𝒗. 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

𝒙𝒊𝒊.

"REEEEET!"

The squeal echoed through upper Manhattan. Demigods and monsters alike froze in terror.

Grover shot Percy a panicked look. "Why does that sound like . . . It can't be!"

Percy knew what Grover was thinking. Two years ago they'd gotten a "gift" from Pan—a huge boar that carried them across the Southwest (after it tried to kill them). The boar had a similar squeal, but what they were hearing now seemed higher pitched, shriller, almost like . . . like if the boar had an angry girlfriend.

"REEEEEET!" A huge pink creature soared over the reservoir—a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade nightmare blimp with wings.

"A sow!" Annabeth cried. "Take cover!"

The demigods scattered as the winged lady pig swooped down. Her wings were pink like a flamingo's, which matched her skin beautifully, but it was hard to think of her as cute when her hooves slammed into the ground, barely missing one of Annabeth's siblings. The pig stomped around and tore down half an acre of trees, belching a cloud of noxious gas. Then it took off again, circling around for another strike.

"Don't tell me that thing is from Greek mythology," Percy complained.

"Afraid so," Noelle said, placing a hand on her falcon. "The Clazmonian Sow. It terrorized Greek towns back in the day."

"Let me guess," he said. "Hercules beat it."

"Nope," Annabeth said. "As far as I know, no hero has ever beaten it."

"Perfect," he muttered.

The Titan's army was recovering from its shock. They finally seemed to realize the pig wasn't after them.

The campers only had seconds before they were ready to fight, and their forces were still in a panic. Every time the sow belched, Grover's nature spirits yelped and faded back into their trees.

"That pig has to go." Percy grabbed a grappling hook from one of Annabeth's siblings. "I'll take care of it. You guys hold the rest of the enemy. Push them back!"

"But, Percy," Grover said, "what if we can't?"

Percy saw how tired he was. The magic had really drained him. Noelle didn't look much better from fighting with a bad shoulder wound as well as using her power to create her falcon. He didn't know how the Hunters were doing, but the right flank of the enemy army was now between them and the campers.

He didn't want to leave his friends in such bad shape, but that sow was the biggest threat. It would destroy everything: buildings, trees, sleeping mortals. It had to be stopped.

"Retreat if you need to," Percy said. "Just slow them down. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Before anyone could change his mind, he swung the grappling hook like a lasso. When the sow came down for its next pass, he threw with all his strength. The hook wrapped around the base of the pig's wing. It squealed in rage and veered off, yanking the rope and Percy into the sky.

~

If you're heading downtown from Central Park, some good advice is to take the subway. Flying pigs are faster, but way more dangerous. 

The sow soared past the Plaza Hotel, straight into the canyon of Fifth Avenue. Percy's brilliant plan was to climb the rope and get on the pig's back. Unfortunately, he was too busy swinging around dodging streetlamps and the sides of buildings.

Another thing he learned: it's one thing to climb a rope in gym class. It's a completely different thing to climb a rope attached to a moving pig's wing while you're flying at a hundred miles an hour. They zigzagged along several blocks and continued south on Park Avenue.