𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲.

A friends betrayal

Fortunately, Blackjack was on duty.

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

Blackjack landed at a trot, his friend honey right behind him.

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

Blackjack whinnied. Lilia made her way over to Honey, her favourite Pegasus. Honey let out a nervous neigh in greeting.

"I'm sorry you have to be here girl." Lilia said stroking her mane.

She whinnied, pushing her head toward Lilia, who looked at Percy expectantly,

"She said 'anything for you'"

Lilia smiled at the Pegasus.

"We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," Percy said. Blackjack lowered his neck.

➳

On the way to the bridge, a knot formed in the pit of Lilia's stomach.

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

They came in for a low pass, and 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 were destroyed with arrows, but one got hold of an Apollo camper and dragged him away. She didn't see what happened to him next. She didn't want to know.

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

Percy let out a shocked gasp, in the middle of the invading legion was the Minotaur, ready for battle.
From the waist down, he wore standard Greek battle gear—a kiltlike 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. As he saw them circling overhead (or sniffed, more likely, since his eyesight was bad), he bellowed and picked up a white limousine.

"Blackjack, dive!" Percy yelled.

They were at least a hundred feet up, but the limo came sailing toward them, flipping fender over fender like a two-ton boomerang. Lilia and Honey swerved madly to the left, while Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. The limo sailed over Percy's head, missing by maybe two inches. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell toward the East River. Monsters jeered and shouted, and the Minotaur picked up another car.

"Drop us behind the lines with the Apollo cabin," Percy told Blackjack. "Stay in earshot but get out of danger!"

Blackjack swooped down behind an overturned school bus, where a couple of campers were hiding.
Lilia and Percy leaped off as soon as their pegasi's hooves touched the pavement. Then Blackjack and Honey soared into the night sky.