ŷ������

“I see you like to study,�� I said. “Well done.��

Percy snorted. “I hate to study. I’ve been guaranteed admission with a full scholarship to New Rome University, but they’re still requiring me to pass all my high school courses and score well on the SAT. Can you believe that? Not to mention I have to pass the DSTOMP.��

“The what?�� Meg asked.

“An exam for Roman demigods,�� I told her. “The Demigod Standard Test of Mad Powers.��

Percy frowned. “That’s what it stands for?��

“I should know. I wrote the music and poetry analysis sections.��

“I will never forgive you for that,�� Percy said.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“You’re gonna be like Aquaman?�� she asked. “Get the fish to fight for you?��

“Thanks,�� Percy said. “I haven’t heard enough Aquaman jokes for one lifetime.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Meg turned and gazed out the rear windshield, probably checking for any shiny blobs pursuing us. “At least we’re not being—��

“Don’t say it,�� Percy warned.

Meg huffed. “You don’t know what I was going to—��

“You were going to say, ‘At least we’re not being followed,’�� Percy said. “That’ll jinx us. Immediately we’ll notice that we are being followed. Then we’ll end up in a big battle that totals my family car and probably destroys the whole freeway. Then we’ll have to run all the way to camp.��

Meg’s eyes widened. “You can tell the future?��

"Don’t need to.�� Percy changed lanes to one that was crawling slightly less slowly. “I’ve just done this a lot.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Unbelievable," I murmured. "After four thousand years, I am still discovering new things."
"Like how dumb you are," Meg volunteered.
"No."
"So you already knew that?”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Meg looked at me with something resembling respect. “What did you do to them?��

“Nothing,�� I said. “Half the trick to being a god is knowing how to bluff.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“But Percy Jackson has always been reliable. You have nothing to fear. Besides, he likes me. I taught him everything he knows.��

She frowned. “You did?��

I found her innocence somewhat charming. So many obvious things she did not know. “Of course. Now let’s go up.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Well,�� I said, “you obviously have some power. You chased off those hooligans with rotten fruit. Perhaps you have banana-kinesis? Or you can control garbage? I once knew a Roman goddess, Cloacina, who presided over the city’s sewer system. Perhaps you’re related��?��

Meg pouted. I got the impression I might have said something wrong, though I couldn’t imagine what.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

&�����ܴ�;���Ǵǰ�.��

The others seemed confused. Then the glow became brighter: a holographic golden sickle with a few sheaves of wheat, rotating just above Meg McCaffrey.

A boy in the crowd gasped. “She’s a communist!��

A girl who’d been sitting at Cabin Four’s table gave him a disgusted sneer. “No, Damien, that’s my mom’s symbol.�� Her face went slack as the truth sank in. “Uh, which means…it’s her mom’s symbol.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Meg wiped her nose. “So you’re saying we need to find Caligula’s place and steal his shoes. While we’re there, can’t we just kill him?��
She asked this casually, like Can we stop by Target on the way home?
Hedge wagged his finger at McCaffrey. “See, now that’s a plan. I like this girl.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I keeled over sideways.
The world turned fluffy, bleached of all color. Nothing hurt anymore.
I was dimly aware of Diana’s face hovering over me, Meg and Hazel peering over the goddess’s shoulders.
“He’s almost gone,�� Diana said.
Then I was gone. My mind slipped into a pool of cold, slimy darkness.
“Oh, no, you don’t.�� My sister’s voice woke me rudely.
I’d been so comfortable, so nonexistent.
Life surged back into me—cold, sharp, and unfairly painful. Diana’s face came into focus. She looked annoyed, which seemed on-brand for her.
As for me, I felt surprisingly good. The pain in my gut was gone. My muscles didn’t burn. I could breathe without difficulty. I must have slept for decades.
“H-how long was I out?�� I croaked.
“Roughly three seconds,�� she said. “Now, get up, drama queen.��
She helped me to my feet. I felt a bit unsteady, but I was delighted to find that my legs had any strength at all. My skin was no longer gray. The lines of infection were gone. The Arrow of Dodona was still in my hand, though he had gone silent, perhaps in awe of the goddess’s presence. Or perhaps he was still trying to get the taste of “Sweet Caroline�� out of his imaginary mouth.
I beamed at my sister. It was so good to see her disapproving I-can’t-believe-you’re-my-brother frown again. “I love you,�� I said, my voice hoarse with emotion.
She blinked, clearly unsure what to do with this information. “You really have changed.��
“I missed you!��
“Y-yes, well. I’m here now. Even Dad couldn’t argue with a Sibylline invocation from Temple Hill.��
“It worked, then!�� I grinned at Hazel and Meg. “It worked!��
“Yeah,�� Meg said wearily. “Hi, Artemis.��
“Diana,�� my sister corrected. “But hello, Meg.�� For her, my sister had a smile. “You’ve done well, young warrior.��
Meg blushed. She kicked at the scattered zombie dust on the floor and shrugged. “Eh.��
I checked my stomach, which was easy, since my shirt was in tatters. The bandages had vanished, along with the festering wound. Only a thin white scar remained. “So…I’m healed?�� My flab told me she hadn’t restored me to my godly self. Nah, that would have been too much to expect.
Diana raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m not the goddess of healing, but I’m still a goddess. I think I can take care of my little brother’s boo-boos.��
“Little brother?��
She smirked.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“Sad to say, in my four-thousand-plus years, the times I'd felt most at home had all happened during the past few months: at Camp Half-Blood, sharing a cabin with my demigod children; at the Waystation with Emma, Jo, Georgina, Leo and Calypso, all of us sitting around the kitchen table chopping vegetables from the garden for dinner; at the Cistern in Palm Springs with Meg, Grover, Mellie, Coach Hedge and a prickly assortment of cactus dryads; and now at Camp Jupiter, where the anxious, grief-stricken Romans, despite their many problems, despite the fact that I brought misery and disaster wherever I went, had welcomed me with respect, a room above their coffee shop and some lovely bed linen to wear.

These places were homes. Whether I deserved to be part of them or not - that was a different question.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“You can’t read ancient Greek?�� I asked.
“And you can’t tell a strawberry from a yam,�� she retorted.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Meg gagged. "I hate bugs."

That made sense for a daughter of the agriculture goddess, but to me the dead ant didn't seem any grosser than the piles of garbage in which we often swam.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Look, back in the old days, ravens used to be gentle and white, like doves, okay? But they were terrible gossips. One time I was dating this girl, Koronis. The ravens found out she was cheating on me, and they told me about it. I was so angry, I got Artemis to kill Koronis for me. Then I punished the ravens for being tattletales by turning them black.��
Reyna stared at me like she was contemplating another kick to my nose. “That story is messed up on so many levels.��
“Just wrong,�� Meg agreed. “You had your sister kill a girl who was cheating on you?��
“Well, I—��
“Then you punished the birds that told you about it,�� Reyna added, “by turning them black, as if black was bad and white was good?��
“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound right,�� I protested. “It’s just what happened when my curse scorched them. It also made them nasty-tempered flesh-eaters.��
“Oh, that’s much better,�� Reyna snarled.
“If we let the birds eat you,�� Meg asked, “will they leave Reyna and me alone?��
“I—What?�� I worried that Meg might not be kidding. Her facial expression did not say kidding. It said serious about the birds eating you. “Listen, I was angry! Yes, I took it out on the birds, but after a few centuries I cooled down. I apologized. By then, they kind of liked being nasty-tempered flesh-eaters. As for Koronis—I mean, at least I saved the child she was pregnant with when Artemis killed her. He became Asclepius, god of medicine!��
“Your girlfriend was pregnant when you had her killed?�� Reyna launched another kick at my face. I managed to dodge it, since I’d had a lot of practice cowering, but it hurt to know that this time she hadn’t been aiming at an incoming raven. Oh, no. She wanted to knock my teeth in.
“You suck,�� Meg agreed.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“Meg slashed through the last of Tarquin’s minions. That was a good thing, I thought distantly. I didn’t want her to die, too. Hazel stabbed Tarquin in the chest. The Roman king fell, howling in pain, ripping the sword hilt from Hazel’s grip. He collapsed against the information desk, clutching the blade with his skeletal hands.
Hazel stepped back, waiting for the zombie king to dissolve. Instead, Tarquin struggled to his feet, purple gas flickering weakly in his eye sockets.
“I have lived for millennia,�� he snarled. “You could not kill me with a thousand tons of stone, Hazel Levesque. You will not kill me with a sword.��
I thought Hazel might fly at him and rip his skull off with her bare hands. Her rage was so palpable I could smell it like an approaching storm. Wait…I did smell an approaching storm, along with other forest scents: pine needles, morning dew on wildflowers, the breath of hunting dogs.
A large silver wolf licked my face. Lupa? A hallucination? No…a whole pack of the beasts had trotted into the store and were now sniffing the bookshelves and the piles of zombie dust.
Behind them, in the doorway, stood a girl who looked about twelve, her eyes silver-yellow, her auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed for the hunt in a shimmering gray frock and leggings, a white bow in her hand. Her face was beautiful, serene, and as cold as the winter moon.
She nocked a silver arrow and met Hazel’s eyes, asking permission to finish her kill. Hazel nodded and stepped aside. The young girl aimed at Tarquin.
“Foul undead thing,�� she said, her voice hard and bright with power. “When a good woman puts you down, you had best stay down.��
Her arrow lodged in the center of Tarquin’s forehead, splitting his frontal bone. The king stiffened. The tendrils of purple gas sputtered and dissipated. From the arrow’s point of entry, a ripple of fire the color of Christmas tinsel spread across Tarquin’s skull and down his body, disintegrating him utterly. His gold crown, the silver arrow, and Hazel’s sword all dropped to the floor.
I grinned at the newcomer. “Hey, Sis.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“I told them all in brief what had happened, with Meg occasionally adding helpful comments like, "He was stupid," and, "He was more stupid," and "He did good; then he got stupid again.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“Were you on your horse, Tempest, just then?�� Meg asked. “I couldn’t tell.��
Jason smiled. “Nah, I don’t call Tempest unless it’s an emergency. I was just flying around on my own, manipulating the wind.��
Meg pouted, considering the pockets of her gardening belt. “I can summon yams.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Meg gawked. “He—he really is a centaur.��
“Well spotted,�� I said. “I suppose the lower body of a horse is what gave him away?��
She punched me in the arm.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle

“Can I have baby cows?�� Meg asked.
“Well, Meg,�� I said, “first you would have to have some mommy cows. You see—��
“Guys,�� Percy interrupted. “So, just to recap, you have to be Meg’s servant for��?��
“Some unknown amount of time,�� I said. “Probably a year. Possibly more.��
“And during that time —��
“I will undoubtedly face many trials and hardships.��
“Like getting me my cows,�� Meg said.
I gritted my teeth.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hidden Oracle