claimed |PERCY JACKSON| [book 5]

IX

WHEN THE MINOTAUR SAW THEM, his eyes burned with hate. He bellowed—a sound that was somewhere between a yell, a moo, and a really loud belch.

"Hey, Beef Boy," Percy shouted back. "Didn't I kill you already?"

He pounded his fist into the hood of a Lexus, and it crumpled like aluminum foil.

A few dracaenae threw flaming javelins at them. Percy knocked them aside. A hellhound lunged, and Selena stabbed it. Golden dust rained on them,

"Good luck, Aquaman." Selena gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Show him that he should've stayed in Tartarus."

While Percy and the Minotaur fought, Selena and the children of Apollo battled the other uglies that showed up. Hellhounds, snake women, giants, telekhines, you name it, were all slashed into dust. Selena turned invisible, which only helped slightly as some monsters had better smell than sight.

But then, Selena saw her. With her dark hair tied up into a ponytail and a two-sided sword stabbing at a pair of hellhounds. 

Kasey.

"What are you doing here?" Selena asked, reappearing beside the girl, turning a hellhound to dust, 

"I want to help!" Kasey responded,  "You were right, Kronos is evil. He wants everyone, including mortals to die."

"How do I know you're not trying to trick us?" Selena asked,

A giant scorpion snuck up on Selena and before the girl could attack, Kasey threw her sword directly at the monster's eyes, killing it instantly,

Kasey walked over to pick up her sword, "Would I be killing these guys if I weren't on your team?"

Selena remembered her dream, where Kasey held her as she died, "You try anything sketchy, and I won't hesitate to stab you."

Kasey saluted the slightly older girl, "Aye, aye, captain."

The Apollo cabin plus Percy, Annabeth, Kasey, and Selena drove the monsters back toward the Brooklyn side of the bridge. The sky was growing pale in the east. Selena could see the toll stations ahead.

"Percy!" Annabeth called out, "You've already routed them. Pull back! We're overextended!"

Selena and Kasey ran over to the group, "A group of demigods are waiting to strike."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her, "How can we trust you?"

"Cause I was with them. Now I'm not." Kasey fought back, 

Selena saw the crowd at the base of the bridge. The retreating monsters were running straight toward their reinforcements, "She's right." Selena pointed, "Look."

 It was a small group, maybe thirty or forty demigods in battle armor, mounted on skeletal horses. One of them held a purple banner with the black scythe design.