Michael POV
I ran from the pack of hellhounds on my tail. I really didn't want to end up being their lunch.
As I ran, I thought about what was happening.
While Percy had disappeared with Alex and Kasey, we'd been informed that Kronos was making his way to Olympus. We demigods had readied ourselves as quickly as we could and booked it towards Manhattan. It was then that we had realized that Kronos had ordered Morpheus to put the city to sleep. We had tried to set up a command center near a candy store, but we'd been ambushed by a small army of monsters. They divided us and that was when I realized that monsters were all over the city. Kronos had let the monsters go and hunt for us, picking us off where we were weakest.
I turned a corner and saw Lee, Malcom, Will, and some of the other Apollo kids standing their, arrows notched.
"Get down!" Lee shouted. I shot towards the ground and they let their arrows fly. I jumped up and checked over my shoulder. The hellhounds weren't there.
"Nice timing," I panted.
Lee shrugged. "You seem helpless without me. Now come on. We need to get to Olympus." He pat my arm before leading the other campers towards the Empire State Building. I followed him.
When we got there, a majority of the campers were already there. The Apollo kids immediately set out to heal the injured, but it didn't seem like there were many serious injuries.
I saw Percy, Alex, and Kasey talking with Annabeth, Zoe, and Luke. I walked up to them.
"What's the 411?" I asked. Only Annabeth didn't look at me like I didn't make sense.
"Mostly everybody is here," she told me. "We should get up to Olympus, see what's there."
"Get an audience with Zeus," Alex picked up."Convince him to come back and defend the city."
"That's not a bad plan." I said. I looked around the lobby at all the demigods. "Not everyone is here yet, but we need to get up there now. We should leave a majority down here to defend while some of us go up."
"That's a tad unfair," Zoe commented.
"But he's right." Percy said. "We need people down here to wait for the rest to get here."
"Alex," I said. The son of Poseidon looked up to me. "Who's going up?" His eyes widened in surprise. Then they narrowed and he scanned the lobby.
"Us seven, Lee, Clarisse, Silena, Beckendorf, Katie, Pollux, and Castor. The cabin leaders." He decided.
"Call them together," I told him. He nodded and called them all over.
"We are going up to Olympus," Alex explained. "The rest of the campers will wait for the rest of camp. Tell your cabin." The cabin counselors nodded and went off to do what he asked.
When they were done, we went up to the desk. A security guard was sitting behind the desk in the lobby, reading a big black book with a flower on the cover. He glanced up when we all filed in with our weapons and armor clanking. "School group? We're about to close up."
"No," Alex said. "Six-hundredth floor."
He checked us out. His eyes were pale blue and his head was completely bald. I couldn't tell if he was human or not, but he seemed to notice our weapons, so I guess he wasn't fooled by the Mist.
"There is no six-hundredth floor, kid." He said it like it was a required line he didn't believe. "Move along."
Alex leaned across the desk. "Forty demigods attract an awful lot of monsters. You really want us hanging out in your lobby?"
He thought about that. Then he hit a buzzer and the security gate swung open. "Make it quick."
"You don't want us going through the metal detectors," I added.
"Um, no," he agreed. "Elevator on the right. I guess you know the way."
I tossed him a golden drachma and we marched ill rough.
Different elevator music was playing since my last visit—that old disco song "Stayin' Alive." A terrifying image flashed through my mind of Apollo in bell-bottom pants and a slinky silk shirt.
I was glad when the elevator doors finally dinged open. In front of us, a path of floating stones led through the clouds up to Mount Olympus, hovering six thousand feet over Manhattan.
I'd seen Olympus several times, but it still took my breath away. The mansions glittered gold and white against the sides of the mountain. Gardens bloomed on a hundred terraces. Scented smoke rose from braziers that lined the winding streets. And right at the top of the snow-capped crest rose the main palace of the gods. It looked as majestic as ever, but something seemed wrong. Then I realized the mountain was silent—no music, no voices, no laughter.
Annabeth studied Alex. "You look . . . different," she decided. "Where exactly did you go?"
"Tell you later," Alex said. "Come on."
We made our way across the sky bridge into the streets of Olympus. The shops were closed. The parks were empty. A couple of Muses sat on a bench strumming flaming lyres, but their hearts didn't seem to be in it. A lone Cyclops swept the street with an uprooted oak tree. A minor godling spotted us from a balcony and ducked inside, closing his shutters.
We passed under a big marble archway with statues of Zeus and Hera on either side. Annabeth made a face at the queen of the gods.
"Hate her," she muttered.
"Has she been cursing you or something?" Alex asked.
"Just little stuff so far," she said. "Her sacred animal is the cow, right?"
"Right."
"So she sends cows after me."
I tried not to smile. "Cows? In San Francisco?"
"Oh, yeah. Usually I don't see them, but the cows leave me little presents all over the place—in our backyard, on the sidewalk, in the school hallways. I have to be careful where I step."
"Look!" Castor cried, pointing toward the horizon. "What is that?"
We all froze. Blue lights were streaking across the evening sky toward Olympus like tiny comets. They seemed to be coming from all over the city, heading straight toward the mountain. As they got close, they fizzled out. We watched them for several minutes and they didn't seem to do any damage, but still it was strange.
"Like infrared scopes," Lee muttered. "We're being targeted."
"Let's get to the palace," Percy said.
No one was guarding the hall of the gods. The gold-and-silver doors stood wide open. Our footsteps echoed as we walked into the throne room.
Of course, "room" doesn't really cover it. The place was the size of Madison Square Garden. High above, the blue ceiling glittered with constellations. Twelve giant empty thrones stood in a U around a hearth.
We walked toward the thrones, and a woman's voice said, "Hello, Alex Mare. You and your friends are welcome."
Hestia stood by the hearth, poking the flames with a stick. She wore a simple brown dress and was a grown woman.
I bowed. "Lady Hestia."
My friends followed my example.
Hestia regarded Alex with her red glowing eyes. "I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles."
Some of the others started muttering among themselves: What did she say? What about Achilles?
"You must be careful," Hestia warned him. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order."
Annabeth nudged him. "Um . . . what is she talking about?"
Alex stared into Hestia's eyes and suddenly collapsed, but Annabeth grabbed him. "Alex! What happened?"
"Did . . . did you see that?" he asked.
"See what?"
He glanced at Hestia, but the goddess's face was expressionless.
"How long was I out?" he muttered. Annabeth knit her eyebrows.
"Alex, you weren't out at all. You just looked at Hestia for like one second and collapsed."
"Um, Lady Hestia," he said, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see—"
"We know what you need," a man's voice said. Alex shuddered.
A god shimmered into existence next to Hestia. He looked about twenty-five, with curly salt-and-pepper hair and elfish features. He wore a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird's wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.
"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to the aviator and disappeared into smoke. I understood why she was so anxious to go. Hermes, the God of Messengers, did not look happy.
"Hello, Alex." His brow furrowed as though he was annoyed with him, which was unusual.
He bowed awkwardly. "Lord Hermes."
Oh, sure, one of the snakes said in my mind. Don't say hi to us. We're just reptiles.
George, the other snake scolded. Be polite.
"Hello, George," I said instead. "Hey, Martha."
Did you bring us a rat? George asked.
George, stop it, Martha said. They're busy!
Too busy for rats? George said. That's just sad.
I decided it was better not to get into it with George.
"Um, Hermes," Alex said. "We need to talk to Zeus. It's important."
Hermes's eyes were steely cold. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?"
Behind me, the other demigods shifted restlessly. This wasn't going as planned. Maybe if Alex tried to speak with Hermes in private . . .
"You guys," I said. "Why don't we do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and Alex back here in thirty minutes."
Silena frowned. "But—"
"That's a good idea," Annabeth said. "Luke and Percy, you two lead."
Luke seemed to like that—getting handed an important responsibility right in front of his dad. He usually never led anything except pranking runs. "We're on it!" Luke said. He and Percy herded the rest of us out of the throne room, leaving Annabeth and Alex with Hermes.
When Alex and Annabeth were done talking to Hermes, we all met up and headed down. Argus had arrived outside with some of the younger campers and was waiting for us with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything. He never does. I guess that's because he supposedly has an eyeball on his tongue. But his face made it clear he was freaking out.
Alex told him what we'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.
"You'd better get back to camp," Alex told him. "Guard it as best you can."
He pointed at Alex and raised his eyebrow quizzically.
"I'm staying," he said.
Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger.
"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."
"For what?" Alex asked.
Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much standard issue—the same kind of round shield we always used in capture the flag. But when Annabeth set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty—which wasn't anywhere close to us.
"Whoa," I said. "A video shield. That's pretty cool."
"One of Daedalus's ideas," Annabeth said. "I had Beckendorf make this a couple days ago. Anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."
We crowded around as Annabeth concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so I almost got motion sickness just watching it. We were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.
"Whoa," Connor said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."
"What?" Annabeth said nervously. "You see invaders?"
"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brother. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Connor!" Katie scolded. She sounded like her mother, Demeter. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"
"Not even a little?" Maddie tried.
"Nope!"
"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed. Annabeth passed her hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.
"This will let us see what's going on across the city," she said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully we'll see you back at camp . . . someday."
Argus grunted. He gave Alex a look that clearly meant Good luck; you'll need it, then climbed into his van. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered the road.
Castor crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"
"This is a huge spell," Silena said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder." I stared at her.
"When did you learn so much about magic?" Alex asked.
Silena blushed. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."
"Alex," Annabeth called. She was still looking at the shield. "You'd better see this."
The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speed boats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped in the night wind. I'd never seen that design before, but it wasn't hard to figure out: the battle flag of Kronos.
"Scan the perimeter of the island," Percy said. "Quick."
Annabeth shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. At first I thought they were dolphins. Then I saw their doglike faces and the swords strapped to their waists, and I realized they were telkhines—sea demons.
The scene shifted again: the Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.
"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Alex said. "Is the whole state asleep?"
Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."
She showed us another scene—a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.
"Kronos," I said. "He's slowing time."
"Hecate might be helping," Katie said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."
"I don't know." Annabeth sounded really frustrated. She hated not knowing. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."
"Like flies in amber," Jake Mason murmured.
Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."
Alex turned to the other demigods. They looked stunned and scared, and I couldn't blame them. The shield had shown us at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were barely more than forty of us. And we were alone.
"All right," Alex said. "We're going to hold Manhattan."
Maddie tugged at her armor. "Um, Alex, Manhattan is huge."
"We are going to hold it," he said. "We have to."
"He's right," Annabeth said. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."
"They have boats," Yew pointed out.
"I'll take care of the boats," Alex said.
Lee frowned. "How?"
"Just leave it to us," Percy said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Lee, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to do, but keep them out of there! Luke, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis and Connor, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"
"Awwww!" the whole Hermes cabin complained.
"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."
"Oh my gods," one of her sisters said. "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."
"No delays," I added. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."
Six Aphrodite girls kissed me on the cheek in excitement.
"All right, enough!"
Alex closed his eyes, trying to think of what we'd forgotten. "The Holland Tunnel. Beck, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."
He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. C'mon!" The whole cabin roared.
"The 59th Street Bridge," Alex said. "Clarisse, we need you to go and defend there."
"We've got it covered, swirly."
"That leaves Lincoln Tunnel," Bianca pointed out.
"We'll take that," Annabeth stepped in. She turned to her siblings. "Malcolm, take the Athena cabin, activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position."
"You got it."
"I'll go with Alex," she said. "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed."
Somebody in the back of the group said, "No detours, you two." There were some giggles, and I was one of them.
"All right," I said. "Keep in touch with cell phones."
"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested.
Alex reached down, picked up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to her. "You do now. You all know Annabeth and Michael's numbers, right? If you need us, pick up a random phone and call us. Use it once, drop it, then borrow another one if you have to. That should make it harder for the monsters to zero in on you."
Everyone grinned as though they liked this idea.
Travis cleared his throat. "Uh, if we find a really nice phone—"
"No, you can't keep it," Alex said.
"Aw, man."
"We're spread so thin," Zoe said. "We don't have anyone on Queensboro."
Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"
I'd never been happier to hear anyone in my life. A band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.
The girl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head.
"Thalia!" Annabeth cried.
The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."