Gone Girl.¹

𝟬𝟮𝟮. keep holding on

gone girl.
━━━ chapter twenty two

❀

They shadow-travelled in front of the Empire State building, as Percy said. Mrs. O'Leary was right behind them and was sniffing the people that passed — thankfully, the Mist probably made her appear like a normal dog or a large truck.

"I've sent a message to Annabeth," Percy said and stretched his arms. "They'll be here."

They didn't have to wait more than ten minutes before they saw three white vans pulled up to the curb. They said Delphi Strawberry Service, which was the cover name for Camp Half-Blood. Amaryllis had never seen all three vans in the same place at once, though she knew they shuttled their fresh produce into the city.

The first van was driven by Argus, their many-eyed security chief. The other two were driven by harpies, who were basically demonic human/chicken hybrids with bad attitudes, although they surprisingly did pretty well in midtown traffic too.

The doors slid open. A bunch of campers climbed out, some of them looking a little green from the long drive. Amaryllis recognized most faces: Annabeth, Silena, Pollux, the Stolls, Jake, Katie, Michael, along with most of their siblings. She did a double check to make sure everyone from the Apollo cabin was there and she was happy to see that they were. Austin sent her finger guns and Will waved at her, despite looking a bit disoriented from the drive.

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 here, which wasn't surprising, but it still made Amaryllis furious. Stubborn bastards.

There weren't many, certainly not enough to fight a war, but they'd have to do. 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 here.

Annabeth came up to Amaryllis and Percy. She was dressed in black camouflage with her Celestial bronze knife strapped to her arm and her laptop bag slung over her shoulder — ready for stabbing or surfing the Internet, whichever came first.

She frowned. "You two look weird. Did something happen?"

Amaryllis avoided Percy's eyes. She'd have to tell them the truth eventually, but it never seemed to be an appropriate time. "No, nothing," she finally said.

Percy addressed the crowd.  "Thanks for coming, everybody. Chiron, after you."

The old centaur shook his head. "I came to wish you luck, my boy. But I make it a point never to visit Olympus unless I am summoned."

"But you're our leader."

He smiled. "I am your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather what allies I can. It may not be too late to convince my brother centaurs to help. Meanwhile, you called the campers here, Percy. You are the leader."

He seemed like he wanted to protest, but everybody was looking at him expectantly. It was too much pressure, but it was the truth — he was their leader. Everyone listened to Percy, whether they liked him or not.