I dodged the drakon's lunge and fired a blast of black energy. The drakon stumbled back, stunned. Before I could finish it off, one of the drakons wrapped around my legs and the other lunged for my head. A burst of energy got them off me easily enough.

I threw my knife at one of them. The blade spun through the air, tearing the drakon's skin to shreds. I grabbed a different drakon by the throat and tossed it at the drakon who'd met the business end of my knife. While they struggled to get off each other and attack me again, I turned my attention to the last drakon. I was planning on a simple crack that would swallow it whole, but at that instant everything went wrong.

My arm went numb, first. Then, it felt like someone was giving my internal organs a massage with a chainsaw. After that, my eye sockets felt like they were on fire. By the time I was able to once again register what was happening around me, the drakons had coiled themselves around me and were crushing me like a python. I was five gods rolled into one. I couldn't die. But I could be crushed, sliced into a million tiny pieces, and served on a platter at Kronos's next meal.

I struggled against them, trying to get them off. Wait, if gods had true forms, then so did I right? Maybe if I was in my true form I could beat these guys...

"Don't even think about Percy!" Aphrodite yelled, as if reading my mind.

Okay so true form wouldn't work. I concentrated, and a giant corn stalk grew out of the ground next to me. On my command, it started beating the drakons off of me. As soon as I was free, I grabbed a drakon and tore it to bits with my bare hands. The other two drakons back up a bit. One of them got into a fierce fight with my corn minion, so it was just me against the one drakon. Piece of blue cake.

I tried to blast it to pieces with some godly energy, but the pain resumed again. This time, it felt like my brain was trying to drill its way out of my skull. When that settled down, it felt like the inside of my chest was being flossed with flaming barbed wire. I tried to focus, and shut down the god powers before they could kill me. My head still ached, but I figured I was okay now.

That is, until the drakon looked me in the eye. At that moment my only thoughts were: Oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods.

"Focus!" Hera shouted.

I managed to turn on the god powers again before the drakon could kill me. On command, my knife reappeared in my hand. I charged and so did the drakon. After trading blows for a bit, I shadow traveled behind it and stabbed it behind its head. I used my free hand to tear its head off. My giant corn minion bashed the last drakon one final time, and I finished the job by taking its head off with my knife.

I nodded to the exhausted corn. It bowed in return and retreated back into the ground. I shut down my god powers again before they could kill me.

Once they were sure nothing else was going to kill them, the gods came out into the open again.

"What just happened?" I demanded. "Why did I feel like I was being killed from the inside out?"

"Oh I thought that would be obvious enough," Hera commented.

"Percy, you were using pure godly energies. That puts a lot more strain on your body than normal powers like shadow traveling or summoning great combat skill," Aphrodite explained.

"Um," Demeter began.

"Avoid pure godly energies, got it," I said.

"Guys..."Demeter tried again.

"What now?" Ares asked.

"Look," she said, pointing out toward the Fields of Punishment. I looked, and could just make out a small figure struggling to get a boulder up a mountain. But it wasn't who it should've been.

"Hermes?" I asked, surprised but not shocked.

"Well Jackson," Hera prompted, "go save the day. We're not going anywhere."

I heard a hell hound roar in the distance. Hera paled.

"Then again," she said, "maybe we'll find a nice place to hide while you're busy."

I laughed under my breath and told them to take care of themselves. They promised they would, and we parted ways.

On my way to bust out Hermes, I saw a familiar figure submerged chin deep in a pool of wine with grapes dangling in front of his face. Honestly, I thought Kronos had out done himself with this torture.

"Dionysus?" I asked.

"Well, well, well," Mr. D scoffed. "If it isn't Pedro Johnson, come to save the day after sitting on his butt all year. It took you long enough!"

"You know," I warned, "I don't have to rescue you."

Mr. D's eyes flared in mild annoyance. "Watch it Prudence, I'm still leaning toward spontaneous combustion."

I activated my godly powers. "Go ahead punk," I said in my best Clint Eastwood voice. "Make my day."

Mr. D's eyes widened in shock. But after a second he regained his narcissistic composure. "Well, we must be getting desperate if they gave you their powers. Well, maybe I'll get lucky and the stress will cause your body to disintegrate."

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I'll get you out just as soon as I get Hermes free."

I walked off, leaving Mr. D behind me. He lost his composure again. "Wait. Wait where are you going? Poncho! Don't go! Peter! Percy!"

I laughed to myself once he got my name right. But I kept walking. Hermes was struggling with the boulder he would make it up halfway and then, like clockwork, he would loose his grip or something and the boulder would fall back down to the bottom. And while he worked, fiery whips kept him company. The painful kind of company.

Hermes made it up half way up the mountain once again. And once he got to the halfway point, he lost his footing and dropped the boulder again. I stuck out my arm and caught the boulder before it could roll back down. Hermes looked at me, his face the poster child of surprise.

"Percy?" he cried.

"Yeah, yeah great to see you too," I interrupted.

"But Percy you're–"

"Godly? Dead? Handsome? Heard it all before," I cut him off.

"But how–"

"Rescue now, details later," I insisted.

Hermes still looked shocked that I was not only alive but I was a god. Somehow though, he managed to say something.

"Percy, how exactly did you become a god?" Hermes asked.

"I'll explain later," I promised. "But right now we have to get out of here."

"Percy, if that boulder doesn't get to the top, I'm not going anywhere," he explained.

I copied Nico's pfft noise and tossed the boulder to the top with one hand. The whips stopped beating Hermes and retreated. Hermes wore a look of pain and gratitude.

"Thank you Percy," Hermes thanked, "Is there anyway I can repay you?"

It didn't take much thought. Okay it took no thought at all. "Well, transferring your powers to me would be nice."

Hermes looked at me like I'd just asked Zeus if I could fly. But then he slowly nodded his head, as if he understood what I had in mind. He held out his hand and it began to glow yellow-green. He blasted, and the power of Hermes transferred to me.

"Thanks," I said. "Now all we have to do is spring Dionysus and–"

I was cut off by a loud scream and someone–who I later realized was Hera–telling me to get my ass over there right this instant. I knew it was dangerous for me to teleport, but it was an emergency. I closed my eyes and was instantly transported right in front of the depowered gods. Not a second too soon either, because an arrow bounced off my chest as soon as I materialized and I knew that if I'd shown up any later, the arrow would have killed Ares.

The exit to the Underworld was about three hundred meters away, but with the Titan army pouring all the arrows they had, no one but me would make it more than three feet.

If we were going to escape, we needed cover. I waved my hand and a huge wheat field grew up. The gods nodded, understanding what I meant. They ran through the wheat field, hidden from the archers. I turned and fired blasts of black energy at the army. When more soldiers showed up, I summoned some undead warriors to back me up and drew my knife.

It was really nothing. The Titan army was no match for me. I slashed and hacked and punched and kicked and basically tore the army apart. I saw Dionysus and the depowered Hermes head for the wheat field. They were arguing about something. Then, Dionysus reluctantly turned toward me. His hand glowed a brilliant purple, and I felt my strength increase.

I entangled the rest of the army in unbreakable vines and laughed contently. This really was too easy. Then again, I never have that kind of luck for long. In the distance I saw the last thing I wanted to see: Kronos's chariot flying towards me. But the worst part of all was not the chariot, but who was pulling it. Artemis and Apollo, with the reins strapped into their mouths. They looked like abused work animals.

Fuck you Kronos.

I readied my knife. If Kronos wanted a fight, I would give him one.

When we saw Percy with the gods, we figured it was going to be complicated. But Luke figured that the gods were too weak to put up much of a fight. I told Luke I'd take care of the gods while he went for Percy. I drew Riptide and Luke raised his own sword. But then things went south. Three Lydian drakons came out of nowhere and advanced against Percy. Percy drew his own weapon and attacked.

Luke and I just watched with our mouths wide open as Percy tore apart all three drakons. Luke contacted Kronos with the news while I just sat there watching Percy rescue Hermes. This was crazy. Percy couldn't even take on one drakon, much less three. Only one thing could explain this. Percy had acquired the power of the gods. Aw titans he was gonna be hard to beat. Maybe even impossible. Athena help me.

Wait, did I just pray to my mother for help? Oh wow maybe I–

Annabeth. I heard a soothing female voice call out. As much as I hate to say this, you must help Percy. He is your only hope to make it out of this alive.

What? I thought. Wait? How is Percy my only hope?

You must help him. The voice repeated.

He won't wait forever. A different voice said.