𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑻𝒆𝒏

Percy narrowed his eye. "She'll do fine."

"I don't know. After that night, after we left his mom's house. Luke was never the same. He got records and moody, Luke he had something to prove. By the time Grover found us and tried to get us to camp... well, part of the reason we had so much trouble was because Luke wouldn't be careful. Ha wanted to pick a fight with every monster we crossed. Annabeth didn't see that as a problem. Luke was her hero. She only understood that his parents had made him sad, and she got very defensive of him. She still is defensive. All I'm saying... don't you fall into the same trap. Luke has given himself to Kronos now. We can't afford to be soft on him."

Ariadne looked out at the fires in Harlem, wondering how many sleeping mortals were in danger right now because of Luke's bad choices.

"You're right," Percy said.

Thalia patted his shoulder. "I'm going to check on the Hunters, then get some more sleep before nightfall. You should crash too." She looked at Ariadne. "You too."

"The last thing I need is more dreams."

"I know, believe me." Her dark expression made Ariadne wonder what she'd been dreaming about. It was a common demigod problem: the more dangerous their situation became, the worse and more frequent their dreams got. "But Percy, Ari, there's no telling when you'll get another chance for rest. It's going to be a long night—maybe our last night."

Ariadne didn't like it, but she knew she was right. Percy nodded wearily and gave her Pandora's jar. "Do me a favor. Lock this in the hotel vault, will you? I think I'm allergic to pithos."

Thalia smiled. "You got it."

Percy and Ariadne found the nearest bed. He laid on one side, and her on the other.

The boy looked at the brunette who sighed heavily. She leaned her head back against the pillow and shut her eyes.

"You okay?" he said.

"Just tired," Ariadne told him. The girl turned her head and gave him a small smile.

Percy shifted onto his side. He gave her a tired smile, his sea green eyes following as she did the same. They faced each other and listened to the other's heartbeat.

Percy moved a piece of her hair away from her face. She smiled. He closed his eyes. But Ariadne moved around, placing his arm over her, keeping her head tucked into his neck.

He chuckled. Percy smiled into her hair, pressing a small kiss to her foreheads. She made a small hum. The boy closed his eyes and smelled her vanilla and strawberry scent before drifting off to sleep.

But of course sleep only brought more nightmares.

Ariadne was with Ethan Nakamura at the enemy camp. What Ariadne saw made her shiver, partly because the army was so huge, partly because she recognized the place.

They were in the backwoods of New Jersey, on a crumbling road lined with rundown businesses and tattered billboard sign. A trampled fence ringed a big yard full of cement statuary. The sign above the warehouse was hard to read because it was in red cursive, but she knew what it said: AUNTY EM'S GARDEN GNOME EMPORIUM.

She hadn't thought about the place in years. It was clearly abandoned. The statues were broken and spray painted with graffiti. A cement satyr—Grover's Uncle Ferdinand—had lost his arm. Part of the warehouse roof had caved in. A big yellow sign pasted on the door read: CONDEMNED.

Hundreds of tents and fires surrounded the property. Mostly she saw monsters, but there were some human mercenaries in combat fatigues and demigods in armor, too. A people and black banner hung outside the emporium, guarded by two huge blue Hyperboreans.