Chapter Text
Fortunately for us, Blackjack was on duty.
Percy did 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 I could make out the long galloping legs of pegasi.
Blackjack landed at a trot, his friend Porkpie right behind him.
"Thanks for coming," Percy told him. "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?"
Blackjack whinnied. I had no idea what he said but I hoped it was something along the lines of ‘Not the time Percy we have a literal battle to get to,’ but given what Percy had said about the eager to please pegasus, I doubted it.
"We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," Percy said.
Blackjack lowered his neck. I wondered if the pegasus even knew what the Williamsburg Bridge was, what his knowledge of Manhattan infrastructure was.
On the way to the bridge, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. Percy had killed the minotaur four years ago, and it didn't sit quite right with me that it had reformed so quickly. Old monsters like that usually stay in tartarus for much longer.
We saw the battle before we 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. People fell on either sides, friends and foes alike dragging the limp bodies of their allies out of the danger.
We came in for a low pass, and I 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 barricades of fire 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, leaving a hole in their ranks, 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. I didn't see what happened to him next but I was sure I didn’t want to know..
"There!" I called from the back of my pegasus.
In the middle of the invading legion was the minotaur of legend himself.
I had never seen the minotaur before, knowing him only from books of myth and later Percy's descriptions of the night he first came to camp. None of that had prepared me for the fear the beast induced, and I suddenly had a lot more respect for 11 year old Percy. I couldn't imagine the horror of watching that thing supposedly take the life of someone I loved.
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. He seemed larger than Percy had said—ten feet tall at least. A double-bladed axe was strapped to his back, but he was too impatient to use it. As soon as he saw Percy circling overhead (or sniffed him, more likely, since Percy reported that 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. Porkpie and I swerved madly to the left, while Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. The limo sailed right over Percy's head, missing by maybe two inches. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell down toward the East River.
Monsters jeered and shouted, and the Minotaur bent down and 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.
Percy and I leaped off as soon as our pegasi's hooves touched the pavement. Then Blackjack and Porkpie soared up into the night sky.
Michael Yew ran up to us. He was definitely the shortest commando I'd ever seen. He had a bandaged cut on his arm. His ferrety face was smeared with soot and his quiver was almost empty, but he was smiling like he was having a great time. Having known Micheal for a while, I was pretty sure he actually was.
"Glad you could join us," he said. "Where are the other reinforcements?"
"For now, we're it," Percy said
.
"Then we're dead," he said.
"You still have your flying chariot?" I asked.
"Nah," Michael said. "Left it at camp. I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? Not
worth fighting about anymore. But she said it was too late. We'd insulted her honor for the last time or some stupid thing." He shrugged.
"Least you tried," Percy said.
Michael shrugged. "Yeah, well, I called her some names when she said she still wouldn't fight. I
doubt that helped. Here come the uglies!"
He drew an arrow and launched it toward the enemy. The arrow made a screaming sound as it flew.
When it landed, it unleashed a blast like a power chord on an electric guitar magnified through the world's largest speakers. The nearest cars exploded. Monsters dropped their weapons and clasped their ears in pain. Some ran. Others disintegrated on the spot.
"That was my last sonic arrow," Michael said.
"A gift from your dad?" Percy asked. "God of music?"
Michael grinned wickedly. "Loud music can be bad for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't always kill."
Sure enough, most monsters (but not all–some had disintegrated into the dust dead monsters were known for) were regrouping, shaking off their confusion.
"We have to fall back," Michael said. "I've got Kayla and Austin setting traps farther down the
Bridge."
"No," Percy said. "Bring your campers forward to this position and wait for my signal. We're going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn."
Michael laughed. "How do you plan to do that?"
Percy drew his sword. The blade glinted in the sun, and I wondered how something could be so beautiful and yet have such potential for destruction. I guess I could say the same about Percy.
"Percy," I said, "let me come with you."
"Too dangerous," he said. "Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I'll
distract the monsters. You group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while I keep them focused on me. If anybody can do all that, you can."
Michael snorted. "Thanks a lot."
I kept my eyes on Percy.
I nodded reluctantly. "All right. Get moving."
Looking like he thought it might be the last time he ever saw me, he said, "Don't I get a kiss for luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?" His grin was sarcastic and witty, and I knew he was trying to make light of the situation, to act like he wasn't about to possibly sacrifice himself to save Olympus, but it didn't work.
Still, I figured I should probably punch him, and I think I would have, if he were anyone else, but a part of me truly wanted to accept his offer, kiss him one more time, but that felt too much like a goodbye. So instead, I drew my knife and stared at the army marching toward us.
"Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see."
I figured it was the best way to make sure he came back, so as he stepped out from behind the school bus and walked up the bridge in plain sight, straight toward the enemy, I could only pray to the gods that they would bring him back to me.