Kronos came at Percy like a whirlwind.

His instincts took over. He dodged and slashed and rolled, it looked like he was fighting a hundred swordsmen. Ethan ducked to one side, trying to get behind him until Annabeth intercepted him.

I however sat staring at the devistation I had done. My eyes wide and blank. I could still hear Apollo sobbing, the many children crying for help...

Someone clattered to a stop in front of me. Warm callused hands grabbed my face and forced it up, made me look up into dark brown worried eyes. They were surrounded by scraps, bruises and blood, but Raph was still breathing.

"What...what have I done?" I whispered. I felt a weakening in my limbs, a painful tingling. I slumped forward.

"Nothing you can't undo, Sunshine. He messed with your head."

"How...how do you know?" I spat bitterly, the weakening turned to a shiver. I felt cold, for the first time. "For all you know I'm angry enough to do this!"

A fresh set of tears slid down my cheeks. A pain so bad I cried out and grabbed my chest, sliced through me. I crumpled forward, into Raph's chest. He caught me and held we cradled. The shivering got worse. The pain in my chest was worse, like my heart was breaking. Tears continued to leak down my face.

"I know what it's like to have a god mess with your head. Don't give into it. Fight it Nora. Don't give into Kronos's thinking!"

"What's....what's the point in fighting anymore...?" I whispered. My eyes fluttered.

Percy and Kronos fought like demons around us while Annabeth fendered off Ethan.  I could feel myself loosing the fight. Loosing the will. It burned, slowly pieces of me burning away. I wasn't giving my aligance to Kronos, but I sure as Hades was losing the will to fight it. I felt Raph's strong arms shake me slightly.

"Because," Raph whispered urgently. He was leaning forward, cradling my head and shoulders to his chest, "there's still good in the world. Because I love you, Sunshine, and I can't lose you. You brought me back from battle lust. You brought me back from Lovesickness. You helped convince Selina that good and love and friendship is better to fight for than power. Your friendship with Nico helped convince Hades to leave the underworld and fight. Your kindness with Clarisse helped unite all the cabins."

He paused to shield me from some exploding debris. He straightened up and I saw that Kronos backed Percy up against the throne of Hephaestus - a huge mechanical La-Z-Boy type thing covered with bronze and silver gears. Kronos slashed, and Percy managed to jump straight up onto the seat. The throne whirred and hummed with secret mechanisms. Defense mode, it warned. Defense mode.

"Nora Listen to me! There is good. There is love. There is a lot of fixing...but that's why we fight. You and me and Percy... Nico, Annabeth, Selina, Benckindorf, Lee...we all fought for change, to defend the weak, right the wrong!"

Percy jumped straight over Kronos's head as the throne shot tendrils of electricity in all directions. Raph twisted our bodies so we weren't hit by the electricity. One hit Kronos in the face, arcing down his body and up his sword.

"ARG!" He crumpled to his knees and dropped Backbiter.

Annabeth saw her chance. She kicked Ethan out of the way and charged Kronos. "Luke, listen!"

I wanted to shout at her, to tell her she was crazy for trying to reason with Kronos, but I couldn't open my mouth fast enough. Kronos flicked his hand. Annabeth flew backward, slamming into the throne of her mother and crumpling to the floor. My head flopped back and my eyes fluttered. The pain in my chest grew, I whimpered.

"Annabeth!" I heard Percy's panicked scream.

I don't know why that gave me the jolt I needed. It was Percy's terrified call for the girl he loved. It shook me to the core.

Every nerve in my body burned. I was dissolving in the sorrow, pain and anger. I was drowning in unbelief. Then I saw faces- Raph, Percy, Nico, Will, Kayla, Beckendorf, Selina, Lee, Thalia, Pollux , Conner and Travis, Clarisse, Annabeth, Rachael, Michael, Grover, Tyson, my dad, Sally.

But they faded as soon as they appeared.

"Nora," my dad said. "I give you my blessing."

"Be safe." Percy called.

"Nora, Come on ya Geek, pull it together!" Will chided.

"Don't be an idiot!" Nico cried.

I was losing the fight. The pain was too much. The hopelessness was consuming. My soul was being ripped from my body. I couldn't remember who I was.

"The cord, dummy" a familiar voice said. "Babe, Remember your lifeline!" Two voices, two familiar voices said. "Come on now Sparky, get your life together and save humanity." A third voice.

Suddenly there was a tug in my heart. The current of misery and hopelessness pulled at me, but it wasn't carrying me away anymore. I reimagined the string around my heart keeping me tied to the reality.

"Good." Persephone said with a nod. "Because love is your greatest strength. And also will ultimately be your downfall. You understand that is what Kronos and Luke do not understand. They do not understand sacrificial love."

"Okay...why is that important?"  My voice is hollow, like listening through a metal cup.

"It may be your only true defense and weapon to Kronos. If he manages to get his hands on you then that might be the only thing that truly saves you."

"Hold on, Sunshine." It was Raph's voice, much clearer now. "You're not getting away from me that easily."

"Come on you dork. Don't give up now!" Percy sounded slightly exhaspirated with me.

"Oh gods, kids these days just don't understand. Come on Sparky. Time to get your ass up." Nico scolded with an eye roll.

The cord strengthened. My heart sweled with something, a wild fierce protectiveness consumed me. My soul slammed back into my body.

"My Eleanora Grace Blocks, my Ray of Sunshine. Your mother's soul with protect you and guide you. She loved you truly before you were even born. This day I promise you, the day my heart shattered into a million separate pieces, I swear on the river Styx, I have not loved this hard or fallen this hard and deeply in love before. I will never love this deeply ever again, except for my loved child. But you my child, my blessed daughter, will be my light and my hope. I will protect you u til my dying days. I make an oath on the River Styx, to never ever leave you or forsake you. You have my blessing little sunbeam, the blessing of Apollo."

I felt a gentle brush if something soft on my forehead. The day I was born, the moment Apollo had blessed me and sealed it with a kiss.

My eyes snapped open. I felt a rush of energy into my limbs Raph's forehead was pressed to mine, like I had just died. And maybe I did, but I felt strength return to my body.

"Raph...babe, gotta let me up. This Geek has to go kill stuff."

Raph's eyes snapped open and a twisted smile appeared on his bloody grimy face. "Welcome back sunshine."

"I love you, Raphael Marino. Thank you for not giving up on me."

"I love you too, Eleanora Blofis. Now let's go kill some stuff."

We scrambled to our feet. Both my blades out, breathing hard. Raph right beside me. Ethan Nakamura had got to his feet. He now stood between Annabeth and Percy.

Grover's music took on a more urgent tune. He moved toward Annabeth, but he couldn't go any faster and keep up the song. Grass grew on the floor of the throne room. Tiny roots crept up between the cracks of the marble stones. Raph and I ran,  it it was like running in quick sand.

Kronos rose to one knee. His hair smoldered. His face was covered with electrical burns. He reached for his sword, but this time it didn't fly into his hands.

"Nakamura!" he groaned. "Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure."

Ethan's eyes dropped to Percy's midsection, and I was sure that he knew. Then his eyes snapped up to me. He looked shocked for a second and then his eyes narrowed, and looked at my chest, over my heart and then to Raph, then back to Percy. He knew, he understood both our weak spots. Even if he couldn't kill Percy and me himself, all he had to do was tell Kronos. There was no way Percy could defend himself forever.

"Look around you, Ethan," Percy said. "The end of the world. Is this the reward you want? Do you really want everything destroyed- the good with the bad? Everything?"

"You saw how he manipulated me, Ethan! How he forced me!" I yelled, still fighting the time spell. It was easier for me, for whatever reason. I was closer to the fighting than Raph- maybe it was the titan's blood in my veins or the blessing from Apollo or the curse of Achilles...

Grover was almost to Annabeth now. The grass thickened on the floor. The roots were almost a foot long, like a stubble of whiskers.

"There is no throne to Nemesis," Ethan muttered. "No throne to my mother."

"That's right!" Kronos tried to get up, but stumbled. Above his left ear, a patch of blond hair still smoldered. "Strike them down! They deserve to suffer."

I had made it to Percy's side now. Both my knives out. I turned and placed my back to his, so his back was now protected. I looked at Ethan, struggling internally. My anger softened. He was just a scared confused kid.

"Ethan, you said your mom is the goddess of balance," I reminded him. "The minor gods deserve better, they do, but total destruction isn't balance. Kronos doesn't build. He only destroys. All he showed me was pain suffering and devastation."

Ethan looked at the sizzling throne of Hephaestus. Grover's music kept playing, and Ethan swayed to it, as if the song were filling him with nostalgia - a wish to see a beautiful day, to be anywhere but here. His good eye blinked.

Then he charged... but not at me or Percy.

While Kronos was still on his knees, Ethan brought down his sword on the Titan lord's neck. It should have killed him instantly, but the blade shattered. Ethan fell back, grasping his stomach. A shard of his own blade had ricocheted and pierced his armor.

Kronos rose unsteadily, towering over his servant. "Treason," he snarled.

Grover's music kept playing, and grass grew around Ethan's body. Ethan stared at me, his face tight with pain.

"Deserve better," he gasped. "If they just . . . had thrones- "

Kronos stomped his foot, and the floor ruptured around Ethan Nakamura. The son of Nemesis fell through a fissure that went straight through the heart of the mountain—straight into open air.

"No!" I screamed and lunged forwards, I tried to grab his flailing hand. I felt the tips of his fingers and then he was gone.

"So much for him." Kronos picked up his sword. "And now for the rest of you."

My only thought was to keep him away from Annabeth.

Grover and Raph were at her side now. He'd stopped playing and was helping Raph by feeding her ambrosia.

Everywhere Kronos stepped, the roots wrapped around his feet, but Grover had stopped his magic too early. The roots weren't thick or strong enough to do much more than annoy the Titan.

Percy and I fought him through the hearth, kicking up coals and sparks. Kronos slashed an armrest off the throne of Ares, which was okay by me, but then he backed me up to my dad's throne.

"Oh, yes," Kronos said. "This one will make fine kindling for my new hearth!"

Our blades clashed in a shower of sparks. He was stronger than me, but for the moment I felt the power of the sun in my arms. I felt the spot of Apollo' as blessing glow hot and gold, I pushed him back and struck again—slashing both blades across his breastplate so hard I cut a gash in the Celestial bronze.

A moment later he had us backed up into Posiedens chair.

"I think I'll just toss this useless one."

Percy had a sudden surge of energy and kicked Krones back enough to slash his sword with a terrifying scream. Making another long gash in his armor.

He stamped his foot again and time slowed. I tried to attack but I was moving at the speed of a glacier. Kronos backed up leisurely, catching his breath. He examined the gashs in his armor while I struggled forward, silently cursing him. He could take all the time-outs he wanted. He could freeze me in place at will. My only hope was that the effort was draining him. If I could wear him down . . .

"It's too late, tiny demigods," he said. "Behold."

He pointed to the hearth, and the coals glowed. A sheet of white smoke poured from the fire, forming images like an Iris-message. I saw Nico and our parents down on Fifth Avenue, fighting a hopeless battle, ringed in enemies. In the background Hades fought from his black chariot, summoning wave after wave of zombies out of the ground, but the forces of the Titan's army seemed just as endless. Meanwhile, Manhattan was being destroyed. Mortals, now fully awake, were running in terror. Cars swerved and crashed.

The scene shifted, and I saw something even more terrifying.

A column of storm was approaching the Hudson River, moving rapidly over the Jersey shore. Chariots circled it, locked in combat with the creature in the cloud.

The gods attacked. Lightning flashed. Arrows of gold and silver streaked into the cloud like rocket tracers and exploded. Slowly, the cloud ripped apart, and I saw Typhon clearly for the first time.

I knew as long as I lived (which might not be that long) I would never be able to get the image out of my mind. Typhon's head shifted constantly. Every moment he was a different monster, each more horrible than the last.

Looking at his face would've driven me insane, so I focused on his body, which wasn't much better. He was humanoid, but his skin reminded me of a meat loaf sandwich that had been in someone's locker all year. He was mottled green, with blisters the size of buildings, and blackened patches from eons of being stuck under a volcano. His hands were human, but with talons like an eagle's. His legs were scaly and reptilian.

"The Olympians are giving their final effort." Kronos laughed. "How pathetic."

I watched as Zeus threw a thunderbolt from his chariot. The blast lit up the world. I could feel the shock even here on Olympus, but when the dust cleared, Typhon was still standing. He staggered a bit, with a smoking crater on top of his misshapen head, but he roared in anger and kept advancing.

My limbs began to loosen up. Kronos didn't seem to notice. His attention was focused on the fight and his final victory. If I could hold out a few more seconds, and if Percy's dad kept his word . . .

Typhon stepped into the Hudson River and barely sank to midcalf.

Now, I thought, imploring the image in the smoke. Please, it has to happen now.

Like a miracle, a conch horn sounded from the smoky picture. The call of the ocean. The call of Poseidon.

All around Typhon, the Hudson River erupted, churning with forty-foot waves. Out of the water burst a new chariot—this one pulled by massive hippocampi, who swam in air as easily as in water. Percy's father, glowing with a blue aura of power, rode a defiant circle around the giant's legs. Poseidon was no longer an old man. He looked like himself again—tan and strong with a black beard. As he swung his trident, the river responded, making a funnel cloud around the monster.

"No!" Kronos bellowed after a moment of stunned silence. "NO!"

"NOW, MY BRETHREN!" Poseidon's voice was so loud I wasn't sure if I was hearing it from the smoke image or from all the way across town. "STRIKE FOR OLYMPUS!"

Warriors burst out of the river, riding the waves on huge sharks and dragons and sea horses. It was a legion of Cyclopes, and leading them into battle was...

"Tyson!" I yelled with a wild whoop. Percy right along beside me. We high fived without taking our eyes off the scene.

I knew he couldn't hear me, but I stared at him in amazement. He'd magically grown in size. He had to be thirty feet tall, as big as any of his older cousins, and for the first time he was wearing full battle armor. Riding behind him was Briares, the Hundred-Handed One.

All the Cyclopes held huge lengths of black iron chains—big enough to anchor a battleship—with grappling hooks at the ends. They swung them like lassos and began to ensnare Typhon, throwing lines around the creature's legs and arms, using the tide to keep circling, slowly tangling him. Typhon shook and roared and yanked at the chains, pulling some of the Cyclopes off their mounts; but there were too many chains. The sheer weight of the Cyclops battalion began to weigh Typhon down.

Poseidon threw his trident and impaled the monster in the throat. Golden blood, immortal ichor, spewed from the wound, making a waterfall taller than a skyscraper. The trident flew back to Poseidon's hand.

The other gods struck with renewed force. Ares rode in and stabbed Typhon in the nose. Artemis shot the monster in the eye with a dozen silver arrows.

Apollo shot a blazing volley of arrows and set the monster's loincloth on fire. And Zeus kept pounding the giant with lightning, until finally, slowly, the water rose, wrapping Typhon like a cocoon, and he began to sink under the weight of the chains. Typhon bellowed in agony, thrashing with such force that waves sloshed the Jersey shore, soaking five-story buildings and splashing over the George Washington Bridge- but down he went as Posiden opened a special tunnel for him at the bottom of the river- an endless waterslide that would take him straight to Tartarus. The giant's head went under in a seething whirlpool, and he was gone.

'Ha! Suck it looser!' I grinned as I slowly turned back to Kronos.

My smiled dropped.