The Last Olympian

go out and fight.”
    She offered me her good hand and helped me up. My head was pounding. Outside, the sky was purple and red.
    “You’re going to need every person you have,” she said. “I just looked in my shield. There’s an army—”
    “Heading south into Central Park,” I said. “Yeah, I know.”
    I told her part of my dreams. I left out the vision of May Castellan, because it was too disturbing to talk about. I also left out Ethan’s speculation about Luke fighting Kronos inside his body. I didn’t want to get Annabeth’s hopes up.
    “Do you think Ethan suspects about your weak spot?” she asked.
    “I don’t know,” I admitted. “He didn’t tell Kronos anything, but if he figures it out—”
    “We can’t let him.”
    “I’ll bonk him on the head harder next time,” I suggested. “Any idea what surprise Kronos was talking about?”
    She shook her head. “I didn’t see anything in the shield, but I don’t like surprises.”
    “Agreed.”
    “So,” she said, “are you going to argue about me coming along?”
    “Nah. You’d just beat me up.”
    She managed a laugh, which was good to hear. I grabbed my sword, and we went to rally the troops.
    Thalia and the head counselors were waiting for us at the reservoir. The lights of the city were blinking on at twilight. I guess a lot of them were on automatic timers. Streetlamps glowed around the shore of the lake, making the water and trees look even spookier.
    “They’re coming,” Thalia confirmed, pointing north with a silver arrow. “One of my scouts just reported they’ve crossed the Harlem River. There was no way to hold them back. The army . . .” She shrugged. “It’s huge.”
    “We’ll hold them at the park,” I said. “Grover, you ready?”
    He nodded. “As ready as we’ll ever be. If my nature spirits can stop them anywhere, this is the place.”
    “Yes, we will!” said another voice. A very old, fat satyr pushed through the crowd, stumbling over his own spear.
    He was dressed in wood-bark armor that only covered half of his belly.
    “Leneus?” I said.
    “Don’t act so surprised,” he huffed. “I am a leader of the Council, and you did tell me to find Grover. Well, I found him, and I’m not going to let a mere outcast lead the satyrs without my help!”
    Behind Leneus’s back, Grover made gagging motions, but the old satyr grinned like he was the savior of the day. “Never fear! We’ll show those Titans!”
    I didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry, but I managed to keep a straight face. “Um . . . yeah. Well, Grover, you won’t be alone. Annabeth and the Athena cabin will make their stand here. And me, and . . . Thalia?”
    She patted me on the shoulder. “Say no more. The Hunters are ready.”
    I looked at the other counselors. “That leaves the rest of you with a job just as important. You have to guard the other entrances to Manhattan. You know how tricky Kronos is. He’ll hope to distract us with this big army and sneak another force in somewhere else. It’s up to you to make sure that doesn’t happen. Has each cabin chosen a bridge or tunnel?”
    The counselors nodded grimly.
    “Then let’s do it,” I said. “Good hunting, everybody!”
    We heard the army before we saw it.
    The noise was like a cannon barrage combined with a football stadium crowd—like every Patriots fan in New England was charging us with bazookas.
    At the north end of the reservoir, the enemy vanguard broke through the woods—a warrior in golden armor leading a battalion of Laistrygonian giants with huge bronze axes. Hundreds of other monsters poured out behind them.
    “Positions!” Annabeth yelled.
    Her cabinmates scrambled. The idea was to make the enemy army break around the reservoir. To get to us, they’d have to follow the trails, which meant they’d be marching in narrow columns on either side of the water.
    At first, the plan seemed to work. The enemy divided and streamed toward us along the shore. When they were halfway across, our defenses kicked in. The jogging trail erupted in Greek fire, incinerating many of the monsters instantly. Others flailed around, engulfed in green flames. Athena campers threw grappling hooks around the largest giants and pulled them to the ground.
    In the woods on the right, the Hunters sent a volley of silver arrows into the enemy line, destroying twenty or thirty dracaenae , but more marched behind them. A bolt of lightning crackled out of the sky and fried a