The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2)

by Rick Riordan

The bull must’ve been as surprised as I was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull’s face. ‘BAD COW!’

I mean, you’d think the titan lord would’ve learned his lesson aeons ago when he was overthrown by the gods. You’d think getting chopped into a million pieces and cast into the darkest part of the Underworld would give him a subtle clue that nobody wanted him around. But no.

Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that’s not important.’ ‘It was probably important to her.’

A minute later Annabeth hit a slippery patch of moss and her foot slipped. Fortunately, she found something else to put it against. Unfortunately, that something was my face.

‘I really wish my cousins wouldn’t slam their heads together. They don’t have the brain cells to spare.’

I mean, I’ve met plenty of embarrassing parents, but Kronos, the evil titan lord who wanted to destroy Western Civilization? Not the kind of dad you invited to school for career day.

‘You weren’t able to talk sense into him?’ ‘Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death.’ ‘I see. You tried the diplomatic approach.’

‘Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related, for better or worse … and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.’

The girl’s blue eyes stared into mine, and I understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play – another chance to control the prophecy.