Stark's Deadly Daughter (S.P.N.D. Book 4)

Chapter 5: Freaking Demon Pigeons, Man. They Ruin Everything.

Almost immediately there was a loud nasty crack! I looked over just in time to see the Apollo chariot flip over. The Hermes chariot had rammed into it- maybe by mistake, maybe not. The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their good luck, but not for long. The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.

Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. Impressive.

I turned my attention back to the front. Percy and Tyson were making good time, pulling ahead of Ares, but Annabeth's chariot was way ahead of them. She was already making her turn around the first post, her javelin man grinning and waving at Percy and Tyson, shouting: "See ya!"

The Hephaestus chariot was starting to gain on them, too.

Beckendorf pressed a small, red button, causing a panel to slide open on the side of his chariot. "Sorry, Percy!" he yelled. Three bolas shot straight toward their wheels. They would've wrecked them completely if Tyson hadn't whacked them aside with a quick swipe of his pole. He gave the Hephaestus chariot a good shove and sent them skittering sideways while we pulled ahead.

"Nice work, Tyson!" I heard Percy yell.

"Birds!" he cried.

"What?"

That's when I saw the pigeons. They had risen from the trees, spiraling like a huge tornado, heading toward the track. I had tried to dismiss them earlier, but something about them keeps bugging me.

No big deal, I told myself. They're just pigeons.

I tried to concentrate on the race.

Percy and Tyson made their first turn, the chariot threatening to tip, but they were now only ten feet behind Annabeth. If I could just get a little closer, Tyson could use his pole....

Annabeth's fighter wasn't smiling now. He pulled a javelin from his collection and took aim at Percy. He was about to throw when the screaming began.

The pigeons were swarming- thousands of them dive-bombing the spectators in the stands, attacking the other chariots. Beckendorf was mobbed. His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming.

In the Ares chariot, Clarisse barked an order to her fighter, who quickly threw a screen of camouflage netting over their basket. The birds swarmed around it, pecking and clawing at the fighter's hands as he tried to hold up the net, but Clarisse just gritted her teeth and kept driving. Her skeletal horses seemed immune to the distraction. The pigeons pecked uselessly at their empty eye sockets and flew through their rib cages, but the stallions kept right on running.

We spectators weren't so lucky. The birds were slashing at any bit of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. Now that the birds were closer, it was clear they weren't normal pigeons. Their eyes were beady, red, and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze, and judging from the yelps of the campers, they must've been razor sharp.

"Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth yelled. She slowed down and pulled her chariot alongside Percy's. "They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!"

"Didn't want to say anything about this, Malfoy?" I shout, trying to get the metal birds away.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can't tell you the future!" she yells, getting annoyed.

Annabeth rode right next to Percy. She shouted, "Heroes, to arms!" But it was hard to hear her over the screeching of the birds and the general chaos.

I stood, grabbing my friend and my sister's hands, we managed to escape the chaos of the stands. Pulling Nightmare off my wrist, transforming it into a bronze sword.