Let me explain: there are dragons, and then there are drakons.

Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents. Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyze you; not the turn-you-to-stone Medusa-type paralysis, but the oh-my-gods-that-big-snake-is-going-to-eat-me type of paralysis, which is just as bad.

We have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare yourself for a two-hundred-foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. We'd done our best to push cars out of the way to keep the mortals safe, but that just made it easier for our enemies to approach. The Party Ponies swished their tails nervously. Chiron galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tough and think about victory and root beer, but I figured any second they would panic and run.

I turned my head and looked at Percy, he was white as a ghost, but he nodded, pulling his trusty riptide out of his pocket, letting it grow into a sword. I pulled my bow off. Beside me, Raph slammed his helmet on. I saw his mouth moving.

"I'll take the drakon."  

He closed it, and cleared his throat.  Then he clearly yelled the same thing: "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON!"

Percy turned to look at the few remaining campers we had. "Everyone else, hold the line against the army!" 

Annabeth stood next to Percy. She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but I could tell her eyes were red. 

Raph bumped my shoulder, making me look around to him, "Will you help me?" He sighed with difficulty, he was holding a shield and sword in his hands.

 I nodded, "Of course. Percy and I are right beside you. And probably Annabeth as well, despite her being upset at Percy, she'll have his back, and I have yours." 

Just as I said that, Annabeth and Percy came over. 

"Annabeth will go invisible," Percy said. "Look for weak links in its armor while Nora and I keep it busy. Raph...sorry man, it's up to you to kill it. Nora and I will do our best to wound it enough for you to kill. Everyone... just be careful."

Percy whistled. I saw Miss O'Leary come bounding over. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"

"ROOOF!" Our hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave me a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza. Then she turned to Percy and gave him a big slobbery kiss. The four of us glanced at each other, nodded lifted our weapons and we charged the monster.

🔆

The drakon was three stories above us, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up our forces. Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear.

From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and our lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before I could even get close.

Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air- a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws. Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll. Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat but couldn't make a dent. I threw my arm back, already setting it ablaze, and then threw a ball of fire, as big and hot as I could muster. It hit the drakon's side. The fireball and Miss O'Leary's weight threw the monster from the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk, hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs. O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting. 

I saw Percy swinging his sword. I drew my bow back and released an arrow just as  Percy plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. My arrow stuck out of its left eye. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but I rolled aside.

It bit a swimming-pool-size chunk out of the pavement. It turned toward me with its good eye, and I focused on its teeth so I wouldn't get paralyzed. Mrs. O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like a really angry black wig. Percy was on it's other side. The two of us were doing our best to keep the head distracted. Between my arrows and Percy's sword. Trying to make an opening for Raph to get in there. He had to duck behind his shield, he had almost made it to the neck. It's poison spewed from its mouth. A bunch landed in his shield. I could see him screaming in pain, he ripped the sild off his arm and toss the mangled and smoking thing away. The poison was already sizzling his arm. I tried to get to him, but the tail came out of no where and I had to duck and roll away. 

The rest of the battle wasn't going well. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but quickly disappeared. Arrows screamed. Fire exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. We were losing ground.

Suddenly Annabeth materialized on the drakon's back. Her invisibility cap rolled off her head as she drove her bronze knife between a chink in the serpent's scales. The drakon roared. It coiled around, knocking Annabeth off its back. I saw Percy's look of panic, from over top of the drakon, but I reached her just as she hit the ground. I dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.

"Thanks." She signed. 

"Percy told you to be careful!"

"Yeah, well- DUCK!"

It was her turn to save me. She tackled me as the monster's teeth snapped above my head. Mrs. O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention, and we rolled out of the way.

Meanwhile our allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them.

We were out of options. No more help was coming. Annabeth, Percy, Raph and I would have to retreat before we were cut off from Mount Olympus. I turned to find the boys. I saw Percy scaling the monster's back, with Raph right behind him. It was like the monster knew Raph was a son of Ares, because the thing ignored Percy, and went after Raph. He had to jump off and roll under a car as the monster spat another mouth full of poison at him. 

Annabeth was spinning in a circle, her eyes wide and mouth dropped open

"What?" I signed. "What's going on?" 

"Chariot wheels!" She signed back, and pointed. A dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with the symbol of the wild boar's head. Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armor gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one- making a bristling wall of death. 

"The children of Ares!" Annabeth signed in amazement. "How did Rachel know?"

"I told you, she's a direct descendant of the original Oracle." 

 I looked back and leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, her face covered by a boar's-head helm. Raph came running, and leapt to the front beside a girl in full red armor. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. Clarisse herself had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon.

"Something is off. Something doesn't feel right!" I signed. I felt sick to my stomach suddenly. I could taste the nasty mix of sour green apple and hot sauce. The green mist of the Oracle. But I didn't know what. I felt hot and tingly suddenly. My hands started to shake and my knees felt weak. 

"Annabeth...something is wrong!" 

"Yeah clearly!" She signed back clearly annoyed. "We're loosing a war!" She slapped her invisibility cap on and shimmered out of exitance.

The serpent reared back and managed to throw off Mrs. O'Leary. My poor dog hit the side of the building with a yelp. Percy ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat. Even with only one eye, its glare was enough to paralyze two chariot drivers. They veered into a line of cars. The other four chariots kept charging. The monster bared its fangs to strike and got a mouthful of Celestial bronze javelins. 

Clarisse screamed something. Her spear raised in the air. I could see her body trembling, even from my spot, amongst the enemy. But considering she was facing a drakon, it was understandable. I had to duck under a monsters swip. I stabbed it with an arrow head. 

Across the street, the arrival of six chariots gave the Party Ponies new hope. They rallied at the doors of the Empire State Building, and the enemy army was momentarily thrown into confusion. 

Meanwhile, Clarisse's chariots circled the drakon. Lances broke against the monster's skin. Skeletal horses breathed fire and whinnied. Two more chariots overturned, but the warriors simply leaped to their feet, drew their swords, and went to work. They hacked at chinks in the creature's scales. They dodged poison spray like they'd been training for this all their lives, which of course they had.

No one could say the Ares campers weren't brave. Clarisse and Raph were right there in front, stabbing her spear at the drakon's face, trying to put out its other eye. But as I watched, again, the green mist taste grew- something wasn't right. Raph was doing more protecting of Clarisse then fighting the monster. Why would she need protecting? My knees felt like jello and I was either going to pass out or throw up, the taste was getting stronger, the tingling sensation was even worse, it almost hurt. I saw things starting to go wrong. The drakon snapped up one Ares camper in a gulp. It knocked aside another and sprayed poison on a third, who retreated in a panic, his armor melting. 

Percy appeared beside me, Annabeth on his other side, "We have to help,"  she signed quickly. 

She was right. I had done my best to get back to the fight, but something was overpowering me, I felt feverish. I clamped my eyes closed for a second and shook my head, trying to ride myself of the feeling. When I opened them I saw  Mrs. O'Leary tried to get up but yelped again. One of her paws was bleeding.

"Stay back, girl," Percy told her. "You've done enough already."

I clamped my jaw and charged the monster. Percy and Annabeth right behind me. I jumped onto the monster's back and ran toward its head, trying to draw its attention away from Clarisse and Raph. Her cabinmates threw javelins, most of which broke, but some lodged in the monster's teeth. It snapped its jaws together until its mouth was a mess of green blood, yellow foamy poison, and splintered weapons.

Percy screamed something at Clarisse. Through her war helmet, I could only see her eyes- but I could tell something was wrong. Her blue eyes shone with fear. Clarisse never looked like that. And she didn't have blue eyes. I gaged. The green smoke spewed from my mouth. 

She yelled something. She leveled her spear and charged the drakon.

"No," I muttered. "WAIT!" "NOOO!" I screamed silently. Many things happened all at the same time. I saw Raph try to shove Clarisse out of the way, but as he did, the drakon's tail swung up, as a giant glob of poison hit his back. He was sent threw the air, and slammed into the side of a building which crumbled down on top of him.

The monster looked down at her- almost in contempt- and spit poison directly in her face.

She screamed and fell.

I screamed wildly. Of course it was silent. I stabbed both knives down into the monster. The drakon reared back. flinging it's head. 

Annabeth had jumped off the monster's back and ran to help, while the other Ares campers tried to defend their fallen leaders. I hadn't seen Raph still hadn't reappear. Fear anxiety and a wild desperation gripped me. It whipped it's head. I got thrown and landed hard on my back. The air knocked out of me. Percy was beside me yanking me to my feet. 

 "C'MON, you stupid worm! Look at me!" I saw his mouth moving. I shook my head. My vision was blurry. I had burning hot tears rolling down my cheeks. For the next several minutes, all I saw were teeth. Percy and I retreated and dodged poison, but we couldn't hurt the stupid thing. It opened it's mouth and I shot a fireball at it, right down it's throat. It snapped its mouth shut. 

Percy and I froze, waiting. But all it did was swallow it, and then spit up a glob of poison, worse then before. We had to dive out of the way as the poison hit the side of a delivery truck, incinerating it in seconds. 

"Note to self. Don't do that again!" I signed, picking myself up. 

At the edge of my vision, I saw Glitter landing on Fifth Avenue. Someone leapt off and then someone ran toward us. I dared to glance over, but what I saw made no sense. Clarisse was lying on the ground where she'd fallen. Her armor smoked with poison. Annabeth and the Ares campers were trying to unfasten her helmet. And kneeling next to them, her face blotchy with tears, was a girl in camp clothes. It was... Clarisse.

My head spun. My knees gave out.

Why hadn't I noticed before? The girl in Clarisse's armor was much thinner, not as tall. But why would someone pretend to be Clarisse? And then it hit me. My dream of Selina and Raph talking, Raph saying it wasn't a good idea, Raph trying his best to fight a monster and keep the fake Clarisse safe. 

I was so stunned, the drakon almost snapped me in half. Percy tackled my and the beast buried its head in a brick wall. 

Chris Rodriguez ran over after dismounting from Glitter's back. He and Clarisse must've ridden her from camp, chasing the Ares campers, who'd mistakenly been following the other girl, thinking she was Clarisse. 

"WHY?" I could see the real Clarisse demanded, holding the other girl in her arms while the campers struggled to remove the poison-corroded helmet. Clarisse looked up and around, then grabbed Annabeth, and asked her something. Annabeth shook her head, and then pointed to the spot where Raph disappeared under the pile of bricks and hadn't jumped out yet. 

The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.

Chris yelled something, probably something clever like "Look out!"

Instead of turning toward me and Percy, the drakon whirled toward the sound of Chris's voice. It bared its fangs at the group of demigods.

The real Clarisse looked up at the drakon, her face filled with absolute hate. I'd seen a look that intense only once before. Raph had made that face when he took out an entire legion of monsters in an Ikea last year. 

I didn't need hearing to understand what Clarisse had yelled, it was clear as day. "YOU WANT DEATH?" Clarisse screamed at the drakon. "WELL, COME ON!"

She grabbed her spear from the fallen girl. With no armor or shield, she charged the drakon.

I tried to close the distance to help, but Clarisse was faster. She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverizing the ground in front of her. Then she jumped onto the creature's head. As it reared up, she drove her electric spear into its good eye with so much force it shattered the shaft, releasing all of the magic weapon's power.

Electricity arced across the creature's head, causing its whole body to shudder. Clarisse jumped free, rolling safely to the sidewalk as smoke boiled from the drakon's mouth. The drakon's flesh dissolved, and it collapsed into a hollow scaly tunnel of armor.

The rest of us stared at Clarisse in awe. I had never seen anyone take down such a huge monster single-handedly. But Clarisse didn't seem to care. She turned to the building where Raph was supposed to be, but I waved a hand. She locked her red swollen eyes onto me and she nodded once and then ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armor.

I knew Selina had taken Clarisse's armor. She had refused to come to the camp's aid, so Raph and her hatched a plan, and it worked, they were here. 

But Rachele's words came back to haunt me as I sprinted to the crumbled wall. I spat out more green smoke as hot burning tears fell down my face.

A trick that ends in death.