The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries

by Rick Riordan

“You’re cute and you’re sweet, Percy.

“First sunny day in weeks, and my boyfriend wants to take me to a dangerous cave to fight a fire-breathing giant.” “You’re awesome,” I said. “I know,” Annabeth said. “You’d better have something good planned for dinner.”

Why a place called the Meatpacking District was suddenly a hot area to hang out, I wasn’t sure.

“Ideas?” I asked Annabeth. I figured I’d ask. Being the daughter of the goddess of wisdom and strategy, Annabeth likes making plans. “We climb down,” she said. “We find the giant. We get the caduceus.” “Wow,” I said. “Both wise and strategic.” “Shut up.”

Sneaking into a dangerous steaming pit in the middle of a New York intersection proved disturbingly easy.

👀

It was almost enough to make me turn vegetarian, except for the pesky fact that I loved cheeseburgers.

How ugly was he? Let’s put it this way: Secaucus, New Jersey, was a lot nicer-looking than Cacus the giant, and that’s not a compliment to anybody.

No dip Sherlock

He sounded relaxed and friendly, like he was happy to talk with us. Between that and the red velour housecoat, he almost didn’t seem dangerous. Except of course that he was ten feet tall, blew fire, and ate cows in three bites.

I stepped forward. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted to keep his focus on me and not Annabeth. I think it’s polite for a guy to protect his girlfriend from instant incineration.

“I see. I should’ve known Hermes would send someone. Who are you two? Children of the thief god?” Annabeth raised her knife. “Did he just call me Hermes’s kid? I’m going stab him in the—”

Yeah! Stab him! No one dares call THE Annabeth Chase a mere Hermes kid (no offense to Hermes & his kids) without consequences!

“I’m Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon,” I told the giant. I put out my arm to hold Annabeth back. “This is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. We help out the gods sometimes with little stuff, like—oh, killing Titans, saving Mount Olympus, things like that.

LITTLE STUFF?!?!?!?

I looked him in the eyes and hoped my threat would work. I know it seems ridiculous, a sixteen-year-old trying to stare down a fire-breathing giant. But I had battled some pretty serious monsters before. Plus, I’d bathed in the River Styx, which made me immune to most physical attacks. That should be worth a little street cred, right?

A LITTLE STREET CRED?!?!?

“Oh, I see! That was supposed to scare me! But alas, the only demigod who ever defeated me was Hercules himself.” I turned to Annabeth and shook my head in exasperation. “Always Hercules. What is it with Hercules?” Annabeth shrugged. “He had a great publicist.”

“For centuries, I was the terror of Italy! I stole many cows—more than any other giant. Mothers used to scare their children with my name. They would say, ‘Mind your manners, child, or Cacus will come and steal your cows!’” “Horrifying,” Annabeth said.

I will be the lord of traveling salesmen!” “That,” I said, “is truly evil.”

Besides, the world had enough traveling salesmen. Nobody deserved to answer their door and find a fire-breathing giant with a magic staff and a collection of knockoff Rolexes.

I looked at Annabeth. “Time to fight?” She gave me a sweet smile. “Smartest thing you’ve said all morning.”

But Annabeth and I had been fighting together for years. We knew each other’s abilities. We could anticipate each other’s moves. I might have felt awkward and nervous about being her boyfriend, but fighting with her? That came naturally. Hmm…that sounded wrong. Oh, well.