When the demigods returned back down, the reality hit them hard. Percy was left to coordinate the demigods and Annabeth helped as best as she could. His first order of business was to send Argus and the two harpies back to camp.

Before that, Argus handed Annabeth a large bronze shield. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary shield, but when she set it on the ground, its polished reflection showed the Statue of Liberty. Annabeth proudly boasted, "This was one of Daedalus' ideas! Beckendorf and I worked on this together. 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."

She concentrated and the image zoomed and changed locations. Central Park Zoo was clear, as were East Sixtieth past Bloomingdale's and Third Avenue. Finally, the image zeroed in on FDR Drive, overlooking the river at Lighthouse Park. She pointed, "This seems like a good vantage point."

Percy then remembered something and whistled. In an instant, Mrs. O' Leary came gambolling over. He stroked her black fur, "Hey, girl. You remember Grover? The satyr we met in the park? I need you to find him. Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!"

She loudly barked and bounded away on her mission. Then Harry clapped his hands, "Lads and ladies! Let's clear the mortals out of the streets first. Can't have them getting caught up when the monsters and Titans attack."

They all sprang into action and began lugging away civilians off the streets. The children of Hermes were useful in picking locks in residences and allowing their fellow demigods to haul the strangers in. Harry even transformed into his dire wolf form, to carry multiple people on his back. Though he did get a small kick at seeing the shock of all the campers seeing his form for the first time.

Pollux grunted as he dragged a particularly portly policeman, "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why only the mortals?"

A nearby Silena explained, "This is a huge spell. The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to put millions of mortals to sleep, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Targeting demigods is much harder."

Percy gaped at her, "When did you learn so much about magic?"

She blushed and grinned, "I don't spend all my time in front of a wardrobe. Also, my half-sisters, Fleur and Gabrielle are witches, and there's Harry, Bianca and Mackenzie too."

By the time they were done, night had fallen. Just then, Annabeth called out to Percy and he rushed over. She was still hovering over the shield and what it showed was a bit worrying. A fleet of a dozen speedboats raced through the dark water towards Manhattan and they were located at Long Island Sound near La Guardia. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armour. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped in the night wind, Kronos' symbol.

Percy ordered, "Scan the perimeter of the island!"

Annabeth obeyed without question, and sure enough more reinforcements were on the way. A Staten Island ferry ploughed 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 telkhines.

Meanwhile at 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 a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.

Then at Woolworth building, there was a literal army of short, fair-skinned beings marching out. Although they were all decked out in armour and armed to the teeth, Percy observed that they had long fingers and feet, dome-shaped heads, pointed noses and slanted eyes. The beings were also a couple of feet tall. Silena pointed with a shaky finger, "W-what are those things!"

Fleur Delacour peeped and gasped, "Sacre Bleu! Those are goblins!"

Harry transformed back and grinned, "Don't worry guys, they're on our side. I managed to get an audience with the king of the Goblin Nation and got him to help us. Hang on… I'll be back in a jiffy! Need to guide them here."

He sprinted away with the speed of a gazelle. Sometime later, he was back, with the goblin army right behind him, which was a thousand-strong. Safe to say, Annabeth and Percy were pretty relieved to find that the goblins were on their side. Harry spoke with someone, who Percy assumed was the general and the army soon split off.

Annabeth also studied the pictures on the shield curiously. She mused, "That's interesting. 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."

Percy guessed, "Kronos is probably slowing time."

Katie Gardner raised a hand, "How come all those cars are veering away from the Manhattan exits?"

Harry fielded that one, "That'll be my doing. Hecate temporarily granted me the power to cast a massive Repelling ward on the mortals. Can't have civilian casualties, can we?"

Percy breathed out, "Okay… We've got hundreds of enemies bearing down on us. There's about 70 of us, plus Harry and the Hunters, and now we've got a thousand goblins. I don't know if we have the numbers, because as far as we know, this is just the advance guard. We've got to hold Manhattan."

Annabeth piped up, "He's right. Harry strengthened some of the defences around Olympus with the help of Hecate. 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."

Michael Yew pointed out, "They have boats."

Percy acknowledged him, "Leave that to me. 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. Michael, 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! Connor – take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"

The Hermes cabin let out a collective groan, but Percy ignored them. He ordered, "Silena, Fleur, take your cabin to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The Holland Tunnel…. Beckendorf – take Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."

Just then, Harry interrupted, "Wait! Before you guys head off…"

He beckoned over to someone, and a pair of red-headed twins showed up, "Guys? I'd like you to meet Fred and George Weasley. These two are some of the biggest pranksters I know, and they can help with the traps."

Connor and Travis Stoll's eyes shone, though Katie Gardner was sceptical, "Really? Pranks? This is no time for pranks!"

However, Annabeth caught onto what Harry was suggesting, "No wait! I think that's a great idea! Harry told me that you two own a joke shop, right? Do you have any products that can be weaponized and made more lethal?"

One of the twins rubbed his chin, "Well… I think our Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs could be useful. They are unstoppable fireworks, which will explode if you hit them with a Stunning Spell. If you try to use a Vanishing Spell, it'll multiply by ten. Then there's our Miraculous Mystic Mayhem Makers…"

Annabeth smiled, "Excellent! How about one of you go with the Hephaestus cabin, and the other with the Hermes cabin. You can cause as much chaos as you want… Go wild."

Then, one of the twins turned and whistled sharply, "Oi! Harry! You got one of those mirrors, right? Tell Ron, Ginny and Hermione to man the shop for us and deliver the goods here! I think they can Floo to Remus' place and then make the deliveries."

He shot them a thumbs up and pulled out his mirror. Ginny picked up, "Hey Harry! How's the war effort?"

He grinned back, "We're still in the planning stages. Listen, I need a favour from you, Ron and Hermione. The twins want you three to run their shop for them, and the reason is two-fold. Firstly, they need to keep their business up and running. The second, and most important, we're going to need a supply of some products from WWW. The plan is to weaponize some of these joke items to be more lethal."

The redhead answered back, "You got it Harry!"

She then threatened, "Come back alive and bring my brothers back alive in one piece, or else I'll give you a taste of my Bat Bogey Hex!"

With all that done, Percy resumed giving out orders, "The Fifty-ninth Street Bridge. I want the Athena cabin stationed there. "

Annabeth nodded firmly, "Malcolm, take Athena cabin and activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position. Percy and I will stick around here, and we'll go where we're needed."

Harry raised a hand, "I've got the Lincoln Tunnel covered. The girls and I can handle that. The goblins told me that they will fortify Times Square."

Then he dug into a backpack that he had been carrying. He fished out multiple mirrors and began passing them around to the Head Counsellors. He explained, "We'll keep in touch using these. Just speak any of our names into the mirror and you can communicate with any of us for updates. Way simpler than Iris Messaging, and you won't attract monsters."

Annabeth then spoke, "Thank the gods! But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."

Percy glanced around at the campers, as well as Fred and George. He spoke, "You're the greatest heroes of this millennium. It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win."

He activated his sword and shield before banged the two together, 'FOR OLYMPUS!"

Everyone else roared, "For Olympus!"

Harry transformed and let out a ear-splitting howl before bounding away with the backpack slung loosely around him. As everyone left to go to their separate posts, Percy and Annabeth liberated a red Vespa from an unconscious courier. He mentally made a note of the building that it was parked in front of, just in case he had to return it after the war. Percy weaved in and out of the stranded cars, with Annabeth clutching him from behind.

She mused, "I'm glad that Harry got the idea of getting the pedestrians off the streets. It keeps them out of harm's way and it clears some space for us to move."

They did make a few stoppages to put out fires and rescue a runaway pram with a sleeping poodle. However, Annabeth asked him to pull over at Madison Square Park. She hopped off and ran towards a bronze statue on a red marble pedestal.

She breathed, "This is William H Seward, former New York governor. He was a demigod, son of Hebe."

Percy guessed, "Is the statue an automaton?"

She smiled, "Precisely! Turns out, most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here, just in case he needed an army."

He asked, "To attack Olympus or defend it?"

She shrugged, "Either one. This is Plan 23. He will activate one statue and it will activate its brethren all over the city until there was an army. I have Daedalus' notes. I think I can … Ah, here we go."

She pressed the tip of the statue's boot and it stood up, quill and paper ready. Annabeth clearly ordered. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-three. Defend Manhattan. Begin Activation."

A voice called out, "That's a handy trick!"

They nearly jumped, spinning around to spot a stocky redheaded man by the park entrance. He waved, "Hi there! I'm Charlie Weasley. I think you might have met by younger brothers, Fred and George? I can help activate some statues as well."

They followed him to a nearby building that had some stone statues. Annabeth murmured, "I don't think Daedalus' work covered stone statues."

Charlie fished out his wand, pointed it at the statue and chanted, "Piertotum Locomotor!"

Sure enough, the statue came to life and he ordered it to defend the city. Like that, he continued activating the stone statues, and the two demigods left him. Just then, there was a large ball of green light exploding somewhere over the East River. Percy and Annabeth booked it over there and parked outside Battery Park.

Percy asked Annabeth to wait for him and then dived into the water, where the Hudson and East Rivers merged into the Bay.

It took a while, and a few insults, but he did eventually get their attention. One of the river gods resembled a Telkhines and the other was more humanoid. They both began insulting each other, before ganging up on Percy when he tried to break up the fight.

Of course, nothing happened, and the river gods stared in shock. One deadpanned, "Son of Poseidon?"

Percy nodded.

"Took a dip in the Styx?"

"Yep! Now listen to me, Kronos' army is invading Manhattan."

The East God snapped, "Don't you think we know that? I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

The Hudson God agreed, ''Yep, I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters, too."

Percy requested, "Could you please stop them? Drown them, sink their boats! Anything!"

Hudson grumbled, "Why should we? So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

Percy suddenly remembered something. His dad had given him a sand dollar for his birthday. Both the river gods' eyes widened when they saw him take the sand dollar out and began bargaining. However, Percy had a better idea, he broke it in half. No sooner had be done so, that a ripple of fresh clean water began pouring out from it. The two gods whimpered and revelled in the clean water before taking their halves.

Then, they flicked a finger or waved a hand, before confirming that the invaders were all sleeping with the fishes. Back on the shore, Annabeth was talking to her communication mirror and she looked worried. She spotted him, "Michael Yew just spoke to me. Another army is approaching the Williamsburg Bridge. The Apollo Cabin needs backup. And Percy? The monster leading the enemy … it's the Minotaur."

After returning the Vespa, Percy did his best taxi cab whistle. In a couple of minutes, he could make out two familiar pegasi galloping in the air. Blackjack did complain about the wind gods nearly knocking them out of the sky, but he and his friend Porkpie were unharmed. Before long, they were flying towards the Williamsburg Bridge.

When they reached, the bridge was lit up by several fires. Cars were either upturned or burning, arcs of fire streaked from opposite ends, and spears sailed through the air. The Apollo campers were on the defensive, retreating and sniping back. Occasionally, they would rescue sleeping drivers and passengers and drag them to safety.

However, the enemy kept advancing menacingly. A phalanx of dracaenae led the charge, shields locked together, with spear tips sticking out. Of arrows would bounce off, except for the occasional lucky shot. However, more monsters advanced behind the phalanx. Occasionally, a hellhound or two would leap out and attack the campers. Most were vaporised by the arrows, but the relentless assault saw one hapless camp get dragged away screaming.

Then Annabeth got his attention and pointed. Right in the middle of the invading legion was Percy's old friend, the Minotaur. Last time they squared off, the Minotaur was practically naked, except for a white loincloth wrapped around him. This time, he was fully kitted up in standard Greek battle gear – a kilt-like apron of leather and metal flaps, bronze greaves covering his legs and tightly wrapped leather sandals. Finally, he had a massive double-bladed axe strapped to his back.

The Minotaur stopped advancing, sniffed and spotted Percy's party. He bellowed in rage and picked up a white limousine. The Minotaur threw the vehicle, but Blackjack dived out of the way. As he picked up another car, Annabeth and Percy were deposited behind an overturned school bus. With that, they wasted no time in flying away before they could come under attack.

Michael Yew jogged up, with a grin on his soot-covered ferrety face. He quipped, "Glad you could join us! Are there other reinforcements coming?"

Percy replied, "We're it, for now."

Annabeth looked around, "Where's your flying chariot?"

He shrugged, "Left it at camp. I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? You guys were right. It was pretty petty to fight over something that's not worth fighting about any more. Stubborn b*tch said it was too late. We'd insulted her honour for the last time or some stupid thing. I called her some names when she said she still wouldn't fight. I doubt that helped. Here come the uglies!"

He drew an arrow and launched it towards the enemy. The arrow made a screaming sound as it flew. When it landed, it unleashed a blast like a power chord on an electric guitar magnified through the world's largest speakers. The nearest cars exploded. Monsters dropped their weapons and clasped their ears in pain. Some ran. Others disintegrated on the spot.

Michael grumped, "Dang! And that was my last sonic arrow. Gift from dad. Loud music can be bad for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't always kill."

He gestured, and sure enough, the disoriented monsters were recovering. Michael began retreating, "We have to fall back. I've got Kayla and Austin setting traps further down the bridge."

However, Percy shook his head, "No. Bring your campers forward to this position and wait for my signal. We're going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn."

The son of Apollo snorted, "How do you plan to do that?"

Meanwhile, Annabeth nervously said, "Percy? Let me come with you."

He shook his head, "Too dangerous. Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I'll distract the monsters. You group up here and then you can start picking off monsters while I keep them focused on me. If anybody can do all that, you can."

Percy glanced at Annabeth, "Don't I get a kiss for good luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?"

She smirked, "Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see about it."

Annabeth unsheathed her knife and Percy stepped out, in full view of the approaching force. The Minotaur was the first to spot him and his eyes burned with hatred. He bellowed loudly, and Percy hollered back, "Hey, Beef Boy. Didn't I kill you already?"

The monster punched a hole in a Lexus, and a few dracaenae threw some flaming javelins. Percy easily knocked them aside and then a hellhound leaped into the attack. Percy side-stepped but hesitated slightly, as he remembered Mrs. O'Leary. However, he rationalised himself, that this was an untamed monster, so when it attacked again, he didn't hesitate.

More monsters surged forwards, but the stubborn Minotaur roared at them to back off. As they squared off, the monster unstrapped his axe, a beautiful weapon with its twin blades shaped like an omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The shaft was the same height as the Minotaur and it was made of bronze and wrapped in leather. Tied at the base of each blade, were a number of bead necklaces.

Percy's blood boiled as he recognised that most of those necklaces probably came from campers. Percy charged with Riptide raised and the Minotaur raised his axe to retaliate. He dodged a swing and sliced the axe in half, between the handholds.

Percy then spun and kicked him in the wet snout. The creature staggered back, but didn't get a chance to recover. Riptide slashed off one horn and then the other, in quick succession, and he snatched the axe for good measure. The bovine rage set in, but Percy was counting on that.

He sprinted for the cohort of dracaenae and broke through, heading for the edge of the bridge. Sure enough, the enraged monster barrelled after him and his monstrous minions cheered. However, at the edge of the bridge, Percy turned and wedged the axe against the railing. By then, the Minotaur couldn't stop his momentum and slammed chest-first into the blade with an audible crunch.

With a smug smile, Percy lifted his defeated opponent by the legs and tossed him off the bridge, disintegrating away. Then he turned to the rest of the army, who outnumbered him, 199 to one. Harry had sometimes teased him, saying that if he was a wizard, he would have been a Gryffindor. Sure enough, Percy decided to embrace his inner Gryffindor and charged,

From there, everything felt like a blur. He magically dodged a number of weapon strikes. A few attacks did hit him, but did no damage at all. Percy Jackson was practically a whirling dervish, slicing and dicing, slashing and stabbing. No enemy was safe from him, dracaenae, hellhounds, enemy demigods. In the background, he could hear Annabeth and Michael rally the Apollo campers.

Slowly, the enemy were pushed back towards Brooklyn. He didn't think that he would slow down, not even when Annabeth called out a warning. The only thing that gave him pause was when he saw the base of the bridge. The surviving monsters scrambled towards friendly reinforcements. The newcomers were about 30-40 demigods strong, and all on skeletal horses. They weren't Thestrals, as they had no wings. The lead horseman took off his helm, revealing himself to be Kronos. At that moment, Percy and his allies slowed their charge. He glanced at his friends, "Okay… Now we pull back."

The Titan Lord's forces charged and Percy's group retreated. The Apollo campers showered the enemy with arrows, bringing a few down, but they kept on advancing. Within seconds, they reached Percy, who ordered his allies to retreat. Michael and the archers tried to obey, but Annabeth stayed right beside him.

The enemy swarmed them, while Kronos himself leisurely strolled towards them. Percy and Annabeth stayed side-by-side as the enemy surrounded the couple. He knew that he was fighting fellow demigods and was trying not to kill them, and that made it harder.

They had almost reached the middle of the bridge, when a sense of foreboding entered Percy's body. Behind him, he heard Annabeth cry out in pain. He whirled around, calling her name, only to see her fall, clutching her arm. He glanced at the culprit, a demigod with a bloody knife.

He immediately pieced together what happened. The demigod had been trying to stab him, and judging from the position of the blade, he would have landed an incredibly lucky shot, right on his weak spot. Somehow, Annabeth intercepted the knife with her body.

Percy locked eyes with the demigod and noticed a familiar eye patch, Ethan Nakamura. In rage, he slammed him in the face with this sword hilt, denting Ethan's helmet. Percy slashed a wide arc, forcing the enemy to back off. He yelled, "Get back! No one touches her!"

Kronos chuckled darkly from his mount, "Interesting… Bravely fought, Percy Jackson. But it's time to surrender – or the girl dies."

Percy dug out his mirror, "Harry! Annabeth is down… I repeat, Annabeth is down! I need someone to get her to safety."

Harry's voice answered back, "I'm on my way, Jackson. Dobby! I need you!"

The connection cut off abruptly, and a moment later, Dobby the House Elf popped up next to Percy and a wounded Annabeth. She was a little startled, but Percy assured her that he was friendly. Dobby put a hand on her uninjured shoulder and popped them away, leaving Percy and the Apollo campers out there.

Kronos chortled, "You are full of surprises, Percy Jackson. Too bad that I have to kill you."

Kronos slashed at Percy, but the son of Poseidon met the strike with Riptide. The impact shook the entire bridge, but Percy stood his ground. In retaliation, he swiped Kronos' legs out from under him, sending his scythe skittering away. He tried to stab downwards, but Kronos rolled away and his scythe flew back into his hands.

The Titan studied him, "So, you had the courage to visit the Styx. I had to pressure Luke in many ways to convince him. If only you had supplied my host body instead … but no matter. I am still more powerful. I am a TITAN."

With that last word, he struck the bridge with the butt of his scythe. In an instant, a wave of pure force blasted Percy backwards. The force also blew back several cars and a few demigods. Most of the Apollo campers had almost evacuated, but Michael Yew was perched on a suspension cable. He had one last arrow notched in his bow.

He called out, "Percy! The bridge! It's already weak."

Sure enough, Percy spotted fissures in the pavement. Patches of the road were half melted from Greek fire. The bridge had taken a beating from Kronos's blast and the exploding arrows. Michael hollered, "Break it! Use your powers!"

Percy obeyed without question, as it was the only choice. He stabbed Riptide into the bridge. The magic blade sank to its hilt in tarmac. Salt water shot from the crack with the strength of a geyser. Percy pulled out the blade and the fissure grew. The bridge shook and began to crumble. Chunks the size of houses fell into the East River. Kronos' demigods cried out in alarm and scrambled backwards. Some were knocked off their feet. Within a few seconds, a twenty-metre chasm opened in the Williamsburg Bridge between him and Kronos.

When then vibrations died, Kronos' forces were left stranded. The Titan lord studied the problem. He looked behind him at the rising sun, then smiled across the chasm. He raised his scythe in a mock salute. "Until this evening, Percy Jackson."

He galloped away, followed by his warriors, and then all was silent. That was until he heard some flapping behind him. Percy whirled around to see a beat up Michael Yew, dangling from the claws of a bizarre creature. It looked like the unholy love child of an eagle and a horse. On the creature's back, he spotted Mackenzie Dursley cheerfully waving at him. She hollered out, "YOU'RE WELCOME, BY THE WAY!"

Blackjack came swooping in and Percy mounted the black pegasus. The horse whinnied, "Whoa Boss! What on earth is that thing!"

Percy shouted, "What's that!?"

She yelled back, "This is Buckbeak! He's a Hippogriff!"

Buckbeak then tossed Michael in the air and he landed on the hippogriff's back. With a caw, Buckbeak flew off, with Michael's arms around Mackenzie's waist to steady himself. Meanwhile, Percy followed with another child of Apollo, Will Solace, right behind him.

Eventually, both pegasus and hippogriff landed in front of the Plaza Hotel, which was serving as a make-shift hospital. There was a minor argument with a statue of Pompona, the Roman Goddess of Plenty, Silena was standing in the lobby and quickly ushered them in. Katie Bell and another Hunter, who introduced herself as Penelope Clearwater, guided the four to the elevators to the penthouse suites.

Upon reaching the top floor, the elevators opened up to see a massive dire wolf sitting on its haunches, waiting expectantly. The transformed demigod son of Artemis led them to the terrace. Sure enough, Annabeth was lying on a lounge chair. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat. Even though she was covered in blankets, she shivered. An older woman was tending to her, dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth.

Will and Michael got to work, along with the woman, who introduced herself as Madam Pomfrey. Will unwrapped Annabeth's bandages to examine the wound, and it looked gnarly. The bleeding had stopped but the gash looked deep. The skin around the cut was a horrible shade of green.

She spotted them and mumbled, "Poison on the dagger. For a child of Athena, that was pretty stupid of me, huh?"

Harry lay his head on her lap and her uninjured arm stroked his fur. Meanwhile, Michael breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank the Gods! The wound isn't so bad. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. Just lie still. Madam Pomfrey, could you give us a hand?"

Will cleaned the wound as Percy clasped her hand. The son of Poseidon tried not to wince as she squeezed his hand. Michael then put some silver paste over the wound and hummed words in Ancient Greek – a hymn to Apollo. Then he applied fresh bandages and stood up shakily. Then Madam Pomfrey drew her wand and murmured, "Episkey".

The wound began to close, and then the woman fished out a vial with a dark red liquid. She explained, "Don't worry, dearie, You'll be as right as rain in no time. Just take this Blood-Replenishing Potion to recover from the blood loss."

Annabeth drained the potion into her mouth, and made a face at the taste. Then the boys straightened up and consulted with Madam Pomfrey. Percy asked, "What is it?"

Will replied, "We might need some mortal supplies. Madam Pomfrey said that she might have some other things in her office, that may help."

He grabbed some stationery and scribbled something down, "Get someone from the Hermes Cabin to hit the nearest pharmacy and get some stuff. And I want to make one thing clear to them, NO. STEALING."

Percy grabbed the piece of paper and headed inside the penthouse. He spotted Travis and called him over before relaying Will's message. After he left, one of Beckendorf's sibling's Jake Mason, came over. He said, "I'm using Annabeth's shield to keep an eye on things. The enemy withdrew at sunrise; not sure why. We've got a lookout at each bridge and tunnel."

Soon, it was just Harry, Percy, Annabeth and Silena. The girl moaned, "We're screwed… Big time. I don't even know how much good I am at fighting."

Harry transformed back and hugged his pseudo-sister, "Come on mate. You don't mean that. Sure, the children of Aphrodite prefer to avoid conflict, but when it comes down to it, You, Fleur and Gabrielle are among the more competent ones."

Percy also spoke up, "You're a great camper. You're the best pegasus rider we have. And you get along with people. Believe me, anyone who can make friends with Clarisse has talent."

She suddenly started a little, and Harry caught on, "Uh oh… I know that look. You're about to do something that is either brave, or totally stupid, aren't you?"

She ignored him, "We need the Ares cabin. I can talk to Clarisse. I know I can convince her to help us."

Percy raised his hands, "Whoa, Silena. Even if you could get off the island, Clarisse is pretty stubborn. Once she gets angry –"

The three exchanged glances and Annabeth nodded weakly. Harry said, "Take one of your sisters with you, just as a backup. You can ride on Buckbeak. Mackenzie will teach you how to ride him."

She threw her arms around the boys, shot Annabeth a slight apologetic glance and rushed off. When it was just the three of them, Harry and Percy got busy making their recovering friend comfortable. Annabeth addressed Percy, "You're cute when you're worried. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."

Percy ignored his fluttering heart and Harry's sniggering. He firmly told her, "You are not going to die while I owe you a favour. Why did you take that knife?"

She retorted, "You would've done the same for me."

Then he and Harry shared a glance, and Harry inclined his head in her direction. Percy took a deep breath and asked, "How did you know?"

Her blonde eyebrows knitted in confusion, "Know what?"

Percy glanced around, but it was just the three of them. He said in a voice low enough for her and Harry to hear, "My Achilles spot. If you hadn't taken that knife, I would've died."

She got a faraway look in her eyes. "I don't know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where – where is the spot?"

Percy trusted her and Harry with his life and his secret, "The small of my back."

She lifted her hand, "Where? Here?"

Her hand touched his spine, and Harry gently moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded Percy to his mortal life. The boy breathed, "You saved my life… Thanks."