Chapter Ten

The War of Magic

Amy woke up sputtering and shivering-they'd dumped ice-cold water on her.

"Amy?" Annabeth and a bunch of other campers were standing over her in concern-she was still next to the campfire. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Amy sat up, and the other kids backed away. Some looked terrified of her. "What happened? How long was I out?"

"Ten minutes." Annabeth gave her a hand up. "You just collapsed, then we got some water from the lake."

"Thanks." Amy swayed as black spots danced in front of her eyes.

"You just collapsed from exhaustion. Nothing to worry about. Go back to your cabin and rest. We'll talk about this in the morning." Amy was very glad to get some rest. Will wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her to the Hecate Cabin.

"You know, that was some serious fighting. You've got some useful powers."

"Mmm." She mumbled. They stopped in front of her cabin.

"Good night. Better get some rest. I have a feeling this isn't the end of Circe." He kissed her cheek.

She reached up and pulled him close. "I expect better good-night kisses than that, Will Florens."

"Well, maybe for tonight." She laughed and pressed her lips to his.

Shrill giggling came from the direction of the Aphrodite Cabin. She pulled away.

"Good-night." Then Amy went into her cabin and changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed.

The next morning Amy was shaken awake. Will was standing over her, a worried expression on his face.

"What is it?" She yawned.

"Circe. She Iris-Messaged us."

"Let me get dressed. I want to see." Will turned away.

"Meet us at the Big House. Chiron called an emergency war council." Then he left.

Amy brushed her teeth, combed her hair, threw it into a messy ponytail, slapped on some clothes, and sprinted to the Big House. The rec room door burst open as she opened it. The war council turned and stared at her.

"Ah. Good, you're here." Chiron nodded to her. "Circe has sent us a message." He took the hotplate and put some water on it. As the steam rose, a rainbow formed. Chiron tossed a drachma into the rainbow. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show us the message." An image of Circe and a small army of monsters appeared.

"A war will be fought to see who shall be the new goddess of magic-will it be me, or my mother Hecate? I will destroy all of Manhattan unless you fight. Today." Circe gave an evil grin. "I'll be waiting." The image shattered.

The council stared at Amy. Amy felt slightly baffled-her brain was slow-going. "So...if we stay here and don't fight, she'll destroy Manhattan and our camp."

Chiron nodded. "We need to fight and prepare for war. She has cleared Manhattan so that no mortal will be hurt." He turned to Amy. "And you will be leading us." The council immediately started to argue with him.

"She can't lead us into war! She's the newest kid here."

"She's, like, Greek, for Zeus's sake!"

"Yeah, she has denarii, not drachmas!"

"She defeated Circe last night." Will snarled angrily so that the council could hear him. "Can any of you do magic? Are any of you descended from Heracles and Perseus? Can you summon snow like Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen?"

A few of the members looked confused, but it was silent.

"Exactly." Will glared around at them. "I'm pretty sure none of you are descendants of children from every single god in Greek history besides Hera!"

You could hear snow drop. Well, you could if it weren't summer. Amy stared at the mist still billowing up from the hotplate.

"Then it is settled." Chiron nodded to Amy. "Now, prepare the campers for battle."

As the strawberry trucks carried the campers to the city, Amy noticed something-there was not a sound in the city. The brakes screeched to a stop, and the door opened. The campers climbed out from all four trucks and gathered in Times Square. "Okay, here's the plan-Athena and Hecate, stay here. You too, Percy. Hermes, guard and fight at the Empire State Building. Apollo, Hephaestus, Williamsburg Bridge. Demeter, Janus, and Morpheus, Williamsburg Bridge. Hebe, Aphrodite, Brooklyn Bridge. Everyone got that?" The campers mumbles in reply. "Okay. This is going to be tough, but try your best to kill those monsters. It'll be tricky with Circe, so don't try to mess with her if she shows up." She raised her sword. "FOR HECATE!" The demigods followed the cry, and it echoed off the empty buildings of Manhattan.

They stood around preparing for about three hours until the attack began. A horde of hellhounds poured into Times Square. Amy yelped as a hellhound pounced on her. She clicked her flashlight and stabbed it into its gut. A dracanae hissed and unsheathed it's claws. "Circe will be here ssssoon. Run, little hero, while you sstill can."

"Never!" Amy slashed at it and it exploded into yellow dust.

"Amy!" Will ran up to her.

"Will! Did you run all the way over here?"

"Yes! Circe's at the Empire State Building! She's defeating us!"

"I'll get over there. HEY, EVERYONE! GET TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!" Amy sprinted towards the Empire State Building with the rest of the campers following.

It was chaos. More demigods were falling than monster. Circe blasted away Alex Dramany away with a flick of her hand. Amy ran towards Circe. Circe turned and gave her an evil smile. She waved her arm, and explosions followed.