━━━━ AT THE TOP of the mountain were ruins—blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

               "It's the ruins of Mount Othrys ..." Violet whispered, her voice filled with fear and slight awe.

               "Yes," Zoë said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

               "What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked.

               "The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoë said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rivals of the world. Othrys was—" She winced and held her side.

               "You're hurt," Violet said, trying to get close. "Let me see it."

               "No! It is nothing," Zoë insisted, shaking her head. "I was saying ... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."

               "But ... how is it here?"

               Thalia looked around cautiously as they picked their way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

               "Why?"

               "This is Atlas's mountain," Zoë said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

               They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, grey clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. This is what Violet had seen in my dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.

               "My lady!" Zoë rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

               Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Violet had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

               Zoë was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

               A booming voice spoke behind them: "Ah, how touching."

               They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

               Violet met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending to the daughter of Eros, though: Run!

               "Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

               Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

               Thalia spat at him.

               The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoë. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."