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"A!" the whole Hermes cabin complained

"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel"

"Oh ods," one of her sisters said "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy"

"No delays," I said "Wellthe perfu, if you think it'll work"

Six Aphrodite girls kissed h!" I closed otten "The Holland Tunnel Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there Use Greek fire, set traps Whatever you've got"

He grinned "Gladly We've got a score to settle For Beckendorf!"

The whole cabin roared in approval

"The 59th Street Bridge," I said "Clarisse--"

I faltered Clarisse wasn't here The whole Ares cabin, curse the back at ca s "Malcol the way, just like I showed you Hold that position"

"You got it"

"I'll go with Percy," she said "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed"

Soroup said, "No detours, you two"

There were soht," I said "Keep in touch with cell phones"

"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested

I reached down, picked up so lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to Silena "You do now You all know Annabeth's nuht? 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 rinned as though they liked this idea

Travis cleared his throat "Uh, if we find a really nice phone--"

"No, you can't keep it," I said

"Aw, ot the Lincoln Tunnel"

I bit back a curse He was right A Sherh that tunnel right now, and I'd positioned our forces everywhere else

Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"

I'd never been happier to hear anyone in irls crossed Fifth Avenue They hite shirts, silvery cae pants, and combat boots They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready A pack of white tiirls had hunting falcons on their arirl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't s or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head

"Thalia!" Annabeth cried

The daughter of Zeus grinned "The Hunters of Artereetings all aroundor at least Thalia was friendly The other Hunters didn't like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn't shoot any of us, which for them was a pretty elcome

"Where have you been the last year?" I asked Thalia "You've got like twice asstory I bet erous than yours, Jackson"

"Complete lie," I said

"We'll see," she proers and fries at that hotel on West 57th"

"Le Parker Meridien," I said "You're on And Thalia, thanks"

She shrugged "Those monsters won't knohat hit them Hunters, move out!"

She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full forolden head of Medusa molded in the center was so horrible, the campers all backed away The Hunters took off down the avenue, followed by their wolves and falcons, and I had a feeling the Lincoln Tunnel would be safe for now

"Thank the gods," Annabeth said "But if we don't blockade the rivers froes and tunnels will be pointless"

"You're right," I said

I looked at the carim and determined I tried not to feel like this was the last tireatest heroes of this millennium," I told theht bravely, and in" I raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"

They shouted in response, and our forty voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of tenNew Yorkers

Annabeth and I would've had our pick of cars, but they were all wedged in bu, which eird It seenition before they got too sleepy Or ines to sleep as well Most of the drivers had apparently tried to pull to the curb when they felt theed to navigate

Finally we found an unconscious courier leaning against a brick wall, still straddling his red Vespa We dragged him off the scooter and laid him on the sidewalk

"Sorry, dude," I said With any luck, I'd be able to bring his scooter back If I didn't, it would hardly matter, because the city would be destroyed

I drove with Annabeth behind ed down Broadith our engine buzzing through the eerie cal--like they were calling out to each other, as if New York had turned into a giant electronic aviary

Our progress was slow Every so often we'd coht in front of a car, and we'd uish a pretzel vendor's cart that had caught on fire A few e that was rolling aimlessly down the street It turned out there was no baby in it--just soure We parked it safely in a doorway and kept riding