"Then what chance do we have?" I said. "We can't hold out another day."

 

"We'll have to," Thalia said. "I'll see about setting some new traps around the

perimeter."

 

She looked exhausted. Her jacket was smeared in grime and monster dust, but she

managed to get to her feet and stagger off.

 

"I will help her," Chiron decided. "I should make sure my brethren don't go too

overboard with the root beer."

 

I thought "too overboard" pretty much summed up the Party Ponies, but Chiron

cantered off, leaving Annabeth and me alone.

 

She cleaned the monster slime off her knife. I'd seen her do that hundreds of

times, but I'd never thought about why she cared so much about the blade.

 

"At least your mom is okay," I offered.

 

"If you call fighting Typhon okay." She locked eyes with me. "Percy, even with

the centaurs' help. I'm starting to think — "

 

"I know." I had a bad feeling this might be our last chance to talk, and I felt

like there were a million things I hadn't told her. "Listen, there were some . .