ｔｈｅ ｌａｓｔ ｏｌｙｍｐｉａｎ

MRS. O'LEARY SEEMED TO BE the only one happy about the sleeping city.

They found her pigging out at an overturned hot dog stand while the owner was curled up on the sidewalk, sucking his thumb.

Argus was waiting for them with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything. He never does. Lucia guessed that's because he supposedly had an eyeball on his tongue. But his face made it clear he was freaking out.

Percy told him what they'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.

"You'd better get back to camp," He told him. "Guard it as best you can."

He pointed at Lucia and raised his eyebrow quizzically. His gaze-gazes? falling on her cuffed hands.

"She's staying," Percy said.

Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."

"For what?" Percy asked.

Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much standard issue—the same kind of round shield they always used in capture the flag. But when Annabeth 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 them.

"Whoa," Lucia said. "The video shield."

"One of Daedalus's ideas," Annabeth said. "I had Beckendorf make this before—" She glanced at Silena. "Um, 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."

They crowded around as Annabeth concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so Lucia got motion sickness just watching it. They were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.

"Whoa," Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."

"What?" Annabeth 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 Gardner scolded."This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"

"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed.

Annabeth passed her 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," she said.
"Thank you, Argus. Hopefully, we'll see you back at camp . . . someday."

Argus grunted. He gave them 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.

Percy whistled for Mrs. O'Leary, and she came bounding over.

"Hey, girl," He said. "You remember Grover? The satyr we met in the park?"

"WOOF!"

"I need you to find him," He said. "Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!"

Mrs. O'Leary gave him a sloppy wet kiss. Then she raced off north.

"He's okay?" Lucia asked Percy.

"He is." He nodded reassuring her. She smiled at him.

Pollux 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," Lucia 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."

Percy stared at her. "When did you learn so much about magic?"

"Magic is the reason I don't feel like myself in my own skin." She replied, her voice almost sad. "It's the reason I can't tell what's real and what's not."

"Percy, Lucia," Annabeth 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 speedboats 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 the night wind. Lucia had seen that design before: the battle flag of Kronos.

Lucia recognized someone at the very front of the boat. His eye glinting with determination.

"Ethan," Lucia whispered

"Who's that?" Silena asked

"My boyfriend....." She made a pained face. Her head started to ache. She looked at Percy. Her face twisted in confusion. She asked "Real or not Real?"

Percy looked at Annabeth for help. Annabeth nodded, encouraging him to answer.

"I don't- I think real?" He frowned

Lucia looked down . It doesn't feel real.

"We have to scan the perimeter of the island," He continued. Though there was something in his tone Lucia couldn't pinpoint. "Quick."

Annabeth shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaena and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. At first, Lucia thought they were dolphins. Then she saw their doglike faces and the swords strapped to their waists, she 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?" Lucia asked. "Is the whole state asleep?"

Annabeth 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."

She showed them 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," Lucia said. "He's slowing time."

"Hecate might be helping," Katie Gardner said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."

Make them pay.

Lucia winced, Her hands coming to her temple "She is." She whimpered. "She's close. I feel it."

Make them pay.

Will stepped out from the crowd. His hand fell on Lucia's shoulder. His touch silenced the voice. She looked at her little brother, and everyone surrounding them. They watched her in concern. They cared. "You okay?"

Make them pay.

Lucia thought about Bianca, Zoe, Lee, Beckendorf...

oh, I'll make you pay alright.

"I'm sorry." She brushed off what happened. Calming her beating heart. "We need to focus. They're coming soon we have to organize. Kronos has this all planned out. We are completely surrounded"

Annabeth sounded really frustrated. "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.

Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."

Lucia turned to her friends. They looked stunned and scared, and She couldn't blame them. The shield had shown them at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were forty of them. And they were alone.

"He doesn't think we'll fight without the gods. Without anyone, Trust me I know. That gives us the advantage." Lucia announced, hoping her voice could give them some encouragement

"All right," Percy agreed. "We're going to hold Manhattan."

Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."

"We are going to hold it," Percy said. He looked at Lucia. "We have to."

"He's right," Annabeth 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," Michael Yew pointed out.

She looked at Percy, he finally understood Athena's advice: Remember the rivers.

"I'll take care of the boats," He said.

Michael frowned. "How?"

"Just leave it to me," He said. "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! Conner, 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!"

"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," He said. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."

Six Aphrodite girls kissed him on the cheek in excitement.

Lucia scowled "Enough" she demanded "We're in a war?!. shoo. Go get your Givenchy." 

Silena looked at her knowingly, "Come on girls, he's taken."

Lucia blushed, She looked away a scowl still plastered on her face.

"All right, enough!" He closed his eyes, he was trying to think everything out thoroughly. "The Holland Tunnel. Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."

He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. For Beckendorf!"

The whole cabin roared in approval.

Lucia nodded. for Beckendorf.

"The 59th Street Bridge," He said. "Clarisse—"

He faltered. Clarisse wasn't here. The whole Ares cabin was sitting back at camp.

"We'll take that," Annabeth stepped in, saving him from an embarrassing silence. She turned to her siblings. "We'll activate plan twenty-three along the way. Lucia, do you remember talking about the notes?"

"I do." Lucia nodded.

"Go with Percy," Annabeth said

I hate Percy Jackson.

She grumbled, "That's a terrible idea."

"Do you trust me?" She asked.

Lucia huffed, she rolled her eyes. "Sadly." She looked at Percy. "Is that fine?"

"Of course it is Luz."

Lucia didn't correct him, "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed."

Somebody in the back of the group said, "No detours, you two."

There were some giggles, and Lucia's eyes widened. She glared but she couldn't form a threat. She felt guilty at the way the comment excited her. She thought of Ethan.

"All right," Percy said, he pulled out what looked like Sally's phone. "Keep in touch with cell phones."

"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested.

He reached down, picked up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to Silena. "You do now. Memorize my number. If you need us, you can pick up a random phone. 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."

"If you don't remember, or there are no phones around you can call out for me too." Lucia insisted "I can still hear well with these on....I'll hear you. I've gotten really good at it."

Everyone agreed, letting out approving sounds or nods.

Travis cleared his throat. "Uh, but say if we find a really nice say phone—"

"No, you can't keep it," Percy said.

"Aw, man."

"Hold it, Percy," Jake Mason said. "You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel."

Percy cursed. He was right. A Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through that tunnel right now, and they'd positioned their forces everywhere else.

Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"

The demigods had never been happier to hear anyone in their 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.

"Thalia?" Lucia asked, knots unraveled.

a broken bow won't keep you down.

The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."

There were hugs and greetings all around . . . or at least Thalia was friendly. The other Hunters didn't like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn't shoot any of them, which for them was a warm welcome.

"Where have you been the last year?" Percy 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, Jackson."

"Complete lie," He said.

"We'll see," she promised. "After this is over, you, Lucia Annabeth, and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West 57th."

"Le Parker Meridien," He 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 Lucia had a feeling the Lincoln Tunnel would be safe for now.

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

"You're right," He said.

Lucia looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. She tried not to feel like this was the last time she'd ever see them all together.

Watching them Lucia couldn't understand how they could possibly be the enemy.

"You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," He told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"

They shouted in response, and their forty 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.

Percy and Lucia would've had their pick of cars, but they were all wedged in bumper-to-bumper traffic. None of the engines were running, which was weird. It seemed the drivers had had time to turn off the ignition before they got too sleepy. Or maybe Morpheus had the power to put engines to sleep as well. Most of the drivers had apparently tried to pull to the curb when they felt themselves passing out, but still the streets were too clogged to navigate.

Finally, they found an unconscious courier leaning against a brick wall, still straddling his red Vespa. Percy dragged him off the scooter and laid him on the sidewalk.

"Sorry, dude," Percy said. With any luck, they'd be able to bring his scooter back. If they didn't, it would hardly matter, because the city would be destroyed.

"Luz?" Percy called her

"Hm?" she asked waiting for him to drive off

"If you don't hold on. You'll fall."

"I can't?" She said with annoyance "I'm cuffed. Just go I'll be f—What are you doing?"

Percy got up from the Vespa. He moved to sit behind Lucia. His strong chest pressed against her back. He reached forward for the Vespas handles, trapping her in. "Now, You won't fall." 

She could hear the sound of his heart racing. The Vespa revved on.

I hate Percy Jackson

but now you're here- and I know it's stupid but now that I know you're in this with me I don't want to let you go ever again.

"Percy?" Lucia asked as they began to drive. They zigzagged down Broadway with their engine buzzing through the eerie calm. The only sounds were occasional cell phones ringing—like they were calling out to each other, as if New York had turned into a giant electronic aviary.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." She relaxed against him.

Their progress was slow, Lucia being handcuffed didn't help. Every so often they'd come across pedestrians who'd fallen asleep right in front of a car, and they'd move them just to be safe. Once they stopped to extinguish a pretzel vendor's cart that had caught on fire. A few minutes later they had to rescue a baby carriage that was rolling aimlessly down the street. It turned out there was no baby in it—just somebody's sleeping poodle. Go figure. They parked it safely in a doorway and kept riding.

They were passing Madison Square Park when Lucia said, "Pull over."

They stopped in the middle of East 23rd. Lucia jumped off and ran toward the park. By the time Percy caught up with her, she was staring at a bronze statue on a red marble pedestal. She'd probably passed it a million times but never really looked at it.

The dude was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed. He wore an old-fashioned suit—Abraham Lincoln style—with a bow tie and long coattails and stuff. A bunch of bronze books were piled under his chair. He held a writing quill in one hand and a big metal sheet of parchment in the other.

"Why do we care about . . ." He squinted at the name on the pedestal. "William H. Steward?"

"Seward," Lucia corrected. "He was a New York governor. It's the statue. The plan Annabeth told us to follow."

She struggled to climb on a park bench and examined the base of the statue.

"Don't tell me he's an automaton," Percy said.

Lucia smiled. "Beth said most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here just in case he needed an army."

"To attack Olympus or defend it?"

Lucia shrugged. "Either one. That was plan twenty-three. He could activate one statue and it would start activating statues all over the city, until there was an army. It's dangerous, though. You know how unpredictable automatons are."

"Uh-huh," He said. They'd had their share of bad experiences with them. "You're seriously thinking about activating it?"

"Annabeth said we needed to do it, And she explained Daedalus notes to me briefly this morning," she said. "I'm not as smart as her or anything but I think I can . . . Ah, here we go."

She pressed the tip of Seward's boot, and the statue stood up, its quill and paper ready.

"What's he going to do?" He muttered. "Take a memo?"

"Shh you Kelphead," Lucia rolled her eyes. "Hello, William."

"Bill," He suggested.

"Bill . . . Oh, shut up," Lucia told him. The statue tilted its head, looking at them with blank metal eyes.

Lucia cleared her throat. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-three. Defend Manhattan. Begin Activation."

Seward jumped off his pedestal. He hit the ground so hard his shoes cracked the sidewalk. Then he went clanking off toward the east.

"He's probably going to wake up Confucius," Lucia guessed.

"What?" He said.

"Another statue, on Division. The point is, they'll keep waking each other up until they're all activated."

"And then?"

"Hopefully, they defend Manhattan."

"Do they know that we're not the enemy?"

"I think so." Lucia shrugged "I didn't study the notes, Annabeth did. I trust her."

"That's reassuring." He said sarcastically, when he noticed her glare he continued "How did Annabeth—"

Then a ball of green light exploded in the evening sky. Greek fire, somewhere over the East River.

"We have to hurry," He said. And they ran for the Vespa.

They parked outside Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan where the Hudson and East Rivers came together and emptied into the bay.

"Wait here," He told Lucia.

"Percy, you shouldn't go alone."

"Well, unless you can breathe underwater...plus you can't even swim."

She scowled. "You are so annoying."

"Because I'm right? Trust me, I'll be fine. I've got the curse of Achilles now. I'm all invincible and stuff."

Lucia didn't look convinced, before she could even think the next words slipped from her lips. "I don't care. Please be careful. And come back."

His face changed " Do you realize what you just said."

She grumbled "Nevermind. I don't care what happens to you."

He grinned, and she looked at him in wonder. "Back in a flash."

He clambered down the shoreline and waded into the water.

he was gone.

Lucia cried, and she fell to her knees. Her head burst into pain.

camp half blood is the enemy

I hate Percy Jackson

I serve K—

'Lucia.' A voice called for her, she quickly realized it was her older brother 'It's Michael, Lucia if you can hear me we need your help. Another army is marching over'

camp half blood is the enemy

'Tell Percy, the monster...it's the minotaur."

camp half blood-

'Lu, can you hear me? we need you..."

camp-

"No!" Lucia yelled to the voice. "It's home."

silence.

Percy returned to shore. She looked at him and it was clear she was shaken, but she felt stronger than she had in a while.

"It worked," He told her. "The rivers are safe."

"Good," she said. "Because we've got other problems. Michael called to me. Another army is marching over the Williamsburg Bridge. My cabin needs help. And Percy, the monster leading the enemy . . . it's the Minotaur."