"That's a form of air travel too, Jackson. Very fast, but the wind gods are

faster. No, if Kronos wants Olympus, he'll have to march through the entire city

with his army and take the elevators! Can you see him doing this?"

 

Hermes made it sound pretty ridiculous — hordes of monsters going up in the

elevator twenty at a time, listening to "Stayin' Alive." Still, I didn't like

it.

 

"Maybe just a few of you could come back," I suggested.

 

Hermes shook his head impatiently. "Percy Jackson, you don't understand. Typhon

is our greatest enemy."

 

"I thought that was Kronos."

 

The god's eyes glowed. "No, Percy. In the old days, Olympus was almost

overthrown by Typhon. He is husband of Echidna — "

 

"Met her at the Arch," I muttered. "Not nice." " — and the father of all

monsters. We can never forget how close he came to destroying us all; how he

humiliated us! We were more powerful back in the old days. Now we can expect no

help from Poseidon because he's fighting his own war. Hades sits in his realm

and does nothing, and Demeter and Persephone follow his lead. It will take all

our remaining power to oppose the storm giant. We can't divide our forces, nor

wait until he gets to New York. We have to battle him now. And we're making