The Last // pjo

Chapter Eighteen // Birthday Blues

 "What was she thinking?!" Annabeth exclaimed as we ran toward the river.

Percy and I looked at one another–sharing a look of dread.

We had to run faster. This was our only option as the pegasi were gone, the Party Ponies had vanished, and traffic was a bitch.

"She'll never get through the defenses," Annabeth continued. "Peleus will eat her."

I had a feeling that Rachel would do what she wanted–dragon or no dragon.

"We've got to hurry." Percy glanced at Nico and Ric. "I don't suppose you could conjure up some skeleton horses."

"Nope," Ric shook his head. "We're out of juice for the day..."

I looked at him and realized just how tired he and his brother looked.

Concern filled me as we reached the embankment of the river.

I turned to check on them when the sound of horses neighing cut me off. A small pod of hippocampi had just broken through the water's surface–shaking the muck from the river out of their manes.

I grinned brightly as I waved to the biggest one and called, "Hey, Rainbow!"

He whinnied at me as Percy approached him, asking, "How's it going, buddy?" The hippocampi huffed a complaint, and my brother nodded guiltily, "Yeah, I'm sorry. But it's an emergency. We need to get to camp." Rainbow snorted. "Tyson? Tyson is fine! I'm sorry he's not here. He's a big general now in the Cyclops army."

The big hippocampi neighed–making me wince as Percy chuckled, "Yeah, I'm sure he'll still bring you apples. Now, about that ride . . ."

It wasn't long before we were flying up the East River–Ric's arms wrapped around my waist as the air whistled by our ears, sounding like screaming kids.

We finally made it to the beach at camp–thanking the sea creatures quickly before rushing up the shore to where Argus was waiting for us.

Ignoring the glowering from his hundred eyes scattered across his body, I demanded, "Is she here?"

He nodded seriously.

"Is everything okay?" Annabeth questioned.

Argus shook his head No.

We all followed him up the trail and back into camp.

Somewhere I wasn't sure I would ever see again.

And it was so peaceful and empty.

As we neared the Big House, I had to pull my attention away from the emptiness. A frown pulled at my face as I spotted the green light shooting from all the windows.

Mist swirled around the yard–the magical kind and Chiron lay on a horse-sized stretcher by the volleyball pit, satyrs fluttering anxiously around him.

I put a calming hand on Blackjack's flank as he danced around and cried, Don't blame me, bossette! The weird girl made me do it!

I shook my head, "You're okay..."

I turned my eyes to Rachel–who was standing at the bottom of the porch steps, her arms raised.

"What's she doing?" Annabeth demanded from between me and Percy. "How did she get past the barriers?"

"She flew," One of the satyrs replied–glowering at a nervous Blackjack. "Right past the dragon, right through the magic boundaries."

"Rachel!" Percy called–getting ready to stop her from doing whatever she was doing, but the satyrs stopped him.