Thalia and the head counselors were waiting for them at the Reservoir. The lights of the city were blinking on at twilight. Streetlamps glowed around the shore of the lake it gave the water and the trees a more spooky effect.

"They're coming," The daughter of Zeus 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."

"That's what she said," Landon said covering it up with a cough when Annabeth turned to him.

"We'll hold them back at the park," Percy said. "Grover. you ready?"

The satyr 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?" Percy asked.

"I knew I smelled a rat," Evangeline mumbled under her breath.

"Don't act so surprised," Leneus huffed. "I am a leader of the Council, and Evangeline threatened 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 the old satyr's back, Grover made gagging motions, but Leneus grinned like he was the savior of the day. "Never fear! We'll show those Titans!"

Evangeline could barely manage to hold in her laughter but Landon on the other hand was failing miserably. The son of Hermes had to hide his face behind Annabeth's back as he laughed.

"Um...yeah." Percy cleared his throat. "Well, Grover, you won't be alone. Annabeth and the Athena cabin will make their stand here. And me, Eve, and...Thalia?"

She patted the raven-haired boy on the shoulder. "Say no more. The Hunters are ready."

"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," Percy said. "Good hunting, everybody!"

They heard the army before they saw the army.

The noise was like a cannon barrage combined with a football stadium crowd—like every sports fan in New England was charging them 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 Latrygonian giants with huge bronze axes. Hundreds of other monsters poured out behind them.

"Positions!" Annabeth yelled.

Her cabin mates scrambled. The idea they had was to make the enemy army break around the reservoir. To get to them, they'd have to 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 them along the shore. When they were halfway across, their defenses kicked in. The jogging trail erupted in Greek fire, incinerating many of the monsters instantly. Others flailed around, engulfed in hellfire from the Underworld and 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 dracanea, but more marched behind them. A bolt of lightning crackled out of the sky and fried a Lairstyrgonian giant to ashes, and Evangeline guessed Thalia must be doing her daughter of Zeus thing.

Grover raised his pipes and played a quick tune. A roar went up from the woods on both sides as every tree, rock, and bush seemed to sprout a spirit. Dryads and satyrs raised their clubs and charged. The trees wrapped around the monsters, strangling them. Grass grew around the feet of the enemy archers. Stones flew up and hit the dracaena in the face.

The enemy slogged forward. Giants smashed through the trees, and naiads faded as their life sources were destroyed. Hellhounds lunged at the timber wolves, knocking them aside. Enemy archers returned fire, and a Hunter fell from a high branch.

"Percy!" Evangeline yelled, grabbing his arm and pointing at the reservoir.

That was when Percy saw the Titan in the golden armor charging towards them, walking straight over the top of the lake.

A Greek firebomb exploded right on top of the Titan, but he raised his palm and sucked the flames out of the air.

"Hyperion," Annabeth spoke in awe. "The lord of the light. Titan of the east."

"So it's bad?" Percy raised a brow.

"Pretty bad, pretty boy." Evangeline said. "Next to Atlas, he's the greatest Titan warrior. In the olden days, four Titans controlled the four corners of the world. Hyperion was the east—the most powerful. He was the father of the first sun god, Helios."

"I'll keep him busy," He promised.

"Percy, you can't—"

"Just keep our forces together and be safe, princess."

Evangeline was sure her face was burning up and it wasn't just because of Hyperion.

Percy concentrated on the water and advanced toward Hyperion, running over the top of the water. Apparently, two could play that game.

Twenty feet away, Hyperion raised his sword. His eyes were just like how Percy had seen in his dream—as gold as Kronos's but brighter, like miniature suns.

"The sea god's brat," he mused. "You and what's her name are the ones who trapped Atlas beneath the sky again?"

"Her name is Evangeline," Percy narrowed his eyes. "And she did most of the heavy lifting. I mean it wasn't too hard, you Titans are as bright as gym socks."

Hyperion snarled. "You want bright?"

The Titan's body ignited in a column of light and heat. Percy looked away, but he was still blinded.

Instinctively the son of Poseidon raised Riptide—just in time. Hyperion's blade smashed against his. The shock wave sent a ten-foot ring of water across the surface of the lake.

Percy concentrated on the tidal wave and forced it to reverse. Just before the impact, he jumped upward on a jet of water. The waves smashed into the Titan and he went under, his light extinguished.

The Jackson boy landed on the lake's surface just as Hyperion struggled to his feet. His golden armor was dripping wet. His eyes no longer blazed, but they still looked murderous.

"You will burn, Jackson!" He roared and then a wall of darkness smacked him straight into the face, sending him stumbling back.

Percy heard a faint, "You're welcome!" from the right flank and he smiled as he recognized Evangeline's voice. But his moment of happiness quickly faded when the Titan charged. 

Their swords met again and the air charged with ozone. The battle still raged around them. On the right flank, Evangeline and Annabeth were leading an assault with the campers from Cabin Six, Landon, and dead warriors. On the left flank, Grover and his nature spirits were regrouping, entangling the enemies with bushes and weeds.

"Enough games," Hyperion told him. "We fight on land."

The son of Poseidon was about to make a clever comment when the Titan yelled. A wall of force slammed him through the air—just like the trick Kronos had used on the bridge. Percy sailed backward about three hundred yards and smashed into the ground. If it hadn't been for his new invulnerability, he would've broken every bone in his body.

Percy groaned as he got to his feet. "I really hate it when you Titans do that."

The Titan of the East closed in on him with blinding speed. Percy concentrated on water, drawing strength from it. Hyperion attacked. He was powerful and fast, but he couldn't seem to land a blow. The ground around his feet kept erupting in flames, but he kept dousing it just as quickly.

"Stop it!" The Titan roared. "Stop that wind!"

Percy wasn't sure what he meant. He was too busy fighting.

Hyperion stumbled like he was being pushed away. Water sprayed his face, stinging his eyes. The wind picked up, and Hyperion staggered backward.

"Percy!" Grover called in amazement. "How are you doing that?"

At first, the raven-haired boy didn't understand what the satyr meant. But then he looked down and realized he was standing in his own personal hurricane. Clouds of water vapor swirled around him, winds so powerful they buffeted Hyperion and flattened the grass in a twenty-yard radius.

Enemy warriors threw javelins at him, but the storm knocked them aside while the warriors were swallowed up by the earth with fire releasing from the crack in the ground. Percy knew he hadn't done the last part.

"Sweet," he muttered. "But a little more!"

Lightning flickered around him. The clouds darkened and the rain swirled faster. The demigod closed in on Hyperion and blew him off his feet.

"Percy!" Landon called. "Bring him over to Grover!"

The Jackson boy slashed and jabbed, letting his reflexes take over, Hyperion could barely defend himself. His eyes kept trying to ignite, but the hurricane quenched his flames.

Percy couldn't keep up a storm like this forever, though he could feel his powers weakening. With one last effort, he propelled the Titan across the field, straight toward where Grover was waiting.

"I will not be toyed with!" Hyperion bellowed.

He managed to get to his feet again, but Grover put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play. Leneus joined him. Around the grove, every satyr took up the song—an eerie melody like a creek flowing over stones. The ground erupted at Hyperion's feet. Gnarled roots wrapped around his legs.

"What's this?" The Titan protested. He tried to shake off the roots, but he was still weak. The roots thickened until he looked like he was wearing wooden boots.

"Stop this!" He shouted. "Your woodland magic is no match for a Titan!"

But the more he struggled, the faster the roots grew. They curled about his body, thickening, and hardening into a bark. His golden armor melted into the wood, becoming part of a large trunk.

The music continued. Hyperion's forces backed up in astonishment as their leader was absorbed. He stretched out his hands and they became branches, from which smaller branches shot out and grew leaves. The tree grew taller and thicker until only the Titan's face was visible in the middle of the trunk.

"You cannot imprison me!" He bellowed. "I am Hyperion! I am—"

"We know who you are," Evangeline sighed. "You don't have to keep telling us."

The bark closed over his face.

Grover took his pipes from his mouth. "You are also a very nice maple tree."

Several of the other satyrs passed out from exhaustion, but they'd done their job well. The Titan lord was completely encased in an enormous pale. The trunk was at least twenty feet in there diameter, with branches as tall as any in the park. The tree might've stood there for centuries.

The Titan's army started to retreat. A cheer went up from the Athena cabin, but their victory was short-lived.

Because Kronos decided to give Percy an early birthday present, and not a good one at that.

"REEEET!"

The squeal echoed through upper Manhattan. Demigods and monsters alike froze in terror.

Grover, Percy, and Evangeline shared a panicked look. "Why does that sound like... It can't be!"

She knew what the satyr was thinking. Two years ago they'd received a 'gift' from Pan—a huge boar that carried them across the Southwest after it tried to kill them.

The boar had a similar squeal, but from what she could hear, the squeal seemed higher pitched, shriller. Evangeline tensed as she recognized the squeal that belonged to the Clazmonian Sow.  The huge pink creature soared over the reservoir.

"A sow!" Annabeth cried. "Take cover!"

The demigods scattered as the winged pig swooped down. Her wings were pink like a flamingo's, which matched her skin beautifully, but it was hard to think of her as 'cute' when her hooves slammed into the ground, barely missing one of Annabeth's siblings. The pig stomped around and tore down half an acre of trees, belching a cloud of noxious gas. Then it took off again, circling around for another strike.

Evangeline lifted her good arm into the air, forming a black energy shield around them.

"Don't tell me that thing is from Greek Mythology," Percy complained.

"Okay," Landon said earning a smack from Annabeth.

"The Clazmonian Sow. It terrorized Greek towns back in the day." The daughter of Athena explained.

"Let me guess," The son of Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Hercules beat it."

"No," Evangeline said. "As far as anyone knows, no hero has ever beaten it."

"Perfect," Percy muttered with a scowl.

Through the dark wall, Evangeline could see the Titan's army recovering from its shock. They must've realized the pig wasn't after them. The campers only had seconds before they were ready to fight, and their forces were still in a panic. Every time the sow bleached, Grover's nature spirit yelped and faded back into their trees.

"That pig has to go," Percy grabbed a grappling hook from one of Annabeth's siblings. "I'll take care of it. You guys hold the rest of the enemy. Push them back!"

"But, Percy," Grover said, "what if we can't?"

Evangeline could see how tired he was. The magic had really drained him. She was sure she didn't look any better from fighting with a bad shoulder wound. The brunette didn't know how the Hunters were doing, but the right flank of the enemy army was now between the Titans' and them.

Percy didn't want to leave his friends in such bad shape, but that sow was the biggest threat. It would destroy everything—buildings, trees, sleeping mortals. It had to be stopped.

"Retreat if you need to," he said. "Just slow them down. I'll be back as soon as I can. Evangeline, can you please remove this?"

As much as she didn't want to, she knew she didn't have any other choice. The daughter of Hades dropped her hand down and the shield disappeared from around them.

The son of Poseidon swung the grappling hook like a lasso. When the sow came down for its next pass, he threw with all his strength. The hook wrapped around the base of the pig's wing. It squealed in rage and veered off, yanking the rope and Percy into the sky.

Midtown was a warzone. Little skirmishes were everywhere. A giant was ripping up trees in Byrant Park while dryads pelted him with nuts. Outside the Waldorf Astoria, a bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin was whacking a hellhound with a rolled-up newspaper. A trio of Hephaestus campers fought a squad of Dracaena in the middle of Rockefeller Center.

Their defenses were collapsing. The enemy was closing in on the Empire State Building. The Hunters had set up a defensive line on 37th, just three blocks north of Olympus. To the east on Park Avenue, Jake Mason and some other Hephaestus campers were leading an army of statues against the enemy.

To the west, the Demeter cabin and Grover's nature spirits had turned Sixth Avenue into a jungle that was hampering a squadron of Kronos' demigods. The south was clear for now, but the flanks of the enemy were swinging around. A few more minutes, and they'd be surrounded.

Evangeline was in the southeast corner of the fight, 33rd at the Park Avenue tunnel with Annabeth, Landon, and two more Athena kids. They were holding off a Hyperborean giant.

The brunette dodged one of the giants' swings at her. The giant kept freezing the ground to make the campers slip and fall but the more it tried the more she was getting pissed off.

When the giant charged again she clenched her hand into a fist and the earth rose hitting the giant straight in the stomach and sending it tumbling back.

She didn't let the giant catch himself before she stabbed her sword into the ground, summoning a ton of bones that built themselves into a giant serpent that launched itself at the Hyperborean, it smacked the giant's head with its tail.

Evangeline could feel herself getting tired, she pulled her sword out of the ground and the serpent disappeared. The giant got to its feet with blue blood spilling down his neck.

It lunged and the daughter of Hades shadow travelled behind it and slashed the giants ankle with her sword, cracks started appearing near the cut. The creature fell to his knees giving Annabeth and Landon a chance to charge at him.

They fought the creature for a while before the brunette saw Percy land on the giant's head. When he looked up, the son of Poseidon slid off his face, shield-bashing his nose on the way down.

The giant staggered backward with a cry, blue blood trickling from his nostrils.

Percy hit the pavement running. The Hyperborean breathed a cloud of white mist, and the temperature dropped. The spot where he had landed was now coated with ice.

"Hey, ugly!" Evangeline yelled.

Percy hoped she was talking to the giant and not him.

The giant turned toward her, exposing the unprotected back of his legs. Percy charged and stabbed him behind the knee.

The Hyperborean buckled and froze. He literally turned to solid ice. From the point where the son of Poseidon had stabbed him, cracks appeared in his body. They got larger and wider until the giant crumpled into a mountain of blue shards.

"Thanks," Annabeth said, "The pig?"

"Pork chops," Percy said.

"Good job," Evangeline said. She winced as she felt a sharp sting spread through her shoulder. Obviously, the wound was still bothering her, but she wasn't going to let them know that. She saw the other three demigod's expression. "I'm fine, I can take it."

"Come on," Annabeth said. "We've got plenty of enemies left."

The next hour, the four of them spent killing as many monsters as they found. They took out dozens of telkhines with each strike, destroying empousai and knocking out enemy demigods. Evangeline was getting annoyed by the fact that the more she killed the more appeared.

The children of Athena, Hades, Poseidon, and Hermes raced from block to block, trying to shore up their defenses. Too many of their friends lay wounded in the streets. Too many were missing.

As the night wore on and the moon got higher, they were backed up foot by foot until they were only a block from the Empire State Building in any direction. At one point Grover had appeared next to her, bonking the snake women over the head with his cudgel.

Then he disappeared into the crowd, and it was Thalia by her side, driving the monsters back with the power of her magic shield. Mrs O'Leary bounded out of nowhere, picked up a Lastyrgonian giant in her mouth, and flung him into the air like a Frisbee.

Annabeth used her invisibility cap, to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason, she knew the blonde had been there.

But it still wasn't enough.

"Hold your lines!" Katie Gardner shouted from somewhere off to her left.

The problem was there were too few of the campers to hold anything. The entrance to Olympus was twenty feet behind them. A ring of brave demigods, Hunters, nature spirits, and skeletons guarded the doors.

She slashed and stabbed, killing everything that came in her way, she was getting tired and with a wounded shoulder, fighting was not the easiest thing to do right now.

Annabeth appeared next to Landon. "We have to fall back to the doorway. Hold it at all costs!"

Percy was about to order a retreat when the sound of a hunting horn reached his ears.

It cut through the noise of the battle like a fire alarm. A chorus of horns answered from all around them, echoing off the buildings of Manhattan.

Evangeline spared a glance at the former tree.

"Not the Hunters," Thalia assured.  "We're all here."

"Then who?" Percy asked.

The horns got louder. Evangeline couldn't exactly tell where they were coming from because of the echo, but it sounded like an entire army was approaching.

She thought Kronos' army had called more enemies but Kronos' army looked as confused as they were. Giants lowered their clubs. Dracaenae hissed. Even Kronos' honor guard looked uneasy.

Then, to the campers' left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos' entire northern flank surged forward. They didn't attack like Evangeline had expected them to, instead, they ran straight past the campers and into their southern allies.

A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur of movement, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of the light speed.

"Yeah, baby!" A voice wailed. "PARTY!"

A volley of arrows flew over her head and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEE! Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.

"Centaurs!" The daughter of Athena yelled.

"Chiron's druggie relatives," Landon said, earning a smack on the arm from Annabeth. "Ow!"

The Party Pony army exploded into their midst in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversized sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HRSEZ PWN or KRONOS SUX.

Hundreds of them filled the entire block. "Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry, we're late!"

"DUDE!" Another centaur yelled. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!"

He locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must have been mixed with Celestial Bronze dust or something because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the dog yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle.

"PARTY PONIES." a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"

Somewhere across the battlefield, Evangeline heard a twangy voice yelling back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" A third one shouted.

It was the dumbest thing she'd ever seen but she wasn't going to complain. The entire army of the try-hard tyrant turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path.

"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK—"

That last part was interrupted because of a panicked Hyperborean Giant sitting on top of the lord of Time. Evangeline saw the Titan disappear under a giant blue butt.

They pushed them for several blocks until Chiron yelled, "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"

It wasn't easy, but eventually, the order got relayed up and down the ranks of the centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"Chiron's smart," The blonde said breathlessly. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."

"But the enemy—"

"They're not defeated," Evangeline agreed. "But it's going to be sunrise soon. At least we've bought some time."

The brunette watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled toward the East River. When she saw the hesitation on Percy's face, she took his hand and turned, leading him back toward the Empire State Building.

They had set up a two-block perimeter, with a command tent at the Empire State Building. Chiron informed them that the Party Ponies had sent chapters from almost every state in the Union: forty from California, two from Rhode Island, thirty from Illinois...Roughly five hundred total had answered his call, but even with that many, they couldn't defend more than a few blocks.

"Dude," said a centaur named Larry. His T-shirt identified him as BIG CHIEF UBER GUY, NEW MEXICO CHAPTER. "That was more fun than our last convention in Vegas!"

"Yeah," said Owen from South Dakota. He wore a black leather jacket and an old WWII army helmet. "We totally wasted them!"

Chiron patted Owen on the back. "You did well, my friends, but don't get careless. Kronos should never be underestimated. Now why don't you visit the diner on West 33rd and get some breakfast? I hear the Delaware chapter found a stash of root beer."

"Root beer!" They almost trampled each other as they galloped off.

Chiron smiled. Annabeth gave him a big hug, Landon got a pat on the back, and Mrs. O'Leary licked his face.

"Ack," He grumbled. "Enough of that, dog. Yes, I'm glad to see you too."

"Chiron, thanks," Percy said. "Talk about saving the day."

The centaur shrugged. "I'm sorry it took so long Centaurs travel fast, as you know. We can bend distance as we ride. Even so, getting all the centaurs together was no easy task. The Party Ponies are not exactly organized."

"Because they're addicts," Landon sighed shaking his head, and Annabeth smacked him in the back of his head. "Stop hitting me!"

"Stop thinking that they're drug addicts!" The blonde scolded.

"How else do you explain their behavior?" He demanded, spreading out his arms.

"How did you get through the magic defenses around the city?" Evangeline cut in.

"They slowed us down a bit," Chiron admitted, turning his gaze over to the brunette. "but I think they're intended mostly to keep mortals out. Kronos doesn't want puny humans getting in the way of his great victory."

"So maybe other reinforcements can get through," The son of Poseidon said hopefully."

The activities director stroked his beard. "Perhaps, through time is short. As soon as Kronos regroups, he will attack again. Without the element of surprise on our side..."

Evangeline knew the old man wasn't beaten. He was too dramatic to be defeated by a Hyperborean giant sitting on him. He would be back, tonight at the latest, for a million-year-old titan, he really didn't have any patience.

"And Typhon?" Percy asked.

Chiron's face darkened. "The gods are tiring. Dionysis was incapacitated yesterday." Typhon smashed his chariot, and the wine god went down somewhere in the Appalachians. No one has seen him since."

"Mr. D. got hurt?" The daughter of Hades asked.

The centaur nodded. "And Hephaestus is out of action as well. He was thrown from the battle so hard that he created a new lake in West Virginia. He will heal, but not soon enough to help. The others still fight. They've managed to slow Typhon's approach. But the monster can not be stopped. He will arrive in New York by this time tomorrow. Once he and Kronos combine forces—"

"Then what chance do we have?" Landon said. "We can't hold out another day."

"We'll have to," Thalia said. "I'll see about setting some new traps around the perimeter."

She looked exhausted. Her jacket was smeared in grime and monster dust, but she managed to get to her feet and stagger off.

"I will help her," Chiron decided. "I should make sure my brethren don't go too overboard with the root beer."

If you heard the word overboard, you would think of the Party Ponies, but Chiron cantered off, leaving the four alone.

Annabeth cleaned the monster slime off her knife. The brunette had seen her do that thousands of times, the daughter of Athena cared so much about the blade, probably because of who had given it to her.

"At least your mom is okay," Percy offered.

"If you call fighting Typhon okay." She looked at the raven-haired boy. "Even with the centaurs' help, I'm starting to think—"

"I know," He said. "Listen, there were some...some visions Hestia showed me."

"Let me make a million-dollar guess," Landon placed a finger on his chin as if he were thinking. "It was about Luke?"

"Yeah," The Jackson boy said. "Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke." He turned to the blonde. "The first time you met Thalia and Luke. And the time you met Hermes."

The daughter of Athena slipped her knife back into its sheath. "Luke promised he'd never let me get hurt. He said...he said we'd be a new family, and it would turn out better than his."

"Thalia talked to me earlier," Percy said. "She's afraid—"

"That I can't face Luke," Annabeth said miserably.

Percy glanced at Evangeline and then nodded. "But there's something else you should know, Evangeline and I had this shared dream. Ethan seemed to think Luke was still alive inside his body, maybe even fighting Kronos for control."

The daughter of Athena tried to hide it, but Evangeline could see her mind working on the possibilities, maybe starting to hope.

The brunette didn't want Annabeth to get her hopes up, she didn't want Annabeth to think that Luke could be saved because he couldn't, and Evangeline knew a lost cause when she saw one.

"We didn't want to tell you," she said.

Annabeth looked up at the Empire State Building. "For most of my life, I felt like everything was changing, all the time. I didn't have anyone I could rely on."

That was something Evangeline could understand.

"I ran away when I was seven," The blonde said. "Then with Luke and Thalia, I thought I'd found a family, but it fell apart almost immediately. What I'm saying...I hate it when people let me down when things are temporary. I think that's why I want to be an architect."

"To build something permanent," Landon spoke softly. "A monument to last a thousand years, something that would never leave."

Annabeth held his eyes. "I guess that sounds like my fatal flaw."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Thalia's right." Evangeline said. "Luke has already betrayed you so many times. He was evil long before all of this. You can't save something that doesn't want to be saved, Annabeth."

The blonde pursed her lips. She could tell Annabeth was trying not to get mad. "That's your fatal flaw, Evangeline, you hold grudges, you give up on people without even giving them a second chance."

The daughter of Hades had to bite her tongue to keep herself from snapping at Annabeth. She had tried to get Annabeth to let Luke go but if she wasn't going to, then there was nothing else Evangeline could do.

Annabeth turned to the boys. "I hope you two will understand if I keep hoping there's a chance all of you are wrong."

Evangeline looked away from the trio and focused her attention on her surroundings.

Across the street, the Apollo campers had set up a field hospital to tend the wounded—dozens of campers and almost as many Hunters. She was watching the medics work. When suddenly, she wasn't there anymore.

She was now standing in a long dingy bar with black walls, neon signs, and a bunch of partying adults. A banner across the bar read HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOBBY EARL. Country music played on the speakers. Big guys in jeans and work shirts crowded the bar. Waitresses carried trays of drinks and shouted at each other.

Evangeline was stuck in the back of the room, next to the bathrooms which did not smell great, and a couple of antique arcade games.

"Oh good, you're here," said a man at one of the machines. "I'll have a Diet Coke."

He was a pudgy man in a leopard-skin Hawaiian shirt, purple sorts, red running shoes, and black socks which didn't exactly make him blend in with the crowd. His nose was bright red. A bandage was wrapped around his curly black hair like he was recovering from a concussion.

The brunette blinked. "Mr. D?"

------✧------

A/N: This chapter took way longer to write than it should've. (I was procrastinating).

If you guys haven't noticed I hate Luke, a lot, so you are going to be seeing a LOT of Luke slander in the upcoming chapters.

I hate this chapter ngl...