[Percy's POV]
Fortunately, the pegasi were on duty.
I did my best taxicab whistle, and within a few minutes two dark shapes circled out of the sky. They looked like hawks at first, but as they descended I could make out the long galloping legs of pegasi.
'Yo, boss.' Blackjack landed at a trot, his friend Capander right behind him. 'Man, I thought those wind gods were gonna knock us to Pennsylvania until we said we were with you!'
"Thanks for coming," I told them. "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?" Blackjack whinnied. 'Why do humans swing their arms as they walk? I dunno, boss. It just feels right. Where to?'
"We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," I said.
Blackjack lowered his neck. 'You're darn right, boss. We flew over it on the way here, and it don't look good. Hop on!'
On the way to the bridge, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. The Minotaur was one of the first monsters I'd ever defeated. Four years ago he'd nearly killed my mother on Half-Blood Hill. I still had nightmares about that.
I'd been hoping he would stay dead for a few centuries, but I should've known my luck wouldn't hold. We saw the battle before we were close enough to make out individual fighters. It was well after midnight now, but the bridge blazed with light. Cars were burning. Arcs of fire streamed in both directions as flaming arrows and spears sailed through the air.
We came in for a low pass, and I saw the Apollo campers retreating. They would hide behind cars and snipe at the approaching army, setting off explosive arrows and dropping caltrops in the road, building fiery barricades wherever they could, dragging sleeping drivers out of their cars to get them out of harm's way.
But the enemy kept advancing. An entire phalanx of dracaenae marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armor, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate, but most of the Apollo arrows glanced harmlessly off their shield wall.
About a hundred more monsters marched behind them. Hellhounds leaped ahead of the line from time to time. Most were destroyed with arrows, but one got hold of an Apollo camper and dragged him away. I didn't see what happened to him next. I didn't want to know.
"There!" Annabeth called from the back of Cap. She steered the pegasus around to face the direction she pointed. Sure enough, in the middle of the invading legion was Old Beefhead himself.
The last time I'd seen the Minotaur, he'd been wearing nothing but his tighty whities. I don't know why. Maybe he'd been shaken out of bed to chase me. This time, he was prepared for battle.
From the waist down, he wore standard Greek battle gear, a kiltlike apron of leather and metal flaps, bronze greaves covering his legs, and tightly wrapped leather sandals. His top was all bull, hair and hide and muscle leading to a head so large he should've toppled over just from the weight of his horns.
He seemed larger than the last time I'd seen him, ten feet tall at least. A double-bladed ax was strapped to his back, but he was too impatient to use it. As soon as he saw me circling overhead (or sniffed me, more likely, since his eyesight was bad), he bellowed and picked up a white limousine.
"Blackjack, dive!" I yelled. 'What?' the Pegasus asked. 'No way could he... Holy horse feed!'
We were at least a hundred feet up, but the limo came sailing toward us, flipping fender over fender like a two-ton boomerang. Cap masterfully swerved out of the way, Annabeth barely holding onto his back, 'BY PEGASUS' FEATHERS' he screech.
Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. The limo sailed over my head, missing by maybe two inches. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell toward the East River. Monsters jeered and shouted, and the Minotaur picked up another car.
"Drop us behind the lines with the Apollo cabin," I told Blackjack. "Stay in earshot but get out of danger!"
'I ain't gonna argue, boss!' Blackjack swooped down behind an overturned school bus, where a couple of campers were hiding. Annabeth, and I leaped off as soon as our pegasi's hooves touched the pavement. Then Blackjack and Cap soared into the night sky.
Michael Yew ran up to us. He was definitely the shortest commando I'd ever seen. He had a bandaged cut on his arm. His ferrety face was smeared with soot and his quiver was almost empty, but he was smiling like he was having a great time.
"Glad you could join us," he said. "Where are the other reinforcements? And where the hell is Y/N?"
"We don't know. For now, we're it," I said. "Then we're dead," he said. "You still have your flying chariot?" Annabeth asked. "Nah," Michael said. "Left it at camp. I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? Not worth fighting about anymore. But she said it was too late. We'd insulted her honor for the last time or some stupid thing."
"If we live through this, remind me to murder Clarisse." Annabeth grumbled. "Least you tried," I said. Michael shrugged. "Yeah, well, I called her some names when she said she still wouldn't fight. I doubt that helped. Here come the uglies!"
He drew an arrow and launched it toward the enemy. The arrow made a screaming sound as it flew. When it landed, it unleashed a blast like a power chord on an electric guitar magnified through the world's largest speakers. The nearest cars exploded. Monsters dropped their weapons and clasped their ears in pain. Some ran. Others disintegrated on the spot.
"That was my last sonic arrow," Michael said. "A gift from your dad?" I asked. "God of music?" Michael grinned wickedly. "Loud music can be bad for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't always kill." Sure enough, most monsters were regrouping, shaking off their confusion.
"We have to fall back," Michael said. "I've got Kayla and Austin setting traps farther down the bridge."
"No," I said. "Bring your campers forward to this position and wait for my signal. We're going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn." Michael laughed. "How do you plan to do that?" I drew my sword.
"Percy," Annabeth said, "let me come with you."
"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous," I said. "Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I'll distract the monsters. You group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while we keep them focused on is. If anybody can do all that, you can."
Michael snorted. "Thanks a lot."
I kept my eyes on Annabeth. She nodded reluctantly. "All right. Get moving."
Before I could lose my courage, I nodded, and slowly walked out toward the army marching in our direction.
When the Minotaur saw me, his eyes burned with hate. He bellowed a sound that was somewhere between a yell, a moo, and a really loud belch.
"Hey, Beef Boy," I shouted back. "Didn't I kill you already?"
He pounded his fist into the hood of a Lexus, and it crumpled like aluminum foil. A few dracaenae threw flaming javelins at me. I knocked them aside. A hellhound lunged, and I sidestepped. I could have stabbed it, but I hesitated.
This is not Mrs. O'Leary, I reminded myself. This is an untamed monster. It will kill me and all my friends. It pounced again. This time I brought Riptide up in a deadly arc. The hellhound disintegrated into dust and fur.
More monsters surged forward snakes and giants and telkhines but the Minotaur roared at them, and they backed off.
"One on one?" I called. "Just like old times?"
The Minotaur's nostrils quivered. He seriously needed to keep a pack of Aloe Vera Kleenex in his armor pocket, because that nose was wet and red and pretty gross. He unstrapped his axe and swung it around.
It was beautiful in a harsh I'm-going~to-gut-you-like~a-fish kind of way. Each of its twin blades was shaped like an omega: 2 the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
Maybe that was because the axe would be the last thing his victims ever saw. The shaft was about the same height as the Minotaur, bronze wrapped in leather.
Tied around the base of each blade were lots of bead necklaces. I realized they were Camp Half-Blood beads necklaces taken from defeated demigods.
I was so mad, I imagined my eyes glowing just like the Minotaur's. I raised my sword. The monster army cheered for the Minotaur, but the sound died when I dodged his first swing and sliced his axe in half, right between the handholds.
"Moo?" he grunted.
"HAAA!" I spun and kicked him in the snout. He staggered backward, trying to regain his footing, then lowered his head to charge.
He never got the chance. My sword flashed slicing off one horn, then the other. He tried to grab me.
I rolled away, picking up half of his broken axe. The other monsters backed up in stunned silence, making a circle around us. The Minotaur bellowed in rage.
He was never very smart to begin with, but now his anger made him reckless. He charged me, and I ran for the edge of the bridge, breaking through a line of dracaenae.
The Minotaur must've smelled victory. He thought I was trying to get away. His minions cheered. At the edge of the bridge, I turned and braced the axe against the railing to receive his charge. The Minotaur didn't even slow down.
CRUNCH
He looked down in surprise at the axe handle sprouting from his breastplate.
"Thanks for playing," I told him. I lifted him by his legs and tossed him over the side of the bridge. Even as he fell, he was disintegrating, turning back into dust, his essence returning to Tartarus.
I turned toward his army. It was now roughly one hundred and ninety-nine to one. I did the natural thing. I charged them.
You're going to ask how the "invincible" thing worked: if I magically dodged every weapon, or if the weapons hit me and just didn't harm me. Honestly, I don't remember. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let these monsters invade my hometown.
I sliced through armor like it was made of paper. Snake women exploded. Hellhounds melted to shadow. I slashed and stabbed and whirled, and I might have even laughed once or twice.
A crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies. I was aware of the Apollo campers behind me shooting arrows, disrupting every attempt by the enemy to rally. One of them turned and, braver than the rest, swung at me.
I didn't even have to do anything because out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silver blur come slashing down through it. The monster turned straight into dust as a blade with the glow of the moon came to rest at my friend's side.
"And where have you been?" I asked as Y/N bent over and put his hands down on his knees to catch his breath. "Oh you know, running here, running there, trying to figure some things out."
When he got all the way to his feet and turned to face the horde, the monsters turned and fled. about twenty left alive out of two hundred.
I followed with the Apollo campers at my heels.
"Yes!" yelled Michael Yew. "That's what I'm talking about!"
[Y/N's POV]
I tried to shake off the chill that Lou Ellen had left me with, but I couldn't get the feeling out of the back of my head.
And you might call me a bit stupid for this, but I just stopped thinking at all, so the sensation wouldn't find me. I just ran and ran not even realizing how tired I felt.
Eventually I came across the Williamsburg bridge, full of chaos, and battle. I heard a loud moo and saw the Minotaur of all things flying off the edge.
I took off running through our lines to enter the battle, thankfully, not getting shot by any stray arrows. I was in a dead sprint, straight for Percy. He was mowing down whatever was in his way. It was kinda scary.
But one moronic monster chose to charge at the invincible boy and aim right for his head. Seeing as I didn't know where he was vulnerable, I didn't give them a chance to try and find out. In a single motion, I drew Moonlight and cut straight through it.
After we had gathered our bearings on the situation, Percy moved towards the monsters on the other side of the bridge, and I heard Annabeth call my name.
She ran up and immediately punched me in the shoulder. "Where did you go?!" I shrugged. "I'll tell you after this." I responded breathlessly.
We drove the enemy back to the other side of the bridge. The sky was starting to glow pale orange in the east. I could see the enemy backing up further and further. It wasn't long before I caught up with Percy.
The way my body moved was like back at Zeus' fist last year. I wasn't thinking. I was just doing. I knew I wasn't going to stop until they were all dead. I couldn't afford to. Not until all the people that wanted to hurt my friends were gone for good.
"Y/N! Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "You've already routed them. Pull back! We're overextended!" I knew she was right, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew. But I couldn't stop. I gritted my teeth.
It all felt right, like I was supposed to be here, right now, killing these monsters. I had to. I just had to.
That was when I saw the crowd building at the base of the bridge. The monsters that were running, were going straight for a squadron of reinforcements. It was a small group of maybe thirty or forty demigods, all decked out in greek battle armor, mounted on horses. Well, not just horses. They were skeletons.
One of them held a purple banner with the black scythe design up in the air. The lead horseman trotted forward. As soon as he took off his helmet, I recognized him. It was Kronos himself. Those melting golden eyes glared right back at us, glowing in the darkness.
Annabeth and the Apollo campers hesitated. The monsters that we had been driving back melded in with the new group. Kronos looked in our direction, his eyes like spotlights. I could have sworn he smiled, even from this far away.
The monsters we'd been pursuing reached the Titan's line and were absorbed into the new force. Kronos gazed in our direction. He was a quarter mile away, but I swear I could see him smile. I might be cocky at times, but I'm not stupid. And unlike Percy, I'm not invincible.
"Now," I said, catching my breath. "We need to fall back now!" Some of you might call it cowardice. But right now, I'm not gonna be crazy enough to throw myself out there and die before the war's really even gotten started.
The titan's troops drew their swords and charged. The bony crunch of skeletal horse hooves thundered against the pavement. Our archers fired a volley, bringing down several of the enemy.
But they just kept coming at us. "GO!" I shouted at my friends. "FALL BACK! WE'LL HOLD THEM!" Michael and his archers tried to drop back, but Annabeth, stubborn as she was, stayed right on my back, fighting like mad with her knife and her mirrored shield. Percy was working the perimeter, keeping all the monsters from getting too close to us.
Slowly but surely, we had backed up the bridge. Kronos' cavalry circled around us, slashing and yelling insults. The titan king himself trotted up leisurely, like he had nothing better to do with his time but watch us fight. Granted, he was the 'lord of time' so he probably could do whatever he wanted with his time.
Annabeth and I stayed shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. A couple dark shapes passed over me, and I dared to glance up. Blackjack and Cap were swooping in, kicking our enemies in the helmets and flying away like very large kamikaze pigeons.
We'd almost made it to the middle of the bridge when something strange happened. I felt a chill down my spine, like that old saying about someone walking on your grave. Behind me, I heard the worst sound I think I'll ever hear.
There was a sound like the slicing of flesh. Annabeth cried out in pain. I turned just in time to see her collapse to the ground, holding her arm, blood seeping from a wound. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over her. Percy was standing right before her.
I locked eye with the enemy demigod. He wore an eye patch under his war helm: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. Somehow he'd survived the explosion on the Princess Andromeda.
I don't know exactly what came over me at that moment. Everything went numb. My head buzzed, my heartbeat filled my ears as the sound of battle faded, and my vision tunneled on Ethan. My blood ran cold, and my skin felt like it was on fire.
I took two steps, cocked my fist, and punched him so hard in the side of the head, that his helmet went spiraling off the bridge, and Ethan himself had gone flying into the crowd. He knocked down a group of demigods like they were bowling pins. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Percy staring at me in horror, but I pushed him away.
I turned back to see Annabeth, blood spilling from her side. A few other of the enemy ran in to attack her while she was down. I heard Percy shouting something, but through the rush of blood in my ears, I couldn't make it out. A couple monsters went poof, but he couldn't get them all.
So I did the only thing I could come up with. I threw myself on top of her. All the blades, arrows, and other sharp objects that were intended for her, found themselves in my back, and my side, and every part of my body that they could find purchase on.
I heard a cheer sound out from the enemy. I held Annabeth tight. No matter what happened, I wasn't going to let anyone get to her.
The pain finally became too much. That slashing sensation started to flare up again as I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head. And a feeling of dread crept up my back.
The light of the stars were gone... I was in the void again. The drowning shadows of my subconscious.
That rattling whisper of a chuckle found its way to my ears. "Quite a predicament..." Its voice warbled, broken sounding, but it kept talking. "Ironic, isn't it, Y/N?" the demon asked. I felt my heart pounding harder in my chest as fear coursed through me.
"Let me out." I demanded. I needed to get up and get Annabeth out of there.
"Didn't I say you'd willingly turn to me, eventually?" he asked. I glared, as the manifestation of the demon finally appeared in front of me. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but he smirked.
It looked just like me...
But shadows coursed around his body. Black masses of nothingness drowning out what was otherwise my visage. I could momentarily make out his features. His pale white eyes, fangs for teeth, and the black veins pulsing, all over it. He cackled and smiled widely at me. His 'body' shuddered as he looked into my soul.
"Now what say... You give in... Give me control... and maybe I'll keep that girl alive..."
I swallowed a lump in my throat. My hands shook, but I knew what I had to do. I couldn't let Annabeth die. If she did, what would I have left? Nothing would matter anymore.
Reluctantly, I nodded, and agreed to the demon's proposition. "Take over... just make sure she stays safe." His cackling voice filled the surrounding darkness. I couldn't help but let out a shout of pain. I fell to my knees, pain surging through my body as the demon faded from the darkness.
You could call it selfish to set the end of the world in motion for the girl I love. But right now, she is my world. Annabeth was the only thing that mattered to me right now.
At that moment, for the first time in a very long time, the demon was loose.
[Percy's POV]
I didn't see exactly what happened. After Ethan stabbed Annabeth and Y/N sent him flying, I had to do my best to keep the monsters from closing in to give them a chance to get out of here.
But I heard a shrill screech and a rumbling roar of anger. Then, in the night, the very foundations of the bridge shook. A ring of shadow, a pulse of darkness exploded outward, knocking everyone off their feet. Some people closer to the edge of the bridge were sent tumbling over into the water below.
I heard cracks start forming in the ground as a wave of dread washed over me. Even the other campers felt it. I'd been a demigod for a while. I'd seen some incredibly terrifying things before. But nothing scared me as much as this. It felt like I could hardly breathe.
In the center of the battlefield, I saw Y/N stand. Well, I could tell it wasn't Y/N anymore. It looked just like Rachel's drawing.
"No one..." his voice shifted between his own and the demon's evil croak. "No one touches her..." His head snapped around in jerky motions, surveying the enemy in front of him. It was like the entire fight had stopped.
Everywhere I looked, people were staring in disbelief at this. "Would anyone..." his voice cracked and phased between his and the demon's. "Would anyone... like to run?" it asked, veins raging on his face, fangs bared at anyone who looked at him.
Underneath him, Annabeth shivered. She'd been wounded in the battle, and unsurprisingly, Y/N got pretty pissed off. But this was on another level of anything I'd seen from his before.
The battlefield had gone silent now. Nearly everyone was captivated by the sight in front of me. The night air whistled softly, but it added onto the atmosphere of tension on the bridge. No monster nor demigod dared to move.
"No one... Good."
He was a blur. If you blinked, you'd think he was a magician doing an escape act. His feet left gravel and dust kicked up in the air behind him.
He tore through the crowd, killing anything and everything around him. It didn't matter that he had been stabbed, slashed, and shot with arrows, he didn't stop. He gave that pain right back ten times over. He moved so fast, it seemed like some monsters were being turned into dust by the air.
By the time I could see him again, there was blood dripping down his mouth, and a demigod had gone down in a heap, grabbing at their neck.
Y/N spat out their blood, bared his teeth, and turned away to cause more havoc. I worked my way through the crowd. I needed to get Annabeth out of there as soon as possible. Whatever exactly the demon was doing, I don't think Y/N had much influence anymore.
His intentions of protecting Annabeth had fallen lower on the priorities. He was too busy killing everything he could get his teeth on.
He swept a demigod off their feet, and plunged blackout so powerfully into their chest, that it not only sunk into the bridge, but caused fissures in the concrete below them.
The bridge was starting to shake harder now. I swear, I heard a zipping sound, and before I could do anything, a spear was speeding straight toward the back of Y/N's head. I couldn't warn him in time.
But I didn't need to. He turned, and in one fluid motion caught the spear, spun, and returned it to sender. The throw was so strong and so fast that it went straight through the demigod's armor and out the other side, pinning into the side supports for the bridge.
Y/N didn't stop. Even now, there was so much blood dripping from him. But only some of it was his...
I finally made it to Annabeth, laying on the ground. Blood was staining the ground beneath her as she struggled to watch what was happening around us.
"Interesting," Kronos said.
He towered above me on his skeletal horse, his scythe in one hand. He studied the scene with narrowed eyes as if he could sense that I'd just come close to death, the way a wolf can smell fear.
"Bravely fought, Percy Jackson," he said. "But it's time to surrender... or the girl dies."
"Percy, don't," Annabeth groaned. Her shirt was soaked with blood. I had to get her out of here. "Blackjack!" I yelled. As fast as light, the pegasus swooped down and clamped his teeth on the straps of Annabeth's armor.
They soared away over the river before the enemy could even react. Kronos snarled. "Someday soon, I am going to make pegasus soup. But in the meantime..." He dismounted, his scythe glistening in the early light of dawn. "I'll settle for another dead demigod."
I met his first strike with Riptide. The impact shook the entire bridge, but I held my ground. Kronos's smile wavered. With a yell, I kicked his legs out from under him. His scythe skittered across the pavement. I stabbed downward, but he rolled aside and regained his footing. His scythe flew back to his hands.
"So..." He studied me, looking mildly annoyed. "You had the courage to visit the Styx. I had to pressure Luke in many ways to convince him. If only you had supplied my host body instead... But no matter. I am still more powerful. I am a TITAN!"
He struck the bridge with the butt of his scythe, and a wave of pure force blasted me backward. Cars went careening. Demigods, even Luke's own men, were blown off the edge of the bridge. Suspension cords whipped around, and I skidded halfway back to Manhattan.
Out of my fuzzy eye-sight, I saw Kronos' neck jerk hard as he was tackled off of his feet. A sword clanged off his body as he stood up.
Y/N was fighting the titan lord. I'd almost say he was winning. It didn't look like he was actually doing any damage, but Kronos was being forced back step by step. Y/N wasn't letting him get a counter attack in.
Yeah, Blackout bounced off his body, doing no damage, but Y/N, even though someone had fired an arrow straight into his back, kept fighting.
By this point, the flannel and his shirt had been shredded and were hanging onto his shoulders by maybe a few threads. He was just wearing his bracers now. I could see the full extent of the demon's influence.
The veins on his body looked like someone had tried to draw the NYC subway map from memory. Everywhere on his body, threads as black as shadow pulsed violently as the demon's battle continued.
I got to my feet far from easily. The remaining Apollo campers had almost made it to the end of the bridge, except for Michael Yew, who was perched on one of the suspension cables a few yards away from me, His last arrow was notched in his bow.
"Michael, go!" I screamed.
"Percy, the bridge!" he called. "It's already weak!"
At first I didn't understand. Then I looked down and saw fissures in the pavement. Patches of the road were half melted from Greek fire. The bridge had taken a beating from Kronos's blast and the exploding arrows. And Y/N had put quite a beating on it by himself. It was bound to collapse sooner than later.
"Break it!" Michael yelled. "Use your powers!"
It was a desperate thought, no way it would work, but I stabbed Riptide into the bridge. The magic blade sank to its hilt in the asphalt. Salt water shot from the crack like I'd hit a geyser. I pulled out my blade and the fissure grew.
The bridge shook and began to crumble. Chunks the size of houses fell into the East River. Kronos's demigods cried out in alarm and scrambled backward. Some were knocked off their feet. Within a few seconds, a fifty-foot chasm opened in the Williamsburg Bridge between Kronos and me.
I didn't see when, but Y/N, well, the demon had come to stand beside me right now, staring darkly at Kronos. An evil smirk on his face.
The vibrations died. Kronos's men crept to the edge and looked at the hundred-and-thirty-foot drop into the river.
I didn't feel safe, though. The suspension cables were still attached. The men could get across that way if they were brave enough. Or maybe Kronos had a magic way to span the gap. The Titan lord studied the problem.
He looked behind him at the rising sun, then smiled across the chasm. He raised his scythe in a mock salute. "Until this evening, boys."
He mounted his horse, whirled around, and galloped back to Brooklyn, followed by his warriors. I turned to thank Michael Yew, but the words died in my throat. Twenty feet away, a bow lay in the street. Its owner was nowhere to be seen.
"No!" I searched the wreckage on my side of the bridge. I stared down at the river. Nothing. I yelled in anger and frustration. The sound carried forever in the morning stillness.
I looked over at Y/N, who was bleeding fiercely from every part of his body that I could see. He was standing there, bare chested, stained in blood and monster dust.
When I went to reach over and see what was happening, he let out a scream of agony, and fell onto his knees, limply collapsing down on his face. There was a gasp, a full body shudder, and Y/N went still, aside from the very faint breathing that was weakly going through his body.
I was about to whistle for Blackjack to help me get him out of here, when my mom's phone rang. The LCD display said I had a call from Finkelstein & Associates, probably a demigod calling on a borrowed phone.
I picked up, hoping for good news. Of course I was wrong.
"Percy?" Silena Beauregard sounded like she'd been crying. "Plaza Hotel. You'd better come quickly, and bring a healer from Apollo's cabin. Bring Y/N, It's... it's Annabeth."