[act five; chapter ten - drakon]
Okay, listen. Andromeda didn't dislike Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but she also wasn't her biggest fan. Sure, they had a few things in common like their fiery red hair, they liked reading and music, painting. It was all really basic, simple things. But she also didn't want to have to be saving Rachel at the moment.
She could hear the girl screaming inside the helicopter. For some reason, she hadn't fallen asleep, but they could see the pilot slumped over the controls, pitching back and forth as the helicopter wobbled towards the side of an office building.
"Ideas?" Percy asked as Annabeth landed beside them.
"You're going to have to take Guido and get out," she said.
"What are you going to do?"
In response, she said, "Hyah!" And Guido went into a nosedive.
"Duck!" Annabeth yelled.
They passed so close to the rotors Percy felt the force of the blades ripping at his hair. They zipped along the side of the helicopter and Annabeth grabbed the door. That's when things went wrong.
Guido's wing slammed against the helicopter. He plummeted straight down with the boy on his back, leaving Annabeth dangling from the side of the aircraft.
Andromeda, who was still on the ground, threw her good arm out, vines breaking through the ground as they attempted to grab hold of the helicopter. She winced when the vines began getting split in half from the out of control rotors.
Percy was so terrified he could barely think, but as Guido spiralled he caught a glimpse of Rachel pulling Annabeth inside the 'copter, the blonde yelling something at Andromeda who nodded with wide eyes.
"Hang in there!" He yelled at Guido.
My wing, he moaned. It's busted.
"You can do it!" Percy desperately tried to remember what Silena used to tell them in pegasus-riding lessons. "Just relax the wing. Extend it and glide."
They fell like a rock—straight towards the pavement a hundred metres below, and he saw Andromeda watching them like a hawk, waiting to see if she needed to intervene. At the last moment, Guido extended his wings. Percy saw the faces of centaurs gaping up at them. Then they pulled out of their dive, sailed twenty metres and tumbled onto the pavement—Pegasus over demigod, barely registering the fact that vines had slowed their descent.
Ow! Guido moaned. My legs. My head. My wings.
Chiron galloped over with his medical pouch and began working on the pegasus.
Percy got to his feet. When he looked up, his heart crawled into his 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. Percy looked through the windshield and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Annabeth was at the controls.
He and Andromeda 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. Andromeda ran up to her and punched her quickly in the shoulder before muttering something under her breath.
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 shrugged. "Yeah, well...Let's not make a habit of it."
Andromeda flexed her bad shoulder. "What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a warzone?"
"I—" Rachel glanced at Percy. "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."
As the blonde walked away, the daughter of Dionysus clenched her jaw and sent Percy a sharp look with her amethyst eyes. "Well, just try and stay out of the way, okay? We don't need any more people dying today, especially a mortal."
Then she turned on her heel and walked away, trying her best not to show the pain in her shoulder as she cupped her good hand over it.
"Annabeth—" Percy 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 he was glad she was safe. He looked in the direction Annabeth and Andromeda had gone, but they'd both disappeared into the crowd. He couldn't believe what Annabeth had 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 his words sounded hollow. "So what's the message you wanted to deliver?"
She frowned. "How did you know about that?"
"A dream."
He could almost hear a mumbled comment that Andromeda would make in the back of his mind. Something about how they dream about each other.
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 he recognized: Greek letters, pictures from camp beads, sketches of monsters and faces of gods. He 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—"
"In Ancient Greek," Percy said. "Do you know what they say?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping...well, if you had gone with us on vacation, I was hoping you could have helped me figure out what's happening to me."
She looked at him pleadingly. Her face was sunburnt from the beach. Her nose was peeling. He couldn't get over the shock that she was here in person. She'd forced her family to cut short their vacation, agreed to go to a horrible school and flown a helicopter into a monster battle just to see him. In her own way, she was as brave as Annabeth and Andromeda.
But what was happening to her with these visions really freaked him out. Maybe it was something that happened to all mortals who could see through the Mist. But his mom had never talked about anything like that. And Hestia's words about Luke's mom kept coming back to him: May Castellan went too far. She tried to see too much.
"Rachel," Percy said, "I wish I knew. Maybe we should ask Chiron. Or Andromeda, she's good with this stuff—"
She flinched like she'd got an electric shock. "Percy, something is about to happen. A trick that ends in death."
"What do you mean? Whose death?"
"I don't know." She looked around nervously. "Don't you feel it?"
"Is that the message you wanted to tell me?"
"No." She hesitated. "I'm sorry. I'm not making sense, but that thought just came to me. The message I wrote on the beach was different. It had your name in it."
"Perseus," he remembered. "In Ancient Greek."
Rachel nodded. "I don't know its meaning. But I know it's important. You have to hear it. It said: Perseus, you are not the hero."
He stared at her like she'd just slapped him. "You came thousands of miles to tell me I'm not the hero?"
"It's important," she insisted. "It will affect what you do."
"Not the hero of the prophecy?" Percy asked. "Not the hero who defeats Kronos? What do you mean?"
"I'm—I'm sorry, Percy. That's all I know. I had to tell you because—"
"Well!" Chiron cantered over with Donnie now at his side. "This must be Miss Dare."
Percy wanted to yell at them to go away, but of course he couldn't. He tried to get his emotions under control. He felt like he had another personal hurricane swirling around him.
"Chiron—Rachel Dare," he said. "Rachel—this is my teacher Chiron. And you already know Donnie."
"Hello," Rachel said glumly. She didn't look at all surprised that Chiron was a centaur.
"You are not asleep, Miss Dare," he noticed. "And yet you are mortal?"
"I'm mortal," she agreed, like it was a depressing thought. "The pilot fell asleep as soon as we passed the river. I don't know why I didn't. I just knew I had to be here, to warn Percy."
"Warn Percy?"
"She's been seeing things," Percy said. "Writing lines and making drawings."
Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Tell me."
She told him the same things she'd told Percy, except her face paled again and she glanced at the son of Dionysus quizzically. "There was one more thing, though. Another name, um Adonis Aurelius. It was written besides Percy's name, but it kept tying back to Fate. I don't—I don't know what it means."
Chiron stroked his beard and spared Donnie a worried glance. "Miss Dare...perhaps we should talk."
"Chiron," Percy blurted. He had a sudden terrible image of Camp Half-Blood in the 1990s, and May Castellan's scream coming from that attic from a dream he had. "You—you'll help Rachel, right? I mean, you'll warn her that she's got to be careful with this stuff. Don't go too far."
His tail flicked like it does when he's anxious. "Yes, Percy. I will do my best to understand what is happening and advise Miss Dare, but this may take some time. Adonis will accompany me. Meanwhile, you should rest. We've moved your parents' car to safety. The enemy seems to be staying put for now. We've set up bunks in the Empire State Building. Get some sleep."
"Everybody keeps telling me to sleep," he grumbled. "I don't need sleep."
Chiron managed a smile. "Have you looked at yourself recently, Percy?"
Percy glanced down at his clothes, which were scorched, burnt, sliced and tattered from his night of constant battles. "I look like death," he admitted. "But you think I can sleep after what just happened?"
"You may be invulnerable in combat," Chiron chided, "but that only makes your body tire faster. I remember Achilles. Whenever that lad wasn't fighting he was sleeping. He must've taken twenty naps a day. You, Percy, need your rest. You may be our only hope."
He couldn't help it, really, he couldn't. Whenever he heard the name Achilles, he couldn't help but let his mind drift to Andromeda and the words 'Aristos Achaion'.
The other part of Percy wanted to complain that he wasn't their only hope. According to Rachel, he wasn't even the hero. But the look in Chiron's eyes made it clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Sure," he grumbled. "Talk."
He trudged towards the Empire State Building. When he glanced back, Rachel, Donnie, and Chiron were walking together in earnest conversation, like they were discussing funeral arrangements.
Inside the lobby, Percy found an empty bunk and collapsed, sure that he would never be able to sleep. A second later, his eyes closed.
—🍇—
The first dream Percy had, didn't seem so much like a dream, but more like a glimpse into something that hadn't yet happened.
He recognized her immediately—her fiery curls, her amethyst eyes, her familiar freckles that connected like constellations, or one of the rotating pairs of Converse on her feet. Andromeda Storm had never looked so angry or broken or tired. There were dark circles under her eyes that had never seemed so dull. Her skin was pale, and she looked like she was on the brink of chaos. The grey streak in her hair seemed even more prominent.
She was standing in the hall of the gods on Olympus, dressed in black denim overalls, red Chuck Converse, and a white t-shirt underneath. She had bruises sporadically covering her arms, almost like she had been gripping them so hard when they were crossed that there were marks left behind. She pointed at the gods—Zeus and Hera specifically—with a deadly glare on her face.
"Don't you sit there and tell me you were on my side! You were never on my side!" She yelled at them, her voice cracking. "You're just a bunch of self-absorbed, power hungry liars!"
Zeus clapped his hands down on the armrests of his throne as he got to his feet. "You will not speak to me that way!"
"I will speak to you in any way that I please!" Andromeda's voice boomed around the chamber. Her jaw was set, and her expression was hard, as well as her voice direct. "Tell me, now. Tell me where he is, or so help me—I will tear the world apart till I find him myself."
"You bluff." The god told her.
A wicked grin appeared on her face. "Try me, Lord Zeus. If I don't know where he is within the next week, this hall will be the first to go."
—🍇—
The sound of a Drakon's roar is what woke Percy from his second dream.
Grover stood next to him, looking nervous. "What was that?"
"They're coming,' Percy told him. "And we're in trouble."
The Hephaestus cabin was out of Greek fire. The Apollo cabin and the Hunters were scrounging for arrows. Most of them had already ingested so much ambrosia and nectar they didn't dare take any more.
They had sixteen campers, fifteen Hunters and half a dozen satyrs left in fighting shape, not counting Andromeda who had been force fed ambrosia and nectar to help with her shoulder. Every time she would wobble back to her feet, and keep going. The rest had taken refuge on Olympus. The Party Ponies tried to form ranks, but they staggered and giggled and they all smelled like root beer. The Texans were head-butting the Coloradoans. The Missouri branch was arguing with Illinois. The chances were pretty good the whole army would end up fighting each other rather than the enemy.
Chiron trotted up with Rachel on his back. Percy felt a twinge of annoyance, because Chiron rarely gave anyone a ride, and never a mortal. He assumed that Donnie was up on Olympus with the others, seeing as he wasn't there with Chiron.
"Your friend here has some useful insights, Percy," he said.
Rachel blushed. "Just some things I saw in my head."
"A drakon," Chiron said. "A Lydian drakon, to be exact. The oldest and most dangerous kind."
Percy stared at her. "How did you know that?"
"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted. "But this drakon has a particular fate. It will be killed by a child of Ares."
Annabeth crossed her arms. "How can you possibly know that?"
"I just saw it. I can't explain."
Andromeda grumbled, "And that makes sense."
Annabeth elbowed her in the gut, looking at her with a confused expression. "You literally dream about these things, too, legacy of Apollo."
The redhead pouted, and Percy had to look away.
"Well, let's hope you're wrong," he said. "Because we're a little short on children of Ares..."
A horrible thought occurred to him, and he cursed in Ancient Greek.
"What?" Annabeth asked.
"The spy," Percy told her. "Kronos said, "We know they cannot beat this drakon." The spy has been keeping him updated. Kronos knows the Ares cabin isn't with us. He intentionally picked a monster we can't kill."
Thalia scowled. "If I ever catch your spy, he's going to be very sorry. Maybe we could send another messenger to camp—"
"I've already done it," Chiron said. "Blackjack is on his way. But if Silena wasn't able to convince Clarisse, I doubt Blackjack will be able—"
A roar shook the ground. It sounded very close.
"Rachel," Percy said, "get inside the building."
"I want to stay."
A shadow blotted out the sun. Across the street, the drakon slithered down the side of a skyscraper. It roared and a thousand windows shattered.
"On second thoughts," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."
Let Percy explain: there are dragons, and then there are drakons.
Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents. Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyse you—not the turn you to stone Medusa-type paralysis, but the oh my gods that big snake is going to eat me type of paralysis, which is just as bad.
They have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare yourself for a fifty-metre-long serpent as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants. At camp, Clarisse and Andromeda had made a game out of seeing who could beat it. Currently, they are tied 3:3.
It almost made Percy long for the flying pig.
Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. They'd done their best to push cars out of the way to keep the mortals safe, but that just made it easier for their enemies to approach. The Party Ponies swished their tails nervously. Chiron galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tough and think about victory and root beer, but the son of Poseidon figured any second they would panic and run.
"I'll take the drakon." His voice came out as a timid squeak. Then he yelled louder: 'I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"
Annabeth stood next to him, to his left. She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but he could tell her eyes were red. To his right was Andromeda had her own helmet pulled down low over her face, a dark purple plume on the top. Her armour was covered in blood and grime, as was the rest of her, and Mania was in her good hand. She noticed his glance at the weapon and grinned, whispering, "The best sword-fighters know how to fight with both hands."
"Will you help me?" Percy asked them.
"That's what I do," Annabeth said miserably. "I help my friends."
He looked at Andromeda who shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do. Might as well make sure you don't go and get yourself killed."
He felt like a complete jerk. He wanted to pull her aside and explain that he didn't mean for Rachel to be here, that it wasn't his idea, but they had no time.
"Go invisible," Percy said to Annabeth. "Look for weak links in its armour while Lea and I keep it busy. Just be careful." He whistled. "Mrs O'Leary, heel!"
"ROOOF!" His hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave him a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza, and nuzzled her massive head into Andromeda's torso.
He glanced over at Andromeda again, and pressed a kiss to the metal that covered her nose. "We stay together, yeah?"
She nodded and clinked the blade of Mania against his armoured side. "You and me." She glanced around and smirked, "And Annabeth somewhere."
Percy drew his sword and together they charged the monster.
The drakon was three stories above them, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up their forces. Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear.
From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies and our lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before Percy and Andromeda could even get close.
Mrs O'Leary launched herself through the air—a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws. Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon Mrs O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll.
Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat, but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk—hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.
"YAAAH!" Percy plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but he rolled aside, just as Andromeda took up the spot he had just been.
Just as it came down to strike, the redhead brought Mania up with both arms, letting out a yell as she pushed against its massive head all on her own. Percy didn't know how she did it—held up the weight of the creature's head with one bad arm, and a good one, all while gripping her sword and staying alive. Then she did something he had never seen anyone do before...she fought like a different person. She released Mania from her grip and dropped down, rolling, and as she came back onto her feet in a crouch, she drove the bronze and gold blade directly into the side of the Drakon's neck, keeping herself at a close distance before moving away.
It bit a swimming-pool-sized chunk out of the pavement. It turned towards Andromeda and then Percy with its good eye and the boy focused on its teeth so he wouldn't get paralysed. Mrs O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like a really angry black wig.
The rest of the battle wasn't going well. Centaurs panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but it quickly disappeared. Arrows screamed. Fire exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. They were losing ground.
Suddenly Annabeth materialised on the drakon's back. Her invisibility cap rolled off her head as she drove her bronze knife between a chink in the serpent's scales.
The drakon roared. It coiled around, knocking Annabeth off its back.
Andromeda reached her just as she hit the ground. She dragged the blonde out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.
"Thanks," she said.
Somewhere near them, Percy yelled, "I told you to be careful!"
"Would you two not start with this!" Andromeda whined.
"Yeah, well—DUCK!"
It was her turn to save them. She shoved Andromeda, hard, and the redhead fell back onto Percy, practically tackling him as the monster's teeth snapped above his head. Mrs O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention and the three rolled out of the way.
Meanwhile, their allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them.
They were out of options. No more help was coming. Annabeth, Andromeda, and Percy would have to retreat before they were cut off from Mount Olympus.
Then they heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but Percy recognized it immediately: chariot wheels.
A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!"
A cold, bitter shiver ran across Andromeda's entire body. She figured the hairs on her arms stood up at the familiar feeling. The last time she had felt that feeling...was minutes, if not less, before her mother was killed right in front of her.
And a dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with the symbol of the wild boar's head. Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armour gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one—making a bristling wall of death.
"The children of Ares!" Annabeth said in amazement. "How did Rachel know?"
Andromeda stayed quiet, dread blanketing her in its cold, dark hold.
Percy, too, did not have an answer. But leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armour, her face covered by a boar's head helm. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. Clarisse herself had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon.
The serpent reared back and managed to throw off Mrs O'Leary. His poor pet hit the side of the building with a yelp. He ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat, and he was stopped when Andromeda wrapped her arms—yes, both of them—around his waist. Even with only one eye, the drakon's glare was enough to paralyse two chariot drivers. They veered into a line of cars. The other four chariots kept charging. The monster bared its fangs to strike and got a mouthful of celestial bronze javelins.
"EEESSSSS!" it screamed, which was probably drakon for OWWWW!
"Ares, to me!" Clarisse screamed. Her voice sounded shriller than usual, but Percy guessed that wasn't surprising given what she was fighting.
Across the street, the arrival of six chariots gave the Party Ponies new hope. They rallied at the doors of the Empire State Building, and the enemy army was momentarily thrown into confusion.
Meanwhile, Clarisse's chariots circled the drakon. Lances broke against the monster's skin. Skeletal horses breathed fire and whinnied. Two more chariots overturned, but the warriors simply leaped to their feet, drew their swords and went to work. They hacked at chinks in the creature's scales. They dodged poison spray like they'd been training for this all their lives, which of course they had.
No one could say the Ares campers weren't brave. Clarisse was right there in front, stabbing her spear at the drakon's face, trying to put out its other eye. But, as they watched, things started to go wrong. The drakon snapped up one Ares camper in a gulp. It knocked aside another and sprayed poison on a third, who retreated in a panic, his armour melting.
"We have to help," Annabeth said, her eyes drilling into the side of Andromeda's head.
She was right. They'd just been standing there frozen in amazement. Mrs O'Leary tried to get up but yelped again. One of her paws was bleeding.
"Stay back, girl," Percy told her. "You've done enough already."
Annabeth and Percy jumped onto the monster's back and ran towards its head, trying to draw its attention away from Clarisse, while Andromeda ran towards the daughter of Ares, a sick feeling in her gut.
Clarisse's cabin mates threw javelins, most of which broke, but some lodged in the monster's teeth. It snapped its jaws together until its mouth was a mess of green blood, yellow foamy poison and splintered weapons.
"You can do it!" Percy screamed at Clarisse. "A child of Ares is destined to kill it!"
Through her war helmet, he could only see her eyes—but he could tell something was wrong. Her blue eyes shone with fear. Clarisse never looked like that. And she didn't have blue eyes.
"ARES!" she shouted, in that strangely shrill voice. She levelled her spear and charged the drakon.
"No," he muttered. "WAIT!"
Just across from him, Andromeda running towards her and the drakon, she screamed, "STOP!" And the name that she yelled nearly shattered his heart, though no one else seemed to have heard it. "SILENA!"
But the monster looked down at the supposed daughter of Ares—almost in contempt—and spat poison directly in her face.
She screamed and fell.
"Clarisse!" Annabeth jumped off the monster's back and ran to help while the other Ares campers tried to defend their fallen counsellor.
Percy drove Riptide between two of the creature's scales and managed to turn its attention on me.
He got thrown but he landed on his feet. "C'MON, you stupid worm! Look at me!"
For the next several minutes, all he saw were teeth. He retreated and dodged poison, but he couldn't hurt the thing.
At the edge of his vision, he saw a flying chariot land on Fifth Avenue.
Then someone ran towards them. A girl's voice, shaken with grief, cried, "NO! Curse you, WHY?"
He dared to glance over, but what he saw made no sense. Clarisse was lying on the ground where she'd fallen. Her armour smoked with poison. Annabeth and the Ares campers were trying to unfasten her helmet. And kneeling next to them, her face blotchy with tears, was a girl in camp clothes. It was...Clarisse. Andromeda was crouched at the girl's head, her hands cupping her shoulders with a light glow as she murmured hymns to Apollo.
Percy's head spun. Why hadn't he noticed before? The girl in Clarisse's armour was much thinner, not as tall. But why would someone pretend to be Clarisse?
He was so stunned the drakon almost snapped him in half. He dodged and the beast buried its head in a brick wall.
"WHY?" the real Clarisse demanded, holding the other girl in her arms while the campers struggled to remove the poison-corroded helmet.
Chris Rodriguez ran over from the flying chariot. He and Clarisse must've ridden it here from camp, chasing the Ares campers, who'd mistakenly been following the other girl, thinking she was Clarisse. But it still made no sense.
Briefly, Percy remembered the story of Patroclus, a Greek man who had charged into battle dressed as Achilles, an act that resulted in his death. He had heard the entirety of the story from Andromeda one night after dinner while they sat on Half-Blood Hill.
The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.
"Look out!" Chris warned.
Instead of turning towards Percy, the drakon whirled towards the sound of Chris's voice. It bared its fangs at the group of demigods.
The real Clarisse looked up at the drakon. Her face filled with absolute hate.
He'd seen a look that intense only once before. Her father Ares had worn the same expression when I'd fought him in single combat.
"YOU WANT DEATH?" Clarisse screamed at the drakon. "WELL, COME ON!"
She grabbed her spear from the fallen girl. With no armour or shield, she charged the drakon.
Percy tried to close the distance to help, but Clarisse was faster. She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverising the ground in front of her. Then she jumped onto the creature's head. As it reared up, she drove her electric spear into its good eye with so much force it shattered the shaft, releasing all of the magic weapon's power.
Electricity arced across the creature's head, causing its whole body to shudder. Clarisse jumped free, rolling safely to the sidewalk as smoke boiled from the drakon's mouth. The drakon's flesh dissolved, and it collapsed into a hollow scaly tunnel of armour.
The rest of them stared at Clarisse in awe. Percy had never seen anyone take down such a huge monster single-handedly. But Clarisse didn't seem to care. She ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armour.
Finally, Annabeth managed to remove the girl's helmet, and Andromeda moved her hands to the girl's head, continuing to try and heal her. They all gathered around—the Ares campers, Chris, Clarisse, Andromeda, Annabeth, and Percy. The battle still raged along Fifth Avenue, but for that moment nothing existed except their small circle and the fallen girl.
Her features, once beautiful, were badly burned from poison. He could tell that no amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her, not even Andromeda's healing abilites.
Something is about to happen. Rachel's words rang in his ears. A trick that ends in death.
Now Percy knew what she meant, and he knew who had led the Ares cabin into battle.
He looked down at the dying face of Silena Beauregard.