PERCY PULLED BROOKLYN aside, her leaning against the wall while he stared down at her. She didn't look at him, deciding that staring down at her fidget ring was better.

"Look," she sighed. "If this is about me calling you and Annabeth babe—"

"What? No it's not," he insisted. "Hey, can you look at me?"

She didn't follow his directions, as per usual.

"Brooks—"

"Don't say it," she ordered. "Just . . . don't. We'll see each other again. At least, before we inevitably die."

He let out a small snort, his hand sneaking over to grab hers. "You know I love you, right?"

"Total simp behavior."

"Shut up." Out of the corner of Brooklyn's eye, she could see Percy's exasperated smile as he bent down to kiss her forehead. "You know I'll do anything to make sure you get the future that you want."

"Oh my gods, you're down bad for me," she laughed at him.

"You love me," he smirked.

She finally made eye contact with him. "Sadly," she pulled him down to kiss her, pulling on the hairs on the back of his neck.

He groaned, one of his hands cradling her cheek as the other settled on her waist, pulling her closer.

After a few moments, she heard a voice call: "Percy! Let's go!"

They pulled away from each other, Percy sighing and knocking his forehead against Brooklyn's, which hurt. "I'll come back to you," he told her. "That's a promise."

"Well, you'd better keep it," she said in a singsong voice before twisting out of his arms and going back to her seat to eat more of the cake, because it's the end of the world, why shouldn't she eat cake for breakfast? She could practically feel Percy roll his eyes as he left the room.

After gearing up, getting the ship ready for combat, and getting it in the Acropolis without the giants knowing, Brooklyn settled in her spot for a dramatic pose, staring at the scene below her in horror.

Many giants and other monsters were on the ground, dazed, but a lot more were looking very undead and very vengeful.

Brooklyn saw Annabeth struggle to her feet. She picked up a very long knife nearby, but she could barely stand upright, much less fight. She was bleeding from her leg, and each time a drop of her blood hit the ground it bubbled, turning from red to gold.

Percy was a distance away from Annabeth. He tried to stand, but he couldn't. He wouldn't be able to defend himself.

Piper was standing in the middle of a shit ton of monsters, and even from a distance away Brooklyn could see the determination and slight insanity in her eyes.

"Come on, then!" Piper yelled. "I'll destroy you all myself if I have to!"

Jason nudged Brooklyn, who smirked as she commanded the sky to give her a storm — one that would wreck havoc on these fucking giants who hurt her boy.

"The thing is," Jason said, helping her make the storm bigger, "you don't have to."

Brooklyn smirked down at the giant Porphyrion, who was literally the ugliest thing ever, and she'd have to fight it. Literally, rude. She made eye contact with Percy, winked at him, then leaped for the giant, letting lightning arc around her as she sailed in the air.

* * *

For the next three minutes, life was great.

So much happened at once that only an ADHD demigod could have kept track.

Brooklyn fell on King Porphyrion with such force that the giant crumpled to his knees — blasted with lightning and bleeding from her club, which had impaled itself in his neck.

Frank unleashed a hail of arrows, driving back the giants nearest to Percy.

The Argo II rose above the ruins and all the ballistae and catapults fired simultaneously. A wall of Greek fire roared upward all around the Parthenon. It didn't touch the interior, but in a flash most of the smaller monsters around it were incinerated.

Leo's voice boomed over the loudspeaker: "SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY ONE SPANKING HOT WAR MACHINE!"

A giant with a dagger in his forehead howled in outrage. "Valdez!"

"WHAT'S UP, ENCHILADAS?" Leo's voice roared back. "NICE DAGGER IN YOUR FOREHEAD."

"GAH!" The giant pulled it out of his head. "Monsters: destroy that ship!"

The remaining forces tried their best. A flock of gryphons rose to attack. Festus the figurehead blew flames and chargrilled them out of the sky. A few Earthborn launched a volley of rocks, but from the sides of the hull a dozen of those spheres Leo loved sprayed out, intercepting the boulders and blasting them to dust.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford ordered.

Hazel spurred Arion off the colonnade they'd been standing on and they leaped into battle. The forty-foot fall would have broken any other horse's legs, but Arion hit the ground running. Hazel zipped from giant to giant, stinging them with the blade of her spatha.

With extremely bad timing, Kekrops and his snake people chose that moment to join the fight. In four or five places around the ruins, the ground turned to green goo and armed gemini burst forth, Kekrops himself in the lead.

"Kill the demigods!" he hissed. "Kill the tricksters!"

Before many of his warriors could follow, Hazel pointed her blade at the nearest tunnel. The ground rumbled. All the gooey membranes popped and the tunnels collapsed, billowing plumes of dust. Kekrops looked around at his army, now reduced to six guys.

"SLITHER AWAY!" he ordered.

Jason flew down and blasted them with lightning as they tried to retreat.

The girl giant had thawed from her ice covered limbs quickly. She tried to grab Annabeth, but, despite her bad leg, Annabeth was holding her own. She stabbed at the giantess with her own hunting knife and led her in a deadly game of tag around the throne.

Percy was back on his feet, Riptide in his hands. He still looked dazed. His nose was bleeding. But he seemed to be standing his ground against the old giant. Imagine going for the old guy. L.

Brooklyn ran around and tore at the mortality ties of everything that went for her. For a moment she felt elated. They were actually winning!

But too soon their element of surprise faded. The giants overcame their confusion.

Frank ran out of arrows. He changed into a rhinoceros and leaped into battle, but as fast as he could knock down the giants they got up again. Their wounds seemed to be healing faster.

Annabeth lost ground against Periboia. Hazel was knocked out of her saddle at sixty miles an hour. Jason summoned another lightning strike, but this time Porphyrion simply deflected it off the tip of his spear.

The giants were bigger, stronger and more numerous. They couldn't be killed without the help of the gods. And they didn't seem to be tiring.

The seven demigods were forced into a defensive ring.

Another volley of Earthborn rocks hit the Argo II. This time Leo couldn't return fire fast enough. Rows of oars were sheared off. The ship shuddered and tilted in the sky.

Then Enceladus threw his fiery spear. It pierced the ship's hull and exploded inside, sending spouts of fire through the oar openings. An ominous black cloud billowed from the deck. The Argo II began to sink.

"Leo!" Jason cried.

Porphyrion laughed. "You demigods have learned nothing. There are no gods to aid you. We need only one more thing from you to make our victory complete."

The giant king smiled expectantly. He seemed to be looking at Percy Jackson.

Brooklyn glanced over. Percy's nose was still bleeding. He seemed unaware that a trickle of blood had made its way down his face to the end of his chin.

"Percy, you idiot!" Brooklyn yelped, but it was too late.

A single drop of blood fell from his chin. It hit the ground between his feet and sizzled like water on a frying pan.

The blood of Olympus watered the ancient stones.

The Acropolis groaned and shifted as the Earth Mother woke.