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halothenthehorns · 20 days

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Chapter 19: WE GET HELP FROM A THIEF

"Percy, Percy, Percy," Jason shook his head in sorrow as Percy reluctantly read the new title. "First the buying off of your friends, now this! Gods, two days without your mom awake and look what a delinquent you've turned into! What moral compass?!"

"Saving Rachel first," Percy reminded firmly. "Finding out what she stole afterwards."

"Fine," Jason nodded, "but if it turns out she reneged on her father's deal and stole that helicopter, I'm not asking permission for what happens next."

"A heart attack?" Alex asked in mock concern. "You can't lie and tell me those crisp pants don't have a problem with a little rule-breaking."

"I-" Jason opened, then closed his mouth in confusion as he stared down at his tan jeans and pressed purple shirt. The golden letters might be faded, but the laurels gave him a sense of warmth, and the shirt felt very lived in. It was an, odd combination of clothing that gave him no comeback other than his sense of being a tad outraged and a little to curious to find out what this all was about. Gods he hoped he made sense to himself when he got his own memories back.

Here's my definition of not fun.

"The opposite of riding a hellhound Percy, we know," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Shush and let the narrator talk," Percy seemed way to smug to be double-speaking for some reason. Probably because it made Annabeth roll her eyes like that.

Fly a pegasus toward an out-of-control helicopter.

"Oh, is that all it takes," Alex nodded as if some great mystery had finally been resolved. "Thanks, Perce, I'll mark that down so you don't have to come do that one with me."

"Alex-" Percy started, then stopped. Nope. He would not question any of that. He liked having his sanity intact.

If Guido had been any less of a fancy flier, we would've been chopped to confetti.

Nico couldn't help but imagine the feathers flying everywhere, the blood, how Percy would have survived by falling back to the ground spending the entirety of his life somehow blaming himself for a pegasus's inability to do this task.

He snapped out of it when Percy kept reading and Annabeth casually had her ankle hooked back around him while leaning against Thalia, making him glad for the bajilionth time it was only Percy's thoughts that ever got put on display. Even getting all of his memories back wouldn't be worth that.

I could hear Rachel screaming inside. For some reason, she hadn't fallen asleep, but I could see the pilot slumped over the controls, pitching back and forth as the helicopter wobbled toward the side of an office building.

"Ideas?" I asked Annabeth.

"You're going to have to take Guido and get out," she said.

"What are you going to do?"

In response, she said, "Hyah!" and Guido went into a nosedive.

"Duck!" Annabeth yelled.

"That's it huh? That's your entire plan? To duck! Gosh, and they call you the smart one!" Magnus was rambling, and he knew it, but his mouth was moving like word vomit as he pictured her heading for a careening helicopter and not being the invulnerable one! Was Percy going to summon a cloud and land it there?! He had no idea what was going on!

"I had a plan," Annabeth insisted with a sigh he was doubting her.

"And it was a good one too, we all lived didn't we," Percy said with confidence that really didn't soothe Magnus's current living nightmare of his very killable cousin once again jumping into a very killable situation and thinking this was normal!

We passed so close to the rotors I felt the force of the blades ripping at my hair. We zipped along the side of the helicopter, and Annabeth grabbed the door.

That's when things went wrong.

"This whole situation is wrong," Magnus groaned into his hands. How had the pilot even gotten so close without turning away like all other mortals?! Was it possible to wrap Annabeth in chainmail for the rest of her life?! He even accepted Percy's hand would get stuck in the process didn't care!

Guido's wing slammed against the helicopter. He plummeted straight down with me on his back, leaving Annabeth dangling from the side of the aircraft. I was so terrified I could barely think, but as Guido spiraled I caught a glimpse of Rachel pulling Annabeth inside the copter.

"She's awake?!" The three shouted in a concerning display that nobody could be mad for because it was funnier that that was the part they caught on. Not the part where Rachel reached out of a moving helicopter to pull Annabeth inside. That bit was clearly obvious.

"Hang in there!" I yelled at Guido.

"He dosen't have hands to be hanging onto anything Percy," Thalia frowned at him. She was so glad she'd missed this catastrophe, even if the results had been punching Travis when he'd told her this later because she'd thought he was joking about that at a time like this.

"Yes, thank you for that Thalia, don't know how I got through this one without you," Percy sighed.

My wing, he moaned. It's busted.

"You can do it!" I desperately tried to remember what Silena used to tell us in pegasus-riding lessons.

Percy didn't understand the painful jolt he felt throughout himself as he read that. His attention still wanted to be on the helicopter, he was forcing himself to help Guido so the poor pegasus didn't get even more injured, his heart was pounding crazy fast because he once again needed to be everywhere at once, all of that made sense.

But still, something in that bothered him as he caught his breath and pressed on.

"Just relax the wing. Extend it and glide."

We fell like a rock

"Everything falls like a rock, even winged creatures," Jason nodded with confidence.

"Feathers don't," Percy sighed as he waved his hand across his face at the malayee of white he'd been getting in his face during that spiral.

Jason nodded as he took in the visual, but still there was a plummeting feeling in his stomach and he brushed his messy hair out of his eyes like it was bothering him for some reason. Just the hint of a memory, more of a feeling than anything, but he glanced at Thalia with interest as he tried to connect some dots there that still had several missing spots.

—straight toward the pavement three hundred feet below. At the last moment Guido extended his wings. I saw the faces of centaurs gaping up at us.

"It's a bird, it's a plane," Thalia nodded, "ah shit, it's just Percy about to die again."

"Glad you weren't there," Percy huffed, "you would have used me as target practice."

"Please," she scoffed, "as big as you two are, not even a challenge."

Then we pulled out of our dive, sailed fifty feet, and tumbled onto the pavement—pegasus over demigod.

"What a strange recipe," Will gazed at the book in concern. "Might be to much salt in that."

"Ha, ha, ha," Percy said dryly, probably ruining it further. He hoped he burnt that joke to a crisp.

Ow! Guido moaned. My legs. My head. My wings.

Chiron galloped over with his medical pouch and began working on the pegasus.

I got to my feet.

Magnus wasn't so cavalier about Percy just shaking off the fact that he should have broken every bone in his body and maybe popped a few organs, but he was clearly the only one, as usual. That curse might make Percy invulnerable on the outside, but he was pretty sure the guy still needed his head examined for something else.

When I looked up, my heart crawled into my throat. The helicopter was only a few seconds away from slamming into the side of the building.

Magnus felt the urge to come over and start prodding his cousin to make sure she wasn't a ghost. He really wasn't sure if he should find that idea all that ridiculous anymore.

Then miraculously the helicopter righted itself. It spun in a circle and hovered. Very slowly, it began to descend.

All eyes were on Annabeth. Several of them had their mouths open. Percy's mind swiveled back to running from Circe's island with her in that white dress and thinking how ridiculous it was he couldn't fly a fighter jet out of there and how Annabeth might have been able to and just hadn't wanted to show off.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the helicopter thudded to a landing in the middle of Fifth Avenue. I looked through the windshield and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Annabeth was at the controls.

"Well," Alex said slowly but confidently. "I didn't really expect Kelli to appear out of nowhere in a sudden redemption arc, so that seems the only option left."

"When did you learn to fly a helicopter?" Magnus demanded with mingled concern and awe. Imagining Uncle Fredrick getting into some really interesting bonding time on the weekends or camp having some bizarre training Percy hadn't heard of yet.

"I explain to Percy," she promised, "but it was basically just giving it my best shot."

"Has anyone told you you're awesome lately?" Percy grinned as he gazed at her. She always did the most amazing things, even saving people's lives who she didn't really like.

Annabeth grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Every day with him felt awesome.

I ran forward as the rotors spun to a stop. Rachel opened the side door and dragged out the pilot.

"Think I'd leave him in there actually," Will muttered. Might be mildly safer than on the street where the other civilians were still trying to be cleared out in the sparse bit of spare time they had.

Rachel was still dressed like she was on vacation, in beach shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride.

"So, she's obviously having a great time," Nico said in sympathy.

"I've accepted that's just how everybody feels when they jump into Percy's life," Jason already said with a resigned sigh. He could have done a whole color coordinated project by now on how the son of the sea managed to do that to everyone he met at least once.

Annabeth climbed out last.

I stared at her in awe. "I didn't know you could fly a helicopter."

"Neither did I until I did," she was actually blushing a bit at so many people staring at her. The centaurs and other bystanders had just moved on from this.

"I told you guys learning to do it on the way down was the best way to go!" Alex cheered.

Annabeth looked pleased at proving some past point of Alex's even if she was lacking the context.

"Neither did I," she said. "My dad's crazy into aviation. Plus, Daedalus had some notes on flying machines. I just took my best guess on the controls."

"That's not how that should work. That's not how any of this should work," Magnus groaned into his hands, again. Just because his mom was into nature didn't mean he went around eating whatever mushrooms he found with immunity!

"It is when you're dealing with a genius," Percy said with pride.

"You saved my life," Rachel said.

Annabeth flexed her bad shoulder.

"Talk about a literal thorn in your side?" Thalia nodded in understanding.

"Sure felt that way," but Annabeth's smile was affectionate and sad now for the anger coursing through her at saving the mortal girl's life who was now her friend. Gods what a mixed bag of emotions this book was.

"Yeah, well . . . let's not make a habit of it. What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a war zone?"

"You just asked a girl why she dared fly into a war zone like that's not your MO Chase," Alex sniffed.

Annabeth opened, then closed her mouth without bothering to argue the point.

"I—" Rachel glanced at me. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble."

"Got that right," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some injured friends I've got to tend to. Glad you could stop by, Rachel."

Jason mock shivered as if the cold icy tone of her voice had reverberated through time. Nico felt a lot of sympathy for Rachel, he'd been on the receiving end of that tone and it took someone with a lot of guts to not jump back into that helicopter and turn it around.

"Annabeth—" I called.

She stormed off.

Rachel plopped down on the curb and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to ... I always mess things up."

It was kind of hard to argue with her, though I was glad she was safe.

"Percy!" Will tried hard to make that sound scolding for mentally kicking her while she was down, but it came out a little to much like he was holding back a laugh. Gods this boy couldn't stay mad at Annabeth for anything.

I looked in the direction Annabeth had gone, but she'd disappeared into the crowd. I couldn't believe what she'd just done—saved Rachel's life, landed a helicopter, and walked away like it was no big deal.

"Where is my poster with fireworks!" Alex groaned.

"Burnt to ashes, the camera got my bad side," she chuckled.

"It's okay," I told Rachel, though my words sounded hollow.

"And I bet Rachel heard it," Magnus sighed, resisting the urge to cover his face again. He'd never claim to be the most socially apt person in the room, but gods Percy was no great shakes at hiding his thoughts, and he clearly wanted to go after Annabeth but was staying for his friend.

"Wouldn't surprise me. She has ears," Will agreed with a sad sigh for her. He wished he could hand out popsicles or something for moments like this without it being super obvious what he was doing.

"So what's the message you wanted to deliver?"

She frowned. "How did you know about that?"

"A dream."

Rachel didn't look surprised. She tugged at her beach shorts. They were covered in drawings, which wasn't unusual for her, but these symbols I recognized: Greek letters, pictures from camp beads, sketches of monsters and faces of gods. I didn't understand how Rachel could have known about some of that. She'd never been to Olympus or Camp Half-Blood.

She'd never done any of that before she started drawing pictures of the future either, Jason frowned as a memory tried to tug its way to the surface while being held under by the heavy weight of his mind.

...something about toys? Plush animals...stuffing? No. None of it made a lick of sense.

"I've been seeing things too," she muttered. "I mean, not just through the Mist. This is different. I've been drawing pictures, writing lines—"

"In Ancient Greek," I said. "Do you know what they say?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping . . . well, if you had gone with us on vacation, I was hoping you could have helped me figure out what's happening to me."

She looked at me pleadingly.

"Well that was a shipwrecked mission before it started," Percy said with an anxious look down at the black and white words. He couldn't fathom how Rachel had thought he had a clue, he barely managed to keep up with the problems in his own life!

"Oh I don't know," Annabeth brushed the gray bangs out of her eyes as she smiled at him, "you're usually my go to person for that too, can't be mad at her for it."

Percy looked around at her with a bemused smile. He clearly thought she was just saying that in some kind of apology for her past attitude, but she meant it from as deep down as she could. Percy might not have an answer, but he was still the most reliable person she'd ever think to ask.

Her face was sunburned from the beach. Her nose was peeling. I couldn't get over the shock that she was here in person. She'd forced her family to cut short their vacation, agreed to go to a horrible school, and flown a helicopter into a monster battle just to see me. In her own way, she was as brave as Annabeth.

Annabeth bit down on her lip hard to try and stop the flare of jealousy from rearing its head. Gods, she'd always known Percy could have, maybe even should have chosen to be with the mortal girl. Someone he effortlessly had fun with and matched him like she never would. Now she found even he agreed!

Percy gave her an apologetic smile and a wink. It made her heart flutter just like always. She sighed and took his hand, trying to take comfort in the fact that he instantly threaded their fingers together. That this latest thought bubble came in with comparing Rachel to her, saying they both had one of the most important attributes she knew he valued. In the flow chart she could have penciled in comparing the two, at least this was at the top of both...

But what was happening to her with these visions really freaked me out.

"You say that like those two sentences should have a pause between them," Alex shook her head in dismay. "Her bravery to show up there because those visions are freaking you out are one in the same Percy."

"I'd rather they weren't," Percy said in a hollow voice. Rachel could see into his world enough he never felt crazy, but was a whole other planet away in the mortal world and gave him a foot in it. He could tell her things he couldn't even tell his mom because he wasn't afraid of making Rachel scared. What if the opposite was happening? What if he was dragging her down into his life and she turned out like May Castellan?

The notion was giving him such a splitting headache the book was starting to blur in his hands, the words on the page fighting him for the first time until Annabeth squeezed his hand. The room steadied. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd been causing that literally or it had just been in his head.

Maybe it was something that happened to all mortals who could see through the Mist. But my mom had never talked about anything like that. And Hestia's words about Luke's mom kept coming back to me: May Castellan went too far. She tried to see too much.

Percy was jittering around in his seat like he needed to use the bathroom, bad. A voice that sounded like it was coming from a long ways away was telling him to calm down and stop trying to focus on this, but he couldn't figure out how. His friend was in danger. He needed to figure out how she got out of this, if he was supposed to help or step back from her life or-

"Percy," Annabeth's voice finally broke through and it caught his attention at last, as she was always bound to do. He'd swear she could interrupt any thought.

"Rachel," I said, "I wish I knew. Maybe we should ask Chiron—"

She flinched like she'd gotten an electric shock. "Percy, something is about to happen. A trick that ends in death."

"From, Chiron?!" Magnus yelped as he rubbed the side of his neck. He felt like he had whiplash from the wild speed of everything progressing.

"I don't know!" Percy spluttered before he blasted on reading without giving anyone else a chance to respond. There were to many deaths happening around him, he didn't know how he felt about another being confirmed by Rachel Elizabeth Dare and he didn't have time to process it!

"What do you mean? Whose death?"

"I don't know." She looked around nervously. "Don't you feel it?"

"Is that the message you wanted to tell me?"

"No." She hesitated. "I'm sorry. I'm not making sense, but that thought just came to me. The message I wrote on the beach was different. It had your name in it."

"Wait, back up," Jason said it in such a firm way Percy scowled on principle and wanted to read faster before he mentally checked himself. "She wanted you to go on vacation to talk about something, had the message in the sand and needed to tell you that right away, but now a trick that ends in death is the most recent update going on here?! There's two other things?"

"That was a terrible summary of this situation Jason," Percy huffed, "you took longer explaining that than Rachel's been talking!" He was probably exaggerating a bit and clearly annoyed at himself for indulging in this making it take longer.

"Perseus," I remembered. "In Ancient Greek."

Rachel nodded. "I don't know its meaning. But I know it's important. You have to hear it. It said, Perseus, you are not the hero."

Percy froze. Jason would have been a tad more resentful that now he could have talked as much as he'd like if he could think of anything to say, but his mind was just as blank at that.

I stared at her like she'd just slapped me. "You came thousands of miles to tell me I'm not the hero?"

"The, journey's more important than the destination?" Magnus said hesitantly, feeling very much like he'd had the rug pulled out from under him as much as Percy did. There was no way Percy had spent the past years of his life with everyone telling him this was his moment, only for his mortal friend to swoop in and say otherwise.

On the other hand, something freaky was happening with Rachel that was elevating her to a status way beyond his understanding. He did not take her word lightly right now, even if it scared the piss out of him if she was now destined to turn out like May Castellan in her future if this kept up.

"It's important," she insisted. "It will affect what you do."

"Not the hero of the prophecy?" I asked. "Not the hero who defeats Kronos? What do you mean?"

"Are they not, one in the same?" Alex asked blankly. This was about to get really confusing and off the rails, wasn't it? Her kind of story to be honest.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry, Percy. That's all I know. I had to tell you because—"

"Well!" Chiron cantered over. "This must be Miss Dare."

I wanted to yell at him to go away, but of course I couldn't.

"And why not?" Percy had the robust sense Thalia would have with no regrets. Sometimes he envied her that.

I tried to get my emotions under control. I felt like I had another personal hurricane swirling around me.

"I feel like if you did, neither of them would tell you," Jason said.

"I feel like if he did Annabeth would be turning green with jealousy," Will muttered. No way would she be glossing over Percy making hurricanes appear just because Rachel was around when that had never happened for her.

"Chiron, Rachel Dare," I said. "Rachel, this is my teacher Chiron."

"Hello," Rachel said glumly. She didn't look at all surprised that Chiron was a centaur.

"Got to wonder how many of those guys she's just seen chilling on her travels," Nico nodded. It wasn't exactly common, but by no means rare either.

"You are not asleep, Miss Dare," he noticed. "And yet you are mortal?"

"I'm mortal," she agreed, like it was a depressing thought.

Annabeth winced as she heard herself at seven, telling her little brother 'I'm not normal like you' in a tiny voice. They'd been to young to understand, to do more than hug her and promise they loved her anyways before their mother had called them out to the park where she wasn't allowed.

"The pilot fell asleep as soon as we passed the river. I don't know why I didn't. I just knew I had to be here, to warn Percy."

"Warn Percy?"

"She's been seeing things," I said. "Writing lines and making drawings."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Tell me."

She told him the same things she'd told me.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Miss Dare . . . perhaps we should talk."

"Chiron," I blurted. I had a sudden terrible image of Camp Half-Blood in the 1990s, and May Castellan's scream coming from that attic.

"Bad 90's do's aside hopefully," Magnus muttered nervously.

"You . . . you'll help Rachel, right? I mean, you'll warn her that she's got to be careful with this stuff. Not go too far."

The obvious answer was, 'well duh Percy! He's an adult and a teacher and of course he'll steer her in the right direction that benefits her!'

The problem was, nobody said that to him. In fact, several of them grimaced as they looked right at Percy. Chiron was the leader of a group of kids, a trainer who had long since learned that heroes were going to follow their own path no matter what advice he gave them, like May Castellan before who had ignored everyone as she took on her role.

His tail flicked like it does when he's anxious.

Which was not a yes! Percy sighed and held tight to the idea that at least Rachel was alive and okay last time he'd seen her. He might still be able to fix something that had gone wrong...

"Yes, Percy. I will do my best to understand what is happening and advise Miss Dare, but this may take some time. Meanwhile, you should rest. We've moved your parents' car to safety. The enemy seems to be staying put for now. We've set up bunks in the Empire State Building. Get some sleep."

"You and everyone you love is in danger, again, happens once a year. Sweet dreams!" Thalia nodded. She couldn't even pack that much sarcasm into it.

Percy still frowned and wished he could throw her life in her face every once in a while. Stinking Hunters and their stinking adventures that didn't have books shoved in everyone else's face!

"Everybody keeps telling me to sleep," I grumbled. "I don't need sleep."

Annabeth frowned at him so deeply, he instantly felt bad. He responded by redirecting, "okay, but so do you!"

"I know," she groaned, no more pleased to hear those words than he ever was.

Chiron managed a smile. "Have you looked at yourself recently, Percy?"

"He has not stopped to check out his reflection, no," Will nodded. "Whoever tried to spread the rumor saying he was a secret love-child of Aprhodite really does owe me ten bucks."

"Thanks," Percy said blankly.

"The last time Percy looked at himself on a mission was in Calypso's cave," Jason nodded to himself, "and before that Circe's island. Why would Chiron think he has a track record of being vain?"

Percy gave him a sour frown for the snide hidden comment he didn't check his hair in the mirror every day before he left his cabin. Jason's little smirk proved that little remark wasn't all in his favor at any rate.

I glanced down at my clothes, which were scorched, burned, sliced, and tattered from my night of constant battles.

"Sounds like a miracle they were even still hanging on," Alex chuckled before giving Annabeth an obvious wink.

She blushed and quickly looked away, brushing her hair into her face, but not quite fast enough to hide her smile too.

"I look like death," I admitted. "But you think I can sleep after what just happened?"

"You slept through a dragon attack once!" Magnus exclaimed. "Sleeping and eating are at the bottom of your list of problems Percy!"

"Well when you put it like that, I sound lazy," Percy shrugged.

"You may be invulnerable in combat," Chiron chided, "but that only makes your body tire faster. I remember Achilles. Whenever that lad wasn't fighting, he was sleeping. He must've taken twenty naps a day.

"A nap is minimum thirty minutes," Percy looked so hurt for the poor lad. "That means he's barely awake for three or four hours a day! You have to actually wake up at some point for it to be considered a nap!"

They weren't entirely sure if his outrage came from to much sleep or not enough sleep until he looked at Nico and grousd, "Where's my Styx contract?! I want a refund! I refuse to be that inactive, I'll go nuts the few bits of time I get awake!"

"I think it's only a recommendation on how much you've been fighting seaweed brain," Annabeth said patiently. "You haven't been sleeping that much in here have you?" Glory, they'd still be on the first book if so.

"No," Percy nodded in relief.

Nico was smiling in surprise Annabeth actually stopped Percy from yelling at him. This was a good day!

You, Percy, need your rest. You may be our only hope."

Percy was clearly not in the mood for this and opened his mouth with a clear smart ass remark in place about that before Annabeth gently squeezed his hand and he reminded himself Chiron wasn't in here to hear it.

...Maybe he did need a nap, or a snack at minimum.

I wanted to complain that I wasn't their only hope, according to Rachel, I wasn't even the hero. But the look in Chiron's eyes made it clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Is he going to crack you over the head with heavier and heavier objects until you finally feel it and pass out? Or is he going to slip something into your food?" Alex asked with keen interest.

"I vote the first, I want to see him lift a manhole cover and that helicopter and slam them down on Percy," Thalia cackled.

Annabeth's tiny little grimace only made them laugh harder, and yet struck fear in Magnus because nobody denied he could do either! How many kids had he roofied to enforce naptime?!

"Sure," I grumbled. "Talk."

"Grumpy Percy," Thalia cooed as if to a fussy toddler. "Off to bed without a snack and not allowed to stay up past bedtime."

"If he ever tried that with you, you'd blow up the building out of spite," Percy scowled.

Thalia shrugged and didn't bother to deny it.

I trudged toward the Empire State Building. When I glanced back, Rachel and Chiron were walking together in earnest conversation, like they were discussing funeral arrangements.

"Is that not an appropriate thing to discuss after a helicopter nearly crashed?" Will asked blankly.

"You're not allowed to participate in this anymore Will," Percy scowled.

"Just try and stop him," Nico rolled his eyes. Percy clearly had no idea how stubborn he could be.

Inside the lobby, I found an empty bunk and collapsed, sure that I would never be able to sleep. A second later, my eyes closed.

In my dreams, I was back in Hades's garden. The lord of the dead paced up and down, holding his ears while Nico followed him, waving his arms.

Alex threw her head back and laughed. The kind of gasping right from her gut at such an awesome mental image.

"You have to!" Nico insisted.

Demeter and Persephone sat behind them at the breakfast table. Both of the goddesses looked bored.

Alex obviously couldn't breathe and it somehow just got worse. Magnus cautiously patted her shoulder.

"Percy no longer holds the trophy for most annoying demigod," Jason nodded in surprise. "Nico's over here battling him."

"I'll engrave him a trophy if it'll get me some peace," Percy sounded a tad reluctant though, like he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Alex was still giggling underneath them too which only had the others smiling at something that probably wasn't going to turn out to be funny.

Demeter poured shredded wheat into four huge bowls.

"At least you were invited to breakfast?" Will said blankly. He wanted to think that was a good thing, but clearly it wasn't going well.

"I wouldn't say invited when I was poofed in there," Nico sniffed. He hoped his father didn't think he'd be back allowed out of his room and not have something to say about it.

Persephone was magically changing the flower arrangement on the table, turning the blossoms from red to yellow to polka-dotted.

"I don't have to do anything!" Hades's eyes blazed. "I'm a god!"

"Can a god just stop doing their godly thing?" Percy asked in surprise. "Can Hades just decide to stop letting people into the Underworld? What would happen if my dad stopped...being the ocean?"

"I'm sure they can, but like, it might create an infinite loop of draining them because their godly thing doesn't exist anymore and then they'll lose power because they can't turn their own domain back on," Alex's eyes lit with excitement at the chaotic question.

Percy opened his mouth with intrigue and Annabeth quickly cut them off before their questions became potential plans. Those two got on like a house on fire and it was vaguely terrifying.

At least Percy easily allowed himself to switch back to Nico telling off Hades, something he'd gladly like to do himself.

"Father," Nico said, "if Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. You'll fade too."

"I am not an Olympian!" he growled. "My family has made that quite clear."

"You are,'' Nico said. "Whether you like it or not."

Alex felt ruffled. She never liked definitive statements. To be locked into something. Her first instinct was to chew Nico out and tell him not to put his father in a box like that.

She stood on that principle and would have engaged Nico on that even if it did help Percy in the long run, but chose not to because that felt like something that she didn't want to try and cram in around Percy's ongoing life.

"You saw what they did to your mother," Hades said. "Zeus killed her. And you would have me help them? They deserve what they get!"

Percy honestly felt that. It surprised him a bit to be so empathetic with this god, of all of them, but the amount of times he'd felt the same wasn't easy to ignore.

And Annabeth heard that in Percy's voice as he read it, and it made something in her quiver with unease how often that thought must have driven Luke.

Persephone sighed. She walked her fingers across the table, absently turning the silverware into roses. "Could we please not talk about that woman?"

Will made a huffy noise and should have felt more disturbed how often he wanted to strangle goddesses down here.

"You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."

"How to help him hate the world and the slow passage of time and breaking your back for barely any payoff?" Thalia's scowl somehow deepend with each thing she listed.

"Not a fan of farming huh?" Magnus said without much surprise but mild hurt.

"Don't sweat it," she smirked, popping the hood of her jacket, both in answer to him and in explanation.

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother—"

"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building."

"I mean," Annabeth said with a faint smile at Magnus still looking a little pouty and Thalia rolling her eyes. "I see both," she chuckled. If you worked hard for something and really earned it, somehow the reward felt better.

On the flip side, they should be gifted more without effort! Life was hard enough! She'd had more than one mental rant in her head to Hermes about him not gifting them all random presents just for the shit they put up with.

Nico stepped in front of his father, forcing Hades to face him. "My mother understood about family. That's why she didn't want to leave us. You can't just abandon your family because they did something horrible. You've done horrible things to them too."

Will squeezed Nico's arm tight with loving pride for saying that right to his dad's face, and then the feeling just kept growing so he started to chuckle and held his other hand up for a high five.

Nico immiedtily returned it with a proud smile, with the wild feeling of being accepted he hoped never wore off.

"Maria died!" Hades reminded him.

"You can't just cut yourself off from the other gods!"

"Good on you, don't let him redirect the problem," Magnus said with nothing but sympathy in his tone as he nodded at him. To much personal experience had told him that if he only focused on being the child with a dead mother would get him nowhere, especially not out of his sleeping bag.

"I've done very well at it for thousands of years."

"And has that made you feel any better?" Nico demanded. "Has that curse on the Oracle helped you at all? Holding grudges is a fatal flaw. Bianca warned me about that, and she was right."

Thalia grinned at him in delight. For taking his sister's words to such heart, for reminding a god they weren't infallible. It was truly sad how much Nico had been through to get to this moment, but she felt a misplaced pride for Bianca's little brother she wished she could convey that wouldn't come across as overstepping.

"Bianca would be proud," Jason said with simple confidence.

"I don't know I'd go that far," Nico shook his head. He knew exactly two things about her. She'd wanted to get away from him, and she'd still loved him anyways. She'd seemed to have some deep love for Artemis in her brief time as a hunter, though he wondered if that wasn't misplaced affection for fulfilling her desire. How Bianca would react to him shoving this in his father's face he didn't want to guess.

"I have a good feeling," Jason insisted anyways as he grinned at his big sister who was smiling back.

Bianca and her did seem to have a lot in common. Even if it wasn't a sound guess, Nico was starting to get the idea it was okay to go on your gut sometimes.

"For demigods! I am immortal, all-powerful! I would not help the other gods if they begged me, if Percy Jackson himself pleaded—"

Percy had a constipated look on his face. He really didn't like the image of groveling to Hades for help, even the fate of the world didn't feel worth that...but there had certainly been that moment when he'd seen Annabeth, hurt and bleeding at his feat.. maybe it wasn't the worst idea to be on at least this gods good side. He said it wouldn't work, but gods were fickle and just the attempt-

"Come back to me seaweed brain," Annabeth giggled as she shook his hand hard enough to jiggle his whole arm.

He flashed her a grin of agreement, but there was something lingering in his eyes that surprised her. It wasn't full-blown repulsion at any rate.

"You're just as much of an outcast as I am!" Nico yelled. "Stop being angry about it and do something helpful for once. That's the only way they'll respect you!"

Alex pressed her lips together tight to hide a twitching smile of understanding. Will looked a little hurt, and baffled at this somehow being Nico's goal in life right now, but honestly, she understood. Love was something they all instinctively wanted in their life, of course, but if you went to long without you started lowering your expectations. Respect was the only thing Nico had learned he could get from his ghostly minions, he probably couldn't fathom expecting more at that time.

Hades's palm filled with black fire.

"Go ahead," Nico said. "Blast me. That's just what the other gods would expect from you. Prove them right."

"Gods, now there's two of them," Annabeth moaned as she put her face in her hands.

"Yeah," Will agreed, digging deep to stop himself doing the same as he willed himself to accept this was how Nico was and how many times he'd kiss him before Nico no longer had a death wish. He might have to start comparing notes with her.

"Yes, please," Demeter complained. "Shut him up."

"I think the plant goddess just dropped to one of my least favorite goddesses," Magnus scowled at such carelessness. Could a god be used for mulch? That felt like to good for her.

Persephone sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I would rather fight in the war than eat another bowl of cereal. This is boring."

Hades roared in anger. His fireball hit a silver tree right next to Nico, melting it into a pool of liquid metal.

And the son of Hades didn't flinch, Percy alone knew as he looked around at him in concern. No matter how many times he'd faced death, Percy hadn't exactly gone out with the kind of quiet, angry acceptance that had been there as the fire passed inches from his face, the silver pooling around his boots before he blinked.

Sure he could have froze, but it seemed unlikely with the way he'd been able to fight the few times Percy had seen him.

This felt, like somthing else. Something Percy had no idea how to ask about.

And my dream changed.

I was standing outside the United Nations, about a mile northeast of the Empire State Building. The Titan army had set up camp all around the UN complex. The flagpoles were hung with horrible trophies—helmets and armor pieces from defeated campers.

Percy grimaced like he wished he had that omega axe back to stab each enemy with who dared do such a thing. Tossing them back off that bridge would just be the bonus.

All along First Avenue, giants sharpened their axes. Telkhines repaired armor at makeshift forges.

Kronos himself paced at the top of the plaza, swinging his scythe so his dracaenae bodyguards stayed way back. Ethan Nakamura and Prometheus stood nearby, out of slicing range. Ethan was fidgeting with his shield straps, but Prometheus looked as calm and collected as ever in his tuxedo.

"You know, it's probably because of that tux he's always so smug and calm," Alex lamented with a sigh.

She probably took that phrase, 'the clothes make the man' a little more seriously than the average person, but none of them were going to argue the point either.

"So you're saying we should rip it off him?" Magnus asked blankly.

She gave him a devilish smirk. "If that's something you think will work, I'm game to try."

Percy hastily read on from Magnus's red face at the implication.

"I hate this place," Kronos growled.

Glossing over the uncomfortable idea he'd moved out of Medusa's place to be able to hover even more over their every decision, Jason made a face of particular dislike for that for some reason as he grumbled, "sounds to me like he's hated every place he's been. Maybe he just needs a nice cabin in the woods to live out his time in grumpy silence."

"I'll build him a swamp and everything if he'll go for it," Percy agreed.

"United Nations. As if mankind could ever unite. Remind me to tear down this building after we destroy Olympus."

Alex had to fight very hard to swallow a laugh of agreement for him and mostly got away with it.

"Yes, lord." Prometheus smiled as if his master's anger amused him.

"That's called a death wish, something I'm not surprised Percy can easily read," Thalia nodded.

"I had to be good at something if not vowles," Percy shrugged.

"Shall we tear down the stables in Central Park too? I know how much horses can annoy you."

"Now he's actively giving him awful advice!" Annabeth scowled. "Some Titan of wisdom." Her disdain made them all pretty glad her mom wasn't in here to nodd along imposingly. None of them wanted to know what they'd do to prove Athena's superiority on the matter.

"Don't mock me, Prometheus! Those cursed centaurs will be sorry they interfered. I will feed them to the hellhounds, starting with that son of mine—that weakling Chiron."

"He says that like they're not all his sons?" Magnus asked in surprise. Weren't they all related?

"I bet it's one of those, when he's being annoyed he's his mom's son kind of thing," Percy shrugged.

Prometheus shrugged. "That weakling destroyed an entire legion of telkhines with his arrows."

"Wow, it took Percy using a whole volcano to manage the same," Nico said drolly. "I think maybe you over did it."

"It's a possibility Nico, but I already knew I could learn a lot more from Chiron than I've managed," he agreed.

Kronos swung his scythe and cut a flagpole in half. The national colors of Brazil toppled into the army, squashing a dracaena.

"What did Brazil do to him?" Will asked mildly. "I mean yeah, a Brazilian wax sounds painful, but that was a bit harsh."

"I'm a tad concerned that that's the first thing you thought of from there," Annabeth sighed, "Oscar Niemeyer has this style he used to-"

"Oscar Myer's from Brazil?" Percy asked.

"Not hotdogs Percy, get your mind off your stomach!" Jason tried to shush him and keep Annabeth going all at once, but that only seemed to make Percy lose interest in this altogether as he kept reading.

"We will destroy them!" Kronos roared. "It is time to unleash the drakon. Nakamura, you will do this."

Magnus instantly decided he didn't want to know what a drakon was. It was just to close in letters to dragon to be a good thing even before Kronos had one. Maybe, just this once, it would be a tiny lizard the size of his hand that would just crawl up to Percy's shoe and start nibbling on his good sneakers or something.

"Y-yes, lord. At sunset?"

"No," Kronos said. "Immediately. The defenders of Olympus are badly wounded. They will not expect a quick attack. Besides, we know this drakon they cannot beat."

Ethan looked confused. "My lord?"

"Never you mind, Nakamura. Just do my bidding. I want Olympus in ruins by the time Typhon reaches New York. We will break the gods utterly!"

"But, my lord," Ethan said. "Your regeneration."

Kronos pointed at Ethan, and the demigod froze.

"Does it seem," Kronos hissed, "that I need to regenerate?"

Ethan didn't respond. Kind of hard to do when you're immobilized in time.

"Sounds like he's just not creative enough to try," Alex sniffed. "Seems like a one trick pony to me. Now about destroying those stables..."

"I don't think Kronos is creative enough to follow this one Alex," Magnus chuckled. "Nice try though."

Annabeth wanted to laugh along, nod and make jokes about a horse dragging him back to Tartarus, but even now she couldn't stomach it quite right unless she imagined them as ghostly horses only there to rip Kronos away from Luke at last. Percy would probably just make some joke about flesh-eating horses doing the trick before moving on anyway.

Kronos snapped his fingers and Ethan collapsed.

"Soon," the Titan growled, "this form will be unnecessary. I will not rest with victory so close. Now, go!"

Ethan scrambled away.

"This is dangerous, my lord," Prometheus warned. "Do not be hasty."

"Hasty? After festering for three thousand years in the depths of Tartarus, you call me hasty?

"Um, yeah, but it's totally understandable man," Thalia said in mock simpering kindness. "Try going to long without eating a burger and you just inhale the thing, barely tasting it! You grabbed the first idiot who said yes to you and are rushing into your demise! Clearly hasty is involved!"

Annabeth bit back the urge to reach around Percy and shove her off her cushion. Didn't she hear that she was talking about Luke as much as Kronos when she said things like demise! It's like Thalia had really wanted him dead!

I will slice Percy Jackson into a thousand pieces."

"I'm not entirely sure you could even slice him into two pieces," Jason corrected clinically. "The spot on his back is only on the one side, he'd only be able to rip it off I guess, and that would be two pieces."

"Jason is officially fired from talking for the rest of this," Percy huffed. Next time he turned his back he'd probably pop up with one of those creepy circle-drawing instruments to get measurements and everything.

Jason pouted and looked minimally apologetic for suggesting the center of his back should be ripped out, so Percy reluctantly amended, "for the rest of this chapter."

"Ignore him Jace, he knows better than to pretend he could shut anyone up," Thalia rolled her eyes when Jason still looked a little reluctant.

"I wasn't saying Kronos should do it," Jason quickly agreed. "Just that it wasn't practical."

"Because that's better," Percy chuckled all the same.

"Thrice you've fought him," Prometheus pointed out. "And yet you've always said it is beneath the dignity of a Titan to fight a mere mortal. I wonder if your mortal host is influencing you, weakening your judgment."

Annabeth's breath caught in her throat, the hope, the fluttering smile she was trying to hide.

It was a lot for Percy to take. She'd been angry at this guy seconds ago, now she was latching onto his idea.

It at least gave him the modicum of hope every time she lashed out an opinion didn't mean she clung to it.

Kronos turned his golden eyes on the other Titan. "You call me weak?"

"No, my lord. I only meant—"

"Are your loyalties divided?" Kronos asked. "Perhaps you miss your old friends, the gods. Would you like to join them?"

Prometheus paled. "I misspoke, my lord. Your orders will be carried out." He turned to the armies and shouted, "PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

'Kronos was a hasty fool,' Annabeth agreed with Thalia all the same even if she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Ignoring all counsel, acting as if his win was inevitable despite never having been able to beat Percy outright. It gave her a warm flash to think Prometheus was right, Luke had been in there all along, if not as strong a presence as his blue eyes would allow. The idea gave her a nasty sense of pleasure as she imagined Luke scheming under the surface to thwart him as Kronos had once manipulated his own mind. Whispering to Kronos to do one thing, knowing the Titan lord would do the opposite.

The troops began to stir.

From somewhere behind the UN compound, an angry roar shook the city—the sound of a drakon waking. The noise was so horrible it woke me, and I realized I could still hear it from a mile away.

Grover stood next to me, looking nervous. "What was that?"

"They're coming," I told him. "And we're in trouble."

"And what did Grover eat when you told him that?" Magnus asked with resignation, only imagining how many shirts that guy went through.

"I think it was part of that hotdog cart actually," Percy shrugged, not able to identify the steal any better. At least it explained his earlier craving.

The Hephaestus cabin was out of Greek fire. The Apollo cabin and the Hunters were scrounging for arrows. Most of us had already ingested so much ambrosia and nectar we didn't dare take any more.

We had sixteen campers, fifteen Hunters, and half a dozen satyrs left in fighting shape.

There had always been the possibility that Kronos could win this just by sheer numbers of the monsters at his disposal, and that seemed to be spiraling into this more and more as Percy's voice dragged a little bit on each word. It was clear he was growing restless, hopeless, to get to what the true conclusion was before he'd rally himself again as he looked at Annabeth.

He just couldn't believe she'd be so calm and stoic about this if they'd lost this day, lost everyone and everything but each other. He just had to keep living through this endless swirl of deja vu until he got there.

The rest had taken refuge on Olympus. The Party Ponies tried to form ranks, but they staggered and giggled and they all smelled like root beer.

"Heavy on the root, apparently," Will muttered.

Nico snorted in surprise, he knew Will wasn't that naive.

The Texans were head-butting the Coloradoans.

Jason leaned forward with clear interest, clearly planning out a spreadsheet in his head of how each state interacted with each other, full of complicated tables and cross-flow charts. It looked exhausting, constantly having that kind of attention span.

The Missouri branch was arguing with Illinois. The chances were pretty good the whole army would end up fighting each other rather than the enemy.

"Civil War II?" Alex said with disinterest. "This isn't over that whole, make pot legal thing is it? Bit anticlimactic after the last one."

"Let's focus on one fight at a time," Annabeth reminded in exhaustion, even if this one was happening amidst theirs.

Chiron trotted up with Rachel on his back. I felt a twinge of annoyance because Chiron rarely gave anyone a ride, and never a mortal.

"Perhaps it's just because there are no mortals at your camp," Alex offered with a cheeky smirk. "For all you know, he has a preference to let them and just never shared."

"I didn't see May Castellan getting a ride," Percy rolled his eyes.

"You didn't get to see the whole day either," she shrugged without concern for her brilliant idea.

"Your friend here has some useful insights, Percy," he said.

Rachel blushed. "Just some things I saw in my head."

"That's what all insights are," Annabeth couldn't help but grumble on reflex just hearing her name.

"I see things inside my head too and I don't call them insights," Percy said with his typical grin, at least getting a chuckle out of the others.

"A drakon," Chiron said.

"A Lydian drakon, to be exact. The oldest and most dangerous kind."

"Because, it doesn't like to kill people?" Magnus asked without any hope.

He just got a few sad little looks and some sadder smiles still.

I stared at her. "How did you know that?"

"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted. "But this drakon has a particular fate. It will be killed by a child of Ares."

"Oh great! We've got a fresh batch of those somewhere!" Thalia mock dug through her pockets like she lost a cookie.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "How can you possibly know that?"

"I just saw it. I can't explain."

"Well, let's hope you're wrong," I said. "Because we're a little short on children of Ares. . . ." A horrible thought occurred to me, and I cursed in Ancient Greek.

"It's always so rude when this thing glosses over use of another language," Nico chuckled.

"I'm buying a swear jar the moment I get home," Will said on instinct to that.

"It's your money," Nico shrugged without concern.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"The spy," I told her. "Kronos said, We know they cannot beat this drakon. The spy has been keeping him updated. Kronos knows the Ares cabin isn't with us. He intentionally picked a monster we can't kill."

"You can't kill," Jason couldn't help but correct. He only had a vague feeling what a drakon was and still felt confident Percy was the only one crazy enough who'd like to try.

"Not that it's going to stop him giving it his all," Thalia chuckled.

Thalia scowled. "If I ever catch your spy, he's going to be very sorry.

Alex felt an internal twitch of distaste, Thalia using male pronouns. Obviously the Huntress had a bias, but she worried it would get Thalia into trouble if she started underestimating the underhandedness of one gender.

Maybe we could send another messenger to camp—"

"I've already done it," Chiron said. "Blackjack is on his way.

"He sent a horse to talk sense into the jackass? There are so very many ways I can laugh at this," but Magnus's heart clearly wasn't in it from the start.

But if Silena wasn't able to convince Clarisse, I doubt Blackjack will be able—"

"To talk to her," Annabeth couldn't help but say the more obvious part of that problem.

"Maybe he was hoping Blackjack would just scoop down and drag her there and her cabin would follow," Percy said, but he didn't really believe that. She might hurt his horse if he tried.

A roar shook the ground. It sounded very close.

"Rachel," I said, "get inside the building."

"I want to stay."

A shadow blotted out the sun. Across the street, the drakon slithered down the side of a skyscraper. It roared, and a thousand windows shattered.

A very, very tiny dragon with an usually loud roar, Magnus tried one last time in vain to convince his brain.

He could even feel his brain sending him waves of pity now for continuing this delusion.

"On second thought," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."

"Well, I can't say she doesn't have a bright idea every now and then," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"She? It was my idea," Percy sighed. "One might even call it a brilliant insight!"

"One who is not a blonde," she shook her head with a smirk while Percy grumbled a bit more she was not cutting him a break today. It was very distracting from his usual headache. He should thank her later.

Let me explain:

"Please do not," Magnus groaned.

Alex was aggressively-passive-aggressively soothing his nerves by kicking him and signing at him to chill. Drakons probably couldn't swim down here.

there are dragons, and then there are drakons.

Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents.

Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyze you; not the turn-you~to-stone Medusatype paralysis, but the oh~my~gods-that~big~snake~is~going~to~eat~me type of paralysis, which is just as bad.

Alex wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth. She ached to transform, to test the limits if she could do that. Gods did she miss the feeling of fluidity that came with shapeshifting at whim.

Somebody, some God, was going to pay for taking this away from her.

We have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare yourself for a two-hundred-foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

"I'd love to hear more about those classes," Jason grinned.

"Does Will get inside a paper mache' drakon and chase the kids around?" Alex chuckled.

"Pretty close," Percy agreed. "We take these weird fuzzy-string-noodle-bean things with googly eyes and a whole bunch of them, tie 'um all together, and we all pick a color. Then once it's this huge mass we put it on the Big House like somebody TP'd it, and we throw javelins and waterballons at it."

"Cabin that knocks off the most of their color 'killed it'," Annabeth nodded.

Jason looked demonstrably disappointed at how fun that sounded, though Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look as they weren't sure if that was more disappointment in their practice or that he couldn't join in.

It almost made me long for the flying pig.

"Oh, I'm sure we can find you another one Percy," Magnus told him with a disturbing kind of calm. "And another Minotaur too, hey, why not even bring the flesh-eating horses back! We'll build you your own zoo of monsters Perce!"

"Guys, I think we broke Magnus," Percy chuckled.

"Eh, was bound to happen eventually," Alex grinned.

Annabeth however gave her cousin an understanding grin, and he nodded back. These two constantly playing off the monster attacks was just how they accepted it all. She knew he needed just a second to breathe in this new thing like she so often wished for.

Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. We'd done our best to push cars out of the way to keep the mortals safe, but that just made it easier for our enemies to approach.

'There was just no winning,' Jason repressed a shiver as the thought flickered in his mind. He did not like that this idea swam so easily just under the surface of his thoughts, what it could connect to aside from this.

The Party Ponies swished their tails nervously. Chiron galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tough and think about victory and root beer, but I figured any second they would panic and run.

Annabeth had more faith in them. Perhaps just prolonged association with Chiron gave her more hope for their skill, or she'd seen them charge in once more than Percy upon the ship as well meant that their wavering resolve to fight was fleeting but impactful.

"I'll take the drakon." My voice came out as a timid squeak.

Magnus had rarely looked so pleased in here, but he did so now as he grinned at Percy. Not a smirk, not laughing, but a pleased grin like he finally felt like he wasn't the only one who would have possibly weaped on sight.

Percy gave him a nod of agreement. He really would rather fight pool noodles at camp than be out here with his life in danger. He just played it off better.

Then I yelled louder: "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"

"Oh, is that all?" Thalia made sure he heard her this time as she'd pulled her hunting knives ready. "Anything else come to mind Percy?"

"I wouldn't mind if someone brought me a rootbear float right about then," Percy agreed. "Heard the centaurs talking about it way to much."

"It's not my fault if Annabeth went off your regular feeding schedule," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Annabeth stood next to me. She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but I could tell her eyes were red.

Percy felt wretched he'd made her cry. Then he got angry at Annabeth. It wasn't his fault Rachel had shown up when she did! Why did she have to freak out about that every time he needed her help!

Then he really looked at her again in here at got frustrated with himself. He knew she'd had a really miserable life where practically everybody let her down, and he wanted to be the exception. To prove to her that he was the one person who would put her first. He knew she already trusted him, he just had to think up some way to prove he could be the most trustful.

"Will you help me?" I asked.

"That's what I do," she said miserably. "I help my friends."

Percy groaned and felt the urge to rip his hair out. She'd made it sound like a miserable chore helping him!

I felt like a complete jerk. I wanted to pull her aside and explain that I didn't mean for Rachel to be here, that it wasn't my idea, but we had no time.

"It wouldn't have helped anyway," Annabeth said sullenly as she watched him beat himself up over this. "I was so confused Percy, I don't think anybody could have said the right words at that time." She paused and smiled and said the one thing she was sure would help. "Not even Luke."

That did bring a smile to his face, and she smiled she was able to do that when he clearly needed it.

"Go invisible," I said. "Look for weak links in its armor while I keep it busy. Just be careful."

"Sure. Careful. What isn't careful about scaling a giant snake looking for places some other fool had once tried to peel a scale off," Magnus nodded in a broken seesaw kind of way.

"Just like the lava walls at camp," she agreed.

I whistled. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"

"ROOOF!" My hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave me a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza.

"Awww, she just wanted to share!" Alex said in delight.

"I've finally found a standard when it comes to food," Percy sighed as he waved his hand in front of his nose. "Nowhere near my dog's mouth."

"Congrats man, had to happen eventually," Jason said as if in personal relief for his diet.

While Alex and Magnus exchanged a look and then just as quickly looked away, neither of them willing to acknowledge that stealing food people would give to stray dogs wasn't the lowest option they'd ever fallen to.

I drew my sword and we charged the monster.

The drakon was three stories above us, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up our forces.

Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear.

From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and our lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before I could even get close.

Of course backup had only meant more death on the horizon, Will hated the bleak thought. The parade of dead centaurs that might have saved their camp from being down to single digits when this was all over. The mass memorial they'd done for all those unnamed but lost had included a gallon of root beer, despite Mr. D's previous banishment of anything other than Diet Coke being allowed in camp.

Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air—a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws.

Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll.

Magnus made a pretty good impression of a squeaky toy you'd give a dog. Why couldn't the too big but sweet dog he was grappling to get the hang of be the worst?! Why did he now have to imagine wanting the dog to win the fight! While picturing her looking small as a flea on this monstrosity! What was this cruel world?!

Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk, hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs. O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.

Alex cheered, bouncing in her seat like a trampoline and fist-pumping the air. She'd never bothered going to sporting events or anything in the past, but she understood why people did it now. It just felt good to shout at the top of your lungs for your side to win even if it didn't do a lick of good.

"YAAAH!" I plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but I rolled aside.

Magnus was breathing a little easier, a little faster than normal. Not that he'd ever claim to finally being adjusted to all this mess. It was just a tad easier picturing other dark-haired heroes he'd read about, who always won the fight in the end and came out triumphant too. Percy had managed to do that all this time, maybe it wasn't so crazy to hope he'd keep going that all the way to the end.

It bit a swimming-pool-size chunk out of the pavement. It turned toward me with its good eye, and I focused on its teeth so I wouldn't get paralyzed. Mrs. O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like a really angry black wig.

"I heard a thing once that you could drown lice in maple syrup and hear their tiny screams," Will offered. "Perhaps George's slightly scarier older brother would like some tips," he finished in a smaller and smaller voice. Picturing this massive behemoth from his nightmares whining about wanting rats was basically the only reason he wasn't trying to curl inside Nico's jacket right now.

"You get the marmalade man, I'll try anything," Percy sighed.

"And if that doesn't work out, we can dump it all into that new swimming pool he carved out and have a different kind of fun," Alex agreed.

"I'll push you into a vat of maple syrup any time you like Alex," Nico cackled.

"Yes! Best friend ever!" She whooped all the louder, so much so it probably should have started growing Percy levels of loud, but nobody really had the heart to to try and keep her quiet.

The rest of the battle wasn't going well. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but quickly disappeared.

Will struggled to swallow for a few painful moments as he now vividly remembered how often Micheal had complained about having nothing to wear but his camp shirts, particularly on nights of capture the flag. It made them such visible targets.

Arrows screamed. Fire exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. We were losing ground.

Suddenly Annabeth materialized on the drakon's back. Her invisibility cap rolled off her head as she drove her bronze knife between a chink in the serpent's scales.

The drakon roared. It coiled around, knocking Annabeth off its back.

I reached her just as she hit the ground. I dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.

Magnus was starting to get a nervous twitch that was gaining a life of its own as he kept realizing how many times Annabeth had nearly died, he was starting to lose count! He was sure he could ask Jason for an exact number, and he wasn't sure which disturbed him more.

"Thanks," she said.

"I told you to be careful!"

"Yeah, well, DUCK!"

"That's a strange way to say thank you. Is it Turkish? No, no, Portuguese?" Percy chuckled.

"It's shut your trap, a language I invented just for you," she grinned.

"What a terrifying thought, the gods will be speaking it in no time," Percy shrugged before moving on.

It was her turn to save me.

Magnus at least got a good laugh out of that, enough to make Percy and Annabeth exchange loving grins. They knew they were the main source of the poor guy's constant consternation in here, but it was nice they could alleviate some of that too with something so backbone to their life.

She tackled me as the monster's teeth snapped above my head. Mrs. O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention, and we rolled out of the way.

Meanwhile

"Is that your new anyways?" Jason rolled his eyes. "Kind of weird for you to switch it up so late in the game."

"I wish I could have meanwhiled half the crap I went through," Percy huffed. "Meanwhile, Grover was eating nachos and chilling waiting on me to rescue him in comfort and style! Meanwhile, Thalia was learning to play the banjo!"

"Pass," she frowned.

"Fine, live with your demons, I tried," Percy shrugged.

our allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them.

We were out of options. No more help was coming. Annabeth and I would have to retreat before we were cut off from Mount Olympus.

It wasn't lifeless, per say, Nico would know that tone, but there was a listless...hopeless tone to Percy's voice he could barely wrap his head around. Percy had been kicked, beaten down, and pushed to his limits multiple times before he'd ever sounded this defeated.

Percy just needed a win. A flat victory without some catastrophe immediately following.

... Annabeth being in here was probably the closest he was going to get any time soon.

Then I heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but I recognized it immediately: chariot wheels.

A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!"

Jason lit up like a flare, he just knew Clarisse's duty to her people would overrule her hurt pride! He knew she had it in her all along!

He was the only one.

Magnus and Alex exchanged actual disbelieving looks. Another trick from Kronos? Nico's newest idea to help by taking possession of someone? It just seemed, pretty wild of her to have changed her mind even after Micheal had offered the chariot back! What could Silena have said to finally make her come around?

Hopefully they'd get to hear the full explanation soon, because this was the peak in the Bizaro Mountain path.

And a dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with the symbol of the wild boar's head.

Jason made a face at them bothering to take the time to put up decorations while riding to their rescue, but hey, if it had made them get there a little faster to show off, couldn't complain to much. It did gender a sense of comradery he supposed...

Alex was beaming with pride and nodding along for them making sure everyone knew their aesthetics.

Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armor gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one—making a bristling wall of death.

"The children of Ares!" Annabeth said in amazement. "How did Rachel know?"

Magnus sat up very straight in his seat as something occurred to him. Kronos had used this drakon because of some ancient Greek proverb or whatever about it having to be killed by a child of Ares, same as Rachel had declared. Was it possible there was no spy in camp at all? But that Kronos had somehow got his hands on some poor mortal child with gifted eyes? Watching them for years!

I didn't have an answer. But leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, her face covered by a boar's-head helm. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. Clarisse herself had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon.

Annabeth shook her head at herself. How could she ever have guessed what was coming? It was such a, Clarisse thing to do, something so insane only Percy would also be guilty of that action. How those two hadn't gotten along better she looked back and wasn't quite sure.

The serpent reared back and managed to throw off Mrs. O'Leary. My poor pet hit the side of the building with a yelp.

"Kick its scaly ass girl!" Alex declared with a predatory smile.

'She did not,' Percy winced at his gut reaction to those words. Something...something of this was wrong...he could feel it in every word coming out of his mouth, every time he said Clarisse's name...

Annabeth placed her hand on his shoulder. It was the kind of comfort that offered only support, no judgment for his stupid, useless mind never being able to grasp a simple concept like thank you.

I ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat. Even with only one eye, its glare was enough to paralyze two chariot drivers. They veered into a line of cars. The other four chariots kept charging. The monster bared its fangs to strike and got a mouthful of Celestial bronze javelins.

"EEESSSSS!!!!!" it screamed, which is probably drakon for OWWWW!

"Cool to hear you've been taking parseltongue lessons from Grover," Magnus said as he tried not to cover up his mouth in horror at the idea of a bunch of tiny humans stabbing the inside of his mouth with toothpicks.

Percy just gave him a blank look and decided he didn't want to know. He still wouldn't claim to be fluent in English.

"Ares, to me!" Clarisse screamed. Her voice sounded shriller than usual, but I guess that wasn't surprising given what she was fighting.

Jason's smug smile finally wavered in a bit of confusion upon that descriptor. Clarisse's voice had never once been shown to get higher, no matter how stressed. He'd expect it to get lower, gruffer as she took command. He might have been projecting a little to hard on her and probably needed some serious psychoanalysis...and maybe a separate talk about why he saw so much of himself in a girl...

Across the street, the arrival of six chariots gave the Party Ponies new hope. They rallied at the doors of the Empire State Building, and the enemy army was momentarily thrown into confusion.

"Sounds like it doesn't take much," Alex was still leering at Mrs. O'Leary having gotten hurt so bad and was vividly imagining all manner of distraction she'd like to do. Using their heads for bowling for starters and watching with glee as they disintegrated.

Meanwhile, Clarisse's chariots circled the drakon. Lances broke against the monster's skin. Skeletal horses breathed fire and whinnied. Two more chariots overturned, but the warriors simply leaped to their feet, drew their swords, and went to work. They hacked at chinks in the creature's scales. They dodged poison spray like they'd been training for this all their lives, which of course they had.

Thalia rubbed at the back of her neck awkwardly. Now didn't seem a nice time to mention they'd practiced with hoses, albeit Percy the one spraying them with totalitarian glee. Those kids were just doing the bravest damned job, if not the best one, for her to be condescending about it right now. She was more jealous than anything she hadn't the chance to shoot one more arrow into this stupid thing's other eye.

No one could say the Ares campers weren't brave.

"I don't think anybody's said that actually," Nico agreed.

Travis had once, and Will was still surprised he'd lived through it.

Clarisse was right there in front, stabbing her spear at the drakon's face, trying to put out its other eye. But as I watched, things started to go wrong. The drakon snapped up one Ares camper in a gulp. It knocked aside another and sprayed poison on a third, who retreated in a panic, his armor melting.

"We have to help," Annabeth said.

The fact that Percy hadn't leaped in to help was the only thing to prove to them how stunned he'd been by this turn of events. It only reinforced to Magnus and Alex how...amiss something felt, but for no good reason.

She was right. I'd just been standing there frozen in amazement. Mrs. O'Leary tried to get up but yelped again. One of her paws was bleeding.

If Sally had been awake, Magnus instantly would have suggested reuniting those two. Will certainly had his hands full. It was possible one of the injured party ponies sitting out could limp over to attend to her- his thoughts stopped cold as he realized what he'd been doing. Trying to cobble together ideas in actual concern, for a dog. An enormous wolf-shaped beast with her own glowing eyes!

He studied his hands in fascination, he'd swear they were glowing, just a faint bit, like he was about to explode from such a shift in viewpoint. Today really was just full of surprises.

"Stay back, girl," I told her. "You've done enough already."

Annabeth and I jumped onto the monster's back and ran toward its head, trying to draw its attention away from Clarisse.

Her cabinmates threw javelins, most of which broke, but some lodged in the monster's teeth. It snapped its jaws together until its mouth was a mess of green blood, yellow foamy poison, and splintered weapons.

Alex's mind was churning with distress at her lack of ability to do anything. Start forming a mold of this, get a really big shovel to help smack it over the head, gods even just to stop and take a breath and capture the mental image. She loved snakes, she wanted to rip this ones scales off one by one. There was a lot going on!

"You can do it!" I screamed at Clarisse. "A child of Ares is destined to kill it!"

'That should have bolstered her,' Annabeth nodded to herself. 'She'd always been proud of her father, for reasons beyond me.' Instead 'Clarisse had seemed surprised to hear such a thing, looking away from her target. She wasn't holding the spear quite as loose as she normally would, as if it were spontaneously a bit bigger in her hands.

All of these things, of course, were only clear as she looked back.

Through her war helmet, I could only see her eyes—but I could tell something was wrong. Her blue eyes shone with fear. Clarisse never looked like that. And she didn't have blue eyes.

"You've never mentioned her eye color, actually," Jason said, mostly to himself it seemed as his stomach swooped unpleasantly. He usually pictured her with brown eyes, perhaps with hints of hazel or amber...then he realized he wasn't trying to picture Clarisse's face at all, but someone else's. It was maddening as he tried to untangle his thoughts that had somehow mashed together himself, some unknown girl, and this daughter of Ares.

"ARES!" she shouted, in that strangely shrill voice. She leveled her spear and charged the drakon.

"No," I muttered. "WAIT!"

But the monster looked down at her—almost in contempt—and spit poison directly in her face.

The words to describe something like that felt small in comparison to the surge of feeling Percy had gotten upon watching. The anger, the fear, the regret.

'Not again,' the words had whispered somewhere in his mind as Bianca and Zoe, Beckendorf and Micheal studied him with their judgemental, ghostly eyes. 'She'd been wearing a helmet, it would have taken the brunt of the damage! Nothing a little ambrosia wouldn't fix, this hadn't happened again!'

She screamed and fell.

"Clarisse!" Annabeth jumped off the monster's back and ran to help, while the other Ares campers tried to defend their fallen counselor. I drove Riptide between two of the creature's scales and managed to turn its attention on me.

I got thrown but I landed on my feet. "C'MON, you stupid worm! Look at me!"

For the next several minutes, all I saw were teeth. I retreated and dodged poison, but I couldn't hurt the thing.

This was, a surprise, the longer Magnus thought about it. Percy had just broken a bridge! He'd weakened a Titan and then slaughtered a giant flying pig with nary a sigh. But a big snake? He couldn't punch it in the nose? Stab it in the roof of its mouth, especially because none of those teeth were a danger to his arm.

This was what, day three of a never-ending battle though? Everybody kept warning Percy of how exhausted he'd grow the longer he kept this up. Even in here, a week of sporadically using his powers and using more energy to control them than anything left him looking exhausted after a full night's sleep.

It was quite sad to hear now, of all times, Percy's battling starting to slow as Kronos's only grew by the hour.

At the edge of my vision, I saw a flying chariot land on Fifth Avenue.

Then someone ran toward us. A girl's voice, shaken with grief, cried, "NO! Curse you, WHY?"

I dared to glance over, but what I saw made no sense. Clarisse was lying on the ground where she'd fallen. Her armor smoked with poison. Annabeth and the Ares campers were trying to unfasten her helmet. And kneeling next to them, her face blotchy with tears, was a girl in camp clothes. It was . . . Clarisse.

Alex's mouth was just left hanging open before she could even begin to make an evil doppelganger joke. Magnus felt like his brain was lagging behind again, to slow to keep up with these half-god kids even when death and grief was one of the few things he most easily understood of their everyday life.

Jason, though, felt a stirring of something that didn't feel like surprise. No, it felt more refined, slowly kindling to life. 'History had a way of repeating itself,' Nico had reminded several times...and Jason had a feeling he'd read this story before as the dust settled in his mind of understanding why Silena had done such a thing.

With Beckendorf gone, she'd been a wreck. She'd needed to do something, fix a mistake she might not be responsible for, but one in her power to correct. When she'd charged off promising Percy she'd help, boy did that girl go to any lengths to do so.

My head spun. Why hadn't I noticed before? The girl in Clarisse's armor was much thinner, not as tall. But why would someone pretend to be Clarisse?

'Halloween joke gone very wrong?' But Alex sighed and didn't bother with the joke. It wasn't right, hearing in detail another brutal outcome of this war, of a teenager just trying to step up and do the impossible.

I was so stunned, the drakon almost snapped me in half. I dodged and the beast buried its head in a brick wall.

'Where it could stay,' Thalia thought with vengeance. That thing was good for one use only, Clarisse had finally gone into battle without looking over her shoulder to see if her dad was watching, and she'd earned his respect for it at last. The cost was just too high.

"WHY?" The real Clarisse demanded, holding the other girl in her arms while the campers struggled to remove the poison-corroded helmet.

Chris Rodriguez ran over from the flying chariot. He and Clarisse must've ridden it here from camp, chasing the Ares campers, who'd mistakenly been following the other girl, thinking she was Clarisse. But it still made no sense.

Percy waited for the laughter, for someone to tell him how slow he was on the uptake. He felt, as usual, the last pick, the idiot always having to be explained his own life story to.

They didn't. From what he could guess, at least Magnus also hadn't a clue what was going on, and he didn't have the best poker face to hide it. Well that was at least a small relief, if someone as sharp as Annabeth's cousin wasn't a mile ahead of him.

The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.

No one needed a translator for that either. Will had felt the whole building shake with its outrage, and his usual steady hands had shook terribly as memories of Lee blurred together with horrible visions of what happened to Micheal underneath that horrible hissing. Like every gas main in the city had broke at once, like the scales were wrapping around him, chafing every inch of his skin until he couldn't breathe.

He was probably holding Nico's hand too tight, but he never protested as Will kept stroking the smooth patterns of his warm skin to chase it all away, maybe for good at last.

"Look out!" Chris warned.

Instead of turning toward me, the drakon whirled toward the sound of Chris's voice. It bared its fangs at the group of demigods.

The real Clarisse looked up at the drakon, her face filled with absolute hate. I'd seen a look that intense only once before. Her father, Ares, had worn the same expression when I'd fought him in single combat.

When he'd cursed Percy's blade after his stupid ankle was stabbed, Thalia's smile looked cruel as she recalled, because it wasn't the greatest of memories to invoke, not with the end results. Somehow the war gods input, even his childrens, always had to go hand in hand with death even to assure a victory.

Still, there was no grudge against Clarisse for her father's blood rushing through. No amount of pamphlets waved in her face would have worked, not after this day. She'd snapped out of one kind of love for another when she'd felt Chris was in danger. She had no choice but to admire that, even if she wasn't so sure she'd ever feel the same way again.

"YOU WANT DEATH?" Clarisse screamed at the drakon.

Not even Alex had the split second to bother with a defense that this could just be an animal. Could be a peaceful dwelling snake safely asleep before Kronos had woken it up. It had killed to much already not to be asking for death in return.

"WELL, COME ON!"

She grabbed her spear from the fallen girl. With no armor or shield, she charged the drakon.

I tried to close the distance to help, but Clarisse was faster. She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverizing the ground in front of her. Then she jumped onto the creature's head. As it reared up, she drove her electric spear into its good eye with so much force it shattered the shaft, releasing all of the magic weapon's power.

Electricity arced across the creature's head, causing its whole body to shudder. Clarisse jumped free, rolling safely to the sidewalk as smoke boiled from the drakon's mouth. The drakon's flesh dissolved, and it collapsed into a hollow scaly tunnel of armor.

That. That was what a part of each of them had been expecting Percy to do all along.

Everyone except Percy.

He'd stood numb in the street, even his Styx heightened abilities hadn't moved so fast as to take out its remaining eye, the slithering king had just been to fast for him. Clarisse had done it like nothing, leaving him in her dust. She probably could have dragged him along the way and shoved his head in that thing's mouth like another toilet all over again.

The prophecy nagged in his mind again, like he really had heard the Oracle's piercing voice carving the words into his brain. 'Cursed blade'...Riptide had failed time and again to do any damage to this thing what Clarisse's spear had done with the same blow. 'Hero's soul'...why did everyone keep thinking he was the great child of the prophecy when a hero was supposed to save them, not sit back and watch? Just because Nico and Thalia hadn't had some non-important birthday really shouldn't disqualify them...

The rest of us stared at Clarisse in awe. I had never seen anyone take down such a huge monster single-handedly. But Clarisse didn't seem to care. She ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armor.

Finally Annabeth managed to remove the girl's helmet. We all gathered around: the Ares campers, Chris, Clarisse, Annabeth, and me. The battle still raged along Fifth Avenue, but for that moment nothing existed except our small circle and the fallen girl.

Her features, once beautiful, were badly burned from poison. I could tell that no amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her.

Something is about to happen. Rachel's words rang in my ears. A trick that ends in death.

Now I knew what she meant, and I knew who had led the Ares cabin into battle.

I looked down at the dying face of Silena Beauregard.

'Help from a thief,' Percy's brain still felt like it was moving through that pool of syrup as he stared down at the words. Silena, who had stolen Clarisse's armor.

Alex made no call-back jab at Jason for his lack of reaction, nobody demanded to be handed the book next to merrily skip on past this.

So Percy remained where he was, cradling the blood-red spine as broken images, memories clammered to be seen. Silena's death had not matched her beauty, but then nothing could, not even the best-built pyre. Her hair and eyes would shimmer different colors, almost as if a shapeshifter at times, perhaps a small extension of her mother's gift to be the most gorgeous girl around and match all of their appearances only to be the best of them all. He could still remember the first time he'd met her, blonde braid over one shoulder, eyes a shimmering silver in the high sun, but painstakingly beautiful make up that somehow still matched the orange camp shirt and cut off jean shorts.

She'd always been taller than him, of course, but one of the nicest girls he'd ever met from the Aphrodite cabin. He'd probably have fallen off Blackjack a dozen times if not for her tutelage. She passed out those chocolates at camp with the kind of smile that felt more like a reward than the sweet for being included.

There was a flicker of silver lingering in his mind he couldn't shake as he looked around at Annabeth's dark gray eyes for some kind of explanation. Why hadn't it all stopped there? Why wouldn't the world ever grind to a halt and realize it was missing a passenger?

Annabeth waited until she was sure he was ready before she took the book for herself, with no good answer for him any more than their parents could offer.

#pjo #hoo #Percy Jackson #Jason Grace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #Thalia Grace #Annabeth Chase #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #percabeth #fierrochase

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