Percy
_
We were eating lunch when several things happened at once. One was that Beckendorf appeared at Chiron's table in a burst of light. Then Bianca and Michael appeared from the shadow of a brazier. And finally, Hestia appeared beside Becknedorf in a flash of fire.
There was an immediate uproar. Silena rushed to Beckendorf and held him as he knelt on the floor. Will and one of his siblings slid to a stop beside him and began looking him over. His face was puffy, as if he'd been beaten.
Hestia held up her hand and an orange glow emanate from her. Almost instantly, campers calmed down. She waited until it was silent and everyone was looking at her. Then she began to speak.
"War is upon us, demigods," she announced. "My family is off fighting Typhon as we speak. My father, Kronos, now marches on Olympus as it remains unguarded. He will reach New York tonight. The city has been put to sleep to make his passage easier. You must take up arms and guard Olympus, protect it from the invading army."
"What will you do?" one demigod shouted.
"I will remain on Olympus. I am a goddess of peace. I do not fight."
"So we're to guard Olympus by ourselves, with no godly help, against the Titan Lord?"
Hestia nodded her head of dark, fiery red hair. "I am afraid that is what you must do. Prepare, young demigods. You will succeed together."
She burst into flame and disappeared.
"Counselors!" Chiron called before chaos could break loose. "You know what to do! Prepare your cabin! Prepare for war!"
It was a solemn journey to the Empire State Building. We rode in three white vans from camp. They said Delphi Strawberry Service, which was the cover name for Camp Half-Blood.
The first van was driven by Argus, our many-eyed security chief. The other two were driven by harpies, who are basically demonic human/chicken hybrids with bad attitudes. We used the harpies mostly for cleaning the camp, but they did pretty well in midtown traffic too.
The doors slid open and we all filed out. No one looked happy or excited for battle.
I did a head count: fifty-four campers in all.
Not many to fight a war, but it was still the largest group of half-bloods I'd ever seen gathered in one place outside camp. Everyone looked nervous, and I understood why. We were probably sending out so much demigod aura that every monster in the northeastern United States knew we were here.
Zoe came up to me. She was dressed in her normal hunters outfit with her knives strapped to her thighs and her bow slung over her back.
"How you feeling?" she asked.
"Terrified," I admitted. "I'm not the one for the prophecy, but I guarantee I'll still be targeted. Kronos is crafty. He'll know."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," she assured me.
I nodded, but didn't fully believe it. I looked around at the campers. They were staring between me and Bianca.
"Bianca," I called. Her head shot up. Her face was white with fear. "You're our leader now. What do you want us to do?"
Her mouth trembled as everyone turned to her.
Seeing her discomfort, Michael spoke up from beside her. "We've got to split up and play to our strengths. Each cabin needs to defend an entrance."
I nodded. "Lee, do you have it?"
The son of Apollo nodded. He rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and set it on the ground. It looked pretty much standard issue—the same kind of round shield we always used in capture the flag. But when Lee had set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty—which wasn't anywhere close to us.
"Whoa," Michael said. "A video shield."
"One of Daedalus's ideas," Lee said. "I had Beckendorf make this a couple days ago. Anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."
We crowded around as Lee concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so I almost got motion sickness just watching it. We were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.
"Whoa," Connor said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."
"What?" Lee said nervously. "You see invaders?"
"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brother. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Connor!" Katie scolded. She sounded like her mother, Demeter. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"
"Not even a little?" Travis tried.
"Nope!"
"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed. Lee passed his hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.
"This will let us see what's going on across the city," he said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully we'll see you back at camp . . . someday."
Argus grunted. He gave Bianca a look that clearly meant Good luck; you'll need it, then climbed into his van. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered the road.
Castor crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"
"This is a huge spell," Silena said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder." Everyone stared at her.
"When did you learn so much about magic?" Lilly asked.
Silena blushed. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."
"Percy," Lee called. She was still looking at the shield. "You'd better see this."
The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speed boats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped in the night wind. I'd never seen that design before, but it wasn't hard to figure out: the battle flag of Kronos.
"Scan the perimeter of the island," Percy said. "Quick."
Lee shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. At first I thought they were dolphins. Then I saw their doglike faces and the swords strapped to their waists, and I realized they were telkhines—sea demons.
The scene shifted again: the Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.
"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Beckendorf said. "Is the whole state asleep?"
Lee frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."
He showed us another scene—a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.
"Kronos," I said. "He's slowing time."
"Hecate might be helping," Katie said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."
"I don't know." Lee sounded really frustrated. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."
"Like flies in amber," Jake Mason murmured.
Lee nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."
I turned to the other demigods. They looked stunned and scared, and I couldn't blame them. The shield had shown us at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were barely more than fifty of us. And we were alone.
"All right," I said. "We're going to hold Manhattan."
Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."
"We are going to hold it," I said. "We have to."
"He's right," Michael said. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."
"They have boats," Yew pointed out.
"I'll take care of the boats," Michael said.
Lee frowned. "How?"
"Just leave it to Perce and I," Michael said, wrapping an arm around Bianca. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Lee, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to do, but keep them out of there! Luke, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis and Connor, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"
"Awwww!" the whole Hermes cabin complained.
"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."
"Oh my gods," one of her sisters said. "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."
"No delays," I added. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."
Six Aphrodite girls kissed me on the cheek in excitement.
"All right, enough!"
I closed my eyes, trying to think of what we'd forgotten. "The Holland Tunnel. Beck, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."
He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. C'mon!" The whole cabin roared.
"The 59th Street Bridge," Michael said. "Clarisse, we need you to go and defend there."
"We've got it covered, frosty."
"That leaves Lincoln Tunnel," Bianca pointed out.
"We'll take that," Malcom stepped in. "We'll activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like Lee showed us. We'll hold that position."
"You got it."
"All right," I said. "Keep in touch with cell phones."
"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested.
MIchael reached down, picked up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to her. "You do now. You all know my number, right? If you need us, pick up a random phone and call us. Use it once, drop it, then borrow another one if you have to. That should make it harder for the monsters to zero in on you."
Everyone grinned as though they liked this idea.
Travis cleared his throat. "Uh, if we find a really nice phone—"
"No, you can't keep it," Bianca said.
"Aw, man."
"We're spread so thin," Zoe said. "We don't have anyone on Queensboro."
Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"
I'd never been happier to hear anyone in my life. A band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.
The girl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head.
"Thalia!" Annabeth cried.
The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."
There were hugs and greetings all around . . . or at least Thalia and Zoe were friendly. The other Hunters didn't like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn't shoot any of us, which for them was a pretty warm welcome.
"Where have you been the last year?" Michael asked Thalia. "You've got like twice as many Hunters now!"
She laughed. "Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Triest."
"Complete lie," I said.
"We'll see," she promised. "After this is over, you, Percy, Zoe, Bianca, and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West 57th."
"Le Parker Meridien," I said. "You're on. And Thalia, thanks."
She shrugged. "Those monsters won't know what hit them. Hunters, move out!"
She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full form. The golden head of Medusa molded in the center was so horrible, the campers all backed away. The Hunters took off down the avenue, followed by their wolves and falcons, and I had a feeling the Queensboro would be safe for now.
"Thank the gods," Lee said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."
"Just leave that to me," Michael grinned.
I looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. I tried not to feel like this was the last time I'd ever see them all together.
"You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," I told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." I raised my sword and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"
They shouted in response, and our fifty-seven voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.
