Chapter Eleven NICO DI ANGELO “Stop!” I yelled as I struggled against the might of the spartus. I tried summoning a chasm in the ground, as I did long ago, but it wouldn’t work. “Where are you taking me?” I asked, in case I could, I don’t know, use that to my advantage or something? The skeletal warriors couldn’t talk, but Dr. Thorn, my longtime manticore enemy, could. “Oh, nowhere much,” he purred. “Just to the Titan lord Atlas so you can take his burden along with the other five girls we will recruit.” My blood froze. Girls? My worst experience with girls was the Hunters of Artemis. My sister Bianca died when she joined them, and it’s not like they were ever nice to me. They took my sister away from me, and when she died, started recruiting more like her death was worth nothing. “T-the Hunters of Artemis?” I managed to stutter out. “Indeed,” the manticore cackled. “They are on their way to stop Ouranos. Isn’t that a foolish plan! Five young girls, without the help of a goddess. How can they take down a powerful primordial god like Ouranos?” “Gaea got beaten by a measly son of Hephaestus,” I managed to choke out. “Gah! Gaea is another matter. Ouranos is the king of the endless sky. And, never forget, he told me, the sky came first.” “Depends on who you ask,” I said, trying to put on a brave face. “Doesn’t matter,” he said absentmindedly. “Soldiers, show him the illusion.” I won’t tell you what I saw. It’s too horrible to explain. But what I will tell you is that I saw me, or at least an illusion of me, fall in love with a daughter of Artemis. Ha! Like that would ever happen! “Drop him,” Dr. Thorn ordered. “Ow! Skeletons! Obey me!” I shouted. For a second, it worked. Then, the skeletons shook their heads and bowed, again, to Dr. Thorn. “Hmm. Mount Othrys only reflects Olympian power, not Underworld power. However, I see your bloodline. Your mother was a legacy of Demeter, one of the Olympians. Even though this connection has been carried for five generations, Mount Othrys will still detect it and reflect it,” Dr. Thorn said as he walked ahead and bowed to the fog. “My lord, the boy is here.” “Load him up, then! Hurry up! Should I disintegrate you or not?” Bellowed the voice of Atlas. “Hurry!” Dr. Thorn ordered his skeletons. And again, I was picked up and carried into the fog. As the sky was pushed onto me, I felt unbearable pain, maybe even more than all the pain combined from when I ventured into Tartarus. “Good, good,” bellowed Atlas. “Thorn, get the girls.” “Er… my lord, I do not yet have them. They are still on the East Coast-” “I don’t care!” Atlas yelled. “Are you a coward? Do you always need the protection of allies? I will tell you once more: Get. Them.” Dr. Thorn swallowed. “Yes, my lord.”
