your failings will increase as well."

 

"You mean I'll have a bad heel?" I said. "Couldn't I just, like, wear something

besides sandals? No offense."

 

He stared down at his bloody foot. "The heel is only my physical weakness,

demigod. My mother, Thetis, held me there when she dipped me in the Styx. What

really killed me was my own arrogance.

 

Beware! Turnback!"

 

He meant it. I could hear the regret and bitterness in his voice. He was

honestly trying to save me from a terrible fate.

 

Then again, Luke had been here, and he hadn't turned back.

 

That's why Luke had been able to host the spirit of Kronos without his body

disintegrating. This is how he'd prepared himself, and why he seemed impossible

to kill. He had bathed in the River Styx and taken on the powers of the greatest

mortal hero, Achilles. He was invincible.

 

"I have to," I said. "Otherwise I don't stand a chance."

 

Achilles lowered his head. "Let the gods witness I tried. Hero, if you must do

this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will