Once they were through the gate, a cheer went up. But Percy didn't feel like celebrating. "Good job everyone, but we still have a lot to do." Percy tried to keep their focus. He got off of Blackjack onto the recently picked up street. He saw some girls by the side going through the arrows and walked over to them. "Thanks for picking up the arrows. How many were in good condition?" He asked.

"Mmm, I'd say at least eighty percent." Rachael stood up and said.

"Rachael!" Percy stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"My father came here to trade, remember?" She smirked.

"Oh, right." Percy felt incredibly awkward.

"Rachael." Annabeth appeared by Percy's side. "I wasn't aware you were in town."

"Here I am." Rachael shrugged nonchalantly. "Doing my share to make sure that we don't all die. Great speech by the way."

Percy blushed and felt even more awkward. "Oh, you heard that."

"All of Olympus heard it." She beamed at him.

"Oh, uh, well . . ." Percy awkwardly searched around for something to say.

"Jackson, get up here." He jumped at the sound of Artemis' voice.

"Uh, sorry. Gotta go. " he stammered as he turned to climb to the top of the wall. Annabeth silently followed him, but had a sour look on her face. "What's going on?" He asked Artemis.

"They're moving around. They're trying to surround the city." She replied.

"Then we move to the next part of the plan." Annabeth tersely said.

Artemis nodded. "I've divided the archers between the three gates. I'll take the east gate. Thalia, I want you at the west gate."

"Got it." Thalia replied.

"Phoebe, keep an eye on the southern gate." Artemis continued.

"Sounds good." Percy nodded. "I'll have Otic with a portion of my men at the east gate. I'll go to the west gate with Thalia."

Artemis nodded in agreement. "Very well, let's see if these tricks will continue to be effective."

"We can only hope." Percy agreed.

They all made their way down the wall. Once at the bottom, Percy addressed the men. "Otic, take your men to the east gate. Support the archers as best you can."

"Yes, sir." Otic saluted smartly and started barking orders at his men.

"Layland, stay here and support the southern gate."

"Yes, sir." He turned to relay his orders to his men.

"The rest of you, we're at the west gate. Let's move!" Percy emphasized the last part to get them moving.

"Maybe, I should go to the east gate." Annabeth said. "That way the gates are equally represented."

Percy looked at her in surprise. He hadn't thought about them splitting up. "Um, but how am I supposed to protect you." He said lamely.

Percy knew he had said the wrong thing immediately when her face turned a shade of red as she glared at him. "I can take care of myself, Jackson." she turned on her heel and stormed to her horse, got on, and urged it into a trot to the east gate.

Percy was completely lost as to what had just happened and stood there completely stunned.

"Let's get a move on, Jackson." Thalia urged him. "We want to get there before they do."

Percy snapped himself out of it and got on Blackjack. Thalia was already on her horse. Percy saw that his men were already assembled and waiting for his command.

"Can I catch a ride?" Connor asked in an innocent manner. "I'll be needed for the show." He added.

"Get on." Percy held out a hand. Connor gleefully took it and climbed on Blckjack behind him. Blackjack skittered nervously as though he wasn't that happy about having him on his back. "Move out, double time." Percy ordered. As they moved at a trot to the west gate, Rachael caught Percy's eye and gave him a smile. The whole way, Percy felt so confused and about Rachael being here and then there was Annabeth. What could he have done to make Annabeth so mad at him? Before long, they reached the west gate.

Percy helped Connor off, who immediately scampered up the wall, then he got off of Blackjack.

"He's too happy about all this." Thalia complained.

"Yeah, but he's really good at at."

"That was quite the stare down earlier." Thalia commented.

Percy looked at her. "Listen, Thalia, . . ."

"Here they come!" Connor yelled gleefully.

Percy and Thalia glanced at each other and then hurriedly made their way up the wall. Teebs was up there looking disgruntled at Connor. "Everything ready? Percy asked Teebs.

"They were better without him." Teebs grumbled as he glared at Connor, who seemed oblivious to Teebs comments.

They looked out to see a lush forest. To the south a large army was moving. "How many?" Percy asked the dreaded question.

Connor seemed to be counting each individual soldier. "One, two, three . . ."

"Give me that!" Thalia snatched the spyglass away and then put it up to her eye. "I count at least . . . fifty."

"There's way more than fifty men." Connor scoffed.

"Fifty thousand, you dolt." Thalia snapped.

"Fifty thousand." Percy said weakly.

"Don't worry, lad. We'll take out at least some of them before you have to engage." Teebs nodded to Percy.

"Some? We'll take out more than that." Connor boasted.

"Get your archers ready." Percy looked at Thalia.

She nodded back and walked along the wall talking to her archers, each who had a bundle of arrows ready to be fired.

Percy watched as the army walked slowly toward them, making sure to keep enough distance from the wall. The men were on foot and a row of men were several feet ahead of the army. Only one man was on horseback, and he was at the back overseeing the armies progression.

"Cowards lead from the back." Teebs spat as he noticed the same thing. "But he's smart."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Those men up front will be sacrificed for our trap." Teebs looked at him. "We won't be able to make much a dent here, just detour them back to the southern gate."

Percy studied the man on the horse. He wore shiny golden armor, like it had been polished to reflect the sun. Percy gripped his sword instinctively. Then he had a thought. He moved to find Thalia. He found her dead center over the gate. " Move your archers further south along the wall." He ordered.

"Why?" She challenged.

"Our trap isn't going to work as well as we hoped. Whoever is leading them, has men out front to set off any traps before the army gets there."

Thalia cursed. "Show me." Percy led her back down the wall where he and Teebs were. The men were almost on top of it. She took the spyglass from Teebs and looked through it. "Hyperion." She declared. "We need to move the archers." She said as she hurriedly left.

"That's what I said." Percy said lamely.

"What you got planned boy?" Teebs studied him.

"Not sure." Percy replied back.

"I swear, I know you." Teebs kept studying him.

"Where are they at now?" Percy changed the subject.

Teebs looked through the glass. "A few more yards." Archers rushed by them, quickly setting up along the wall, Thalia right behind them.

"Aim for the rear of the army." Percy suggested.

"Causing confusion." Thalia smirked. She turned and passed the information down to her archers.

The men were getting restless and making more noise than Percy was comfortable with. Percy got their attention by holding out a hand to show them to settle down. Luckily, they did.

"Here we go." Teebs grunted as he kept an eye fixed through the eyeglass. "Light it." He instructed Connor. Connor lit a torch with manic glint in his eye. "Steady. Steady." Teebs sounded like he was trying to restrain a wild stead. Then again that's probably what he was doing. Everyone waited with bated breath. The row of soldiers fell into the trench they had dug earlier. "Now!" Teebs roared.

Connor threw the torch over the wall. Everyone watched it tumble through the air, end over end, until it landed directly into the pit. A series of explosions went off, not as big as the production at the southern gate, but impressive in its own way. A fire raged in its wake. Percy knew without a doubt that the men in the trench were dead.

"Now." He ordered Thalia.

All the archers must have heard him as they stood as one and let their arrows fly. The army was in chaos as they tried to back away from the flames, but were being taken out by arrows to where they were running. The man in the golden armor on horseback was shouting commands at soldiers running around, trying to get them under control. Then somehow, almost as if he sensed Percy, he looked up and stared right at him. He pointed his sword directly at him as if challenging him, then he turned his horse around and ran, abandoning his men. The archers kept firing. The men below ran after their leader, several getting an arrow in the back as a result.

Percy couldn't watch anymore. He made his way down the wall. "We won't be needed for this battle." He told his men. "But there will be lots of opportunities to come. Report to the barracks and get some rest."

"Well, that wasn't an utter waste." Teebs walked up behind him as his men dispersed.

"Thanks to the archers." Percy reminded him.

"It was your idea." Teebs reminded him.

"I'm not sure if any of this is a good idea." Percy said as he climbed on top of Blackjack and made his way to the east gate. "Hopefully they will call it for today."