ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

9

𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚢𝚘𝚞
𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛
𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎
𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎

𝚎.𝚜

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻 37th, just three blocks north of Olympus. To the east on Park Avenue, Jake Mason and some other Hephaestus campers were leading an army of statues against the enemy. To the west, the Demeter cabin and Grover's nature spirits had turned Sixth Avenue into a jungle that was hampering a squadron of Kronos's demigods. The south was clear for now, but the flanks of the enemy army were swinging around. A few more minutes and they'd be totally surrounded.

Polaris and Annabeth themselves carried the grey Athena banner to 33rd at the Park Avenue tunnel. Two of her siblings were helping them hold back a Hyperborean giant.

All of the sudden, Percy landed on the giant's head. When the giant looked up, the demigod slid off his face, shield-bashing his nose on the way down.

"RAWWWR!' The giant staggered backward, blue blood trickling from his nostrils.

Percy hit the pavement running. The Hyperborean breathed a cloud of white mist, and the temperature dropped. The spot where he'd landed was now coated with ice, and he was covered in frost like a sugar donut.

"Hey, ugly!" Annabeth yelled.

Blue Boy bellowed and turned toward her, exposing the unprotected back of his legs. Percy charged and stabbed him behind the knee.

"WAAAAH!" The Hyperborean buckled. Polaris waited for him to turn, but he froze, turning to solid ice. From the point where Percy had stabbed him, cracks appeared in his body. They got larger and wider until the giant crumbled in a mountain of blue shards.

"Thanks." Polaris winced, trying to catch her breath. "The pig?"

"Pork chops," Percy said.

"Was Cygnus any help?"

Percy hesitated. "He . . . very enthusiastically led the way back to you. Honestly, the pig was just too fast."

"Glad it's dead." Annbeth flexed her shoulder. Obviously, the wound was still bothering her, but she saw their expressions and rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, you guys. Come on! We've got plenty of enemies left."

She was right. The next hour was a blur. Polaris fought like she'd never fought before—wading into legions of dracaenae, pulling down constellation after constellation, destroying empousai and knocking out enemy demigods. No matter how many she defeated, more took their place.

The trio raced from block to block, trying to shore up their defenses. Too many of their friends lay wounded in the streets. Too many were missing.

As the night wore on and the moon got higher, the demigod army was backed up foot by foot until they were only a block from the Empire State Building in any direction. At one point Grover was next to Polaris, bonking snake women over the head with his cudgel. Then he disappeared in the crowd, and it was Thalia at her side, driving the monsters back with the power of her magic shield. Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere, picked up a Laistrygonian giant in her mouth, and flung him into the air like a Frisbee. Lecter melted Hyperborean backsides. Annabeth used her invisibility cap to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason with a surprised look on his face, Polaris knew Annabeth had been there.
But it still wasn't enough.