The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

seventeen

THE GOD OF THE WILD

They ran until they were exhausted.

Rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Ariana couldn't hear anything behind them, but she didn't feel any safer.

She could still remember those unnatural golden eyes staring out of Luke's face, and the feeling that her limbs were slowly turning to stone.

"I can't go any farther." Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel.

Nico and Ariana sat next to each other. He dropped his sword next to hers and took a shaky breath.

"That sucked." he said, which Ariana thought summed things up pretty well.

"You saved our lives." Percy said to Ariana. "How'd you do that? The wall of black stone."

Ariana gave him a look. "The same way I use all my powers."

Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Ariana told her what she'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No," Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't-"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Ariana said. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Ariana nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted, "when it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy said. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth yelled. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" Percy snapped. "Why do you keep defending him?"

"Whoa, you two," Rachel said. "Knock it off!"
Annabeth turned on her.

"Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn't for you.."

"Annabeth calm the fuck down." Ariana warned. "Just because-"

Whatever she was going to say, Annabeths voice broke. She put her head down and sobbed miserably.

Ariana wanted to comfort her, but she didn't know how. She still felt stunned, like Kronos's time-slow effect had affected her brain.

She just couldn't comprehend what she had seen. Kronos was alive. He was armed. And the end of the world was probably close at hand.

"We have to keep moving." Nico said. "He'll send monsters after us."

Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right. Ariana hauled herself up and helped Rachel to her feet.

"You did good back there." Percy told her.

She managed a weak smile. "Yeah, well. I didn't want you to die." She blushed. "I mean.. just because, you know. You owe me too many favors.
How am I going to collect if you die?"