More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Percy smiled at her—that sarcastic, troublemaker smile that had annoyed her for years but eventually had become endearing. His sea-green eyes were as gorgeous as she remembered. His dark hair was swept to one side, like he’d just come from a walk on the beach. He looked even better than he had six months ago—tanner and taller, leaner and more muscular.
She’d secretly had a crush on him since they were twelve years old.
he’d disappeared. During their separation, something had happened to Annabeth’s feelings. They’d grown painfully intense—like she’d been forced to withdraw from a life-saving medication. Now she wasn’t sure which was more excruciating—living with that horrible absence, or being with him again.
Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, “Hold! Stand down!” Annabeth put her knee on Percy’s chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn’t care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she’d been carrying around since last autumn. “If you ever leave me again,” she said, her eyes stinging, “I swear to all the gods—”
Annabeth could tell from their body language that they felt close to Percy. They stood next to him protectively, like they’d already shared many adventures. She fought down a twinge of jealousy. Was it possible Percy and this girl…no.
Part of her wanted to kidnap Percy right now, climb on board, and get out of here while they still could. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong. And there was no way she would ever risk losing Percy again.
Annabeth should’ve felt thrilled. Just you and me was exactly what she wanted. Instead, resentment swelled in her throat. How could Percy talk so enthusiastically about this place? What about Camp Half-Blood—their camp, their home?
Percy recounted his side of the story. He talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name—Annabeth. When she heard that, Annabeth had to try hard not to cry.
Octavian snorted. “Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!” “On the bright side,” Percy said, “both Jason and I out rank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up.”
“Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job.” “Back at you,” Percy said. Annabeth kicked his shin. She hated to interrupt a budding bromance,
She gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. “Percy has spoken highly of you.” The undertones in Reyna’s voice took Annabeth a moment to decipher. Percy looked down, suddenly interested in his cheeseburger. Annabeth’s face felt hot. Oh, gods…Reyna had tried to make a move on Percy. That explained the tinge of bitterness, maybe even envy, in her words. Percy had turned her down for Annabeth.
Piper twisted the feather in her hair. “Like water leaking through a dam,” she suggested. “Yeah.” Percy smiled. “We’ve got a dam hole.” “What?” Piper asked. “Nothing,” he said. “Inside joke.
“Then we’re good!” Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel. “Because we’re all crazy, right?
She’d had some pretty bad experiences with Cyclopes, but Tyson was a sweetheart. He was also Percy’s half brother (long story), which made him almost like family.
“Come aboard, man,” Leo offered. “I’ll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you’re really good I’ll give you a little paper captain’s hat to wear.”
Leo would have laughed if he hadn’t felt so bad. “Yeah. Frank, this is Festus. He used to be a full bronze dragon, but we had an accident.” “You have a lot of accidents,” Frank noted. “Well, some of us can’t turn into dragons, so we have to build our own.”
Frank gulped. “Is she okay?” “Yeah, she’s fine,” Leo said. “According to Festus, her horse is racing along below. She’s following us.” “We’ve got to land, then,” Frank said. Leo studied him. “She’s your girlfriend?” Frank chewed his lip. “Yes.” “You don’t sound sure.” “Yes. Yes, definitely. I’m sure.”
“Hang on, Coach!” he shouted. “This is going to hurt.” “I was born for hurt!”
Percy still didn’t look happy about it, but he took Annabeth’s hand. “As long as you’re my buddy, I’m good.”
Good luck is a sham. The wheel of fortune is a Ponzi scheme. True success requires sacrifice.”
He’d thought maybe this quest would be a fresh start for him. All his hard work on the Argo II would pay off. He’d have six good friends who would admire and appreciate him, and they’d go sailing off into the sunrise to fight giants. Maybe, Leo secretly hoped, he’d even find a girlfriend.
Leo usually didn’t pay much attention to how other guys looked. He supposed that came from hanging around Jason—tall, blond, rugged, and basically everything Leo could never be. Leo was used to not being noticed by girls. At least, he knew he’d never get a girl by his looks. He hoped his personality and sense of humor would do that someday, though it definitely hadn’t worked yet.
“I try not to think,” Leo admitted. “It interferes with being nuts.
Leo shooed them away as if they were bothering him. “No autographs, girls. I know you want some Leo time, but I’m way too cool. You better just hang around that ugly dweeb Narcissus. He’s lame!”
Narcissus turned and scowled at Leo. “Who are you?” “I’m the Super-sized McShizzle, man!” Leo said. “I’m Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme. And the ladies love a bad boy.”
“What are you talking about?” Narcissus demanded. “I am amazing. Everyone knows this.” “Amazing at pure suck,” Leo said. “If I was as suck as you, I’d drown myself. Oh wait, you already did that.”
“He is funny,” a nymph ventured. “And cute, in a scrawny way,” another said. “Scrawny?” Leo asked. “Baby, I invented scrawny. Scrawny is the new sizzling hot. And I GOT the scrawny. Narcissus? He’s such a loser even the Underworld didn’t want him. He couldn’t get the ghost girls to date him.”
Leo could run pretty fast when someone was trying to kill him. Sadly, he’d had a lot of practice.
He took one side of the metal plate and glanced back. Narcissus was nocking an arrow, but it was so old and brittle, it broke into splinters. “Ow!” he yelled very attractively. “My manicure!”
But she could see why Annabeth liked him, and she could definitely see why Percy needed Annabeth in his life. If anybody could keep a guy like that under control, it was Annabeth.
Bacchus scratched his stubbly chin. “Ah…yes. John Green.” “Jason Grace.”
“The plant war,” Percy said. “You’re going to arm all the little grapes with tiny assault rifles?”
“You drink Diet Coke,” Percy said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bacchus snapped. “As to this vision of the goblet, young lady, I have nothing for you to drink unless you want a Pepsi. Jupiter has put me under strict orders to avoid giving wine to minors.
He glanced sheepishly at Percy. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to blast you.” Percy’s shirt was peppered with burn holes. His hair was even more disheveled than normal. Despite that, he managed a weak laugh. “Not the first time. Your big sister got me good once at camp.” “Yeah, but…I could have killed you.” “Or I could have killed you,” Percy said. Jason shrugged. “If there’d been an ocean in Kansas, maybe.” “I don’t need an ocean—”
“We could contact Reyna,” Jason suggested. “She would believe us.” Hearing the way Jason said her name, like it was a lifeline to his past, made Piper’s heart sink. Jason turned to her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “You could convince her, Pipes. I know you could.” Piper felt like all the blood in her body was draining into her feet. Annabeth looked at her sympathetically, as if to say: Boys are so clueless. Even Hazel winced.
Leo drummed his fingers. “Great. I should have installed a smoke screen that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget. Remind me to invent that, next time.” Hazel frowned. “What is a chicken nugget?” “Oh, man…” Leo shook his head in amazement. “That’s right. You’ve missed the last like, seventy years. Well, my apprentice, a chicken nugget—”
Frank swallowed a bite of burrito like it had turned to cardboard in his mouth. “So, if we go there…” “We’ll be outlaws as well as traitors,” Jason confirmed. “Any Roman demigod would have the right to kill us on sight. But I wouldn’t worry about that. If we get across the Atlantic, they’ll give up on chasing us. They’ll assume that we’ll die in the Mediterranean—the Mare Nostrum.” Percy pointed his pizza slice at Jason. “You, sir, are a ray of sunshine.”
“Twin giants, like Piper saw in her blade…” Annabeth ran her finger along the rim of her cup. “I remember a story about twin giants. They tried to reach Mount Olympus by piling up a bunch of mountains.” Frank nearly choked. “Well, that’s great. Giants who can use mountains like building blocks. And you say Bacchus killed these guys with a pinecone on a stick?”
Frank fumbled for his bow. “Mars Almighty, that’s creepy! Get out of here, spirits! Leave our friends alone!”
Leo wasn’t so lucky. He fell toward Frank, who made no attempt to intercept him. Leo hit the floor.
Please, she thought, wondering if her mom, the goddess of love, could hear her. Don’t let it be Jason’s final breath. If love means anything, don’t take him away.
Percy had never been scared of water. It was his father’s element. But since the muskeg experience, he’d developed a fear of suffocation. He could never admit this to anyone, but it had even made him nervous about going in the water. He knew that was silly. He couldn’t drown. But he also suspected that if he didn’t control the fear, it might start controlling him.
“Everyone thinks you’ve been kidnapped,” he said. “We’ve been scouring the ship. When Coach Hedge finds out—oh, gods, you’ve been here all night?” “Frank!” Annabeth’s ears were as red as strawberries. “We just came down here to talk. We fell asleep. Accidentally. That’s it.” “Kissed a couple of times,” Percy said.
“We’d better…” Frank pointed to the stable doors. “Uh, we’re supposed to meet for breakfast. Would you explain what you did—I mean didn’t do? I mean…I really don’t want that faun—I mean satyr—to kill me.”
“Never in my life!” Coach bellowed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. “Against the rules! Irresponsible!” “Coach,” Annabeth said, “it was an accident. We were talking, and we fell asleep.” “Besides,” Percy said, “you’re starting to sound like Terminus.” Hedge narrowed his eyes. “Is that an insult, Jackson? ’Cause I’ll—I’ll terminus you, buddy!”
Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?” Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.”
FRANK THE GOAT!!!!!
“You…the great Jason Grace…the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader. And now you…” Hazel stomped her foot and stormed out of the mess hall. “Hazel!” Leo called after her. “Ah, jeez. I should—” “You’ve done enough,” Frank growled.
“We should take one more. Annabeth—” “Oh, no!” Coach Hedge barked. “Young lady, you are grounded.” Annabeth stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “Excuse me?” “You and Jackson are not going anywhere together!” Hedge insisted. He glared at Percy, daring him to mouth off. “I’ll go with Frank and Mr. Sneaky Jackson. The rest of you guard the ship and make sure Annabeth doesn’t break any more rules!” Wonderful, Percy thought. A boys’ day out with Frank and a bloodthirsty satyr, to find salt water in a landlocked city. “This,” he said, “is going to be so much fun.”
“I don’t know about that!” Hedge barked. “But do you realize what happened on this hill? Frank Zhang, you should know!” Frank flinched. “I should?” “A son of Ares stood here!” Hedge cried indignantly. “I’m Roman…so Mars, actually.” “Whatever! Famous spot in the American Civil War!” “I’m Canadian, actually.”
Frank said, “Are all people in Atlanta that nice?” Hedge grunted. “Hope not. I can’t fight them if they’re nice. Let’s go beat up some whale sharks. They sound dangerous!”
