The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus, #2)

by Rick Riordan

Something told him he’d been to San Francisco before. The city had some connection to Annabeth—the only person he could remember from his past. His memory of her was frustratingly dim. The wolf had promised he would see her again and regain his memory—if he succeeded in his journey.

THE THING ABOUT PLUMMETING DOWNHILL at fifty miles an hour on a snack platter—if you realize it’s a bad idea when you’re halfway down, it’s too late.

Percy is back with his battle humor thank the gods

Percy hated tests. Since he’d lost his memory, his whole life was one big fill-in-the-blank. He was ____________________, from ____________________. He felt like ____________________, and if the monsters caught him, he’d be ____________________. Then he thought about Annabeth, the only part of his old life he was sure about. He had to find her.

Annabeth, Percy thought. He forged into the river. It was icy cold, much swifter than he’d imagined, but that didn’t bother him.

“Please tell me we’re not going in there,” Percy said. Hazel shook her head. “That’s the Temple of Mars Ultor.” “Mars…Ares, the war god?”

Percy wasn’t thrilled to hear that. For some reason, just looking at the ugly red building made him feel angry.

The boy regained his composure and held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you,” he said. “I’m Nico di Angelo.”

Then she’d met Percy. At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he’d had an aura of power. He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and wind blown black hair.

“Nothing about this is right,” Hazel said. “If they find out the truth about me—” “They won’t,” Nico promised. “They’ll call a quest soon. They have to. You’ll make me proud. Trust me, Bi—” He caught himself, but Hazel knew what he’d almost called her: Bianca. Nico’s real sister—the one he’d grown up with. Nico might care about Hazel, but she’d never be Bianca.

“Good job, Sis,” he said. “That took guts, standing for him.” He had never called her Sis before. She wondered if that was what he had called Bianca.

strange-looking soda that was bright blue. Hazel didn’t understand that, but Percy tried it and grinned. “This makes me happy,” he said. “I don’t know why…but it does.”

Percy studied her. Those sea-green eyes made her unsettled. “Did you and Nico grow up together?” he asked. “No,” Nico answered for her. “I found out that Hazel was my sister only recently. She’s from New Orleans.”

“You have other sisters?” Percy asked, almost as if he knew the answer. Hazel wondered again when he and Nico had met, and what her brother was hiding.

“But if we could figure out which vial was which, it might heal your memory.” Percy’s smile faded. He gazed across the hills. “Maybe…I guess. But you should hang on to those vials for now. There’s a battle coming. We may need them to save lives.” Frank stared at him, a little bit in awe. Percy had a chance to get his memory back, and he was willing to wait in case someone else needed the vial more? Romans were supposed to be unselfish and help their comrades, but Frank wasn’t sure anyone else at camp would have made that choice.

It was like Percy had faced death before, like he knew about grief. What mattered was listening. You didn’t need to say you were sorry. The only thing that helped was moving on—moving forward.

PERCY SLEPT LIKE A MEDUSA VICTIM—which is to say, like a rock.

HAZEL WAS AN EXPERT ON WEIRD. She’d seen her mother possessed by an earth goddess. She’d created a giant out of gold. She’d destroyed an island, died, and come back from the Underworld. But getting kidnapped by a field of grass? That was new.

“Don’t worry about that,” Percy said. “I’ve got a plan.”

“Life is only precious because it ends, kid. Take it from a god. You mortals don’t know how lucky you are.”

“Yeah,” Percy grumbled. “I didn’t like her as Hera. I don’t like her any better as Juno.”

“Welcome to Alaska,” Hazel said. “We’re beyond the help of the gods.”

There were other reasons Percy wanted to save Camp Jupiter. Reasons he didn’t dare put into words—not yet, anyway. Suddenly he saw a future for himself and for Annabeth that he’d never imagined before.

Seeing them like that made Percy happy. Those two definitely needed to get together. But it also made him sad. He thought about Annabeth, and wondered if he’d live long enough to see her again.

RIDING ARION, HAZEL FELT POWERFUL, unstoppable, absolutely in control—a perfect combination of horse and human. She wondered if this was what it was like to be a centaur.

Beautiful was the right word for Thanatos—not handsome, or hot, or anything like that. He was beautiful the way an angel is beautiful—timeless, perfect, remote.

He pulled a pure-black iPad from thin air. Death tapped the screen a few times, and all Frank could think was: Please don’t let there be an app for reaping souls.

I just know grim reapers or things like that have a death tablet just like this.

“Are you sure?” Death asked helpfully. “I have video conferencing enabled. I have his Skype address here somewhere…”

“Here’s a tip, Alcyoneus. Next time you choose the biggest state for your home, don’t set up base in the part that’s only ten miles wide. Welcome to Canada, idiot.”

“Hey,” like they were just meeting for lunch or something. “You’re alive!” Frank marveled. Percy frowned. “The fall? That was nothing. I fell twice that far from the St. Louis Arch.” “You did what?” Hazel asked. “Never mind. The important thing was I didn’t drown.”

most of all Annabeth—two great months of dating, and then BOOM. He’d been abducted by the alien known as Hera. Or Juno…whatever.

Percy was anxious to find Nico for his own reasons—to wring the kid’s neck for having pretended he didn’t know Percy when he first came to camp.

“I’m fine!” Percy yelled as he ran by, followed by a giant screaming bloody murder.

She offered Hazel a gold pirate hat. “I’m gonna be Percy Jackson when I grow up,” she told Hazel solemnly.

“Because I know you, Percy Jackson. In many ways, you are impulsive, but when it comes to your friends, you are as constant as a compass needle. You are unswervingly loyal, and you inspire loyalty. You are the glue that will unite the seven.” “Great,” Percy said. “I always wanted to be glue.”

He knew this day could go horribly wrong. But he also knew that Annabeth was on that ship. If things went right, this would be the best day of his life.