"One of Daedalus's inventions?"

 

"A lot of inventions . . . dangerous ones. If my mother wants me to use this

plan, she must think things are very bad." She looked at me. "What about her

message to you: 'Remember the rivers'? What does that mean?"

 

I shook my head. As usual, I had no clue what the gods were telling me. Which

rivers was I supposed to remember? The Styx? The Mississippi?

 

Just then the Stoll brothers ran in to the throne room.

 

"You need to see this," Connor said. "Now. "

 

The blue lights in the sky had stopped, so at first I didn't understand what the

problem was.

 

The other campers had gathered in a small park at the edge of the mountain. They

were clustered at the guardrail, looking down at Manhattan. The railing was

lined with those tourist binoculars, where you could deposit one golden drachma

and see the city. Campers were using every single one.

 

I looked down at the city. I could see almost everything from here — the East

River and the Hudson River carving the shape of Manhattan, the grid of streets,

the lights of skyscrapers, the dark stretch of Central Park in the north.

Everything looked normal, but something was wrong. I felt it in my bones before