Atlas

Percy!’ Zoe said. ‘Beware!’
| knew what she was warning me about. Chiron had told me long ago: Immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once | attacked, Atlas was free to retaliate directly, with all his might.
| swung my sword, and Atlas knocked me aside with the Shaft of his javelin. | flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It wasn’t Mist any more. The palace was rising, brick by brick. It was becoming real.
‘Fool!’ Atlas screamed gleefully, swatting aside one of Zoe’s arrows. ‘Did you think, simply because you could challenge that petty war god, that you could stand up to me?’
The mention of Ares sent a jolt through me. | shook off my daze and charged again. If | could get to that pool of water | could double my strength.
The javelin’s point slashed towards me like a scythe. | raised Riptide, planning to cut off his weapon at the shaft, but my arm felt like lead. My sword suddenly weighed a ton.
And | remembered Ares’s warning, spoken on the beach in Los Angeles so long ago: When you need it most, your sword will fail you.
Not now! | pleaded. But it was no good. | tried to dodge, but the javelin caught me in the chest and sent me flying like a rag doll. | slammed into the ground, my head spinning. | looked up and found | was at the feet of Artemis, still straining under the weight of the sky.
‘Run, boy,’ she told me. ‘You must run!’
Atlas was taking his time coming towards me. My sword was gone. It had skittered away over the edge of the cliff. It might reappear in my pocket - maybe in a few seconds but it didn’t matter.

Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her.

You fight well for a girl.’ Atlas laughed. ‘But you are no match for me.’
He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. | saw the trick coming. Atlas’s javelin swept round and knocked Artemis’s legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.
‘No!’ Zoe screamed. She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan’s forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn’s horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.
| wanted to shout her name, run to her aid, but | couldn’t speak or move. | couldn’t even see where Zoé had landed. Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face. Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn’t get up.
‘The first blood in a new war,’ Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.
As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backwards, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her. | saw him coming down on top of me and | realized what would happen. | loosened my grip on the sky, and as Atlas slammed into me | didn’t try to hold on. | let myself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all | was worth.
The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas’s back, almost Smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the Sky. But it was too late.
‘NOOOOOO!’ He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. ‘NOT AGAIN!’
Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

TTC ch.17