How we think the fight will go

“You haven’t told me everything yet,” the boy said to the demigod.

The boy had surprised himself with his own boldness, even though it was hard to believe that the slender, handsome boy in front of him was the son of a god. Even shrouded in darkness, even surrounded by the magnificence of his lush suite in the Plaza, the demigod could have passed for an ordinary student at Yancy Academy.

For a long time the demigod did not reply, but then he said, “I’ve given you enough material for at least six awesome books. Seriously, what else is there for me to say?”

The demigod’s green eyes flashed, as bright and terrifying as lightning blazing across the sky. But the boy was determined. “I want to hear about your greatest battle.”

“My greatest battle? But I’ve already told you about fighting the Minotaur and the Furies and a Manticore and Medusa and gods and Titans…”

The boy knew he had to say it before he lost courage: “But what about Lestat? At the Suvudu Cage Match. You haven’t told me that one—”

“Because it doesn’t matter!” Though the boy could not see the demigod’s face in the darkness, he could see the flash of fire in his eyes. “I saved Western civilization from Kronos! What’s the point of telling that story again?”

The boy was even more sure of himself now. He was on to something great. The demigod had been chatty, funny, even friendly—right up until the boy had pushed him to tell this story.

“It’s more than a story now—it’s a legend. You defeated Lestat de Lioncourt! People have been telling and retelling it for years now…” The boy switched on the recorder again. “But it’s time that they know the truth. What really happened that day?”

When the demigod hesitated the boy said, “You told me you wanted me to be your Ovid, your Virgil, your Homer. Help me tell the real story of Percy Jackson.”

Percy heaved a weary sigh. “OK, I’ll tell you the truth, but I’m warning you: Sometimes a legend is better than the truth.”

Percy began: “Look, I didn’t want to fight in Suvudu Cage Match.

“But I’m a hero, right? And I was blown away when I saw the brackets. It was a chance to face off against the greatest heroes not just in my world, but in a dozen other worlds.

“Sure, it was going to be hard—I mean, did you see that line-up? But when I got the challenge, I stepped up. Because that’s what heroes do—when things get hard, heroes step up.

“I drew Lestat in the first round. Believe me, I was scared out of my mind—but I was also kind of excited. It was a chance not just to win another laurel, but to do some real good. From what I’d heard, Lestat was the kind of guy who’s heading straight for the Fields of Punishment, no question.

“But Lestat surprised me right off the bat. When he got in touch with me to set up the site, he said he wanted to be fair—so he proposed New Orleans, his home turf—but near the Mississippi River, which would give me a huge advantage.

“I thought maybe I’d misjudged the guy. After all, not all legends are true. Annabeth warned me that there had to be some kind of trick, but I didn’t listen.

“My life would be so much easier if I listened to Annabeth more often…

“When I first saw Lestat, I have to admit I relaxed a little. He looked like he could have been one of Aphrodite’s half-bloods, all curly blond hair and cheekbones that could cut glass. Let’s face it, Aphrodite’s kids weren’t exactly the toughest kids at Camp Half-Blood.

“Killing him was going to be easy, I thought: I drew Anaklusmos and got ready to drive it straight through his black heart.

“No sooner had I drawn it then Anaklusmos started shaking violently. I gripped it tigher and it zoomed right out of my hand. Lestat smiled, and I remembered Annabeth had warned me—‘He’s telekinetic.’

“But did he have a good friend to warn him that Anaklasmos always returns to my hands automatically?” Percy smiled. “No, of course not. And mere moments later I had his cold, steely death in my hands again.

“I don’t know how long the next part of the fight went on. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m fast—and yet Lestat was always just a little bit faster. And I began to get the sneaking feeling that he could go even faster if he wanted to…but that he was just playing with me. Every blow of my sword seemed to miss him by just a millisecond.

“But if he was that fast, why wasn’t he coming in for the kill?

“I started backing us up towards the river. If only I could just reach the edge…

“But then he grabbed me and plunged us both into the Mississippi.

“I could feel the strength flowing into me from the water. There’s something magical about that river—the power that flowed into me felt so strange and ancient and strong. Lestat was unaffected by the water—since he had no need to breathe—but it was giving him strength like it was me. Even though I had it in the bag, I called for help. I said to myself, Poseidon, Father, help me.

“Moments later, as I grappled with Lestat, I saw two women swimming up from the deep. One looked like a Tulane sorority sister, a blond in Juicy sweats and with piles of green glass beads around her neck. The other was an old-school Voodoo queen, with a necklace of bones and midnight-black eyes. And, I’m sorry, Annabeth, if you’re reading this, but they were both smoking hot.

“They were the Naiads of the Mississippi River, and they were coming to save me.

“Or so I thought, until they pulled me off Lestat, embraced me…and held me fast in their sweet-smelling but surprisingly strong arms.

“‘Hello, girls,’ Lestat purred. ‘You may be meeting these ladies for the first time, dear Percy, but we have been very close friends for a long time, haven’t we?’

“Even as they held me in their iron grip, I could feel them melt. ‘Bonjour, Lestat…’ they chimed together.

“He laughed. ‘And don’t count on your father coming to help you. Aphrodite—another of my admirers—is keeping him busy at the moment. So is Apollo, and Hermes…indeed, even the Gods of Olympus find me irresistible.’

“He tread water mere inches from me, brushed my cheek. His voice was so hypnotic I stopped struggling. ‘The gods have all abandoned you. But what of it? You have me, now…and I can give you what they have always refused you.

“‘Immortality…’ he said, as he went for my neck.”

“The Dark Gift!” the boy cried out. “Wait, but you’re still alive, and Lestat hasn’t been seen for years. I thought you’d won! This means, you’re…you’re…”

The demigod leaned forward into the light, and the boy saw that he hadn’t aged at all in the ten years since the fight, and that his skin was deathly pale. “He turned me,” Percy said. “Now I am a monster just like him, and I will never reach the Fields of Elysium.

“And he’s run off with Aphrodite, and is probably even now still laughing at me…”

Predicted Winner: Lestat