Rick Riordan The Last Olympian- 05
them he hadn ' t made it to the engine room yet. The Greek fire might still be primed! But that didn ' t do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it. Kronos hesitated. Buy the story, I prayed. The pain in my arm was so bad now I could barely stand. " Open his bag," Kronos ordered. One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf ' s shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would ' ve all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches. I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger. " Did you, perhaps," he said, " capture this demigod near the galley?" Ethan turned pale. " Um—" " And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?" Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran. I cursed silently. Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught
Beckendorf ' s eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long?
He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We ' d never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.
Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. " You ' ll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn ' t matter. We have you now. We ' ve known you were coming for weeks."
He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm— the Titan lord ' s symbol.
The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, " Communication device... spy at camp."
Kronos chuckled. " You can ' t count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."
I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf ' s neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would. Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go. I shook my head. I couldn ' t just leave him. The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf ' s left arm was free. He raised it slowly— toward the watch on his right wrist. I wanted to scream, NO! Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed, " What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?" Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch. I had no choice. I threw my sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship— toward the water a hundred feet below.
I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away— a hundred yards, two hundred yards.
Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything. Beckendorf, I thought. Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.
8
Chapter Two
I Meet Some Fishy Relatives