Finally, I landed in New York. This was it. I walked into the city, or what was left of it. The brunt out shells of cars, some of which were over turned, lined the streets. Many of the once towering skyscrapers had been reduced to ten story mounds of half-rubble, half-building. A few of the smaller skyscrapers still stood relatively okay.

In the distance I could make out Times Square, and crowded around it were hundreds, no, thousands of monsters of all kinds. They seemed to all be anxiously watching something. Then I heard the crowd roar, "FIVE! FOUR! THREE!"

With each number they shouted, someone on a rooftop dropped a poor mortal over the edge of a building.

"TWO! ONE! NEW YEAR!" the crowd screamed as two more mortals met their doom.

So, I'd been gone a whole year. Honestly, things were better than I thought they'd be. Or at least that's what I thought until I saw a dracaenae forcing a small line of slaves across the street. One of them, a tired, familiar looking satyr, collapsed on the ground. The dracaenae ordered him to get up, but he just moaned something about food.

I resisted the strong urge to help. I don't know why, but I felt a deep connection to this satyr. But I also knew this wasn't my fight, and I could risk getting caught in a city full of monsters, especially in my condition.

I turned toward a nearby alley, seeing a ladder that could get me to the low roof of a nearby ruin. From there I figured I could travel rooftop to rooftop until I made it to the entrance Orpheus had created into the Underworld.

I reached the roof, my muscles begging for rest. I looked out at the satyr and dracaenae one last time. The snake woman had drawn a bow and loaded an arrow. She was yelling at the satyr.

"FOOD!" the satyr moaned, and when I saw his face my world was flipped upside down.

The shock of seeing Grover again made my leg temporarily go limp. I stumbled, and accidentally kicked a chunk of concrete to the ground. It hit the floor with an unfortunately loud crack. The dracaenae turned, and so did Grover.

"Percy?" he called out in shock.

"DIE!" the snake lady yelled.

Her first shot missed by millimetres. I didn't care, I was just glad I was alive. I sprinted across the roof, and when I ran out of ground, I jumped across the gap and onto the side of the next–and much taller–building. Using the windowsills for hand and foot holds, I climbed up. An arrow hit where my knife was strapped to, so it bounced off. I was instantly glad that I'd strapped the sheath to my ribs. I reached the top just as another arrow was fired.

This time, I wasn't so lucky. The arrow struck me in the thigh, sending a wave of pain through my body and causing my knees to buckle. Half the roof of the building had caved in, so I jumped inside.

Back outside, I heard the dracaenae hiss, "An intruder! A half-blood in New York!"

The response from the thousands of other monsters was immediate.

"What?" some called.

"Where is he?" others shouted.

"RAWR!" one growled. (Hey not all monsters can talk.)

The room began to shake. They were going to bring this building down, and me with it. Something crashed through the window. A Greek fire bomb. I jumped out of the way, or as best as I could with a wounded leg. The explosion ruptured a pipe in a nearby wall, spraying me with water that had gotten stuck in the pipes.

My wounds healed, and new strength filled me. I turned to the closet window. Out side I saw a flagpole, and hanging from it was a tattered American flag. I sprinted, then jumped through the window. The glass shattered when I hit it, and I sailed through the air toward the flag.

My hands grabbed the flag, and I swung around a few times like a cheap Spider-Man impersonator. Before the flag ripped, I used the momentum of my swing to catapult me straight into the nearest monster, a ten-foot tall hellhound with razor sharp claws and teeth.

I hit it with a powerful kick, and before it could strike back I unsheathed my knife a cut a chunk out of the hound's shoulder. It howled in pain before disintegrating. Three more dracaenae attacked me, but I was ready. I slashed one's head off with my knife. As she disintegrated, I grabbed her spear and impaled another snake woman with the spear. The last dracaenae backed up, unsure whether or no to attack me.

Some nearby telkhines weren't as smart though. The four of them charged, and about eight seconds later I was surrounded by their dust piles. I leveled my stolen spear at the last dracaenae.

She hissed in response. I threw the spear, and it sunk into her armor. She screamed in pain, and then fell to the ground as a pile of dust.

I stood there, breathing heavy and unsure of what had just happened. I'd thought I was weak, but instead I'd just fought better than Achilles himself. Okay maybe that was exaggerating things but I did feel better than I had in a long time.

"Percy!" a voice called. I turned to see Grover riding a hellhound, using his slave chains as reigns. "Need a ride?"

"Only if you don't mind another trip to the Underworld," I said.

Grover paled. "Oh. Yay!"

"You're not coming with with me man," I said. Even if I really wanted Grover with me, I had to do this alone. "But I could use the ride."

"Um, I'll just drop you off at the front gate."

"Smart goat," I chuckled.

I leaped onto the hellhound, and together Grover and I made our way to the Door of Orpheus.

Luke stumbled back into the med clinic I'd set up for him. He made it as far as the door and then collapsed. I caught him before he hit the floor, silently cursing Kronos for making Luke go out to check on the disturbance in Times Square. He could barely stand! You'd think the Titan king would show some gratitude for his former host.

"I was right," Luke said.

"About what?" I asked, although I was pretty sure I knew already.

"Yes Luke," a voice called, "about what?"

I turned to see Kronos standing in the doorway.

"What do you want Kronos?" I spat.

"Excuse me?" Kronos asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry," I sarcastically apologized. "I meant, what do you want Lord Kronos?"

Kronos seemed satisfied with that. "That's better."

Without even waiting for an answer to his last question, Kronos left.

When he was gone, I turned to Luke and asked, "It's Percy isn't it?"

Luke nodded. "He's back."