(no subject)

[unrestrained]

Shard: 4 "I buy some new friends/We break a bridge" (C 10-11 TLO)
Type: Significant Negative
What it is: (Chapters in the comments if you really want)

Book here (If you want to read it just type in "Chapter Ten" in the search and read the two chapters. Super important excerpts are in the comments).

What it is:
» This is one entire night!
» This memory starts with the the campers of Camp Half-Blood arriving at the Empire State Building to the entirety of New York City asleep and an army is starting to invade (Kronos' army, who you will understand is powerful, super dangerous, and his army is outrageous. It's important to note that there are 40 campers that are mostly between 11-17 but are also anywhere between 8-21.
» This is the first time Annabeth uses her video shield and it shows where the formerly mentioned army is invading. It was made by Beckendorf-- and for some reason the mention of him is terrible (as he died but you don't remember this yet).
» Stoll brothers wanting to steal while everyone is asleep, smh. Children of Hermes for you. Meanwhile Children of Aphrodite wanting to get high-end clothes and "suggest" dumping perfume on monsters. At least your head is just full of kelp.
» Percy sends Mrs. O'Leary, apparently his giant pet HELLHOUND, to go find his satyr friend, Grover.
» They decide the reason the demigods/campers didn't fall asleep is because the spell is too big to prevent those with godly blood from doing so. The sleep spell goes on for fifty miles and anyone who gets too close just gets reminded to go away and Kronos is slowing down time. No one can get in, no one knows what's happening.
» BASICALLY THEY'RE IN A SHIT TON OF TROUBLE AND THEY SEEM TO BE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE. Since if Kronos takes Manhattan that means Mt. Olympus and he can take over the world. Kay.
» ...So Percy says they're going to keep Manhattan and ends up leading this army of kids. Kay. Strangely they all also listen to him and take him seriously. He also comes up with a pretty good strategy on how to!
» Him and Annabeth split up from the main group and they spend a deal of time just trying to navigate the city and make sure things don't burn down. While they do so they awake statues to help try and defend the city. Percy also jumps into where the two rivers of New York meet and sasses them a bunch before offering them a sand dollar for their help sinking some ships-- as sand dolars clear away pollution.
» They do so and talk ominously about him having the curse of Achilles and how it won't save him, even though they couldn't pull him apart. This explains why the chicken ladies couldn't kill him.
» Michael Yew calls for reinforcements at the bridge where Kronos himself is waiting, so the two answer. They're... kind of in a lot of trouble there and Michael flat out says they should all die there. The monster leading the group is the Minotaur which is significant but you have no clue why.
» The two give up automobiles and luckily find Percy's pegasus, Blackjack, instead.
» Once there Percy decides to play distraction and take on the group of monsters telling the others to pull back and wait for him so they can take back Brooklyn. Annabeth doesn't want him to go alone, but he gets her to agree in a stare off.

Before I could lose my courage, I said, "Don't I get a kiss for luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?"

I figured she would punch me. Instead, she drew her knife and stared at the army marching toward us. "Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see."

» Apparently he's killed the Minotaur before! He has no idea when, but they somehow agree to have a one-on-one fight. Which Percy wins.

I turned toward his army. It was now roughly one hundred and ninety-nine to one. I did the natural thing. I charged them.

You're going to ask how the "invincible" thing worked: if I magically dodged every weapon, or if the weapons hit me and just didn't harm me. Honestly, I don't remember. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let these monsters invade my hometown.

I sliced through armor like it was made of paper. Snake women exploded. Hellhounds melted to shadow. I slashed and stabbed and whirled, and I might have even laughed once or twice-a crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies. I was aware of the Apollo campers behind me shooting arrows, disrupting every attempt by the enemy to rally. Finally, the monsters turned and fled
about twenty left alive out of two hundred.

» Essentially, Percy was kind of bad ass.

» Percy thinks chasing them down and destroying every monster, but Annabeth tries to talk sense into him. Unfortunately, the last remaining monsters run straight into reinforcements of 30-40 demigods and Kronos himself. Percy tells the others to pull back, who try, but they're on them in seconds and him and Annabeth try to fight them off back to back.

» Unfortunately, Percy feels a weird sensation like a shiver of cold and Annabeth screams. Another demigod had stabbed her while she tried to protect Percy... Which is weird because she seemed to know the one spot that would kill him if hit and had protected that. As that's the spot the other guy would have hit. Percy knocks the kid who stabbed her upside the head and then threatens everyone else if they touch her.

» It's now Kronos appears and tells Percy to surrender or Annabeth dies. Percy'd having none of that and has Blackjack come and get her out of there and Kronos and Percy clash swords

» Percy gets blown backwards and it's then Michael suggests breaking the bridge and Percy tries using his sword and powers in a last ditch attempt to save them! It works! And successfully keeps Kronos at bay for what appears to may be a day.

» But Micahael kind of fell in/was lost/died in the attempt :'). To make matters worse Percy gets a distressed call from Silena telling him to come back right now and that Annabeth was pretty bad off.

Comments

[unrestrained]

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

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

"We are going to hold it," I said. "We have to."

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

"They have boats," Michael Yew pointed out.

An electric tingle went down my back. Suddenly I understood Athena's advice: Remember the rivers. "I'll take care of the boats," I said.

Michael frowned. "How?"


"Just leave it to me," I 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 theWilliamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the BrooklynBattery 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. Aband 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.

----------------

I looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. I tried not to feel like this was the last time I'd ever see them all together.

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

They shouted in response, and our forty 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.
----------------


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

"Seward," Annabeth corrected. "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.

"Don't tell me he's an automaton," I said.

Annabeth 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 know how unpredictable automatons are."

------


As I rose toward the surface, East called out, "Hey, kid, any time you got a sand dollar to spend, come on back. Assuming you live."

"Curse of Achilles," Hudson snorted. "They always think that'll save them, don't they?"

"If only he knew," East agreed. They both laughed, dissolving into the water.



--------

Annabeth and I stayed shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. A dark shape passed over me, and I dared to glance up. Blackjack and Porkpie were swooping in, kicking our enemies in the helmets and flying away like very large kamikaze pigeons.

We'd almost made it to the middle of the bridge when something strange happened. I felt a chill down my spine-like that old saying about someone walking on your grave. Behind me, Annabeth cried out in pain.

"Annabeth!" I turned in time to see her fall, clutching her arm. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over her.

In a flash I understood what had happened. He'd been trying to stab me. Judging from the position of his blade, he would've taken memaybe by sheer luck-in the small of my back, my only weak point.

Annabeth had intercepted the knife with her own body.

But why? She didn't know about my weak spot. No one did.

------

"So . . ." He studied me, looking mildly annoyed. "You had the courage to visit the Styx. I had to pressure Luke in many ways to convince him. If only you had supplied my host body instead . . . But no matter. I am still more powerful. I am a TITAN."

---

"Break it!" Michael yelled. "Use your powers!"

It was a desperate thought-no way it would work- but I stabbed Riptide into the bridge. The magic blade sank to its hilt m asphalt.

Salt water shot from the crack like I'd hit a geyser. I pulled out my blade and the fissure grew. The bridge shook and began to crumble. Chunks the size of houses fell into the East River. Kronos's demigods cried out in alarm and scrambled backward. Some were knocked off their feet. Within a few seconds, a fifty-foot chasm opened in the Williamsburg Bridge between Kronos and me.

The vibrations died. Kronos's men crept to the edge and looked at the hundred-and-thirty-foot drop into the river. I didn't feel safe, though. The suspension cables were still attached. The men could get across that way if they were brave enough. Or maybe Kronos had a magic way to span the gap.

The Titan lord studied the problem. He looked behind him at the rising sun, then smiled across the chasm. He raised his scythe in a mock salute. "Until this evening, Jackson."

He mounted his horse, whirled around, and galloped back to Brooklyn, followed by his warriors.

I turned to thank Michael Yew, but the words died in my throat.

Twenty feet away, a bow lay in the street. Its owner was nowhere to
be seen.

"No!" I searched the wreckage on my side of the bridge. I stared down at the river. Nothing.

I yelled in anger and frustration. The sound carried forever in the morning stillness. I was about to whistle for Blackjack to help me search, when my mom's phone rang. The LCD display said I had a call from Finklestein & Associates-probably a demigod calling on a borrowed phone.

I picked up, hoping for good news. Of course I was wrong.

"Percy?" Silena Beauregard sounded like she'd been crying. "Plaza Hotel. You'd better come quickly and bring a healer from Apollo's cabin. It's . . . it's Annabeth."

[unrestrained]

Annabeth and I stayed shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. A dark shape passed over me, and I dared to glance up. Blackjack and Porkpie were swooping in, kicking our enemies in the helmets and flying away like very large kamikaze pigeons.

We'd almost made it to the middle of the bridge when something strange happened. I felt a chill down my spine-like that old saying about someone walking on your grave. Behind me, Annabeth cried out in pain.

"Annabeth!" I turned in time to see her fall, clutching her arm. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over her.

In a flash I understood what had happened. He'd been trying to stab me. Judging from the position of his blade, he would've taken memaybe by sheer luck-in the small of my back, my only weak point.

Annabeth had intercepted the knife with her own body.

But why? She didn't know about my weak spot. No one did.