The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

fourteen

A TRICK THAT ENDS IN DEATH

"Just relax the wing. Extend it and glide."

They fell like a rock straight toward the pavement three hundred feet below. At the last moment
Guido extended his wings.

Ariana saw the faces of centaurs gaping up at them. Then they pulled out of their dive, sailed fifty feet, and tumbled onto the pavement pegasus over demigod.

Ow! Guido moaned. My legs. My head. My wings.

Chiron galloped over with his medical pouch and began working on the pegasus. Ariana got to her feet. When she looked up, her heart crawled into her throat.

The helicopter was only a few seconds away from slamming into the side of the building.

Then miraculously the helicopter righted itself. It spun in a circle and hovered. Very slowly, it began to descend.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the helicopter thudded to a landing in the middle of Fifth Avenue.

Ariana looked through the windshield and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Annabeth was at the controls.

Ariana ran forward as the rotors spun to a stop. Rachel opened the side door and dragged out the pilot.

Rachel was still dressed like she was on vacation, in beach shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride.

Annabeth climbed out last.

Percy stared at her in awe. "I didn't know you could fly a helicopter."

"Neither did I," she said. "My dad's crazy into aviation. Plus, Daedalus had some notes on flying machines. I just took my best guess on the controls."

"You saved my life," Rachel said.

Annabeth flexed her bad shoulder. "Yeah, well . .. let's not make a habit of it. What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a war zone?"

"I-" Rachel glanced at Ariana. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble."

"Got that right," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some injured friends I've got to tend to. Glad you could stop by, Rachel."

'Annabeth-" Ariana called.

She stormed off.

Rachel plopped down on the curb and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to ... I always mess things up."

It was kind of hard to argue with her, though Ariana was glad she was safe. She looked in the direction Annabeth had gone, but she'd disappeared into the crowd.

Ariana couldn't believe what she'd just done saved Rachel's life, landed a helicopter, and walked away like it was no big deal.

"It's okay," Percy told Rachel, though my words sounded hollow. "So what's the message you wanted to deliver?"

She frowned. "How did you know about that?"
"A dream."

Rachel didn't look surprised. She tugged at her beach shorts. They were covered in drawings, which wasn't unusual for her, but these symbols Ariana recognized: Greek letters, pictures from camp beads, sketches of monsters and faces of gods.

She didn't understand how Rachel could have known about some of that. She'd never been to Olympus or Camp Half-Blood.

"I've been seeing things too," she muttered. "I mean, not just through the Mist. This is different. I've been drawing pictures, writing lines."