The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3)

by Rick Riordan

Our canoes floated back downstream, swirling in the wake from the dam’s discharge vents. “Seven hundred feet tall,” I said. “Built in the 1930s.” “Five million cubic acres of water,” Thalia said. Grover sighed. “Largest construction project in the United States.” Zoë stared at us. “How do you know all that?” “Annabeth,” I said. “She liked architecture.” “She was nuts about monuments,” Thalia said. “Spouted facts all the time.” Grover sniffled. “So annoying.” “I wish she were here,” I said.

It seemed like cruel fate that we’d come to Hoover Dam, one of Annabeth’s personal favorites, and she wasn’t here to see it.

“And young man,” the tour guide called. I looked back. She’d taken off her glasses. Her eyes were startlingly gray, like storm clouds. “There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it.”

storm clouds like annabeths eyes like... Athenas?

Good luck. The blessing of Zeus. I thought about the tour guide in the elevator. Her gray eyes and her smile. What had she said? There is always a way for those clever enough to find it. “Thalia,” I said. “Pray to your dad.” She glared at me. “He never answers.” “Just this once,” I pleaded. “Ask for help. I think…I think the statues can give us some luck.”

“Do it!” I yelled. “No!” Thalia said. “He won’t answer me.” “This time is different!” “Who says?” I hesitated. “Athena, I think.”

Thalia closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. I put in my own prayer to Annabeth’s mom, hoping I was right that it had been her in that elevator—that she was trying to help us save her daughter.

“Man, it feels good to stand up!” the first angel said. His voice sounded tinny and rusty, like he hadn’t had a drink since he’d been built. “Will ya look at my toes?” the other said. “Holy Zeus, what were those tourists thinking?”

“Hey, hey, Frisco!” our angel said. “Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!” “Oh, man,” the other angel said. “I am so there!” “You guys have visited San Francisco?” I asked. “We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while, right?” our statue said. “Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And—” “Hank!” the other statue Chuck cut in. “They’re kids, man.” “Oh, right.” If bronze statues could blush, I swear Hank did. “Back to flying.”

I also needed to know if Annabeth was still alive, and how to rescue her. How could I ask that all in one question? A voice inside me was screaming Ask about Annabeth! That’s what I cared about most. But then I imagined what Annabeth might say. She would never forgive me if I saved her and didn’t save Olympus.

The manticore smiled. “The boy is right, Zoë Nightshade. Put away your bow. It would be a shame to kill you before you witnessed Thalia’s great victory.” “What are you talking about?” Thalia growled. She had her shield and spear ready. “Surely it is clear,” the manticore said. “This is your moment. This is why Lord Kronos brought you back to life. You will sacrifice the Ophiotaurus. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. And for your sixteenth birthday, you will overthrow Olympus.”

“Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight.” Or Annabeth will be dead, I thought, but I didn’t say that.

I thought for a second. Then I took off my coat. “Percy,” Grover said. “Are you sure? That lion skin…that’s really helpful. Hercules used it!” As soon as he said that, I realized something. I glanced at Zoë, who was watching me carefully. I realized I did know who Zoë’s hero had been—the one who’d ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she’d helped him: Hercules, a hero I’d admired all my life. “If I’m going to survive,” I said, “it won’t be because I’ve got a lion-skin cloak. I’m not Hercules.”

“Wait,” Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. “There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I’ve got the address here somewhere.” “Who?” I asked. Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. “Professor Chase. Annabeth’s dad.”

“Dear,” Dr. Chase said. “They came about Annabeth.” I half expected Mrs. Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned. “All right. Go on up to the study and I’ll bring you some food.” She smiled at me. “Nice meeting you, Percy. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Percy,” Mrs. Chase called as I was leaving, “tell Annabeth…Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that.” I took one last look at the messy living room, Annabeth’s half brothers spilling LEGOs and arguing, the smell of cookies filling the air. Not a bad place, I thought. “I’ll tell her,” I promised.

I swallowed the taste of smoke out of my mouth, and looked at Thalia. “You saved my life.” “One shall perish by a parent’s hand,” she muttered. “Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?”

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.”

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray 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 I 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.

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. I met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending me, though: RUN.

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.” “Do not respond,” Artemis groaned. “Do not challenge him.” “Wait a second,” I said. “You’re Atlas?” The General glanced at me. “So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl.”

The General sneered. “You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter.” I frowned. “A family matter?” “Yes,” Zoë said bleakly. “Atlas is my father.”

I looked at Annabeth. She was desperately trying to tell me something. She motioned her head toward Luke. But all I could do was stare at her. I hadn’t noticed before, but something about her had changed. Her blond hair was now streaked with gray. “From holding the sky,” Thalia muttered, as if she’d read my mind. “The weight should’ve killed her.”

Atlas laughed. “How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape.” Atlas smiled. “Unless someone else takes it from you.”

There was no time. If that army got to the top of the hill, we would be overwhelmed. I met Annabeth’s eyes again. She nodded. I looked at Thalia and Zoë, and I decided it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this. “Now,” I said. Together, we charged.

As for me, I did the stupidest thing in my life, which is saying a lot. I attacked the Titan Lord Atlas. He laughed as I approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armor. “Go on, then!” “Percy!” Zoë said. “Beware!” I knew what she was warning me about. Chiron had told me long ago: Immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once I attacked, however, Atlas was free to attack back directly, with all his might.

The mention of Ares sent a jolt through me. I shook off my daze and charged again. If I could get to that pool of water, I could double my strength.

The javelin’s point slashed toward me like a scythe. I raised Riptide, planning to cut off his weapon at the shaft, but my arm felt like lead. My sword suddenly weighed a ton. And I remembered Ares’s warning, spoken on the beach in Los Angeles so long ago: When you need it most, your sword will fail you.

And then a chill went down my back. I remembered the words of the prophecy: The Titan’s curse must one withstand. I couldn’t hope to beat Atlas. But there was someone else who might stand a chance. “The sky,” I told the goddess. “Give it to me.” “No, boy,” Artemis said. Her forehead was beaded with metallic sweat, like quicksilver. “You don’t know what you’re asking. It will crush you!” “Annabeth took it!” “She barely survived. She had the spirit of a true huntress. You will not last so long.” “I’ll die anyway,” I said. “Give me the weight of the sky!”

Thalia pressed Luke back with the aura of her shield. Even he was not immune to it. He retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.

“Well?” Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but I could hear fear in his voice. Thalia trembled with fury. Behind her, Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. “Don’t kill him!” “He’s a traitor,” Thalia said. “A traitor!”

“Is that what you want, Thalia?” Luke sneered. “To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?” Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear. “No!” Annabeth shouted. But it was too late. Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell. “Luke!” Annabeth screamed. We rushed to the cliff’s edge. Below us, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. They were staring at Luke’s broken form on the rocks. Despite how much I hated him, I couldn’t stand to see it. I wanted to believe he was still alive, but that was impossible. The fall was fifty feet at least, and he wasn’t moving.

Just as the army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky. “Get away from my daughter!” Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering. “Dad?” yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

“I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings,” he continued. “Just a little experiment.” He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

“Have I…served thee well?” Zoë whispered. “With great honor,” Artemis said softly. “The finest of my attendants.” Zoë’s face relaxed. “Rest. At last.” “I can try to heal the poison, my brave one.” But in that moment, I knew it wasn’t just the poison that was killing her. It was her father’s final blow. Zoë had known all along that the Oracle’s prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent’s hand. And yet she’d taken the quest anyway.

She saw Thalia, and took her hand. “I am sorry we argued,” Zoë said. “We could have been sisters.” “It’s my fault,” Thalia said, blinking hard. “You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything.” “Perhaps not all men,” Zoë murmured. She smiled weakly at me.

“Do you still have the sword, Percy?” I couldn’t speak, but I brought out Riptide and put the pen in her hand. She grasped it contentedly. “You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like…l...

“Stars,” she whispered. “I can see the stars again, my lady.” A tear trickled down Artemis’s cheek. “Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight.” “Stars,” Zoë repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.

I watched as Artemis cupped her hand above Zoë’s mouth and spoke a few words in Ancient Greek. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoë’s lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. Zoë’s body shimmered and disappeared. Artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished. For a moment I didn’t see anything different. Then Annabeth gasped. Looking up in the sky, I saw that the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl’s figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky. “Let the world honor you, my Huntress,” Artemis said. “Live forever in the stars.”

Bro im crying wtf

Artemis’s gaze softened with sympathy. Then she turned to me. “You did well,” she said. “For a man.” I wanted to protest. But then I realized it was the first time she hadn’t called me a boy.

“Well,” Dr. Chase sighed. “She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena.”

Annabeth and I flew along side by side. “Your dad seems cool,” I told her. It was too dark to see her expression. She looked back, even though California was far behind us now.

“But thank you for rescuing me.” “Hey, no big deal. We’re friends.” “You didn’t believe I was dead?” “Never.”

“Neither is Luke, you know. I mean…he isn’t dead.” I stared at her. I didn’t know if she was cracking under the stress or what. “Annabeth, that fall was pretty bad. There’s no way—” “He isn’t dead,” she insisted. “I know it. The same way you knew about me.” That comparison didn’t make me too happy.

“You don’t believe me about Luke,” Annabeth said, “but we’ll see him again. He’s in trouble, Percy. He’s under Kronos’s spell.” I didn’t feel like arguing, though it made me mad. How could she still have any feelings for that creep? How could she possibly make excuses for him? He deserved that fall. He deserved…okay, I’ll say it. He deserved to die. Unlike Bianca. Unlike Zoë. Luke couldn’t be alive. It wouldn’t be fair.

The ceiling above glittered with constellations—even the newest one, Zoë the Huntress, making her way across the heavens with her bow drawn.

“All in favor of not disintegrating them?” A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite. “Wait just a minute,” Ares growled. He pointed at Thalia and me. “These two are dangerous. It’d be much safer, while we’ve got them here—” “Ares,” Poseidon interrupted, “they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits.” “Nor my daughter,” Zeus grumbled. “She has done well.” Thalia blushed. She studied the floor. I knew how she felt. I’d hardly ever talked to my father, much less gotten a compliment.

“I will not have them punished,” Artemis said. “I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it.”

“Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?” “Mooooooo!” Bessie protested. My father frowned. “You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?” “Dad,” I said, “he’s just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can’t destroy him.”

A feeling of panic seized me. “Annabeth,” I said under my breath. “Don’t.” She frowned at me. “What?” “Look, I need to tell you something,” I continued. The words came stumbling out of me. “I couldn’t stand it if…I don’t want you to—” “Percy?” she said. “You look like you’re going to be sick.” And that’s how I felt. I wanted to say more, but my tongue betrayed me. It wouldn’t move because of the fear in my stomach. And then Artemis turned. “I shall have a new lieutenant,” she announced. “If she will accept it.” “No,” I murmured. “Thalia,” Artemis said. “Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?”

Stunned silence filled the room. I stared at Thalia, unable to believe what I was hearing. Annabeth smiled. She squeezed Thalia’s hand and let it go, as if she’d been expecting this all along. “I will,” Thalia said firmly. Zeus rose, his eyes full of concern. “My daughter, consider well—” “Father,” she said. “I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won’t let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again.”