Y/N had lots of definitions of not fun. Here's the one that matched the situation: Watch your friend fly a pegasus toward an out-of-control helicopter. If Blackjack had been any less of a fancy flier, Percy would've been chopped to confetti.
Despite the rotor blades' loud throbbing and being on the ground, Y/N could hear Rachel screaming inside. How hadn't she fallen asleep, like the pilot slumped over the controls? That was a good question. The helicopter wobbled toward the side of an office building, pitching back and forth.
"He's never going to make it!" Ethan yelled. "Oh my gods . . . !"
Percy passed so close to the rotors the force of the blades ripped at his hair. He zipped along the side of the helicopter and grabbed the door. Frantically he gestured for Rachel to jump on Blackjack.
If there was one thing you couldn't deny about Rachel, it was her courage. Or her total ignorance of danger. Surely saying she was brave was a better compliment. Anyway, she managed to jump awkwardly onto Blackjack's back, just behind Percy.
That's when things went wrong.
Blackjack's wing slammed against the helicopter. He plummeted straight down with Percy and Rachel on his back, yelling madly as they spiraled toward the ground.
"Hang in there!" Percy yelled at Blackjack.
Blackjack whinnied, almost like someone moaning in pain.
"You can do it!" Percy went on. "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 Blackjack extended his wings. Y/N stared, gaping. Then they pulled out of their dive, sailed fifty feet, and tumbled onto the pavement—pegasus over demigod.
Chiron galloped over with his medical pouch and began working on the pegasus.
Y/N didn't really pay any attention to what happened down on the ground. He kept his eyes up, his heart crawled into his throat. The helicopter was only a few seconds away from slamming into the side of the building. It was going to crash. . . .
BOOOOOOM!
The world turned in slow-mo. The helicopter hit the facade of the building, and the glass exploded on impact. Thousands of shattered glass pieces tumbled down to the pavement, along with dust and concrete rubble. A cloud of ash covered Fifth Avenue as a fire started to roar in the building's upper floors. He wished he could stop it from spreading—but this was far from being the only fire raging in Manhattan right now.
He looked down and focused on the moment.
Y/N, Annabeth and Ethan ran toward Percy, Chiron, and Rachel.
Rachel was dressed as if she were on vacation, in beach shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride.
"You saved my life," she said to Percy.
"No worries," he said without enthusiasm. "So, what's that message you wanted to deliver?"
Y/N frowned, same as Rachel, who said, "How do you know about that?"
"A dream."
Y/N nodded. He should've known better.
Rachel didn't look surprised, either. 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. How could Rachel have known about all of that? She had 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 you could help me figure out what's happening to me."
She looked at Percy pleadingly. Her face was red, sunburned. Her nose was peeling.
"Rachel," Percy said. "I wish I knew. Maybe we should ask Chiron—"
She flinched as if she'd gotten an electric shock. "Percy, something is about to happen. A trick that ends in death."
"What do you mean?" Y/N asked. "Whose death?"
"I don't know." She looked around nervously. "Don't you feel it?"
"Is that the message you wanted to tell Percy?" Annabeth asked.
"No." Rachel 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, Percy."
"Perseus," Percy said. "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."
Y/N looked at Percy. He looked as though she'd just slapped him.
"You came thousands of miles to tell me I'm not the hero?" he repeated.
"It's important," she insisted. "It will affect what you do."
"Percy isn't the hero of the prophecy?" Ethan asked. "He isn't the hero who defeats Kronos? What do you mean?"
"I'm . . . I'm sorry. That's all I know. I had to tell Percy because—"
"Well!" Chiron cantered over. "This must be Miss Dare."
Percy made the introductions: "Chiron, Rachel Dare," he said. "Rachel, this is our teacher Chiron."
"Hello," Rachel said glumly. She didn't look at all surprised that Chiron was a centaur.
"You are not asleep, Miss Dare," Chiron noticed. "And yet you are mortal?"
"I'm mortal," she agreed, as if 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," Y/N said. "Writing lines and making drawings."
Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Tell me."
Rachel told him the same things she'd told Y/N, Annabeth, Ethan, and Percy.
Chiron stroked his beard. "Miss Dare . . . perhaps we should talk. The others, go get some sleep."
"Everybody keeps telling me to sleep," Percy grumbled. "I don't need sleep."
Y/N managed a smile. "You should look at yourself in a mirror."
Percy glanced down at his clothes, which were scorched, burned, sliced, and tattered from a night of constant battles. "I look like death," he admitted. "But you think I can sleep after what just happened?"
"If I can," Y/N said, "I see no reason why you couldn't."
Percy seemed about to complain, but instead he grumbled, "Sure." And he trudged toward the Empire State Building.
Y/N glanced back. Chiron and Rachel were walking together in earnest conversation, as if they were discussing funeral arrangements.
"We should sleep, too," Annabeth said.
He followed her toward the Empire State Building. Inside the lobby, he found an empty bunk and collapsed. A second later, his eyes closed.
In his dreams, Y/N was back in Hades's garden. The lord of the dead paced up and down, holding his ears while Nico followed him, waving his arms.
"You have to!" Nico insisted.
Demeter and Persephone sat behind them at the breakfast table. Both of the goddesses looked bored. Demeter poured shredded wheat into four huge bowls. Persephone was magically changing the flower arrangement on the table, turning the blossoms from red to yellow to polka-dotted.
"I don't have to do anything!" Hades's eyes blazed. "I'm a god!"
"Father," Nico said, "if Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. You'll fade, too."
"I'm not an Olympian!" he growled. "My family has made that quite clear."
"You are," Nico said. "Whether you like it or not."
"You saw what they did to your mother," Hades said. "Zeus killed her. And you would have me help them? They deserve what they get!"
Persephone sighed. She walked her fingers across the table, absently turning the silverware into roses. "Could we please not talk about that woman?"
"You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."
Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother—"
"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building."
Nico stepped in front of his father, forcing Hades to face him. "My mother understood about family. That's why she didn't want to leave us. You can't just abandon your family because they did something horrible. You've done horrible things to them too."
"Maria died!" Hades reminded him.
"You can't just cut yourself off from the other gods!"
"I've done very well at it for thousands of years."
"And has that made you feel any better?" Nico demanded. "Has that curse on the Oracle helped you at all? Holding grudges is a fatal flaw. Bianca warned me about that, and she was right."
"For demigods! I am immortal, all-powerful! I would not help the other gods if they begged me—!"
"You're just as much of an outcast as I am!" Nico yelled. "Stop being angry about it and do something helpful for once. That's the only way they'll respect you!"
Hades's palm filled with black fire.
"Go ahead," Nico said. "Blast me. That's just what the other gods would expect from you. Prove them right."
"Yes, please," Demeter complained. "Shut him up."
Persephone sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I would rather fight in the war than eat another bowl of cereal. This is boring."
Hades roared in anger. His fireball hit a silver tree right next to Nico, melting it into a pool of liquid metal.
An angry roar started Y/N awaked. The noise was so horrible—and it seemed he could hear it from a mile away!
Ethan stood next to him, looking nervous.
"What was that?" he asked.
"They're coming," Ethan said. "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 the campers 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. 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.
"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 Rachel. "How do 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. "That's bad news."
"Let's hope you're wrong, Rachel," Y/N said. "Because we're a little short on children of Ares. I bet the spy has been keeping Kronos 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 thought," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."
Now's the time to explain the difference between dragons and 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 paralyze 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.
Two years ago, Y/N had faced a drakon, on an island lost in the middle of the Sea of Monsters. The monster had been about sixty feet long, its skin a dusty shade of gray spotted with crimson red. Its eyes had glowed yellow, and its twisting body had transfixed him. The more he thought about the way he and Annabeth had survived against it, the more he thought about how very lucky they had been.
Compared to the beast that was now before him, Y/N could only think of the Great Drakon as a baby. Drakon-fighting classes at camp simply couldn't prepare him for a two-hundred-foot-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.
Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. Campers had done their best to push cars out of the way to keep 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 any second they would panic and run.
"I'll take the drakon." Percy's voice came out as a timid squeak; Y/N heard him only because Percy stood right next to him. Then Percy yelled louder: "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"
Y/N and Annabeth followed him.
"Will you help me?" Percy asked.
"That's what we do," Y/N said, acting as if he were miserable. "We're kind of the only experts in drakon extermination around here."
"I'll go invisible," Annabeth said. "I'll look for weak links in its armor while you keep it busy. Just be careful."
"You too." Y/N whistled. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"
"ROOOF!" The hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave him a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza.
He raised his sword and 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 their lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before Y/N and the others 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!" Y/N plunged his sword deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but he rolled aside.
It bit a swimming-pool-size chunk out of the pavement. It turned toward him with its good eye, and he focused on its teeth so he wouldn't get paralyzed. Percy tried to get close and drive Riptide into the monster's right eye, but he had to jump aside to dodge a poison spurt. 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. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but 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. Camp Half-Blood forces were losing ground.
Suddenly Annabeth materialized 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.
Y/N reached her just as she hit the ground. He dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.
"Thanks," she said.
"I told you to be careful!"
"Yeah, well—DUCK!"
It was her turn to save him. She tackled him as the monster's teeth snapped above his head. Percy jabbed at the drakon's face with Riptide to get its attention, and they rolled out of the way.
Meanwhile their allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire army was surrounding them.
They were out of options. No more help was coming. Y/N, Annabeth and Percy would have to retreat before they were cut off from Mount Olympus.
Then Y/N heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but any demigod would recognize it immediately: chariot wheels.
A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!"
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, armor 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?"
Leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, 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. She hit the side of the building with a yelp. Y/N ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat. Even with only one eye, its glare was enough to paralyze 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 is probably drakon for OWWWW!
"Ares, to me!" Clarisse screamed. Her voice sounded shriller than usual, but 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 as if 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 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 armor melting.
"We have to help," Annabeth said.
She was right. Y/N had 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," he told her. "You've done enough already."
Then he transformed into an eagle and took off. He glided along the monster's back and changed back to human shape as he got to its head, trying to draw its attention away from Clarisse.
Her cabinmates threw javelins, most of which broke, but some lodged in the monster's teeth. It snapped its jaw until its mouth was a mess of green blood, yellow foamy poison, and splintered weapons.
"You can do it!" Y/N 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 didn't know fear. And she didn't have blue eyes.
"ARES!" she shouted, in that strangely shrill voice. She leveled her spear and charged the drakon.
"No," he muttered. "WAIT!"
But the monster looked down at her—almost in contempt—and spit poison directly in her face.
She screamed and fell.
"Clarisse!" Annabeth ran to help, while the other Ares campers tried to defend their fallen counselor. Y/N drove his sword between two of the creature's scales and managed to turn its attention to him.
He got thrown but landed on his feet. "COME ON, YOU STUPID WORM! Look at me, and we'll see who's really scared!"
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 toward the fight. A girl's voice, shaken with grief, cried, "NO! CURSE YOU, WHY?"
Y/N dared to glance over, but what he saw made no sense. Clarisse was lying on the ground where she'd fallen. Her armor 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.
Why would someone pretend to be Clarisse?
Y/N was so stunned, the drakon almost snapped him in half. Percy pushed him just in time 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.
The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.
"Look out!" Chris warned.
Instead of turning toward Y/N and Percy, the drakon whirled toward 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. Y/N had seen a look that intense only once before. Her father, Ares, had worn the same expression when Y/N had 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 armor or shield, she charged the drakon.
She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverizing 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 armor.
Everyone stared at Clarisse in awe. But she didn't seem to care. She ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armor.
Finally Annabeth managed to remove the girl's helmet. They all gathered around: the Y/N, Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse, Chris, and the Ares campers. 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. No amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her.
Something is about to happen. Rachel's words rang in Y/N's ears. A trick that ends in death.
Now he knew what she meant, and he knew who the hero was who had led the Ares cabin into battle.
He looked down at the dying face of Silena Beauregard.
A/N: Two weeks before the Christmas holidays. Two weeks before being free at last for two weeks—and then end-of-term exams TnT