The bark closed over his face.

 

Grover took his pipes from his mouth. "You are a very nice maple tree."

 

Several of the other satyrs passed out from exhaustion, but they'd done their

job well. The Titan lord was completely encased in an enormous maple. The trunk

was at least twenty feet in diameter, with branches as tall as any in the park.

The tree might've stood there for centuries.

 

The Titan's army started to retreat. A cheer went up from the Athena cabin, but

our victory was short- lived.

 

Because just then Kronos unleashed his surprise.

 

"REEEEET! "

 

The squeal echoed through upper Manhattan. Demigods and monsters alike froze in

terror.

 

Grover shot me a panicked look. "Why does that sound like ... It can't be!"

 

I knew what he was thinking. Two years ago we'd gotten a "gift" from Pan — a

huge boar that carried us across the Southwest (after it tried to kill us). The

boar had a similar squeal, but what we were hearing now seemed higher pitched,

shriller, almost like . . . like if the boar had an angry girlfriend.