"He's probably going to wake up Confucius," Annabeth guessed.

 

"What?" I said.

 

"Another statue, on Division. The point is, they'll keep waking each other up

until they're all activated."

 

"And then?"

 

"Hopefully, they defend Manhattan."

 

"Do they know that we're not the enemy?"

 

"I think so."

 

"That's reassuring." I thought about all the bronze statues in the parks,

plazas, and buildings of New York. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands.

 

Then a ball of green light exploded in the evening sky. Greek fire, somewhere

over the East River.

 

"We have to hurry," I said. And we ran for the Vespa.

 

We parked outside Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan where the Hudson

and East Rivers came together and emptied into the bay.