𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐩. 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

Pink was the imposter

The drakon was three stories above them, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up its forces. Wherever the monster looked the centaurs froze in fear.

From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and their lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before Percy could even get close. 

Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air—a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws. Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night doll.

Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat, but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk—hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing.

The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.

The son of Poseidon plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but the Jackson boy rolled aside.

It bit a swimming pool-sized chunk out of the pavement. It turned towards the raven-haired boy with its good eye and Percy focused on its teeth so he wouldn't get paralyzed. Mrs O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like an angry black wig.

The rest of the battle wasn't going well. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared amidst the battle but quickly disappeared. Arrows screamed. Fires exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. They were losing ground.

Suddenly Evangeline appeared on the drakon's back. She drove her sword between a chink in the serpent's scales causing the monster to roar. It coiled around, knocking the brunette off its back.

Percy reached her as as she hit the ground. He dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.

"Thanks," She said.

"I told you to be careful!" Percy said.

"This is war, nobody's going to—DUCK!" Evangeline yelled.

It was her turn to save him. She tackled the son of Poseidon as the monster's teeth snapped above his head. Mrs. O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention, and the children of the Big Three rolled out of the way.

Meanwhile, their allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them. They were out of options. No more help was coming.

Evangeline and Percy would have to retreat before they were cut off from Mount Olympus. Then the Jackson boy heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but he recognized it immediately: chariot wheels.

A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!"

And a dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with a symbol of the wild boar's head. Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armor gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one—making a bristling wall of death.

"The children of Ares!" Evangeline said in shock. "How did Rachel know?"

He didn't have an answer. But leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, her face covered by a boar's head helm. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. Clarisse herself had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon.