This is a shorter chapter because it's more of a filler chapter, although it does have a vital part in it.
I've included Mitchell and Lacy in this chapter. They don't have a huge part, but they do trigger one of Leo's important flashbacks. I might include them in a battle at some point, but that's still undetermined.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Leo had lived in New York once before camp, but that had been years ago, and he'd forgotten how... unique the state was.
Seriously, Percy and Leo just appeared out of no where in Central Park, hailed a taxi cab, and strolled through the streets of New York with a Hellhound on their heels and no one even gave them a weird look. Well, except for one kid, but that's probably because he recognized Leo from that new report a few weeks ago (he hadn't meant to cause a horrible traffic jam, but when the Stoll brothers and Leo Valdez leave camp together, bad things happen).
Percy called Annabeth, and while he talked to her, Leo watched Mrs. O'Leary bound up and down the street. Every time a cop walked by, he ducked behind a nearby car because after the incident that occurred last time Leo lived in New York... haha, let's just say every cop in New York knew Leo by this point.
It was late afternoon when the taxi dropped the two demigods at the Empire State Building. Mrs. O'Leary dashed up and down Fifth Avenue, licking cabs and sniffing hot dog carts. Nobody seemed to notice her, although people did swerve away and look confused when she came close.
Percy whistled for her to heel as three white vans pulled up to the curb. They said Delphi Strawberry Service, which was the cover name for Camp Half-Blood.
The first van was driven by Argus, the many-eyed (Leo loved the tease him about that) security chief. The other two were driven by harpies, who are basically demonic human/chicken hybrids with bad attitudes. Leo tried not to think about the time he and Alexander had been caught outside after curfew; if things came to worst, the harpies could probably be a two person army.
The doors slid open. A bunch of campers climbed out, some of them looking a little green from the long drive. Leo recognized a few: Silena Beauregard (who nodded at him when she caught his eye), the Stoll brothers, Michael Yew, Leo's siblings, Katie Gardner, and Annabeth, along with most of their siblings.
Chiron exited out of the van last. His horse half was compacted into his magic wheelchair, so he used the handicap lift.
Leo vaguely wondered where the Ares cabin was, but he had a feeling Clarrise was angry at Percy about something and her pride was getting in the way of oh, i don't know, saving the world.
Leo and Clarrise actually got along fairly well, but Leo didn't always like her attitude.
Forty campers against over a thousand enemies. Leo tried not to think about how uneven that was.
Annabeth came up to Percy. She was dressed in black camouflage with her Celestial bronze knife strapped to her arm and her laptop bag slung over her shoulder—ready for stabbing or surfing the Internet, whichever came first.
Percy was practically drooling. If they survived this war, Operation Percabeth was a go.
She frowned. "What is it?"
"What's what?" Percy asked.
"You're looking at me funny."
"It's, uh, nothing." Percy responded, which was obviously a lie, and turned to the rest of the group. "Thanks for coming, everybody. Chiron, after you."
Chiron shook his head. "I came to wish you luck, my boy. But I make it a point never to visit Olympus unless I am summoned."
"But you're our leader."
He smiled. "I am your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather what allies I can. It may not be too late to convince my brother centaurs to help. Meanwhile, you called the campers here, Percy. You are the leader."
No pressure, Leo thought, sarcastically.
Percy took a deep breath. "Okay, like I told Annabeth on the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight. Some kind of trap. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember, we can't take no for an answer."
Percy asked Argus to watch Mrs. O'Leary, which neither of them looked happy about.
Chiron shook Percy's hand. "You'll do well, Percy. Just remember your strengths and beware your weaknesses."
Leo was reminded of Achilles's speech before Percy took a bath in the Styx, but he didn't say anything. Percy looked nervous enough.
Percy nodded and tried to give Chiron a somewhat confident smile.
"Let's go," he told the campers.
A security guard was sitting behind the desk in the lobby, reading a big black book with a flower on the cover. He glanced up when the demigods all filed in with the weapons and armor clanking. "School group? We're about to close up."
"No," Percy said. "Six-hundredth floor."
Leo could still not believe there was a six-hundredth floor, and if Olympus was six hundred, then what were floors 103-5,999? (Seriously, has no one else ever wondered that?)
The security guard checked the demigods out. His eyes were pale blue and his head was completely bald. He seemed to notice the weapons, but maybe that was why he was reluctant. After all, Leo wouldn't let forty kids with sharp, pointy objects into anywhere.
"There is no six-hundredth floor, kid." He said it like it was a required line he didn't believe. "Move along."
Percy leaned across the desk. "Forty demigods attract an awful lot of monsters. You really want us hanging out in your lobby?"
He thought about that. Then he hit a buzzer and the security gate swung open.
"Make it quick."
"You don't want us going through the metal detectors," Percy added.
That would be awkward. Although, Leo did once manage to get through a metal detector with six metal tools strapped to his stomach (long story).
"Um, no," he agreed. "Elevator on the right. I guess you know the way."
Percy tossed him a golden drachma and the demigods marched on through.
Leo was beyond nervous (of course he was; they were getting ready to fight a war) until he felt someone lightly elbow him.
He turned and smiled at Beckendorf.
Another hand landed on his shoulder.
"We've got your back, little brother," Alexander whispered.
Leo nodded. "Thanks."
"No need to thank me. We're brothers," Alexander reaponded, repeating the words Leo had told him during the Battle of the Labyrinth almost a year ago.
It took two trips to get everybody up in the elevator. Leo, Alexander, and Beckendorf went with the first group.
They were forced to endure a long elevator ride, listening to an old disco song, before the door finally dinged. In front of them, a path of floating stones led through the clouds up to Mount Olympus, hovering six thousand feet over Manhattan.
Leo felt his jaw drop.
The mansions glittered gold and white against the sides of the mountain. Gardens bloomed on a hundred terraces. Scented smoke rose from braziers that lined the winding streets. And right at the top of the snow-capped crest rose the main palace of the gods. The entire place looked so amazing and enchanting and majestic, but it was utterly silent. Not one sound drifted through the air until the demigods moved, and their weapons clanged.
The second group arrived, and they made their way across the sky bridge into the streets of Olympus. The shops were closed. The parks were empty. A couple of Muses sat on a bench strumming flaming lyres, but their hearts didn't seem to be in it. A lone Cyclops swept the street with an uprooted oak tree. Someone spotted the demigods from a balcony and ducked inside, closing his shutters.
They passed under a big marble archway with two statues- one was tall man with a lightning bolt that could only be Zeus, and the other...
Leo frowned. Tia Callida?
She was no longer dressed in black, and there was no veil covering her face, but it was definitely her.
Annabeth made a face at the female statue.
"Hate her," she muttered.
"Has she been cursing you or something?" Percy asked.
"Just little stuff so far," she said. "Her sacred animal is the cow, right?"
"Right."
"So she sends cows after me."
Percy tried and failed to not smile. "Cows? In San Francisco?"
"Oh, yeah. Usually I don't see them, but the cows leave me little presents all over the place—in our backyard, on the sidewalk, in the school hallways. I have to be careful where I step."
"Who is she?" Leo asked.
"Hera, queen of the gods," Percy answered.
"She looks like my old babysitter," Leo said, scrutinizing the statue.
"Really?" Alexander said.
"Yeah. She let me play with knives once, and she kept saying, 'a good hero must know his knives well'. I had a weird childhood."
"Obviously," Beckendorf agreed, although he still looked nervous about the playing with knives thing.
Before anyone else could reply, a voice rang out from the crowd behind them.
"Look!" The Dionysis kid (Pollux?) cried, pointing toward the horizon. "What is that?"
Everyone froze. Blue lights were streaking across the evening sky toward Olympus like tiny comets. They seemed to be coming from all over the city, heading straight toward the mountain. As they got close, they fizzled out. The demigods watched them for several minutes and they didn't seem to do any damage, but still, it was strange. And maybe intimidating.
"Like infrared scopes," Michael Yew muttered. "We're being targeted."
"Let's get to the palace," Percy said.
No one was guarding the hall of the gods, which seemed kind of weird to Leo. The gold-and-silver doors stood wide open. The footsteps of forty half bloods echoed as they strolled into the throne room.
The place was huge! Leo reckoned that this single room was as big as his foster mother Teresa's house (and trust me, that place was ginormous. Not that Leo saw much of it; he was usually locked in his room) High above, the blue ceiling glittered with constellations. Twelve giant empty thrones stood in a U around a hearth. In one corner, a house-size globe of water hovered in the air, and inside swam... a cow?
"Moooo!" he said happily, turning in a circle.
A swimming cow. Why not?
"Hey, man," Percy said, smiling. "They treating you okay?"
"Mooo," the cow answered.
Leo had seen weirder things in the past hour, so he decided not to question it.
They walked toward the thrones, and a woman's voice said, "Hello again, Percy Jackson. You and your friends are welcome."
Hestia stood by the hearth, poking the flames with a stick. She wore the same kind of simple brown dress as she had before, but she was a grown woman now.
Percy and Leo bowed. "Lady Hestia," They greeted.
Everyone else followed their example.
Hestia regarded Percy with her red glowing eyes. "I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles."
The other campers started muttering among themselves: What did she say? What about Achilles?
"You must be careful," Hestia warned him. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order."
Annabeth whispered, "Um . . . what is she talking about?"
A second later, Percy collapsed, and Annabeth and Leo barely caught him before he hit the floor.
"Percy! What happened?" Annabeth demanded.
"Did . . . did you see that?" Percy asked.
"See what?"
He's having visions, too? Leo wondered, but he didn't ask. Not yet. Not in front of forty other people.
"How long was I out?" Percy muttered.
Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "Percy, you weren't out at all. You just looked at Hestia for like one second and collapsed."
"Um, Lady Hestia," Percy said, changing the subject, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see—"
"We know what you need," a man's voice said.
A god shimmered into existence next to Hestia. He looked to be about twenty-five, with curly salt-and-pepper hair and elfish features. He wore a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird's wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.
"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to the person (who, judging by the staff, was Hermes) and disappeared into smoke.
Wait. Hermes is a god, and this god does not look happy.
Leo took an unconscious step backward.
"Hello, Percy."
Percy bowed awkwardly. "Lord Hermes."
Oh, sure, a voice hissed in Leo's head. Don't say hi to us. We're just reptiles.
George, a female voice scolded. Be polite.
Leo stared at the snakes wrapped around Hermes's staff.
A swimming cow. Talking snakes. What's next- a flying pig?
Don't answer that.
"Hello, George," Percy said. "Hey, Martha."
Did you bring us a rat? George asked.
George, stop it, Martha said. He's busy!
Too busy for rats? George said. That's just sad.
"Um, Hermes," Percy said. "We need to talk to Zeus. It's important."
Hermes's eyes were steely cold. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?"
This was not part of the plan, Leo thought. Plan B... they didn't have a plan B.
When in doubt, improvise.
Luckily, Leo didn't have to do the improvising.
"You guys," Percy said. "Why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and me back here in thirty minutes."
Silena frowned. "But—"
"That's a good idea," Annabeth said. "Connor and Travis, you two lead."
Leo wondered if Annabeth was thinking clearly when she said that, but then he remembered: Hermes was the father of Travis and Connor Stoll.
"We're on it!" Travis said. They herded everyone out of throne room with Leo being one of the last ones to leave.
Hermes didn't look happy. He hoped Percy and Annabeth would leave that throne room alive.
Travis and Connor split the forty demigods into ten group of four (Olympus was a huge place, so they'd need several small groups).
At some point, Leo got seperated from Beckendorf and Alexander and wound up in a group with three kids he didn't know.
"What are your names?" Leo asked.
"I'm Mitchell," an impossibly handsome boy said. "From Aphrodite."
"Lacy!" The blonde girl chirped. "Also from Aphrodite."
"Malcom," the blonde boy answered. "From Athena."
"I'm Le-"
Mitchell's laugh interrupted him. "Everyone knows who you are. The kid who showed up out of nowhere in the Labyrinth, and now, everyone knows you because of, uh-"
"My kidnapping?" Leo suggested.
"Yeah," Mitchell said, awkwardly.
"You don't have to avoid the topic. Really, it's fine. My kidnapping just gives me another reason to kick the butts of Kronos and his allies."
Lacy giggled, and Mitchell smiled. Malcom managed a tiny grin, but he was just like Annabeth: serious until you got to know him.
Aphrodite.
The vision hit Leo out of nowhere (just like all the others).
She was beautiful in a not-showy kind of way. She had choppy hair and multicolored eyes, and she wore jeans and a tank top, but even without make up or designer clothes, she was pretty.
And she was crying.
"You're like a brother to me, Leo," she sobbed.
"I love you more than anything, Pipes," he murmured. "I won't come back, but I'll make sure to bring Gaea down with me."
She wouldn't let go of his hand, so Clarrise wrenched her away, holding her in a strong hold as she struggled to reach him, to stop him.
But she can't stop him. Leo has a job to do.
It's time to give Dirt Lady a piece of her own medicine.
"It's been twenty-five minutes. We should probably start heading back," Malcom's voice broke through the vision.
Leo hadn't met her before, but somehow, he knew her.
Piper. Daughter of Aphrodite.
What'd you think? This chapter was a filler chapter, but that vision is very important (HINT: it has something to do with why and how Leo was thrown back in time).
Review!
Trivia (PJO):
What is the name of Nico Di Angelo's French zombie chauffeur?