The Last Olympian

Empire State Building. Michael, 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 do, but keep them out of there! Conner, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!”
    “Awwww!” the whole Hermes cabin complained.
    “Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens– Midtown Tunnel.”
    “Oh my gods,” 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. “Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it’ll work.”
    Six Aphrodite girls kissed me on the cheek in excitement.
    “All right, enough!” I closed my eyes, trying to think of what I’d forgotten. “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 them, was sitting back at camp.
    “We’ll take that,” Annabeth stepped in, saving me from an embarrassing silence. She turned to her siblings. “Malcolm, take the Athena cabin, activate plan twenty-three along 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.”
    Somebody in the back of the group said, “No detours, you two.”
    There were some giggles, but I decided to let it pass.
    “All right,” I said. “Keep in touch with cell phones.”
    “We don’t have cell phones,” Silena protested.
    I reached down, picked up some snoring lady’s BlackBerry 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.”
    Everyone grinned 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, man.”
    “Hold it, Percy,” Jake Mason said. “You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel.”
    I bit back a curse. He was right. A Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through 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 my life. A band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.
    The girl 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 match her skull earrings 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 Artemis, reporting for duty.”
    There were hugs and greetings all around . . . or 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 warm welcome.
    “Where have you been the last year?” I asked Thalia. “You’ve got like twice as many Hunters now!”
    She laughed. “Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson.”
    “Complete lie,” I said.
    “We’ll see,” she promised. “After this is over, you, Annabeth, and me: cheeseburgers 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 know what hit them. Hunters, move out!”
    She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full form. The golden 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