Grover's music took on a more urgent tune. He moved toward Annabeth, but he

couldn't go any faster and keep up the song. Grass grew on the floor of the

throne room. Tiny roots crept up between the cracks of the marble stones.

 

Kronos rose to one knee. His hair smoldered. His face was covered with

electrical bums. He reached for his sword, but this time it didn't fly into his

hands.

 

"Nakamura!" he groaned. "Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret

weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure."

 

Ethan's eyes dropped to my midsection, and I was sure that he knew. Even if he

couldn't kill me himself, all he had to do was tell Kronos. There was no way I

could defend myself forever.

 

"Look around you, Ethan," 1 said. "The end of the world. Is this the reward you

want? Do you really want everything destroyed — the good with the bad?

Everything?"

 

Grover was almost to Annabeth now. The grass thickened on the floor. The roots

were almost a foot long, like a stubble of whiskers.

 

"There is no throne to Nemesis," Ethan muttered. "No throne to my mother."

 

"That's right!" Kronos tried to get up, but stumbled. Above his left ear, a