[1] 𝐼𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑠 - 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛

1.06

-

"YOU'RE SQUEEZING ME."

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to fall off?"

The thing about flying on a pegasus during the daytime is that if you're not careful, you can cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. Percy had to keep Blackjack up in the clouds, which were, fortunately, pretty low in the winter. They darted around, trying to keep the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight. And if it was cold on the ground, it was seriously cold in the air, with icy rain stinging her skin though she still had on Percy's hoodie.

They lost the van twice, but Katniss had a pretty good sense that they would go into Manhattan first, so it wasn't too difficult to pick up their trail again.

Traffic was bad with the holidays and all. It was mid morning before they got into the city. Percy landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched the white camp van, thinking it would pull into the bus station, but it just kept driving.

"Where's Argus taking them?" Percy muttered.

Blackjack neighed and Percy asked, "Which girl? Zoë?"

Katniss tensed. "What? What about Zoë?"

"She's driving," Percy said incredulously. "How old even is she?"

Katniss removed one of her arms from his waist and moved to flick the back of his head when Blackjack whinnied in alarm. Katniss rewrapped her arms around him and squeezed him so she didn't fall off as the horse reared.

Something was curling around their legs like snakes. Percy reached for his sword, but when he looked down, there was no snake. Vines—grape vines—had sprouted from the cracks between the stones of the building. They were wrapping around Blackjack's legs, lashing down Percy's ankles so he couldn't move.

"Going somewhere?"

Mr. D was leaning against the building with his feet levitating in the air, his leopard-skin warm-up suit and black hair whipping around in the wind.

Mr. D sighed in exasperation. "The next person, or horse, who calls me the 'wine dude' will end up in a bottle of Merlot!"

"Mr. D." Percy's voice was strained. "What do you want?"

"Oh, what do I want? You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of camp would not notice you leaving without permission?"

"Well... maybe," Percy hoped.

"I should throw you off this building, minus the flying horse and Katniss, and see how heroic you sound on the way down."