The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

by Rick Riordan

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “Don’t do this. He’s a god.” “He’s a coward,” I told her. She swallowed. “Wear this, at least. For luck.” She took off her necklace, with her five years’ worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around my neck. “Reconciliation,” she said. “Athena and Poseidon together.” My face felt a little warm, but I managed a smile. “Thanks.”

“Your uncle,” Poseidon sighed, “has always had a flair for dramatic exits. I think he would’ve done well as the god of theater.”

“In the First War, Percy, Zeus cut our father Kronos into a thousand pieces, just as Kronos had done to his own father, Ouranos. Zeus cast Kronos’s remains into the darkest pit of Tartarus.

“Your mother is a queen among women,” Poseidon said wistfully. “I had not met such a mortal woman in a thousand years. Still…I am sorry you were born, child. I have brought you a hero’s fate, and a hero’s fate is never happy. It is never anything but tragic.”

“I can do it,” I told my mom. “One look inside this box, and he’ll never bother you again.” She glanced at the package, and seemed to understand immediately. “No, Percy,” she said, stepping away. “You can’t.” “Poseidon called you a queen,” I told her. “He said he hadn’t met a woman like you in a thousand years.” Her cheeks flushed. “Percy—” “You deserve better than this, Mom. You should go to college, get your degree. You can write your novel, meet a nice guy maybe, live in a nice house. You don’t need to protect me anymore by staying with Gabe. Let me get rid of him.”

She wiped a tear off her cheek. “You sound so much like your father,” she said. “He offered to stop the tide for me once. He offered to build me a palace at the bottom of the sea. He thought he could solve all my problems with a wave of his hand.” “What’s wrong with that?”

Annabeth’s shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls—I told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched me and told me to shut up.

I got my own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer, I was glad the firelight covered my blushing. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center. “The choice was unanimous,” Luke announced. “This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!” The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares’s cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena’s cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause.

That’s another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren’t real to me until I’m staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still hadn’t answered my mother, or the camp, about whether I’d be staying. Now I had only a few hours to decide.

Annabeth sat next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead. “Here we are again,” I said. “You idiot,” Annabeth said, which is how I knew she was overjoyed to see me conscious.

He glanced at Annabeth. “Oh, and, my dear…whenever you’re ready, they’re here.” “Who’s here?” I asked.

Annabeth studied the ice in my drink. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. “Nothing.” She set the glass on the table. “I…just took your advice about something. You…um…need anything?” “Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside.” “Percy, that isn’t a good idea.” I slid my legs out of bed. Annabeth caught me before I could crumple to the floor. A wave of nausea rolled over me. Annabeth said, “I told you…” “I’m fine,” I insisted.

She pursed her lips. “You won’t try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least…not without sending me an Iris-message?”

“When I get back next summer,” she said, “we’ll hunt down Luke. We’ll ask for a quest, but if we don’t get approval, we’ll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?” “Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena.”

“Take care, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth told me. “Keep your eyes open.” “You too, Wise Girl.”