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“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 had chosen to save me, and Atlas’s fury had broken her inside.
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 . . . like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword.”
A shudder ran through her body.
“Zoë—” I said.
“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.
Thalia lowered her head. A
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 A
“Let the world honor you, my Huntress,” Artemis said. “Live forever in the stars.”
It wasn’t easy saying our good-byes. The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Tamalpais in the north. Artemis was so upset she flickered with silver light. This made me nervous, because if she suddenly lost control and appeared in her fully divine form, we would disintegrate by looking at her.
“I must go to Olympus immediately,” Artemis said. “I will not be able to take you, but I will send help.”
The goddess set her hand on A
Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren’t sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess’s eyes. I wasn’t sure what passed between them, but 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.
She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. We averted our eyes. There was a flash of silver, and the goddess was gone.
“Well,” Dr. Chase sighed. “She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena.”
A
“Shh.” He hugged her. “Do what you must, my dear. I know this isn’t easy for you.”
His voice was a little shaky, but he gave A
Then I heard the whoosh of large wings. Three pegasi descended through the fog: two white winged horses and one pure black one.
“Blackjack!” I called.
Yo, boss! he called. You manage to stay alive okay without me?
“It was rough,” I admitted.
I brought Guido and Porkpie with me.
How ya doin? The other two pegasi spoke in my mind.
Blackjack looked me over with concern, then checked out Dr. Chase, Thalia, and A
“Nah,” I said aloud. “These are my friends. We need to get to Olympus pretty fast.”
No problem, Blackjack said. Except for the mortal over there. Hope he’s not going.
I assured him Dr. Chase was not. The professor was staring openmouthed at the pegasi.
“Fascinating,” he said. “Such maneuverability! How does the wingspan compensate for the weight of the horse’s body, I wonder?”
Blackjack cocked his head. Whaaaat?
“Why, if the British had had these pegasi in the cavalry charges on the Crimea,” Dr. Chase said, “the charge of the light brigade—”
“Dad!” A
Dr. Chase blinked. He looked at his daughter and managed a smile. “I’m sorry, my dear. I know you must go.”
He gave her one last awkward, well-meaning hug. As she turned to climb aboard the pegasus Guido, Dr. Chase called, “A
A
Thalia and A
Thalia was so exhausted she fell asleep on Porkpie’s back. I knew she had to be really tired to sleep in the air, despite her fear of heights, but she didn’t have much to worry about. Her pegasus flew with ease, adjusting himself every once in a while so Thalia stayed safely on his back.
A
“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.
“I guess so,” she said. “We’ve been arguing for so many years.”
“Yeah, you said.”
“You think I was lying about that?” It sounded like a challenge, but a pretty halfhearted one, like she was asking it of herself.
“I didn’t say you were lying. It’s just . . . he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they’ve, uh, gotten cooler since you saw them last.”
She hesitated. “They’re still in San Francisco, Percy. I can’t live so far from camp.”
I didn’t want to ask my next question. I was scared to know the answer. But I asked it anyway. “So what are you going to do now?”
We flew over a town, an island of lights in the middle of the dark. It whisked by so fast we might’ve been in an airplane.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But thank you for rescuing me.”
“Hey, no big deal. We’re friends.”
“You didn’t believe I was dead?”
“Never.”
She hesitated. “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. “A
“He isn’t dead,” she insisted. “I know it. The same way you knew about me.”
That comparison didn’t make me too happy.
The towns were zipping by faster now, islands of light thicker together, until the whole landscape below was a glittering carpet. Dawn was close. The eastern sky was turning gray. And up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before us—the lights of New York.
How’s that for speedy, boss? Blackjack bragged. We get extra hay for breakfast or what?
“You’re the man, Blackjack,” I told him. “Er, the horse, I mean.”
“You don’t believe me about Luke,” A