The minute my back touched the seat of the taxi, I passed out.

And I didn't wake up until the Stolls had dumped ice cold water over me on the pavement. Apparently Percy had to drag me out of the taxi cab.

And even then I just stirred as if nothing had happened. "We're finally here?" I mumbled and stood with the help of the Stolls.

"You were seriously that tired?" Percy asked, Annie standing next to him.

"Uh, yeah. I didn't get any sleep for a full 24 hours. Of course I was dead tired. Obviously right before we get started with this too, huh?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and yawned, adjusted my backpack's strap on my shoulder.

I vaguely remember summoning it and stuffing my bow and quiver into it before hailing the taxi.

Then I looked around to see the senior counselors, excluding Clarisse, as well as all of their cabinmates. 

But in all it was only 40 demigods, excluding me and Percy. Though we could still attract tons of monsters with our demigod auras and I could tell that was on some of their minds.

Then I noticed Chiron in his wheelchair, while Percy started talking.

"Thanks for coming, everybody. Chiron, after you," He said. I just blinked and looked at Percy, surprised. I actually thought he'd take the reins. Even Chiron shook his head.

"I only came to wish you luck, my boy,"

"But you're our leader," Percy insisted.

"I am but your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather all of the allies I can. Meanwhile, you called the campers here, Percy. You are the leader," Chiron said.

I couldn't help but wipe a tear away, exaggeratedly, making Percy give me a look.

"What? My big brother's growing up," I smiled then motioned for him to continue.

"Alright so, like I told Annabeth on the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight. Some kind of trap or something. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember we can't take no for an answer," Percy said.

As he was speaking, I took Mrs. O'Leary to Argus and asked him to watch her, neither of them happy about that.

And when I got back, Percy gave me a nod. "Let's go,"

***

When we entered the Empire State Building, a security guard was sitting behind the desk at the lobby.

He only so much as glanced at us, with the weapons and armor.

And though he did try to play dumb about the six-hundredth floor and all, Percy managed to push his buttons and made him push a buzzer that made the gate to the elevator open.

We decided to take two trips for everyone to get up with the elevator. I went with the first group. The Stolls surrounded me.

"Got anything for us in the backpack?" They asked.

"Unless you're talking about extra arrows, the cash and drachmas you gave me, a full canteen of nectar, a bag filled with ambrosia, or a fist to the face then no I don't," I glared at the both of them, making them sigh. 

When we walked out, I dropped my voice to a whisper. "I will allow you to raid the surrounding stores though~"

And that made them grin at me. "Yes!"

Then when the second group came up we proceeded to head into Olympus.

And I'll admit, I was definitely impressed. Mansions of gold and white glittered as they towered at the sides of the mountain. Gardens flourished on at least a hundred terraces. Smoke rose from braziers lining the streets. And at the peak stood, what I assumed to be, the palace of the gods.

I saw Percy and Annie up ahead and they were talking, which was good, but I figured it was more about where we were than anything else.

And then we continued on toward the palace.

As we were heading there, Pollux had pointed out something at the horizon. Blue lights streaked across the evening sky toward Olympus. But they seemed to dissipate when they got too close. It didn't do any damage but I knew what it was.

"Like infrared scopes," Michael Yew described.

"So... we're being targeted," I mumbled.

"Let's get to the palace," Percy said, before we could say anything else.

And when we stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was the cow in a water sphere. And then I remembered Percy and Annie telling me about the Ophiotaurus that they had saved from the Titans two years ago. And apparently Percy had named it, him, Bessie.

The twelve thrones, representing the gods and goddesses, were in a U shape surrounding the hearth.

And at the hearth, was a goddess I've grown fond of. She was poking the flames with a stick, tending to the flame as always. She wore a simple brown dress, as I remember she had before, but now she was a grown woman and not a young girl.

Both Percy and I bowed. "Lady Hestia,"

The campers behind us followed our example.

Hestia looked at Percy, as if realizing that he had bathed in the Styx.

"I see you went through your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles," She said, staring at him with her glowing ember eyes.

And that stirred the campers a bit. They started muttering among themselves, asking what she meant and all that.

"You must be careful," Hestia warned Percy. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind tot he most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order," 

And I figured I knew what she meant. 

She was going to show him Luke's past. This was one of the things the Oracle loved to bug me with. Along with the fact that it spoke through me twice to Luke, it also showed me various glimpses of his past. Which was kind of the reason why I didn't want to go through Nico's past just to tell him what happened.

Going into someone's past wasn't the best thing that ever happened to me.

I already knew how Luke and Thalia met, how they met Annie, what they went through before me and Percy met went to camp...

Whenever the Oracle showed me these visions, I couldn't escape them, and they always happened in one second, real world time.

And that seemed to be exactly what happened to Percy because one second he was looking at Hestia and the next his knees gave out and Annie had to steady him.

I looked at the goddess to see her expressionless.

"Did... did you see that?" Percy asked, confused.

"Percy," I said, and he turned to me. "We should get on with the mission,"

"But-" and then he faltered as I looked him straight in the eye. He must've been pretty shocked but we did have to get moving since we were running out of time. "Er, right," He turned to Hestia.

"Lady Hestia, we've come on urgent business. We need to see-"

"We know what you need," A man's voice said, out of nowhere. And a god, one I'm very familiar with, shimmered next to Hestia taking his place next to her.

"Lord Hermes," I murmured under my breath as he regarded me. George and Martha greeted me, as normal as ever.

'Claira! Haven't seen you in a while. You've grown,' Martha hissed in my mind.

'Got any rats for me?' George asked, as always.

I just shook my head since the god himself was speaking to my brother.

"We need to talk to Zeus. It's important," Percy said, his voice uneasy.

"I am his messenger. May I take a message?" Hermes didn't seem to be in his kindest mood.

I could see the look in Percy's eyes. Things weren't going as planned. And I could tell he wanted to try and talk to Hermes in private.

"Guys, why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth, Clair, and me back here in thirty minutes,"

"But-" Silena started, only for me to intervene.

"You mean just you and Annie," I winked and gestured to the group of demigods behind me. "Can do, Percy. Connor, Travis, lead the way!"

And the twins perked up next to me. They seemed to like the idea of being handed the responsibility of leading right in front of their father.

"On it!" Travis said.

And we all started walking out of the throne room leaving Percy and Annie behind with Hermes.

As we made our way out, Katie Gardener approached me.

"So. How've Percy and Annabeth seemed to you lately?" she asked.

The Aphrodite cabin as a whole perked up at the mention of them. Except for Silena, who seemed to be lost in thought.

"No progress, from what I've been seeing," I shrugged. "I get what you mean though. It's kind of frustrating to be honest. But anyway enough about them. We should actually do what my brother said. If Kronos' army manages to invade without us knowing, we'd be in big trouble,"

"But where's a good place for scouting?" Pollux asked.

"There!" Jake Mason pointed to a small park with tourist binoculars lining the railings.

"Well isn't that convenient?" Will Solace muttered.

"Come on!" The Stolls yelled.

It took at least fifteen minutes to walk down to the park. Turns out the tourist binoculars used one drachma.

As some of the senior counselors looked down at the town, I went over the railing summoning the winds.

Of course, there was a bunch of protest from my friends but I made sure to just grab hold of the bottom of the platform, to be on the safer side.

The first five minutes was ok. Everything seemed normal. Until I instantly felt something wrong a split second after those first five minutes.

And then I realized: it was silent. I looked down to see the worst. People were collapsed on the streets, seemingly sleeping.

I climbed over the railing and found the Stolls.

"Keep watch! I need to go and get Percy and Annie!" I ordered.

"Why? What's wrong?" they asked.

"Manhattan is... silent," I pointed down below then summoned the winds and flew off to the throne room.

When I reached the doors, I landed and ran up to them.

"Guys!" I yelled, grabbing their attention.

They turned to me, surprised.

"You need to see this," I let out a breath.

***

When we reached the park, it only took five seconds for Percy's rage to start building.

"I don't hear... anything," Annie pointed out.

And that was what set Percy off. 

"What did they do?" Percy's voice was definitely filled with anger. "What did they do to my city?" he demanded.

As he looked through binoculars, I jumped down and did a full circle. Literally everything was collapsed on the streets, seemingly sleeping.

Then I remembered: And see the world in endless sleep...

I remembered Grover's story on Morpheus... how he was saving his energy for the main event.

"They're not dead," I declared landing back on the platform.

"Morpheus has put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep," Percy nodded. "The invasion has begun,"