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Mr D took a good long drink His eyes never left the video game "The truth is, Pierre--"

"Percy"

"--the other gods would never admit this, but we actually need you mortals to rescue Olympus You see, we are h to save Oly on the satyrs to save the Wild"

"Yes, quite I will deny I ever said this, of course, but the gods need heroes They always have Otherould not keep you annoying little brats around"

"I feel so wanted Thanks"

"Use the training I have given you at ca?"

"You know All those hero techniques andNo!" Mr D slapped the game console "Na pari i eychi! The last level!"

He looked at me, and purple fire flickered in his eyes "As 1 recall, I once predicted you would turn out to be as selfish as all the other hu"

"Yeah, h on my list"

"You must save Olympus, Pedro! Leave Typhon to the Olympians and save our own seats of power It must be done!"

"Great Nice little chat Now, if you don't --"

"There is more," Mr D warned "Kronos has not yet attained full power The body of the mortal was only a teuessed that"

"And did you also guess that within a day at most, Kronos will burn away that ?"

"And that would mean"

Dionysus inserted another quarter "You know about the true forods"

"Yeah You can't look at the up"

"Kronos would be ten times more powerful His very presence would incinerate you And once he achieves this, he will empower the other Titans They are weak now, compared to what they will soon becoods will die, and I will never achieve a perfect score on this stupid machine"

Maybe I should've been terrified, but honestly, I was already about as scared as I could get

"Can I go now?" I asked

"One last thing My son Pollux Is he alive?"

I blinked "Yeah, last I saw him"

"I would very much appreciate it if you could keep him that way I lost his brother Castor last year--"

"I re to wrapfather I wondered how od children right now "I'll do my best"

"Your best," DionysusGo now You have some nasty surprises to deal with, and I must defeat Blinky!"

"Nasty surprises?"

He waved his hand, and the bar disappeared

I was back on Fifth Avenue Annabeth hadn't

She caught , I guess"

I gazed down the avenue, wondering what Mr D had et?

My eyes rested on a beat-up blue car The hood was badly dented, like soled Why did that car look so familiar? Then I realized it was a Prius

Paul's Prius

I bolted down the street

"Percy!" Annabeth called "Where are you going?"

Paul was passed out in the driver's seat Mybeside him My mind felt likehere in traffic for over a day, the battle raging around them, and I hadn't even noticed

"Theythey hts in the sky" I rattled the doors but they were locked "I need to get theently

"I can't leave them here!" I sounded a little crazy I pounded on the windshield "I have to move them I have to--"

"Percy, justjust hold on" Annabeth waved to Chiron, as talking to some centaurs down the block "We can push the car to a side street, all right? They're going to be fine"

My hands treh over the last few days, I felt so stupid and weak, but the sight of alloped over "What'sOh dear I see"

"They were co rong"

"Most likely," Chiron said "But, Percy, they will be fine The best thing we can do for them is stay focused on our job"

Then I noticed so in the backseat of the Prius, and my heart skipped a beat Seat-belted behind my mother was a black-and-white Greek jar about three feet tall Its lid rapped in a leather harness

"No way," I muttered

Annabeth pressed her hand to the"That's iht you left that at the Plaza"

"Locked in a vault," I agreed

Chiron saw the jar and his eyes widened "That isn't-- "

"Pandora's jar" I told hi with Prorimly "It will follow you and tempt you to open it, no matter where you leave it It will appear when you are weakest"

Like now, I thought Looking at , so anxious to help out us poor mortals Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering I proh h the driver's sidelike it was made of plastic wrap