𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭y.

The prophecy begins

Lilia loved New York. You could pop out of the Underworld in Central Park, hail a taxi, head down Fifth Avenue with a giant hellhound loping along behind you, and nobody even looks at you funny.

Of course, the Mist helped. People probably couldn't see Mrs. O'Leary, or maybe they thought she was a large, loud, very friendly truck.

Lilia pulled out her phone and tried to call Annabeth, but it went through to voicemail. She sent her friend a brief message in the time she had before it cut off.

"You're going to get attacked one day, keeping that phone on you all the time." Percy said as she scrolled through her phone.

"Okay, well I'd rather get eaten by monsters than go without social media." She said blatantly.

Percy rolled his eyes with a grin.

Lilia called Annabeth again, this time she picked up.

"Hey Annie, did you get my message?" She asked.

"Where the fuck are you and Percy? Your message said nothing! We've been worried sick."

Lilia made a face pulling the phone away from her ear as her friend screamed through it.

"We'll fill you in later." She said. "Where are you?"

"We're on our way like you asked, almost to the Queens— Midtown tunnel. But Lilia, what are you guys planning? We've left camp virtually undefended, and there no way the Gods will—"

"Trust us." Percy said into the phone that was now held between his and Lilia's ears. "We'll see you there."

They hung up the phone. Lilia gave Percy a wary look. She noticed his hands were shaking, maybe it was the recent dip in the river Styx, maybe it was the anticipation of what was going to happen. She didn't know, but she grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

He smiled at her a strange look in his eyes.

"What is it?" She frowned.

"What's, what?" He asked.

"You're looking at me funny."

"Oh—sorry." He blushed, not mentioning the strange vision he'd had of her.

She stared at him, trying to work out what he was thinking but she couldn't.

➳

It was late afternoon when the taxi dropped them at the Empire State Building. Mrs. O'Leary bounded up and down Fifth Avenue, licking cabs and sniffing hot dog carts. Nobody seemed to notice her, although people did swerve away and look confused when she came close.

Percy whistled for her to heel as three white vans pulled up to the curb. They said Delphi Strawberry Service, which was the cover name for Camp Half-Blood. Lilia had never seen all three vans in the same place at once, though she knew they shuttled the camps 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 are basically demonic human/chicken hybrids with bad attitudes. They used the harpies mostly for cleaning the camp, but they 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. Percy and Lilia exchanged relieved looks. They were glad so many had come: Pollux, Silena, Celia, Connor and Travis, 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 here, Lilia looked at Percy who had clearly noticed as well, his jaw clenching.