Percy
_
By the time they got here, it was too late.
Campers and Hunters lay wounded on the ground. Clarisse lost a fight with a Hyperborean giant, because she and her chariot were frozen in a block of ice. The centaurs were nowhere to be seen. Either they'd panicked and ran or they'd been disintegrated. It was just me, Killian, and Thalia left standing.
The Titan army ringed the building, standing maybe twenty feet from the doors. Kronos's vanguard was in the lead: the dracaena queen in her green armor and two Hyperboreans. But Kronos himself stood right in front with his scythe in hand. The only thing standing in his way was . . .
"Chiron," Katie said, her voice trembling.
If Chiron heard us, he didn't answer. He had an arrow notched, aimed straight at Kronos's face.
As soon as Kronos saw us, his gold eyes flared. Every muscle in my body froze. Then the Titan lord turned his attention back to Chiron. "Step aside, little son."
Hearing Alex call Chiron his son was weird enough, but Kronos put contempt in his voice, like son was the worst word he could think of.
"I'm afraid not." Chiron's tone was steely calm, the way he gets when he's really angry.
I tried to move, but my feet felt like concrete. Thalia, Zoe, Killian, Lee, Michael, and Katie were straining too, like they were just as stuck.
"Chiron!" Thalia said. "Look out!"
The dracaena queen became impatient and charged. Chiron's arrow flew straight between her eyes and she vaporized on the spot, her empty armor clattering to the asphalt.
Chiron reached for another arrow, but his quiver was empty. He dropped the bow and drew his sword. I knew he hated fighting with a sword. It was never his favorite weapon.
Kronos chuckled. He advanced a step, and Chiron's horse-half skittered nervously. His tail flicked back and forth.
"You're a teacher," Kronos sneered. "Not a hero."
"Alex was a hero," Chiron said. "He was a good one, until you corrupted him."
"FOOL!" Kronos's voice shook the city. "You filled his head with empty promises. You said the gods cared about me!"
"Me," Chiron noticed. "You said me."
Kronos looked confused, and in that moment, Chiron struck. It was a good maneuver—a feint followed by a strike to the face. I couldn't have done better myself, but Kronos was quick. He had all of Alex's fighting skill, which was a lot.
He knocked aside Chiron's blade and yelled, "BACK!"
A blinding white light exploded between the Titan and the centaur. Chiron flew into the side of the building with such force the wall crumbled and collapsed on top of him.
"No!" Thalia wailed. She ran to where Chiron's body was buried. She tried to dig him out but it was useless, he was nowhere to be seen. The rest of us still stood frozen as Kronos smiled evilly and approached Thalia as we struggled to get free from the time spell. It was like we were stuck in slow motion, forced to watch Kronos approach our friend helplessly.
With a great effort, I managed to pull out my sword. I let loose a scream and managed to drive the blade into ground as I broke free of the time spell. The earth shook, knocking Kronos and Thalia as well as the majority of both armies off their feet.
Thalia scrambled away as Kronos' gaze snapped towards me. It felt good to be able to move freely again.
"Impressive, brother," Kronos said with grudging respect, but his eyes gave away his anger. "You would have made a great ally but you turned out as foolish as our father."
I was about to respond when a loud howl echoed over all other noise, followed by a roar.
Suddenly the armies of Kronos began to part, forming an aisle down the middle of Fifth Avenue until at the very end, stood two figures draped in pure black armor. One rode on the back of the massive three-headed Hellhound Cerberus. The other rode on the back of a silver and black lion that seemed to glow with silver power. The two mythological animals strode down Fifth Avenue fearlessly. Every monster that hissed or dared to take a step in their direction was met with a spine-tingling growl from one of Cerberus' heads or the lion.
Most people stared at them in utter shock with the exception of Percy and Zoe who both smiled.
Nico smiled at them from underneath his skull-shaped helmet. "Sorry about the wait, you guys. Had a hell of a time choosing."
Bianca waved at them. "I borrowed Ajax, Michael!" she called. "I also sort of corrupted him."
Michael let out a laugh of relief. "You're alive!"
Kronos was not so happy, though. "Brats of Hades." He spit on the ground. "Do you love death so much you wish to experience it?"
"Your death," Nico began.
"Would be great for us," Bianca finished.
"I'm immortal you fools!" Kronos growled. "I have escaped Tartarus. You have no business here, and no chance to live."
Nico drew his sword-three feet of wicked sharp Stygian iron, black as a nightmare. "I don't agree."
The ground rumbled. Cracks appeared in the road, the sidewalks, the sides of the buildings. Skeletal hands grasped the air as the dead clawed their way into the world of the living. There were thousands of them, and as they emerged, the Titan's monsters got jumpy and started to back up.
From the shadows of the alleyways on either side of the Empire State Building came ghostly warriors. Girls in silver clothing with bows, warriors in Greek armor, people in army uniforms.
"HOLD YOUR GROUND!" Kronos demanded. "The dead are no match for us."
"Hail, friends," said one gigantic warrior. He was bigger than our 6'5 Titan-born, A.K.A Killian, both in muscle and in height. His helmet covered his face and he wore ancient Greek armor with an enormous spear strapped to his back. "Tis good to be fighting among like-minded people. And a fight for the ages this will be! Much better than our siege against Troy!"
"Agreed, old friend," said another warrior, this one wearing a cloak that covered his head under his armor. He was swinging a sword experimentally in his hands, like he was remembering the motions. "I had forgotten what it was like to hold a sword. Feels like yesterday I slew those suitors with Telemachus. I wonder if my bow is still around today?"
"Do not forget our pledge to the Mistress," said a third, also in ancient Greek armor. He held a harpe, a sword with a sickle protrusion along one edge near the tip of the blade. "She has promised us life again should we survive."
The giant warrior laughed heartily. "Forget that, I will not! It would be the greatest honor to serve her for all eternity!"
My friends and I all shared looks of confusion, but Katie and Michael looked excited.
"Survive this battle," Michael told them, "and serve in our house forever. We will honor the deal our wife has made."
Several of the warriors laughed with glee as they brandished their weapons.
Kronos, for his part, was equally confused and rageful. "What is this?" he yelled. "This is against the Ancient Laws!"
"So even you obey those laws, Titan Lord?" Bianca goaded. "I thought you were above such things?"
Kronos opened his mouth to retort but was stopped when the sky turned dark and cold. Shadows thickened. A harsh war horn sounded, and as the dead soldiers formed up ranks with their guns and swords and spears, an enormous chariot roared down Fifth Avenue. It came to a stop next to Nico and Bianca. The horses were living shadows, fashioned from darkness. The chariot was inlaid with obsidian and gold, decorated with scenes of painful death. Holding the reins was Hades himself, Lord of the Dead, with Demeter and Persephone riding behind him.
Hades wore black armor and a cloak the color of fresh blood. On top of his pale head was the helm of darkness: a crown that radiated pure terror. It changed shape as I watched—from a dragon's head to a circle of black flames to a wreath of human bones. But that wasn't the scary part. The helm reached into my mind and ignited my worst nightmares, my most secret fears. I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, and I could tell the enemy army felt the same way. Only Kronos's power and authority kept his ranks from fleeing.
Hades smiled coldly. "Hello, Father. You're looking . . . young."
"Hades," Kronos growled. "I hope you and the ladies have come to pledge your allegiance."
"I'm afraid not." Hades sighed. "My son and daughter here convinced me that perhaps I should prioritize my list of enemies." He glanced at me with a smirk. I felt a breeze of cold and glanced behind me to see Bianca grinning widely under her helmet. "As much as I dislike certain upstart demigods, it would not do for Olympus to fall. I would miss bickering with my siblings. And if there is one thing we agree on—it is that you were a TERRIBLE father."
"True," muttered Demeter. "No appreciation of agriculture."
"Mother!" Persephone complained.
Hades drew his sword, a double-edged Stygian blade etched with silver. "Now fight me! For today the House of Hades will be called the saviors of Olympus."
"I don't have time for this," Kronos snarled.
He struck the ground with his scythe. A crack spread in both directions, circling the Empire State Building. A wall of force shimmered along the fissure line, separating Kronos's vanguard, my friends, and me from the bulk of the two armies.
"What's he doing?" Zoe muttered.
"Sealing us in," Thalia said. "He's collapsing the magic barriers around Manhattan—cutting off just the building, and us."
Sure enough, outside the barrier, car engines revved to life. Pedestrians woke up and stared uncomprehendingly at the monsters and zombies all around them. No telling what they saw through the Mist, but I'm sure it was plenty scary.
Hades' expression turned panicked as he charged at the wall of force, but his chariot crashed against it and overturned. He got to his feet, cursing, and blasted the wall with black energy. The barrier held.
"ATTACK!" he roared.
The armies of the dead clashed with the Titan's monsters as Fifth Avenue exploded into absolute chaos. Mortals screamed and ran for cover. Demeter waved her hand and an entire column of giants turned into a wheat field. Persephone changed the dracaenae's spears into sunflowers. Nico slashed and hacked his way through the enemy, trying to protect the pedestrians as best he could. Cerberus was running wild through the swarms of monsters crushing them under his massive paws and snatching them up a few at a time in each head. Ajax the Nemean Lion swiped and sliced with his giant paws and snapped up enemy demigods in his jaws.
Hades looked into the barrier and locked eyes with Bianca, his expression pained. "Bianca."
Bianca smiled at her father, "Don't worry, father, I got this. I won't let you down."
"Surely not, Mistress!" the giant warrior shouted, stabbing a giant with his spear. "We will ensure your survival!"
"She is not the one we are charged with protecting," said the cloaked warrior. He sidestepped a demigod before cutting off their leg. "We are to protect the innocent. She is to fight the Titan Lord alone."
"Not alone," Michael said. His eyes glowed blue and a cold wind lifted his hair before a blast of ice and snow exploded from him. Monsters and enemy demigods alike were frozen in a five-yard radius. "Killian and I will go with her. Right, Killian?"
He nodded.
"Then go!" Thalia shouted. She sprinted up a Hyperborean's back like a gazelle, sliced her hunting knives across his monstrous blue neck, and created the world's largest headless ice sculpture. "We can handle the battle down here!"
"Please don't die!" Katie yelled. She screamed as she jumped out of the way of a laistragonian's club. He raised his club again and Michael and Bianca looked ready to lunge for the monster but froze when a golden arrow pierced the giant's forehead.
"I'll protect her," Lee promised. He notched another arrow and shot a dracaena through the eyes. "Go!"
"C'mon!" Killian grabbed Michael and Bianca and dragged them into the Empire State Building. I hoped that wouldn't be the last time I saw my friends.
