"You saved me," I said. "Thanks."

 

She removed her hand, but I kept holding it.

 

"So you owe me," she said weakly. "What else is new?"

 

We watched the sun come up over the city. The traffic should've been heavy by

now, but there were no cars honking, no crowds bustling along the sidewalks.

 

Far away, I could hear a car alarm echo through the streets. A plume of black

smoke curled into the sky somewhere over Harlem. I wondered how many ovens had

been left on when the Morpheus spell hit; how many people had fallen asleep in

the middle of cooking dinner. Pretty soon there would be more fires. Everyone in

New York was in danger — and all those lives depended on us.

 

"You asked me why Hermes was mad at me," Annabeth said.

 

"Hey, you need to rest — "

 

"No, I want to tell you. It's been bothering me for a long time." She moved her

shoulder and winced. "Last year, Luke came to see me in San Francisco."

 

"In person?" I felt like she'd just hit me with a hammer. "He came to your

house?"