𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒──𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

[ XII. beaten, broken heart ]

Hundreds of centaurs filled the block. Zehra's brain couldn't process everything she saw: rainbow afro wigs, oversized sunglasses, war-painted faces. Zehra knew that if she was the enemy, she'd be running right about now.

"Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand, and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry, we're late!"

"DUDE!" Another centaur yelled. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!"

He locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle.

"PARTY PONIES.'" a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"

Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouted.

It was the most beautiful thing Zehra had ever seen. She laughed in disbelief, looking at Percy with newfound hope filling her eyes. He grinned back at her and the both of them resumed swordplay with a renewed energy; the monsters didn't stand a chance.

"I could kiss you right now!" Percy yelled over the chaos.

Zehra couldn't help but snort in disbelief. "Bad timing, Jackson!"

The entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path.

"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!"

That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backward and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt.

The heroes pushed them for several blocks until Chiron yelled, "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"

It wasn't easy, but eventually, the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"Chiron's smart," Annabeth said, wiping the sweat off her face. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."

"But the enemy—"

"They're not defeated," she agreed. "But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time."

Zehra didn't like pulling back, but she knew her best friend was right. She watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled toward the East River. Then reluctantly she turned and headed back toward the Empire State Building.

They set up a two-block perimeter, with a command tent at the Empire State Building. Chiron informed them that the Party Ponies had sent chapters from almost every state in the Union: forty from California, two from Rhode Island, thirty from Illinois...roughly five hundred total had answered his call, but even with that many, they couldn't defend more than a few blocks.

"Dude," said a centaur named Larry. His T-shirt identified him as BIG CHIEF UBER GUY, NEW MEXICO CHAPTER. "That was more fun than our last convention in Vegas!"

"Yeah," said Owen from South Dakota. He wore a black leather jacket and an old WWII army helmet. "We totally wasted them!"

Chiron patted Owen on the back. "You did well, my friends, but don't get careless. Kronos should never be underestimated. Now, why don't you visit the diner on West 33rd and get some breakfast? I hear the Delaware chapter found a stash of root beer."