Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter 12 - Percy becomes a Athena worthy strategist

If there is one thing you can depend on times of crisis, then it's that your dog will find something positive about it. In this case, Mrs O'Leary was delighting in the fact that she could eat as many hot-dogs as she wanted while the owner was curled up on the sidewalk, sucking his thumb. Argus stood nearby, watching her pig out while also staring at all the sleeping pedestrians. Chiron was gone, hopefully to find us some allies. 

We decided to ignore her for now, none of us pretty keen to try and get an hellhound away from her food. Instead, Percy gave Argus a rundown on what had happened in Olympus. When he was done, Argus merely nodded his head. That was about as much of an interaction as you usually got with him, considering that he had an eye on his tongue and he didn't usually like to speak to avoid people staring at him. 

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

Argus pointed as us and raised his eyebrow.

"I'm staying," Percy said. 

Argus nodded like that answer satisfied him. Then he turned to me and drew a circle in the air. 

"Yes, I think it's time," I said, remembering what I'd asked him to look after when we hopped into the vans at camp. 

"For what?" Percy asked. 

I waited until Argus returned from where he'd been rummaging in the back of the van, the bronze shield in hand. I took it from him and set it on the ground, polished side up. When I focused on my thoughts, concentrating on Manhattan, the first thing I thought of popped up, which was the Statue of Liberty. 

"Whoa," Percy said, leaning over my shoulder. "A video shield."

"One of Daedalus' ideas," I said. "I had Beckendorf make this before -" I remembered suddenly that Silena was nearby and I shot her a guilty look before returning my attention to the shield. "Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."

I felt crowded as the rest of the campers surrounded me, many heads cramming around to catch a glimpse of the shield. I focused on areas I knew of Manhattan and the shield showed me glimpses of them, from Central Park Zoo, to Bloomingdale's and then on to individual streets. I was skimming along Third Avenue, scanning for any activity at when Connor Stoll started. 

"Whoa," he said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."

"What?" I asked, thinking I'd missed something. Operating the shield while looking was taking up a lot of my concentration. "You see the invaders?"

"No, right there - Dylan's Candy Bar. Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Connor and Travis fist-bumped each other. 

"Connor!" Katie Gardner scolded. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"

"Sorry," he muttered, but I definitely sensed that a) he didn't mean it, and b) he was going to do it anyway. 

Focusing back on the shield, I waved my hand of it and focused on FDR Drive, the shield revealing an image of Lighthouse Park from across the river. 

"This will let us see what's going on across the city," I said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully, we'll see you back at camp . . . someday."

The hundred-eyed man grunted, which I guessed was the best we were going to get out of him. Then he got back into his van and all three of them drove away, leaving the forty of us alone outside of the Empire State Building. I tried to not feel too despondent. We still had Mrs O'Leary at least.