𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐩. 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

Death by a poisoned blade

Fortunately, Blackjack was on duty. 

Percy did his best taxicab whistle, and within a few minutes, three dark shapes circled out of the city. They looked like hawks at first, but as they descended Percy could make out long galloping legs of pegasi. 

"Yo, boss." Blackjack landed at a trot, his friend Porkpie and a brown pegasi named Gerald right behind him. "Man, I thought those wind gods were gonna knock us to Pennsylvania until we said we were with you!"

 "Thanks for coming," Percy told him. "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?"

 Blackjack whinnied. "Why do humans swing their arms as they walk? I dunno, boss. It just feels right. Where to?"

 "We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," he said. 

Blackjack lowered his neck.  "You're darn right, boss. We flew over it on the way here, and it don't look good. Hop on!"

Evangeline shadow traveled to the bridge, a heavy knot was forming in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like going into battles the amount of death she could see was overwhelming and she didn't like the migraine she got afterward. 

She saw the battle before she was close enough to make out individual fighters. It was well after midnight then, but the bridge was blazed with light. Cars were burning. Arcs of fire steamed in both directions as flaming arrows and spears sailed through the air. 

The other three demigods came in for a low pass, and Evangeline saw the Apollo campers retreating. They would hide behind cars and snipe at the approaching army, setting off explosive arrows and dropping caltrops in the road, building fiery barricades wherever they could, dragging sleeping drivers out of their cars to get them out of harm's way. 

But the enemy kept advancing. An entire phalanx of dracaenae marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armor, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate, but most of the Apollo arrows glanced harmlessly off their shield wall. About a hundred more monsters marched behind them. 

Hellhounds leaped ahead of the line from time to time. Most of them were destroyed with arrows or swords from the skeletons, but one got hold of an Apollo camper and dragged him away. She didn't want to see what happened to him next. She didn't want to know. 

"There!" Annabeth called from the back of her pegasus. 

Sure enough, in the middle of the invading legion was Percy's arch nemesis the cowman. 

From the waist down, he wore standard Greek battle gear—a kilt-like apron of leather and metal flaps, bronze greaves covering his legs, and tightly wrapped leather sandals. His top was all bull—hair and hide and muscle, leading to a head so large he should've toppled over just from the weight of his horns. He was ten feet tall at least. A double-bladed axe was strapped to his back, but he was too impatient to use it. As soon he saw Percy circling overhead, he bellowed and picked up a white limousine. 

"Blackjack, dive!" The son of Poseidon yelled. 

The three of them were at least a hundred feet up, but the limo came sailing towards them, flipping Fender over like a two-ton boomerang. Annabeth and Porkpie swerved madly to the left, and Landon and Gerald swerved to the right. Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. 

Evangeline's eyes widened when she saw the limo sail over Percy's head missing it by maybe two inches. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell towards the East River.