1st POV
Adira

My veins felt like fire coursing. My bones felt strong as platinum, I felt flexible, like the wind.

I looked around me. All the snow was melted in a circular ball, and a puddle formed in front of me. I looked down into it. I saw my reflection.

My eyes were glowing. They flickered from my natural eye, and finalized back to the glow.

A mix of the color of the moon, and a mix of my natural eye color.

"Adira?" Percy asked, and I looked up at him. He looked a bit frightened, but then I felt a feeling tug on my back.

I turned around swiftly, to see Atlas running at me like a barbarian with a javelin. He was a few feet away. It was too late to get my sword out.

I remember back to that day on the field trip to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, two years ago. I thought of the line I read from the Hunger Games, Catching Fire. Katniss told herself: "This is where and how and when we all die."

Couldn't agree more, I thought to myself.

Shielding myself, I pressed my arms into an "x" position.

I expected myself to be dead, but when I looked up, all I saw were two large rocks of earth shaped in a "X" position.

That must be it.

When the virgin goddess shall concede,
Must a gift be present to impede.

I let out a smirk. I swiftly put my arms down, and the stones obeyed, going back into the ground.

That's what those lines meant. The gift was the gift to manipulate elements. I shut my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them, I looked at a torch nearby. Concentrating, I pulled the fire towards me, and it followed. It spun in a circle at my command.

I looked towards my friends. They all looked confused.

I pulled out my sword, with the fire above my left hand.

I met Annabeth's eyes again. She nodded.

I looked at Thalia and Zoe, and I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this. Then I looked at Percy, who already had Riptide out.

"Now," I said.

Together, we all charged.

🏹

As for me, I did the stupidest thing in my life, which is saying a lot. I attacked the Titan Lord Atlas. Percy quickly followed me.

He laughed as I approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armor. "Go on, then!"

"Adira! Percy!" Zoe 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 power.

I sent my ball of fire at him, and quickly sent another ball at him, which he defended.

I threw two rocks at him, which only stopped him for a few seconds.

I looked at Percy. He wasn't doing too good.

He swung his sword, and Atlas knocked him aside with the shaft of his javelin. He flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It wasn't Mist anymore. The palace was rising, brick by brick. It was becoming real.

"Perce!" I shouted, running over after I kicked a gust of wind at him. I put my concentration into that kick, making it sharp, like a knife. I had practice to do, obviously, because it was dull and Atlas easily moved against it.

"Fool!" Atlas screamed gleefully, swatting aside one of Zoe's arrows. "Did you think, simply because you could challenge that petty war god, that you could stand up to me?"

The javelins point slashed toward us like a scythe. I raised my sword.

I looked at Percy, and he looked tired. He could barely pick up his sword.

"Percy, what's wrong-"

I was thrown backwardI tried to dodge, but the javelin caught me in the chest and sent me flying like a rag doll.

My eyes stopped glowing. I couldn't concentrate.

I slammed into the ground, my head spinning. I looked up and found I was at the feet of Artemis, still straining under the weight of the sky. Immediately after, Percy joined me.

"Run, you two," she told us. "You must run!"

Atlas was taking his time coming toward me. My sword was gone. It had skittered away over the edge of the cliff. It might reappear in my pocket—maybe in a few seconds—but it didn't matter. I'd be dead by then. Luke and Thalia were fighting like demons, lightning crackling around them. Annabeth was on the ground, desperately struggling to free her hands. Mariana was beside her, looking hopelessly at me. She nodded at me.

You got this, she mouthed.

"Die, little heroes," Atlas said.

He raised his javelin to impale me.

"No!" Zoe yelled, and a volley of silver arrows sprouted from the armpit chink in Atlas's armor.

"ARGH!" He bellowed and turned toward his daughter.

I reached down and felt my arrowhead back in my pocket. Reluctantly, I shot an arrow at him.

It didn't do anything.

Then, it finally hit me. I couldn't fight Atlas, even with a sword. And then a chill went down my back. I remembered the words of the prophecy: The Titan's curse must two withstand. I couldn't hope to beat Atlas. But there was someone else who might stand a chance.

Percy must've been thinking the same thing, because he stood towards my mother.

"The sky," he 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."

"What about me, mother?" I blurted. "You said it yourself. I have the essence of a true huntress. Give me the weight of the sky, please!"

I didn't wait for her answer. I took out Alcaeus and slashed through her chains. Then I stepped next to her and braced myself on one knee—holding up my hands—and touched the cold, heavy clouds.

For a slick moment, Artemis and I bore the weight together. It was the heaviest thing I'd ever felt, as if I were being crushed under a thousand trucks. I wanted to black out from the pain, but I breathed deeply. I can do this. I will do this.

Then Artemis slipped out from under the burden, and I held it alone.

Afterward, I tried many times to explain to myself what it felt like. I couldn't.

Every muscle in my body turned to fire, but it wasn't like when I got my powers. It hurt. My bones felt like they were melting. I wanted to scream, but I didn't have the strength to open my mouth. I began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing me. The glow from my eyes were flickering, like a lightbulb when the fan has too much power.

Percy stood in front of me, then bent down. He cupped my face, which was full of concentration and pain. "You're not doing this alone, princess," he said, then before I could protest, he slipped under and joined me.

I looked at him. I was convinced yet again. Don't give up. You can do this.

I concentrated on breathing. If I could just keep the sky aloft a few more seconds. I thought about Bianca, who had given her life so we could get here. If she could do that, I could hold the sky. With time, I stood up stronger, holding the sky with ease.

I could see the visions that Atlas had shown me, and I knew they were meant to discourage me, but to me, they now just made me think that this had to work.

My vision turned fuzzy. Everything was tinged with red. I caught glimpses of the battle, but I wasn't sure if I was seeing clearly. There was Atlas in full battle armor, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And Artemis, a blur of silver. She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered.

She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Zoe shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.

Thalia and Luke went spear on sword, lightning still flashing around them. Thalia pressed Luke back with the aura of her shield. Even he was not immune to it. He retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.

"Yield!" Thalia yelled. "You never could beat me, Luke."

He bared his teeth. "Well see, my old friend."

Sweat poured down my face. My hands were slippery. My shoulders would've screamed with agony if they could. I felt like the vertebrae in my spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.

Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward me.

Get ready, she spoke in my mind.

I looked at Percy. He was concentrating, like me. "Get ready," he mouthed.

I was losing the ability to think through the pain. My response was something like well-i'm-about-To-be-crushed-by-this-really-big-sky-thingy. I felt like I was about to faint. Percy was right, I couldn't take this alone.

"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."

He fainted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. I saw the trick coming.

Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" Zoe screamed. She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.

I wanted to shout her name, run to her aid, but I couldn't speak or move. I couldn't even see where Zoe had landed. Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face. Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.

"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.

As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her, I saw him coming down on top of me and I realized what would happen.

I loosened my grip on the sky, and Percy slammed into me, jumping out of the way, taking me with him.

The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so loud it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

I tried to stand and fell back again, dazed from pain. My body felt like it was burning up. I looked at my reflection, and my eyes were slowly fading. Holy white glow, blue, then regular silver.

I was sitting on my hands and knees, and Percy was sitting by me. He was gasping for air, like me.

"You... okay?" he asked.

"...Yeah..." I said.