Gone Girl.¹

𝟬𝟮𝟯. monsters and bumper cars

"Like flies in amber," Jake murmured.

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

Amaryllis didn't blame the rest of the demigods for looking scared and nervous out of their minds. They were only forty and they somehow needed to protect the entire Manhattan with no outside help, it seemed pointless to even try. Clenching her jaw, she realised there was only one thing she could do to help the morale, even though she dreaded it for so long; telling them the truth about her father. Having two children of the Big Three instead of just one didn't make a huge difference, but still gave them an advantage over the enemy.

She also knew there was a spy amongst them, but looking amongst her friends from the Camp, she couldn't believe any of them was the one. Maybe she was being naive, or unnecessarily loyal, but she didn't care.

Percy must have sensed that she was about to spill the big secret, because he tensed up as she opened her mouth. "I have something to say," she started and everyone looked at her. "As some of you probably noticed already" she said, looking at Connor Stoll, "I've been acting a bit strange this year. That's because I learnt something about myself, something I... I didn't want all of you to know until the time was right." She saw Will, Michael and the rest of her ex siblings looking at her with curiousity and even worry. Amaryllis took a breath and collected herself. "I found out I'm... not a child of Apollo. I'm a daughter of Hades."

Everyone looked shocked and started murmuring to each other. But wasn't she claimed? How could she not tell us? She can't be a daughter of Hades. I thought she was about to say she was the spy. Is the Big Prophecy about her?

"How can we trust you then?" a voice asked.

"You can trust her." Percy took a step forward, wasting no second to defend her, which seemed weird considering... everything. "She has always fought by our side. She's a good warrior and a great advantage to our side."

"Kronos doesn't know about me," Amaryllis said. "We're counting on him getting caught off guard."

"What about the spy?" Katie asked. "If they're amongst us..."

"I'm tired of keeping secrets," she answered. "I took a leap of faith, I suppose, because I trust all of you. I've known most of you since I was a kid and I spent my last two years with you at Camp. What I'm trying to say..." she sighed. "is that the spy did the same. Forget the gods, don't fight for them. We're each other's real family. I'm fighting for you, because I trust you and all I ask is that you do the same."

No one had anything to say to that, but Amaryllis could tell from their eyes that they agreed with her. She naively hoped that the spy, whoever it was, had heard her speech and maybe looked things from a different perspective — the perspective of a girl that hated the gods, but was still determined to fight the war and be on the right side of history.

"All right," Percy finally said after a while. "We're going to hold Manhattan."

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

"We are going to hold it," he said. "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."