The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

ten

QUICK MEETINGS

They grabbed Will Solace from the Apollo cabin and told the rest of his siblings to keep searching for Michael Yew.

They borrowed a Yamaha FZI from a sleeping biker and drove to the Plaza Hotel at speeds that would've given Percy's mom a heart attack.

Percy had never driven a motorcycle before, but it wasn't any harder than riding a pegasus.

Along the way, she noticed a lot of empty pedestals that usually held statues. Plan twenty-three seemed to be working. Ariana didn't know if that was good or bad.

It only took them five minutes to reach the Plaza an old-fashioned white stone hotel with a gabled blue roof, sitting at the southeast corner of Central Park.

Tactically speaking, the Plaza wasn't the best place for a headquarters. It wasn't the tallest building in town, or the most centrally located.

But it had old-school style and had attracted a lot of famous demigods over the years, like the Beatles and Alfred Hitchcock, so Ariana figured they were in good company.

She gunned the Yamaha over the curb and swerved to a stop at the fountain outside the hotel.

Will and Percy hopped off.

The statue at the top of the fountain called down, "Oh, fine. I suppose you want me to watch your bike too!"

She was a life-size bronze standing in the middle of a granite bowl. She wore only a bronze sheet around her legs, and she was holding a basket of metal fruit.

Ariana never paid her too much attention before.
Then again, she'd never talked to her before.

"Are you supposed to be Demeter?" Percy asked.
A bronze apple sailed over his head.

"Everyone thinks I'm Demeter." she complained. "I'm Pompona, the Roman Goddess of Plenty, but why should you care? Nobody cares about the minor gods. If you cared about the minor gods, you wouldn't be losing this war! Three cheers for Morpheus and Hecate, I say!"

"Watch the bike." Ariana told her.

Pompona cursed in Latin and threw more fruit as they ran toward the hotel.

Ariana had never actually been inside the Plaza. The lobby was impressive, with the crystal chandeliers and the passed-out rich people, but she didn't pay much attention.

A couple of Hunters gave them directions to the elevators, and they rode up to the penthouse suites.

Demigods had completely taken over the top floors.

Campers and Hunters were crashed out on sofas, washing up in the bathrooms, ripping silk draperies to bandage their wounds, and helping themselves to snacks and sodas from the minibars.

A couple of timber wolves were drinking out of the toilets. Ariana was relieved to see that so many of her friends had made it through the night alive, but everybody looked beat up.

"Ariana!" Jake Mason clapped her on the shoulder. "We're getting reports-"

"Later," Percy said, "where's Annabeth?"

"The terrace. She's alive, man, but..."

They pushed past him. Annabeth lay on a lounge chair. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat.

Even though she was covered in blankets, she shivered. Silena Beauregard was wiping her forehead with a cool cloth.

Will, Percy and Ariana pushed through a crowd of Athena kids. Will unwrapped Annabeth's bandages to examine the wound, and Ariana wanted to faint.