I tried my best. I tried making my way towards Raph. But there were too many monsters in my way. I swear half of Kronos's army was in my way. With burning anger I threw a fireball. And then another and another. I screamed silently, hot burning golden tears ran down my face. I needed Raph. I needed him now. Why wasn't he showing up? Why wasn't he pushing through the rubble? 

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Percy was there. 

"Selina asked to see you. Hurry!" 

I looked over my shoulder at the wall still out of reach. I hated turning my back on him. But Kronos's army had left the wall alone, and I ran back to Selina. I knelt down. She looked terrible. I winced, it must be so painful.

"Don't blame them," Silena was saying. "They wanted to... to believe I was you." SHe turned her blue eyes onto me. "Raph...where is he?" 

"I-I don't know!" I chocked back a sob. 

"He...he knew. He didn't want me to do it. But I had to. He knew what I did. He tried to talk me out of it."

"You stupid Aphrodite girl," Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"

"All my fault," Silena said, a tear streaking the side of her face, her hands shook as she signed. "The drakon, Charlie's death . . . camp endangered-"

"Stop it!" Clarisse said, she was also signing, like it was second nature. "That's not true."

"Nora, I'm sorry... I'm sorry Nora! Please...please forgive me. I helped keep him at camp, away from you. I was forced to use my charm speak...to keep him away. To break you." Silena pulled something from her shirt. In her palm was a silver bracelet with a scythe charm, the mark of Kronos.

A cold fist closed around my heart. "You were the spy."

Silena tried to nod. "Before... before I liked Charlie. Luke was nice to me. He was so... charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He was also jealous of Raph, when I liked him too..." She paused, I felt my hatred for Luke increase. "He promised... he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt... Raph or Charlie. He lied to me."

Behind us, the battle raged. Clarisse scowled at her cabinmates. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"

They scrambled off to join the fight.

Silena took a heavy, painful breath. "Forgive me."

"You're not dying," Clarisse insisted. I could see her vital signs dropping, her hart was working over time, her breathing was ragged, she was in so much pain. Clarisse looked at me, "Do something!" 

I inched closer, my hands already warm. 

"Don't." Her blue eyes locked onto mine for a brief moment. A faint ghost of a smile formed on her lips. "Charlie..." Silena's eyes were a million miles away now. "See Charlie..."

She didn't speak again. Clarisse held her and wept. Chris put a hand on her shoulder.

Finally Annabeth closed Silena's eyes.

"We have to fight." Annabeth looked brittle, her hands shook and she was white as a ghost. "She gave her life to help us. We have to honor her."

Clarisse sniffled and wiped her nose. "She was a hero, understand? A hero."

I nodded. I had mixed feelings. I still had no idea where Raph was. 

"Come on, Clarisse." Percy said, he had stood up, and yanked me to my feet as well.

Clarisse picked up a sword from one of her fallen siblings. She looked me dead in the eye and signed. "Where's Raph?" 

"I don't know. He took a hit and I don't know!" I felt the burn of tears. 

"Kronos is going to pay." Her face was savage. 

"I'm right beside you." 

I'd like to say I drove the enemy away from the Empire State Building. Or Percy and I did...But the truth was Clarisse did most if not all the work. Even without her armor or spear, she was a demon. She rode a chariot straight into the Titan's army and crushed everything in her path. I ran after her, both blades slashing and stabbing, I ducked and twisted, I sent fireballs and slammed demons with heat waves. Yet it was nothing to the devastation done by an angry vengeful Clarisse. 

She was so inspiring, even the panicked centaurs started to rally. The Hunters scrounged arrows from the fallen and launched volley after volley into the enemy. The Ares cabin slashed and hacked, which was their favorite thing. Percy was also a wild whirl wind of devastation. At one point I saw the water main break through the ground washing away a group of Hell hounds. The monsters retreated toward 35th Street.

Clarisse drove to the drakon's carcass and looped a grappling line through its eye sockets. She lashed her horses and took off, dragging the drakon behind the chariot like a Chinese New Year dragon. She charged after the enemy, yelling insults and daring them to cross her. As she rode, I realized she was literally glowing. An aura of red fire flickered around her.

Thalia stepped up beside me, "The blessing of Ares," Thalia signed. "I've never seen it in person before."

"I have. Once. It was terrifying." 

For the moment, Clarisse was as invincible as I was. The enemy threw spears and arrows, but nothing hit her. She was clearly yelling and taunting the army. There was no answer from the enemy. Slowly, they began to fall back behind a dracaenae shield wall, while Clarisse drove in circles around Fifth Avenue, daring anyone to cross her path. The two-hundred-foot-long drakon carcass dragged and scrapped along behind her. 

I knew were would be okay for the time being. Now I needed to find Raph. I sprinted towards the wall. Two of his siblings were already trying to dig him out. I could feel his life vitals under the heap. It was weak, but it was there. 

With a sob stuck in my throat I did my best to hull the rocks and bricks. I was exhausted. I was having trouble breathing, and my limbs shook. I hefted a rather large section and I stumbled, my head had gone fuzzy and my vision went dark. I felt a hand on my arm. I tried waving them off, but they were insistent. I snarled, and yanked my arm away, only to realize it was Will. 

"Sorry..." I signed a fresh wave of tears hit me. 

"Nora, sit. Please. The Ares cabin can dig him out." 

He forced me to sit, and handed me a juice box. I sat and watched. It felt like forever. I closed my eyes for brief moment. My head felt extremely heavy. It tipped forwards. 

"Hold on Sparky! I'm coming!"  

My head snapped up, my eyes wide. I swear I heard someone speaking in my head. I shock my sore throbbing head, I couldn't feel his presence, or the tingle of him speaking. 

"Nico?" 

I waited. Nothing. Maybe it was all part of my dream. Someone rushed over, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked up, Tyler, one of the older Ares boys, he had helped get some information from a turned demigod back at the train station. 

"He's out. We need you now, though. It's not good." He signed. His harsh face was pressed into a tight line. I got to my feet and swayed slightly. My head felt dizzy. I really needed a proper sleep and some food. I staggered over to where they had laid Raph. I slapped both hands over my mouth, and sunk to my knees. I laid a shaking hand on his chest. 

Closing my eyes I focused on his injuries. He had some major internal bleeding, broke ribs, amongst other bones, concussion, poison from the drakon still burning his skin. He was covered in burses, and blood. His brothers had taken his armor off. 

I opened my eyes and looked at his face, and I felt terror. A fear I hadn't felt before. What If I lost him? What if...he never opened his eyes and I couldn't see his dark broody eyes looking at me with a mix of amusement, and exasperation. What if he never said I love you again.  I felt the tears falling now, they poured down my face like a water fall. If I could have made a noise I would have been screaming desperately for him to wake up. 

I closed my eyes again, trying to harness my powers. Please dad...Apollo help me. I can't lose him. I can't!  I felt the heat rise in my body, the burning hot tingle of the healing powers. I saw my  skin glow as my veins pumped the liquid sunshine through me. All the weird Greek and Roman words and symbols showed up on my skin. I placed both hands on his chest. And with a wild desperate cry, I forced every single last bit of what I had left in my tank into him. It was like an explosion of heat and sun. Like the first bright flashes of sunshine at dawn. His body arched off the ground. 

I was yanked into the seductive darkness of unconsciousness. 

🔆

I saw Miss O'Leary show up in the middle of the the breakfast table. She stood right in the middle. She woofed and instantly bowls of cereal were knocked over and people were screaming. She leapt off the table and tackled Nico to the ground, one giant paw on his chest, and her giant tongue licked his face, getting him covered in drool. 

"Eww! Ew gross! Get off! Get off!" 

"What in Tartarus is going on?" Hades roared. 

"Looks like the sign you were waiting for." Persephone yawned. 

The dream changed. I saw the gods swirling around the giant, Typhon. Another god was swatted and went flying. I saw a bright gold flash zoom towards the giants head. I knew it was Apollo. He was swatted and his gold sun chariot went spinning, he crashed into a silver chariot- Artemis. Both of the gods went spiraling out of control. 

"NO!" I screamed, and reached a hand out. 

I sat up abruptly, my hand out stretched and I smacked heads with someone. I flopped back down, holding my forehead. I let out a long silent groan. I blinked a few times, My eyes were blurry and it took a while to focus. Percy was leaning over me, he was holding his nose. 

"That was stupid." I signed. 

"Clearly." He rubbed his nose again before he looked back at me and signed, "How are you feeling?" 

"Like shit." 

"You look like it. Jeeze girl." 

"Thanks for the brotherly love." I signed and pushed up onto my elbows. Looking around, my head was throbbing. Will and the other medics had set up in a park in Olympus. I saw rows of beds, and what was left of us ran back and forth, trying to help anyone and everyone. At this point, all we had was mortal medicine, and a few things Will was able to make- like strength renewing gum and some past that was a sickly yellow he was applying to the drakon burns. Naiads and dryads tried to help, using nature magic songs to heal burns and poison. 

"Where's Raph?" I asked looking back to Percy, feeling my panic spike. 

"He's alive. You kept him alive." Percy signed, trying to sooth my frantic attempts to get out of bed. "He's still out, but there's no more Hades door going on. Breathe." 

"He's okay?" I asked again. I grabbed Percy's wrist, I needed him to tell me he was going to be okay. I felt my throat tighten and my hands shook as I held on. His sea green eyes held mine, he looked exhausted, anxious, but he gave me a lopsided small side.

"Ya. Ya Nora he's going to be okay...but all of us might not be okay for long." 

I exhaled slowly, my hands still shook. But the horrible knot in my stomach and the weight in my chest was gone. For now. I took another deep slow breath. I shook my head and tried to focus my thoughts. 

"You sent Miss O'Leary to Nico." 

He gave me a weird look, but nodded. 

"Dream." I signed. He nodded again. 

"Okay, let me catch you up quickly." 

I nodded, and let my hands flop to my lap. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands, and then looked at Percy. 

"Selina died a hero- end of story." 

I nodded slowly. 

"Leneus died and turned into a laurel. Mr Miles is still okay, he broke a leg, but Chiron is fixing him up right now. Clarisse and Chris and the Hunters are on watch downstairs. We are now going to make a last stand here, in Olympus. Oh and it seems like Annabeth finally believes us about how evil Luke is." 

"Sounds about right. Well...if we can hold on... maybe Nico can get here..." 

"I was on my way to the throne room. You gonna come?" 

I nodded and got to my feet. I groaned, holding my head. Once I was on my feet I followed Percy. I stumbled to a stop and crouched down beside Pollux, Mr. D's son, he was propped up against a tree. He had a broken arm, but otherwise he was okay.

"I can still fight with the other hand," he said, gritting his teeth.

"No," I signed. "You've done enough. I want you to stay here and help with the wounded."

"But-"

"Promise me you'll stay safe," I said. "Okay? Personal favor. I used up my last bit of healing strength."

Pollux frowned, but he nodded, "Okay Nora. Looks like they need as much help as they can." 

"Thanks." I smiled and then struggled to my feet. 

"What was that?" Percy signed to me. 

"Don't you remember Mr D asking us to keep his son safe? I'd rather not take the chance of having an angry Mr D." 

"Touche." 

As we walked along the path I saw Grover and Annabeth waiting for us. They joined us and we walked towards the throne room. That's where Kronos would head. As soon as he made it up the elevator- and I had no doubt he would, one way or another- he would destroy the throne room, the center of the gods' power.

The bronze doors creaked open. Our footsteps echoed on the marble floor. The constellations twinkled coldly on the ceiling of the great hall. The hearth was down to a dull red glow. Hestia, in the form of a little girl in brown robes, hunched at its edge, shivering. In the firelight, the thrones cast evil-looking shadows, like grasping hands.

Standing at the foot of Zeus's throne, looking up at the stars, was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was holding a Greek ceramic vase.

"Rachel?" Percy said, his hands automatically signed. "Um, what are you doing with that?"

She focused on me and then Percy as if she were coming out of a dream. "I found it. It's Pandora's jar, isn't it?"

Her eyes were brighter than usual, and I had a bad flashback of moldy sandwiches and burned cookies.

"Put down the jar," I demanded. Percy was trying to talk her out of whatever trance she was in, I edged closer, I didn't know if she dropped it, if it would break then we were utterly screwed. 

"I can see Hope inside it." Rachel ran her fingers over the ceramic designs. "So fragile."

"Rachel."

Percy's voice seemed to bring her back to reality. She held out the jar, and I took it. The clay felt as cold as ice. I cradled the jar to my chest, holding it tightly. I saw Annabeth storming from the room, dragging Grover by the arm. I looked over as saw over by the fire, Hestia was huddled in her robes, rocking back and forth. 

I frowned and slowly walked over, ignoring Percy and Rachel for a moment. He was talking quietly to her. I sat next to the goddess, the jar still cradled in my lap. She turned her pale face towards me.

"Lady Hestia," I signed.

"Eleanora Blofis." She signed, her hands were shaking with the cold. "Getting colder. Harder to keep the fire going."

"I know," I said. 

"The Titans are near." Percy signed sitting on the other side of Hestia. Rachel plunked down beside me. 

Hestia focused on Rachel. "Hello, my dear." She continued signing, for my benefit, "You've come to our hearth at last."

Rachel blinked. "You've been expecting me?" I had to really focus on her mouth.

Hestia held out her hands, and the coals glowed. I saw images in the fire: Sally, my dad, Percy and I eating Thanksgiving dinner at the kitchen table; my friends and me around the campfire at Camp Half-Blood, singing songs and roasting marshmallows; I saw me laughing on the bed with Kayla and Selina, I saw me sitting outside on my fire escape eating McDonald's happy meals with Nico; Raph holding me close, his forehead pressed to mine.

I didn't know if Rachel saw the same images, but the tension went out of her shoulders. The warmth of the fire seemed to spread across her.

"To claim your place at the hearth," Hestia told her, "you must let go of your distractions. It is the only way you will survive."

Rachel nodded. "I... I understand."

"Wait," Percy said. "What is she talking about?"

I had a small inkling, but it wasn't my place to say. 

Rachel took a shaky breath. "Percy, when I came here... I thought I was coming for you. But I wasn't. You and me . . ." She shook her head.

"Ouch. No no, don't worry about me." I signed with a scoff and a roll of my eyes.

"Wait. Now I'm a distraction?" Percy signed. "Is this because I'm 'not the hero' or whatever?"

"I'm not sure I can put it into words," she said. "I was drawn to you... and Nora later, because... because you opened the door to all of this." She gestured at the throne room. "I needed to understand my true sight. But you and me, that wasn't part of it. Our fates aren't intertwined. I think you've always known that, deep down."

Percy stared at her. I held back a laugh, the look on Percy's face was similar to being smacked with a baseball. I was pretty sure Rachel had just dumped him, which was hilarious considering they'd never even been together.

"So... what," Percy said. I had to focus on both their mouths, none of them were signing anymore. '"Thanks for bringing me to Olympus. See ya.' Is that what you're saying?"

Rachel stared at the fire. 

"Percy Jackson," Hestia said with her shaking hands in ASL. "Rachel has told you all she can. Her moment is coming,  but your decision approaches even more rapidly. Nora...are you prepared?"

I wanted to complain that no, I wasn't even close to prepared.

I looked at Pandora's jar, and for the first time I had an urge to open it.