A/n: *sighs* I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry.
TW: Character death
Y/n's Pov:
The distance was shorter in the Labyrinth. Still, by the time Rachel got us back to Times Square, I felt like we'd pretty much run all the way from New Mexico. We climbed out of the Marriott basement and stood on the pavement in the bright summer daylight, squinting at the traffic and crowds.
I couldn't decide which seemed less real—New York or the crystal cave where I'd watched a god die.
Percy led us into an alleyway, where he whistled as loud as he could, five times.
A minute later, Rachel gasped. "They're beautiful!"
A flock of pegasi descended from the sky, swooping between the skyscrapers. Blackjack was in the lead, followed by four of his white friends.
Blackjack neighed at Percy.
"Yeah," Percy told him. "I'm lucky that way. Listen, we need a ride to camp quick."
Blackjack neighed. Then he turned to Guido, neighing to him in question. The Pegasus Guido neighed, groaning and complaining, but eventually, he agreed to carry Tyson. Everybody started saddling up—except Rachel.
"Well," she told me, "I guess this is it."
I nodded uncomfortably. We both knew she couldn't go to camp. I glanced at Annabeth, who was pretending to be very busy with her Pegasus.
"Thanks, Rachel," I said. "We couldn't have done it without you."
"I wouldn't have missed it. I mean, except for almost dying, and Pan..." Her voice faltered.
"He said something about your father," I remembered. "What did he mean?"
Rachel twisted the strap on her backpack. "My dad...My dad's job. He's kind of a famous businessman."
"You mean...you're rich?"
"Well, yeah."
"So that's how you got the chauffeur to help us? You just said your dad's name and—"
"Yes," Rachel cut me off. "Y/n...my dad's a land developer. He flies all over the world, looking for tracts of undeveloped land." She took a shaky breath."The wild. He—he buys it up. I hate it, but he ploughs it down and builds ugly subdivisions and shopping centres. And now that I've seen Pan... Pan's death—"
"Hey, you can't blame yourself for that."
"You don't know the worst of it. I—I don't like to talk about my family. I didn't want you to know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No," I said. "It's cool. Look, Rachel, you did awesomely. You led us through the maze. You were so brave. That's the only thing I'm going to judge you on. I don't care what your dad does."
Rachel looked at me gratefully. "Well...if you ever feel like hanging out with a mortal again...you could call me or something."
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
She knit her eyebrows. I guess I sounded unenthusiastic or something, but that's not how I meant it. I just wasn't sure what to say with all my friends standing around.
"I mean...I'd like that," I said.
"My number's not in the book," she said.
"I've got it," Percy said.
"Still on your hand? No way."
"No. I kinda...memorized it."
Her smile came back slowly, but a lot happier. "See you later, Y/n Hunter and Percy Jackson. Go save the world for me, okay?"
She walked off down Seventh Avenue and disappeared into the crowds.
~
When I got back to the horses. Nico was having trouble. His Pegasus kept shying away from him, reluctant to let him mount. According to Percy, the Pegasus thought he smelt like dead people.
"Go without me!" Nico said. "I don't want to go back to that camp anyway."
"Nico," Percy said, "we need your help."
He folded his arms and scowled. Then I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Nico," I said. "Please."
Slowly, his expression softened. "All right," he said reluctantly. "For you. But I'm not staying."
Percy raised an eyebrow at me, unbelievably. I stuck my tongue out at him playfully.
At last, we got everybody on a Pegasus. We shot into the air, and soon we were over the East River, with Long Island spread out before us.
~
We landed in the middle of the cabin area and were immediately met by Chiron, the pot-bellied satyr Silenus, and a couple of Apollo cabin archers. Chiron raised an eyebrow when he saw Nico, but if I expected him to be surprised by our latest news about Quintus being Daedalus, or Kronos rising, I was mistaken.
"I feared as much," Chiron said. "We must hurry. Hopefully, you have slowed down the Titan lord, but his vanguard will still be coming through. They will be anxious for blood. Most of our defenders are already in place. Come!"
"Wait a moment," Silenus demanded. "What of the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood! Your searcher's licence is revoked!"
Grover took a deep breath. He stood up straight and looked Silenus in the eye. "Searcher's licences don't matter any more. The great god Pan is dead. He has passed on and left us his spirit."
"What?" Silenus's face turned bright red. "Sacrilege and lies! Grover Underwood, I will have you exiled for speaking thus!"
"It's true," I said. "We were there when he died. All of us."
"Impossible! You are all liars! Nature-destroyers!"
Chiron studied Grover's face. "We will speak of this later."
"We will speak of it now!" Silenus said. "We must deal with this—"
"Silenus," Chiron cut in. "My camp is under attack. The matter of Pan has waited two thousand years. I fear it will have to wait a bit longer. Assuming we are still here this evening."
And on that happy note, he readied his bow and galloped toward the woods, leaving us to follow as best we could.
~
It was the biggest military operation I'd ever seen at camp. Everyone was at the clearing, dressed in fullbattle armour, but this time it wasn't for capture the flag. The Hephaestus cabin had set up traps aroundthe entrance to the Labyrinth—razor wire, pits filled with pots of Greek fire, rows of sharpened sticks todeflect a charge. Beckendorf was manning two catapults the size of pickup trucks, already primed andaimed at Zeus's Fist. The Ares cabin was on the front line, drilling in a phalanx formation, with Clarissecalling orders. I joined the archers from the Apollo and the Hermes cabin, who were in the woods. I took a position on top of a tree, alongside my cousins. Even the dryads were armed with bows, and the satyrs trotted aroundwith wooden cudgels and shields made of rough tree bark.
Annabeth went to join her brethren from the Athena cabin, who had set up a command tent and weredirecting operations. A grey banner with an owl fluttered outside the tent. Our security chief, Argus,stood guard at the door. Aphrodite's children were running around straightening everybody's armour andoffering to comb the tangles out of our horsehair plumes. Even Dionysus's kids had found something todo. The god himself was still nowhere to be seen, but his two blond twin sons were running aroundproviding all the sweaty warriors with water bottles and juice boxes.
It looked like a pretty good setup, but Lee muttered next to me. "It isn't enough."
I thought about what I'd seen in the Labyrinth, all the monsters in Antaeus's stadium, and the power ofKronos I'd felt on Mt. Tam. My heart sank. Lee was right, but it was all we could muster. For once, Iwished Dionysus was here, but even if he had been, I didn't know if he could do anything. When it cameto war, gods were forbidden to interfere directly. Apparently, the Titans didn't believe in restrictions likethat.
Over at the edge of the clearing, Grover was talking to Juniper. She held his hands while he told her ourstory. Green tears formed in her eyes as he delivered the news about Pan.
Tyson helped the Hephaestus kids prepare the defences. He picked up boulders and piled them next tothe catapults for firing.
"Stay with me, Y/n," Lee said. "When the fighting begins, I want you to wait until we know whatwe're dealing with. You have to go where we need reinforcements the most."
"I saw Kronos," I said, still stunned by the fact. "I looked straight into his eyes. It was Luke...but itwasn't."
Lee ran his fingers along his bowstring. "He had golden eyes, I would guess. And in his presence,time seemed to turn to liquid."
I nodded. "How could he take over a mortal body?"
"I don't know, Y/n. Gods have taken the shapes of mortals for ages, but to actually becomeone... I don't know how this could be done without Luke'sform turning into ashes."
"Kronos said his body had been prepared."
"I get goosebumps thinking what that may mean. But maybe it will limit Kronos' power. For a time, at least, he isfully human. It binds him together. Hopefully, it also restricts him."
"Lee, if he leads the attack—"
"I hope not. No doubt he planned to, but Ithink he might've got scared when Rachel hit him with the hairbrush."
I chuckled. "It was a very powerful hairbrush."
Lee nodded mockingly. "Oh, yes. I bet he is quivers just thinking about it."
Lee and I laughed. It seemed odd, laughing before a war, but it lifted my spirits, it gave me strength.
I looked at him. "Lee. When we fight in this war, we must trust each other. We must..."
My voice wavered. The ground underneath us was trembling.
Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing. Clarisse barked a single order: "Lock shields!"
Then the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.
~
I mean I'd been in fights before, but this was a full-scale battle. The first thing I saw was a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly my ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.
"Fire!"Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught aLaistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. My cousins fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armour of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in the armour, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.
But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armour, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena'swarriors rushed forward to meet them. I saw Annabeth draw a sword and engage one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!
Lee calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs O'Leary—leapt out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.
"GO!" Lee yelled at me.
I drew my bow and arrow and charged.
As I raced across the battlefield, I saw horrible things. An enemy half-blood was fighting with Castor, but it wasn't much of a contest. The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Castor went down. Another enemy warrior shot flaming arrows into the trees, sending our archers and dryads into a panic.
A dozen dracaenae suddenly broke away from the main fight and slithered down the path that led toward camp, like they knew where they were going. If they got out, they could burn down the entire place, completely unopposed.
The only people anywhere near were Nico di Angelo and Grayson Martin. Nico stabbed a telekhine, and his black Stygian blade absorbed the monster's essence, drinking its energy until there was nothing left but dust.
"Guys!" I yelled.
Grayson and Nico looked where I was pointing, saw the serpent women, and immediately understood.
Nico took a deep breath and held out his black sword. "Serve me," he called.
Almost immediately, Grayson raised his right hand, his left hand holding Nico's sword.
The earth trembled. A fissure opened in front of the dracaenae, and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth—horrible corpses in military uniforms from all different time periods—U.S.Revolutionaries, Roman centurions, Napoleonic cavalry on skeletal horses.
From the same whole emerged a giant beanstalk. It was covered in poison ivy and moving as Grayson's hand obeyed. I didn't know he could do that, and I didn't have the time to find out.
As one, the undead warriors drew their swords and engaged the dracaenae, Grayson's beanstalk following close after.
I didn't have time to watch what followed after. A humongous boulder dropped next to me, as I rolled away from it. I ran to where Percy was, escaping the boulder rain.
"This might be it," I said.
"Could be."
"Nice fighting with you, Seaweed Brain."
"Ditto."
As I was about to charge, a scream interrupted my thoughts. "Y/n!" Lee cried.
I looked over to where he was, only to find him struggling against a giant. I hesitated.
"Go," Annabeth encouraged, running over to us. "Percy and I'll fight."
I nodded, running over to Lee. The distance was far, and Lee was in the belly of the beast, but I focused on running. Dodging over boulders and arrows, I witnessed Lee lose his bow.
"Y/n!"
The giant smirked. Only a little more.
"Y/n!"
The giant raised his club. I sped up, although my legs couldn't.
"Y/N!"
Too late. The giant swung his club down and squashed Lee like a bug.
"LEE!"
Time seemed to slow down. My running slowed, and my heart ached. My hands trembled as I felt panic rise in my throat.
"LEE!"
I crumpled to my knees, my face wet with tears I didn't know had fallen out. My hands hear up, as my eyes stung.
"NO!"
I let out a heartbreaking scream, hugging my stomach. My cousin, my ride-or-die, my other half was gone, and I could've prevented it.
I could've prevented it.
I could've prevented it.
I could've prevented it.
Anger filled my whole body. Kronos would pay. Luke would pay. The giants would pay.
I let out a war scream, and the last thing I remembered was anger.