Annabeth Chase and The Last Olympian

Annabeth Chase and The Last Olympian Chapter 4

Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter Four

Once we got back down, to New York, we found Argus and Mrs.O'Leary. Argus worked at Camp and Percy told him to keep an eye on Mrs.O'Leary before we went up. Argus was good at watching people considering he had eyes all over his body. "You'd better get back to camp," Percy told him. "Guard it the best you can." Argus then turned and pointed to me. He made a circle in the air with his finger. "Yes," I said knowing he was asking about the shield. "I think it's time." Argus never talked, and their was a rumour that he didn't because he had an eyeball on his tongue. I wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. "For what?" Percy asked clueless as usual. We ignored him as Argus fished around in the back of the trunk. He took out the shield and passed it to me. I set it down on the sidewalk and an image of the statue of Liberty appeared. "Woah," Percy said surprised. "A video shield." "One of Daedalus's ideas," I said. "I had Beckendorf make this before-" Then I remembered Silena and quickly looked at her. "Um, anyway, the sield 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 explained. I stared at the shield concentrating hard. The image quickly zoomed and spun around. "Whoa," Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom in right there." "What?" I asked nervously. "You see invaders?" "No, right there-Dylan's Candy bar." Connor grinned at his brother. "Dude it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking. Typical sons of Hermes. Get me all nervous, so the can plan to rob a candy store in the middle of a war. Real smart. "Connor!" Katie Gardner scloded. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!" She yelled taking the words right out of my head. I'm glad someone has a brain. "Sorry," Connor muttered, though I noticed he didn't sound very ashamed. I waved my hand over the shield again making another scene pop up. It was FDR Drive, looking across the river at the Lighthouse Park. "This will let us see what's going on in the city," I explained again. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully we'll see you back at camp . . . someday." Argus grunted. After he left Percy whisled for Mrs.O'Leary and she happily came bounding over. "Hey, girl," he said. "You remember Grover? the satyr we met in the park?" "WOOF!" "I need you to find him," Percy said. "Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!" Mrs.O'Leary kissed Percy and then took off. As I turned back around I saw Pollux crouched down next to a sleeping policeman. " I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?" "This is a huge spell," Silena answered. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder." Couldn't have put it better myself. I glanced back down at the shield. "When did you learn so much about magic?" Percy asked Silena. She blushed, "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe." "Percy," I calledhim. "You'd better see this." Demigods in full battle armour were racing across Long Island Sound in speed boats. Kronos flag waved as they sped towards Manhatten. "Scan the perimeter of the island." Percy said. "Quick." I quickly shifted the scene South to the Harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with monsters. I shifted the scene again to the Jersey shore. Hundreds of monsters marched past streetlights. "What's happening with the mortals outside Manhatten? Percy asked me. "Is the whole State asleep?" I frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhatten is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhatten, the slower it is." I showed him another scene, one of a New Jersey highway. All the drivers were awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. "Kronos," Percy said. "He's slowing time." "Hecate might be helping," Katie Gardner said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhatten exits, like they're getting a subconsious message to turn back." "I don't know." I said getting frustrated. Now I'm starting to sound like Seaweed Brain, TERRIFIC. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhatten in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhatten will slow down so much they won't know what's happening." I explained. "Like flies in amber," Jake Mason murmured. I nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in." Everyone looked scared as I looked around. Well, we had a good reason to be scared. 40 kids, verse 300 monsters and evil Gods. Not all of us are going to make it through this. None of us might make it through. Chances of winning this war were slim if the Gods weren't going to help. "Alright," Percy said. "We're going to hold Manhatten." Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhatten is huge." Of course she's completely right, but we'll never win with a negative attitude. "We ARE going to hold it," Percy stated again. "We have to." "He's right," I said looking at everybody. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island." "They have boats," Micheal Yew pointed out. "I'll take care of the boats," Percy said. Micheal frowned,"How?" "Just leave it to me," Percy said sounding thoughtful. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Micheal, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to, but keep them out of there! Connor, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhatten Bridge. Travis you take the other and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for loot or pillaging". "Aww!" the whole Hermes cabin complained. I shook my head annoyed. "Silena, take Aphrodite crew to the Quuens Midtown Tunnel." "Oh my gods," one of Silena's sisters said. "Fifth Avenue is SO on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters like, TOTALLY hate the smell of Givenchy." I sighed angrily and was about to tell her that, this is a WAR, when Percy interupted me. "No delays," He said. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work." I held back more anger as six of the girls walked up to Percy to kiss him on the cheek excitely. "Alright, enough!" Percy said closing his eyes trying to think. "TheHolland Tunnel. Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got." Jake grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. For Beckendorf!" The rest of the cabbin roared in approval. "The 59th Street Bridge," Percy said. "Clarisse-" He faltered. Clarisse refused to help, he must have forgot. "We'll take that," I said saving him for embarassment. I turned over to my siblings. "Malcom, take the Athena cabin, activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position." "You got it." Malcom answered seriously. "I'll go with Percy," I said. "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed." I quickly breathed in, as I didn't realize I was holding my breath. I was scared Percy might not agree and order me to go fight with my cabin. As I looked back up I saw a girl in the back of the group say," No detours, you two." I blushed as I heard a few giggles in response. Percy seemed to be fighting back a retort. "Alright," he said breaking up the giggling. "Keep in touch with cell phones." "We don't hace cell phones," Silena protested. Percy picked up a blackberry from one of the sleeping citizens on the street, and tossed it to Silena. "You do now. You all know Annabeth's number right? If you need us pick up a random phone and call us. Use it once, drop it, then borrow another one if you have to. That should make it harder for the monsters to zero in on you." My jaw dropped, but I quickly picked it back up before anyone noticed. Percy reacted really good under pressure and it surprised me. I'm the one who's always coming up with the plans. "Hold it Percy," jake said suddenly. "You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel." Percy looked surprised as he stopped to think. Now what were we going to do? Just then I heard a voice from across the street. " How about you leave that to us?" I gasped as I noticed as Artemis's Hunters happily walked over to us. "Thalia!" I cried surprised. Thalia, the daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty." I quickly ran up to Thalia as we embraced eachother in a hug. Thalia was like another older sister to me. She and Luke were the ones who found me on the streets after I ran away from home. They protected me and brought me with them to camp Half Blood. "Where have you been the last year?" Percy asked Thalia. "You've got like twice as many hunters now!" Thalia laughed. "Long, LONG story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson." I held back a laugh. I can guarantee her adventures were NOTHING compared with Percy's. I mean only this summer he came face to face with Kronos for the second time. "Comeplete lie," Percy said with a smile. "We'll see," she promised. "After this is over,you,Annabeth, and me: cheeseburgers and fries at the Hotel on West 57th." "Le Parker Meridien," Percy said. "You're on. And Thalia, thanks," She shrugged. "Those monsters won't know what hit them. Hunters, move out!" "Thank the gods," I said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless." "You're right," Percy said nodding. He turned to adress the campers. "You're the greatest heroes of the millenium, it doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He then raised his sword Riptide and shouted: "FOR OLYMPUS!" We all shouted in response. As everyone cleared out Percy and I walked down the street looking for a car. It was hard to navigate through them because their were so many. Finally we found a man sleeping on a scooter and we managed to pull him off of it onto the ground. "Sorry dude." Percy said as we hopped onto the bike. I held onto percy's waist as he drove us through the cars in zig zags. We occasionally stopped to move sleeping pedestrians off the road. We also had to save a babycart rolling down the street and a cheap pretzel vedor cart that was on fire. We were passing Madison Square Park when I said "Pull over." As he stopped the scooter i jumped off and ran towards a bronze statue. I was looking at it when Percy finally caught up to me. "Why do we care about," he squinted so he could read the words. " William H. Steward?" "Seward," I corrected. " He was a New York governor. Minor demigod- son of Hebe, I think. But that's not important. It's the statue I care about." I climbed onto a park bench to examine the base of the statue. "Don't tell me he's an automton,"Percy asked. I smiled. "Turns out most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here just in case he needed a an army "To attack Olympus, or defend it?" Percy asked. I shrugged. "Either one. That was plan twenty-three. He could activate one statue and it would start activating its brethren all over the city, until there was an army. It's dangerous, though. You know how un-predictable automatons are." "Uh-huh," Percy said. . . . "So, your seriously thinking about activating it?" " I have daedalus's notes" I said. "I think I can . . . Ah, here we go." I pressed the tip of Sewards boot, and the statue stood up. "What's he going to do?" Percy muttered. "Take a memo?" "Shh," I said concentrating. "Hello, William." "Bill," Percy suggested. "Bill . . . Oh, shut up," I told Percy. The statue tilted it's head looking at us. I quickly cleared my throat. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-three. Defend manhatten. Begin activation." Seward immediately jumped off his pedestal and went clanking off to the East. "He's probably going to wake up Conifucius," I guessed. "What?" Percy asked. There's my old Seaweed Brain I thought. "Another statue, on Division. The point is, they'll keep waking each other up until they're all activated." I explained. "And then?" Percy asked. "Hopefully they defend Manhatten." I answered. "Do the know we're not the enemy?" Percy asked. "I think so." I answered again. "That's reassuring." Percy said. I was about to punch him when we saw a green explosion in the sky towards the East River. "We have to hurry," Percy said. And we ran for the Vespa.

***

We parked outside Battery Park. "Wait here," Percy said walking towards the water. "Percy, you shouldn't go alone." "Well unless you can breath underwater . . ." I sighed. "You are SO annoying sometimes." "Like when I'm right? Trust me, I'll be fine. I've got the curse of Achilles now. I'm all invincible and stuff." I wasn't convinced. "Just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you." I blushed as I realized what i just said. "I mean, because we need you for the battle" I added lamely. Percy grinned. "Back in a flash." I stood there worried for minutes waiting for Percy, when my cell phone rang. "Hello?" I answered quickly. "Annabeth another army is marching over the Williamsburg bridge. We need help, the Minotaur is leading the army!" I gasped. "Okay, we'll be right there" I said scared. "Hurry" Micheal said hanging up. Just then I noticed Percy climbing out of the water completely dry. Being Posidons son does that. "It worked," He said walking towards me. "The rivers are safe." "Good," I said as little weight was lifted off my shoulders. I quickly explained what micheal Yew said to me on the phone and not a second later we were on our way.