Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian - 05
the Mist, but I'm sure it was plenty scary. Car doors opened. And at the end of the block, Paul Blofis
and my mom got out of their Prius.
"No," I said. "Don't . . ."
My mother could see through the Mist. I could tell from her expression that she understood
how serious things were. I hoped she would have the sense to run. But she locked eyes with me,
said something to Paul, and they ran straight toward us.
I couldn't call out. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her to Kronos's attention.
Fortunately, Hades caused a distraction. He charged at the wall of force, but his chariot
crashed against it and overturned. He got to his feet, cursing, and blasted the wall with black
energy. The barrier held.
"ATTACK!" he roared.
The armies of the dead clashed with the Titan's monsters. Fifth Avenue exploded into
absolute chaos. Mortals screamed and ran for cover. Demeter waved her hand and an entire
column of giants turned into a wheat field. Persephone changed the dracaenae's spears into
sunflowers. Nico slashed and hacked his way through the enemy, trying to protect the pedestrians
as best he could. My parents ran toward me, dodging monsters and zombies, but there was nothing
I could do to help them.
"Nakamura," Kronos said. "Attend me. Giants—deal with them."
He pointed at my friends and me. Then he ducked into the lobby.
For a second I was stunned. I'd been expecting a fight, but Kron os completely ignored me
like I wasn't worth the trouble. That made me mad.
The first Hyperborean giant smashed at me with his club. I rolled between his legs and
stabbed Riptide into his backside. He shattered into a pile of ice shards. The second giant breathed
frost at Annabeth, who was barely able to stand, but Grover pulled her out of the way while Thalia
went to work. She sprinted up the giant's back like a gazelle, sliced her hunting knives across his
monstrous blue neck, and created the world's largest headless ice sculpture.
I glanced outside the magic barrier. Nico was fighting his way toward my mom and Paul, but
they weren't waiting for help. Paul grabbed a sword from a fallen hero and did a pretty fine job
keeping a dracaena busy. He stabbed her in the gut, and she disintegrated.
"Paul?" I said in amazement.
He turned toward me and grinned. "I hope that was a monster I just killed. I was a
Shakespearian actor in college! Picked up a little swordplay!"
I liked him even better for that, but then a Laistrygonian giant charged toward my mom. She
was rummaging around in an abandoned police car—maybe looking for the emergency radio—and
her back was turned.
"Mom!" I yelled.
She whirled when the monster was almost on top of her. I thought the thing in her hands was
an umbrella until she cranked the pump and the shotgun blast blew the giant twenty feet backward,
right into Nico's sword.
"Nice one," Paul said.
"When did you learn to fire a shotgun?" I demanded.
My mom blew the hair out of her face. "About two seconds ago. Percy, we'll be fine. Go!"
"Yes," Nico agreed, "we'll handle the army. You have to get Kronos!"
"Come on, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth said. I nodded. Then I looked at the rubble pile on the
side of the building. My heart twisted. I'd forgotten about Chiron. How could I do that?
"Mrs. O'Leary," I said. "Please, Chiron's under there. If anyone can dig him out, you can.
Find him! Help him!"
I'm not sure how much she understood, but she bounded to the pile and started to dig.
Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, and I raced for the elevators.
Chapter Nineteen
We Trash The Eternal City
112