TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

seventy one.

BEING SLAPPED ACROSS the world did not do wonders for Val's stomach. She literally threw up, and it wasn't the flowers.

That was probably why the rest of the crew ( aside from Jason and Leo, who were tied to the outside of the ship ) opened the hatch as soon as they could. Jason was supposed to do it, but Val couldn't blame him right now. She just needed for her body to adjust to whatever just happened.

"Go!" Leo yelled. "Go, go, go!"

For once, Leo's tone was deadly serious.

They'd talked through their evacuation plan, but that slap across the world had made Val's mind sluggish. Judging from the others' expressions, they weren't in much better shape.

Buford the table saved them. He clattered across the deck with his holographic Hedge blaring, "LET'S GO! MOVE IT! CUT THAT OUT!"

Then his tabletop split into helicopter blades and Buford buzzed away.

Frank changed form. Instead of a dazed demigod, he was now a dazed grey dragon. Hazel climbed onto his neck. Frank grabbed Percy and Annabeth in his front claws, then spread his wings and soared away.

Val took a last look at the splintering ship.

The Argo II had been their home for so long. Now they were abandoning it for good – and leaving Leo behind.

Val hated it, but she saw the determination in Leo's eyes. There was no time for a proper goodbye.

She shadow traveled and hoped for the best.

The ground wasn't much less chaotic.

Val saw a vast army of monsters spread across the hills – two-headed men, wild centaurs, ogres and others she couldn't even name – surrounding two tiny islands of demigods. At the crest of Half-Blood Hill, gathered at the feet of the Athena Parthenos, was the main force of Camp Half-Blood along with a few Roman demigods, rallied around a golden eagle. The Roman demigods were in a defensive formation several hundred yards away and seemed to be taking the brunt of the attack.

"Careful, Val," a familiar voice said. "Don't want to end up like I did when you first taught me to shadow travel."

Val rolled her eyes, but grinned at Nico and tackled him into a hug, shooting out a wave of darkness in front of her to protect his back. "You were even worse than I was back then. But don't worry, my dads gave me a power high."

Nico rolled his eyes, and they started to slash their way through a crowd of two-headed men. A few feet away, Reyna sat astride a new pegasus, her sword drawn. She shouted orders at the legion, and the Romans obeyed without question, as if she'd never been away.

Val didn't see Octavian anywhere. Good. Neither did he see a colossal earth goddess laying waste to the world. Very good. Perhaps Gaia had risen, taken one look at the modern world and decided to go back to sleep. Val wished they could be that lucky, but she doubted it.

Jason and Piper landed on the hill, their swords drawn, and a cheer went up from the Greeks and the Romans.

Nico nodded to Jason as if they'd just seen each other five minutes ago, then went back to turning two-headed men into no-headed corpses. "Good timing. Where's the ship?"

Jason pointed. The Argo II streaked across the sky in a ball of fire, shedding burning chunks of mast, hull and armament. Val didn't see how even fireproof Leo could survive in that inferno, but she had to hope.

"Gods," Nico said. "Is everyone okay?"

"Leo . . ." Val's voice broke. "He said he had a plan."

The comet disappeared behind the western hills. Val waited with dread for the sound of an explosion, but she heard nothing over the roar of battle.