The blue lights in the sky had stopped, so at first Evangeline didn't understand what the problem was.

The other campers had gathered in a small park at the edge of a mountain. They were clustered at the guardrail, looking down at Manhattan. The railing was lined with those tourist binoculars, where you could deposit one golden drachma and see the city. Campers were using every single one.

Evangeline looked down at the city. She could see almost everything from there—the East River and the Hudson River carving the shape of Manhattan, the grid of streets, the lights of skyscrapers, and the dark stretch of Central Park in the north. Everything looked normal, but something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones.

"I don't...hear anything," Annabeth said.

That was the problem.

"What did they do?" Percy's voice sounded tight and angry. "What did they do to my city?"

He pushed Michael Yew away from the binoculars and took a look.

In the streets below, traffic had stopped. Pedestrians were lying on the sidewalks or curled up in doorways. There was no sign of violence, no wrecks, nothing like that. It was as if all the people in New York had simply decided to stop whatever they were doing and pass out.

"Are they dead?" Silena asked in astonishment.

Evangeline clenched her jaw as she stared down at the silent city. "They're not dead," she said. "Morpheus put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep,"

"The invasion has started," Percy added.

Mrs O'Leary was the only one happy about the sleeping city.

They found her pigging out at an overturned hot dog stand while the owner was curled up on the sidewalk sucking his thumb.

Argus was waiting for them with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything. He never does. Evangeline guessed it was because he supposedly had an eyeball on his tongue. But his face made it clear he was freaking out.

Percy told him what they'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be coming to help. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.

"You'd better get back to camp," the son of Poseidon told him. "Guard it as best you can."

The driver pointed at him and raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"I'm staying," Percy said.

Argus nodded like the answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."

"For what?" Percy asked.

Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much a standard issue—the same kind of round shield they always used in capture the flag. But when Annabeth set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from the sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty—which wasn't anywhere close to them.

"Whoa," Percy said. "A video shield."

"One of Daedalus's ideas," Annabeth said. "I had Beckendorf make this before—" She glanced at Silena. "Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."

They crowded around as Annabeth concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so Evangeline got motion sickness just watching it. They were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.

Whoa," Connor said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."

"What?" Annabeth said nervously. "You see invaders?"

"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brothers. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Candy bar raid?" Landon smiled.

"Both of you!" Katie Gardner scolded. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"

"Sorry," Conner muttered, but he didn't sound sorry. The Stoll boy glanced at his other two brothers and slightly smirked.

Annabeth passed her hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.

"This will let us see what's going on across the city," she said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully, we'll see you back at camp...someday."

Argus grunted. He gave Evangeline a look that clearly meant Good luck; you'll need it, then climbed into his van. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered the road.

Percy whistled for Mrs O'Leary, and she came bounding over.

"Hey, girl," He said "You remember Grover? The satyr we met in the park?"

"WOOF!"

"I need you to find him," He said. "Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!"

The hellhound looked at the brunette with pleading eyes. "What?" she asked.

The dog whimpered. Evangeline got a feeling Mrs O'Leary was asking for something or someone and she knew exactly what it was.

The daughter of Hades took a deep breath and then whistled as loudly as she could. Percy flinched as she whistled right next to him. The sound echoed through the silent city.

"Was that like a bird call or something?" Landon asked.

"Give it a minute." She said.

A minute later, they heard large and heavy footsteps ascending towards them. A large black Doberman came running out of the street at full speed. He skidded to a stop and Mrs O'Leary barked in happiness, licking the other hellhound.

"Now will you go and find Grover?" Percy asked.

Mrs O'Leary gave him a sloppy wet kiss, Sam did as Hades had told him and snarled at Percy. The God of the Underworld was still salty about the whole Percy beating him thing.

Then Mrs O'Leary raced off north with Sam following behind.

Pollux crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"

"This is a huge spell," Silena Beauregard said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder."

Percy stared at her. "When did you learn so much about magic?"

Silena blushed. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."

"Percy," Annabeth called, staring at the shield. "You better see this."

The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speedboats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped in the night wind.

Evangeline had never seen that design before, but it wasn't rocket science. You could easily tell it was the battle flag of the blond demon grandpa.

"Scan the perimeter of the Island," Percy said. "Quick."

Annabeth shifted the scene south to the harbor. A state Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals.

At first, they looked like dolphins. Then she saw their doglike faces and swords strapped to their waists and realized they were telkhines—sea demons.

The scene shifted again: The Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.

"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Percy asked. "Is the whole state asleep?"

Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."

She showed them another scene—a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.

"Kronos," Evangeline said. "He's slowing time."

"Hecate might be helping," Katie Gardner said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."

"I don't know." Annabeth sounded frustrated, she hated not knowing. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."

"Like flies in amber," Jake Mason murmured.

Landon set his jaw. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."

Percy turned to them. Everyone looked stunned and scared, and he couldn't blame them. The shield had shown them at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were forty-two of them. And they were alone.

"All right," Percy said. "We're going to hold Manhattan."

Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."

"We are going to hold it," The raven-haired boy insisted. "We have to."

"He's right," The brunette said. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try to attack from the ground. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."

"They have boats," Michael pointed out.

"I'll take care of the boats," Percy said.

Micheal frowned. "How?"

"Just leave it to me," He said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the 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!"

"Awww!" 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," Percy said. "Well ...the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."

Six Aphrodite girls kissed him on the cheek in excitement.

Percy glanced at Evangeline and a shiver ran up his spine as the city felt a little colder, he saw her rub her temple with her middle finger, and he realized she was flipping him off.

"All right, enough!" He closed his eyes. "The Holland Tunnel. Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, and 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," Percy said. "Clarisse—" he faltered.

Clarisse wasn't here. The whole Ares cabin was sitting back at camp. Which was ironic because the war kids weren't taking part in the war.

"We'll take that," Annabeth stepped in. 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."

"Princess," Percy turned to the brunette and grabbed her hand. "Could you maybe, I don't know, kind of summon a few dead people?"

She stared blankly at him. "I'll do it,"

She took her hand out of his grip and reached for her snake necklace, she pressed it and the sword formed in her hand. She held it out in front of her, and she could feel the blade turning colder. Evangeline took a deep breath and called. "Serve me,"

The earth shook. A fissure opened right in front of them and thirty undead warriors crawled out from the earth. They all assembled in front of the brunette and kneeled. "Army of the dead as requested," she turned back to everyone.

Everyone grimaced at the sight of the thirty corpses in front of them, some of them stepped back. One of the skeletons stood to his full height and looked at the brunette waiting to be told what to do.

"Okay," she said. "Divide into groups of six, five of you in each. One group will go with each cabin and whatever the counselors say, you will do as told, understand?"

The dead warriors nodded and did as she had told them, they divided into groups of five and each group joined the other cabins.

"Landon and I will go with Percy and Evangeline," Annabeth 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 four."

There were some giggles, but Evangeline didn't bother paying attention to it.

"All right," Percy said. "Keep in touch with cell phones."

"We don't have cellphones," Silena protested.

Percy reached down, picking up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and he 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," Percy said.

"Aw, man."

"What about this really nice wallet?" Landon asked, holding up a dark blue wallet with red flowers on it.

"Whose name is on it?" Annabeth crossed her arms.

Landon opened the wallet and said, "Someone named Lorelai Warner, but she dropped it and I'll just hold onto it for her, you know?"

"Put it back down." Evangeline hissed.

The son of Hermes frowned and placed the wallet back on the bench he had picked it from. "This isn't fair," he mumbled.

"Hold it, Percy," Jake Mason said. "You forgot Lincoln Tunnel."

Evangeline looked at Percy. The son of Hephaestus was right. A Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through the tunnel right now, and he'd positioned their forces everywhere else.

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

The brunette had never been happier to hear a tree's voice in her 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 them, which for them was a pretty warm welcome.

"Where have you been the last year?" Percy 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," Percy 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," Percy said. "You're on."

Thalia turned to the brunette. "Don't worry you can come with us too, emo princess,"

Evangeline glared at her and then pointed at something. "Oh my gods, is that a clown I see?"

The daughter of Zeus furrowed her brows. "Where?" she turned her head to see where the brunette was pointing.

"Right here, standing in front of me." She pointed at Thalia.

Thalia turned her head and glared at the daughter of Hades, she then said. "You're not funny, ghost girl."

"I'm fucking hilarious."

"Thalia," Percy spoke up, cutting between the daughters of Hades and Zeus's argument. "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, that the campers all backed away. The Hunters took off down the avenue, followed by their wolves and falcons, and Evangeline had a feeling the Lincoln Tunnel would be safe for now as long as the walking, talking lightning rod was there.

"Thank the gods," Annabeth said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."

"You're right," Percy said.

Evangeline looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. She tried to ignore the feeling in her gut telling her not all of them were coming back.

She felt Percy's hand hold hers. "You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," He told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"

They shouted in response, and their voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.

The children of Athena, Hades, Hermes, and Poseidon would've had their pick of cars, but they were all wedged in bumper-to-bumper traffic. None of the engines were running, which was weird. It seemed the drivers had had the time to turn off the ignition before they got too sleepy. Or maybe Morpheus had the power to put engines to sleep as well. Most of the drivers had apparently tried to pull to the curb when they felt themselves passing out, but still, the streets were too clogged to navigate.

Landon managed to find a car and picked at its lock, opening the door and sitting in the driver's seat.

"Landon," Annabeth said. "You can't be seriously stealing a car right now?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, beth." Landon shrugged.  "And I can drive, so we'll be fine."

"Who taught you how to drive?" Percy asked.

"My aunt," He answered hastily.

"The one in Sam Francisco?" Percy raised a brow.

"Yup,"  Landon said, as he rummaged through the glove compartment. "She got me a car for my birthday last year."

Percy hadn't really thought much about Landon's life outside of camp, in all honesty, he hadn't thought the son of Hermes even had much of a life besides camp.

He had heard of the boy's aunt a few times now, and from what Annabeth had told him, Landon had lived a normal life compared to the rest of them, never being chased by monsters, never being kicked out of schools, never having problems fitting in with the mortals.

Percy figured that maybe Landon was just that lucky to not have to worry about those things.

Finally, Landon managed to start the car. Annabeth called shotgun, forcing Evangeline and Percy to sit in the backseat.

The four drove down Broadway with the only sound being the occasional sound of cell phones ringing—like they were calling out to each other as if New York had turned into a giant electronic aviary.

Their progress was slow. Every so often they'd come across pedestrians who'd fallen right in front of a car, and the children of the Big Three would move them just to be safe. Once they stopped to extinguish a pretzel vendor's cart that had caught on fire. A few minutes later they had to rescue a baby carriage that was rolling aimlessly down the street. It turned out there was no baby in it—just somebody's sleeping poodle. Go figure. Evangeline parked it safely in a doorway and they kept moving.

They were passing over Madison Square Park when Annabeth said, "Pull over."

Landon stopped in the middle of East 23d. Annabeth hopped out of the car and ran toward the park. By the time they caught up with her, she was staring at a bronze statue on a red marble pedestal.

The guy was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed. He wore an old-fashioned suit—Abraham Lincoln style. He held a writing quill in one hand and a big metal sheet of parchment in the other.

"Why do we care about..." Percy squinted at the name on the pedestal. "William H. Steward?"

"Seward," Landon and Annabeth corrected at the same time.

Evangeline wondered if this was what Grover felt like during all their quests. She cleared her throat breaking the two's gaze. "Why do we care about him again?"

"Right," Annabeth cleared her throat. "He was a New York governor. Minor demigod—son of Hebe, I think. But that's not important. It's the statue I care about."

She climbed on a park bench and examined the base of the statue.

"He's an automaton?" Evangeline asked.

The daughter of Athena smiled. "Turns out most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here just in case he needed an army."

"To attack Olympus or defend it?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Either one. That was plan twenty-three. He could activate one statue and it would start activating its brethren all over the city until there was an army. It's dangerous, though. You guys know how unpredictable automatons are."

"Uh-huh," Landon said. "You're seriously thinking about activating it?"

"I have Daedalus's notes," she said. "I think I can...Ah, here we go."

She pressed the tip of Seward's boot, and the statue stood up, its quill and paper ready.

"What's he going to do?" Percy muttered to the brunette. "Take a memo?"

"Probably write down our complaints about the gods," She smirked.

"Shh," Annabeth said. "Hello, William."

"Call him Bill," Landon suggested.

"Bill...Oh, shut up," she told him. The statue tilted its head, looking at them with blank metal eyes.

The daughter of Athena cleared her throat. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command Sequence: Daedalus Twenty-three. Defend Manhattan. Begin Activation."

Seward jumped off his pedestal. He hit the ground so hard his shoes cracked the sidewalk. Then he went clanking off toward the east.

"He's probably going to wake up Confucius," Annabeth guessed.

"What?" Percy said.

"Another statue, on Division," Evangeline explained. "Keep up, Kelphead." 

"The point is," Annabeth said. "They'll keep waking each other up until they're all activated."

"And then?"

"Hopefully, they defend Manhattan."

"Do they know that we're not the enemy?" Landon asked.

"I think so," Annabeth said.

"That's reassuring," Percy said.

Evangeline thought about all the bronze statues in the parks, plazas, and buildings of New York. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands.

Then a ball of green light exploded in the evening sky. Greek fire, somewhere over the East River.

"We have to hurry," Percy said. And they ran for the car.

Landon pulled the car over outside Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan where the Hudson and East Rivers came together and emptied into the bay.

"Wait here," Percy told the other three.

"You shouldn't go alone, Percy." Evangeline frowned.

"Well, unless you can breathe underwater..."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're an annoying fish sometimes, you know that?"

"Trust me," he said. "I'll be fine. I've got the curse of Achilles now. I'm all invincible and stuff."

"More like irresponsible," Evangeline muttered. "Just be careful, I don't want anything happening to you, because I don't want to be... the prophecy child."

Percy grinned, he liked knowing the fact that she was in love with him and trying to play it off like she wasn't. "Back in a flash."

She knitted her eyebrows in confusion and Percy chambered down the shoreline and waded into the water. It was impossible to see the boy anymore.

"So we're just going to ignore, the fact that Evangeline almost confessed her undying love for Percy or what?"

"Landon!" Annabeth smacked him in the arm. "I told you that in confidence."

"Speaking of you telling people things," Evangeline turned to the blonde. "You told me, I was going to be the only one doing cabin inspection."

"Oh, must have slipped my mind or something..."

"What were you trying to do exactly?" The brunette crossed her arms. "Set us up?"

Annabeth winced. "I might have been trying to parent-trap you two."

"Parent-what?"

"Parent-trap," Landon said. "It's a movie about these two twins who try to get their divorced parents back together, well, sort of, it was mostly them wanting to see what it would be like to live with the parent they never lived with, but you know, same thing."

"How do you know about that?" The brunette asked.

"I might have been in on the trap," he admitted.

"Landon!"

"I'm sorry," he said.

Suddenly, Annabeth's phone rang. The blonde picked it up and walked to the side. "Sorry doesn't cut it," Evangeline said.

"Dude, come on." Landon said. "Somebody had to do something."

Evangeline frowned. "It's not—" she sighed. "There is nothing to do, okay? Nothing. Percy and I are just staying friends, and that's it."

He raised a brow. "Sure," he said. "But denial is not the answer."

"I'm not in denial," Evangeline clenched her jaw.

"Okay, you don't like Percy." Landon held up his hands in surrender.

Before she could say anything Percy came back to the shore. "It worked," he told them. "The rivers are safe."

"Good," Annabeth stopped next to Evangeline, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Because we've got other problems. Michael Yew just called. Another army is marching over the Williamsburg Bridge. The Apollo cabin needs help. And Percy, the monster leading the enemy...it's the Minotaur."

------✧------

A/N: The chapter was kind of short because I want the next chapter to be separate or it would have been too long combined.

Nobody knows about all the information Grover and Tyson have on how big of a crush Percy has on Evangeline