claimed |PERCY JACKSON| [book 5]

VI

SELENA STOOD OUTSIDE THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, invisible. She saw a bunch of the campers head up to Olympus. She would join them, but she didn't know how they would react. 

So, she went to the very top. Towards Olympus. 

She spotted a bunch of the campers in a small park at the edge of the mountain. They were clustered at the guardrail, looking down at Manhattan. The railing was lined with those tourist binoculars, where you could deposit one golden drachma and see the city. Campers were using every single one.

They were mumbling about something and Selena stared out across the city. It was quiet... too quiet.

Percy, Annabeth, and the Stoll brothers ran over. Selena stared at the son of Poseidon. Something seemed different about him but she couldn't figure out what.

"I don't . . . hear anything," Annabeth stated,

And that was the problem.

Even from this height, they should've heard the noise of the city—millions of people bustling around, thousands of cars and machines—the hum of a huge metropolis. You don't think about it when you live in New York, but it's always there. Even in the dead of night, New York is never silent.

But it was now.

"What did they do?" Percy's voice sounded tight and angry. "What did they do to my city?" He pushed Michael Yew away from the binoculars and took a look.

In the streets below, traffic had stopped. Pedestrians were lying on the sidewalks, or curled up in doorways. There was no sign of violence, no wrecks, nothing like that. It was as if all the people in New York had simply decided to stop whatever they were doing and pass out.

"Are they dead?" Silena asked in astonishment.

Ice coated Selena's stomach. A line from the prophecy rang in her ears: And see the world in endless sleep.

"Not dead," Percy stated, "Morpheus has put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep. The invasion has started."

They quickly left Olympus and Selena followed.

Argus was waiting for the campers with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything. He never does. But his face made it clear he was freaking out.

Percy told him what they'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.

"You'd better get back to camp," Percy told him. "Guard it as best you can."

He pointed at Percy and raised his eyebrow quizzically, "I'm staying," Percy said.

Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."