Percy Jackson and The Sands Of Time

| Chapter 18 || The Unknown |

Hello, Readers! Welcome to the final chapter! We're still going to do an epilogue, but this is the end. Please enjoy!

~CSP2708~

*Dylan_Walts*

| Chapter 18 |

The Unknown

If you've ever thrown up before, or seen someone through up before, let me tell you, watching Kronos puking his guts out was far worse. He was coughing and retching, sending bits and bile all over the glossy black floor. He gagged continuously as if making a show of it.

The first thing that came up was probably his breakfast, or perhaps something else that involved human bones and blood. Ewwww.

The next thing that appeared was the most ironic thing in the history of Greece - the stone that Rhea and I had tricked him into eating. He must've been so confused, but his puking didn't allow him to wonder when he'd eaten a rock. He'd barely gotten the chance to sputter, "what...?" before doubling over to hurl again.

My father came next. Then Hades. Then Demeter and Hera. Surprisingly - and luckily - they weren't covered in vomit as I'd expected. They came out perfectly clean and dry, right down to the baby blankets that had turned into tiny togas for the gods, who were still the size of babies, even though they'd matured into their teenage forms whilst inside the Mad Titan's stomach. As soon as they were out on the floor, though, they grew, and as soon as Hestia was freed from their prison, all six of the original Olympians stood together, all in their late teens or early twenties.

Kronos coughed a bit more, but nothing more would come up. I shuddered. Ewwwww again. The gods were staring down at their father, as if not believing that they were free. Demeter was even looking around in awe of the world. I guess living inside your father's stomach for the first two decades of your life does nothing for your frequent flyer miles. Talk about Most Terrible Parent of the Year.

Then, Kronos fainted.

He crumpled out of his throne like a puppet with his strings cut, right into the puddle of his own vomit. Ha! Serves him right!

"Follow me!" Zeus shouted to his siblings. He was already at one of the side doors.

His five siblings all looked at each other and I could almost hear their combined thoughts like Who on Gaea is this guy? Of course, they all knew each other, but Zeus was never swallowed, so I guess they didn't know that he was their youngest brother - the only one that their mother apparently loved enough not to let him get eaten (at least, that's probably what they would think).

They followed him nonetheless after one last glance at their father, which was probably for the best since the commotion had attracted a few servants and Titans to the throne room. The servants' door just closed behind Hera when the first Titan burst into the throne room.

"Find the intruders!"

I just left them to their hide and seek. I trusted Zeus to lead himself and his siblings out of the Black Castle through the route that we laid out for him. He would get them all back to the caves where he grew up.

By the time they got back, I was already lounging - still invisible, of course - on a rock. And let me tell you, it's really hard to find a comfortable position to lounge on a rock. Why couldn't they have invented Tempurpedic back in Ancient Greece?

Zeus and the others gathered around his rough-hewn wooden table, where a map of the castle was already drawn out. He moved some pieces around, looking very much like some of the generals from my time in World War II. If only he didn't look up with a nervous expression on his face.