I held my breath for a full minute. Two minutes. Hoping I didn't have enough air left in my lungs to scream, I jumped into Tartarus. What was it like falling into that void? It was like skydiving off Mt. Everest during a pitch black night without a parachute. Oh, and the fall lasted so long I got bored.

Finally, what seemed like a million more feet down, I saw a tiny speck of dim, green light. I could hear an annoying clanging sound coming from the bottom, like metal against metal. As I got closer I heard voices.

"Ares, honey," a beautiful voice said, "where did you get that can?"

"Huh?" another voice responded, I'm guessing Ares. "This? I found it."

"Liar!" a third, regal voice exclaimed. "You've been eating haven't you? Where are you keeping your food, huh? Where?"

"QUIET!" another voice yelled. This one was much darker. The same tone was found in Nico's voice at times. "This is ridiculous. We aren't going to get anywhere by clawing each other's eyes out."

Ares whistled. "Wow Corpse Breath, that's the smartest thing you've said this century."

I heard the sound of a punch connecting with its target. Hades roared with laughter.

"And that..." Ares growled, "was the dumbest thing you'll ever do."

"Bring it war god!" Hades yelled.

Ares cried out in anger. I kept falling towards them and the bottom of Tartarus.

"Both of you!" some else said. "My son-in-law is right. We need to focus on escaping. Then we can kill each other. A way out isn't just going to fall out of the sky!"

I landed solidly in the middle of the prison. Locked up in one big cage that was pushed into the corner were Hades, Ares, Hera, Demeter, and Aphrodite. They all looked bruised and battered. Instead of whatever else they normally wore, they wore tattered rags full of bloodstained holes. All in all, the looked like they'd gone through hell.

The gods stared at me for a while, silent. Then the gods abruptly started laughing, all except for Demeter, who just stared at me with her mouth open.

Hades calmed down faster than anyone else and asked, "You were saying Demeter?"

The laughter died down. And Hera spoke, "Well don't just stand there Jackson, get us out of here!"

I walked up to the door of the cage used my knife to pick the lock. Wearily, the gods stumbled out. Ares' legs buckled and he almost fell, but Aphrodite caught him. They were worse than I thought.

"Well Jackson," Hades said shakily, "I hope you have a plan."

"Not really," I said confidently. I took Ares from Aphrodite, putting his arm around my shoulders so I could support him while he walked. The other goddesses followed me, with a limping Hades bringing up the rear.

If we could just get out of here without Kampê finding us, we were good to go. But of course I don't have that kind of luck. When we were halfway to the elevator back up (I really wish I'd seen that on my way in) a voice screeched behind us.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I cursed under my breath and handed Ares back to Aphrodite. I drew my knife and turned to face Kampê. She drew both her poison swords.

Dam. I thought. I really need to get a weapon other than this knife.

"Percy," Hera warned, "you don't stand a chance."

"Can you fight her then?" I asked irritably.

In answer Demeter coughed and wheezed involuntarily. Ares groaned.

"I'll take that as a no," I grumbled.

Kampê laughed. She raised her sword. This was going to end before it started. I needed an edge that was bigger than invulnerability and fighting prowess. But that was all I had. At least that's what I thought.

"Perseus, wait," Hera begged. She whispered something to the other gods, wearily, they nodded in agreement. All the while, Kampê edged slowly closer to me.

"Guys," I begged, "pick up the pace."

Hera's hand glowed white. Hades hand became blacker than void. Ares hand shimmered with a fiery red. Demeter's hand radiated a pure green. And Aphrodite's hand glowed pink.

At first I thought they were going to blast Kampê with some godly energy burst. But then they pointed their hands at me, and I figured they were about to blast me to bits for being a failure. They did blast me, but not to bits. I felt energy coursing through me like never before. Every part of my body went crazy. And I mean every part of my body. Kinda embarrassing.

I felt stronger than ever. Kampê backed up a few feet. I looked back at the gods. They looked even worse now. But for a second I didn't realize what else was wrong with them. Then it hit me. Their cuts were bleeding, and I mean actual red blood. They looked about seventeen or eighteen. They looked like...normal people. The gods collapsed. I looked down at my hand. It looked different...older. My hand went to my jaw, and I felt the rough beginnings of a beard, like I hadn't shaved in a while. But the thing was: I was seventeen. I couldn't grow a full beard. I was seventeen right?

I didn't have anymore time to think about it, because Kampê got tired of waiting and charged. I parried almost effortlessly with my knife and countered with a stab. Kampê dodge backward in surprise.

"Jackson!" Hades yelled. "Quit fooling around! You wield the power of the gods! Now use it!"

I wield what? I parried another few of Kampê's strikes, not even breaking a sweat. I stabbed and sliced in response. One blow glanced off of Kampê's armor, but left a deep cut. She backed up again.

"Jackson!" Hades roared.

"Alright, alright!" I shouted back.

This was ridiculous. I held out my hand and concentrated on death and dead spirits. Involuntarily, my eyes rolled up into my head. I muttered, "Serve me..."

Several dead warriors emerged from the ground around Kampê. I stared at my hand, making sure it was mine. I extended both hands again, wanting to try something else. Almost instantly, huge stalks of wheat grew up and entangled Kampê. The dead got to work, slashing, shooting, and basically being awesome.

Casually, I walked up to Kampê and stabbed her with my knife. She screamed and dissolved into dust.

I looked back to the gods. They were looking at themselves, and I'm pretty sure they were disgusted.

"Reduced to the power of a demigod," Ares groaned. "Can it get any worse than this?"

"Would someone please tell me what happened?" I yelled.

"We transferred our powers to you Percy," Hera explained. "We are too weak to use them. You must gather the powers of all the Olympians if you are to defeat Kronos."

"Defeat Kronos?" I asked. "No, no, no, no. No. I'm not here for that. I came to bust you guys out so you could do it. Not me. Percy no fight Titan king."

"Oh for gods' sake Jackson," Hades grumbled, "stop acting like such a coward."

"You will wield the power of Olympus Perseus," Demeter told me. "It's in your blood to hold that kind of power. Invulnerable or not, you should be disintegrating right now. You have what it takes to beat Kronos."

I gave in. "So now what?" I asked.

"Now," Hera said, "we free the rest of the gods in the Underworld. Oh but Percy, I'd deactivate those powers for a while if I were you. There's still the chance you could disintegrate."

I closed my eyes and focused. Suddenly, I felt weaker. My knees wobbled for a second but I got my balance back. Weird. The powers were deactivated, but the gods still didn't look, well, godly.

"You still have our powers, Percy," Aphrodite explained. "They're just toned down at the moment so they won't kill you."

"You may feel some slight discomfort from time to time," Hera warned cheerfully, like a doctor listing the horrible side-effects of a medicine that really isn't worth it. "These are perfectly normal and are merely signs of your body's degeneration."

"Oh," I mumbled. "Great."