JAWBREAKER

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

Warren looked out the car window, watching as skyscrapers and overpasses whipped by. She drummed her hands on her thighs anxiously.

"Can't Argus go any faster?" she grumbled.

"Not without getting pulled over," Annabeth said, adjusting the zipper on her bag. It barely wanted to close over her laptop. "And that would take even longer."

"He should've let me drive."

"We'll be there soon. Just try to be patient."

Warren gave her a dry look. "Since when have I ever been patient?"

Before Annabeth could reply, an electronic tone rang out- Warren's emergency phone. She flipped it open and held it to her ear before it could even finish the second ring.

"Hello?" Warren said breathlessly. "Percy?"

"Hey, yeah it's me. You get my message?"

"Where have you been? Your message said almost nothing! I- We've been worried sick!"

"I'll fill you in later," he said. "Where are you?"

"We're on our way like you asked, almost to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. But, Percy, what are you planning? We've left the camp virtually undefended, and there's no way the gods-"

"Trust me," he said. "I'll see you there."

Then the line went dead. Warren stared blankly at the phone in her hand.

"Well?" Annabeth asked.

"That little shit hung up on me."

It was late afternoon when the fleet of camp vans pulled up to the curb. Through the windshield Warren could see Percy and Mrs. O'Leary. The hound was bounding up and down the sidewalks, but he whistled for her to heel once they parked.

The doors slid open, and campers climbed out, some of them looking a little green from the long drive. Warren had done the best she could to round everyone up, and was glad she'd been able to get so many- Pollux, Silena Beauregard, the Stoll brothers, Michael Yew, Jake Mason, Katie Gardner, and Annabeth, along with most of their siblings. Chiron came out of the van last. His horse half was compacted into his magic wheelchair, so he used the handicap lift.

The Ares cabin wasn't there, but Warren tried not to get too angry about that. She'd put out a call to her older brother Sherman, who'd left camp for college three year prior. She was hoping he'd have an Ares contact or two, but only managed to get his voicemail.

Warren did a head count: forty campers in all. Not many to fight a war, but it was still the largest group of half-bloods she'd ever seen gathered in one place outside camp. Everyone looked nervous, and she understood why. They were probably sending out so much demigod aura that every monster in the northeastern United States knew they were there.