percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-1-the-lightning-thief

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made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires. Annabeth said, "Good boy!" She threw Cerberus the ball. He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy. "Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered. Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet. "Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it. She turned toward us. "Go now. EZ DEATH line—it's faster." I said, "But—" "Now.'" She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog. Grover and I inched forward warily. Cerberus started to growl. "Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!" Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he was. "What about you?" I asked Annabeth as we passed her. "I know what I'm doing, Percy," she muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure... ." Grover and I walked between the monster's legs. Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit again. We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back. Annabeth said, "Good dog!" She held up the tattered red ball, and probably came to the same conclusion I did—if she rewarded Cerberus, there'd be nothing left for another trick. She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest. While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its belly and joined us at the metal detector. "How did you do that?" I asked her, amazed. "Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman... ." "Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at my shirt. "Come on!" We were about to bolt through
the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. Annabeth stopped. She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us. Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet. "Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain. The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her. "I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?" The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball. "Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I—I promise." Annabeth turned to us. "Let's go." Grover and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!" Cerberus started to bark. We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld. A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies. Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?" "That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?" "No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!" I wasn't sure about that. I thought maybe Annabeth and I had both had the right idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody—even monsters—needed a little attention once in a while. I thought about that as we waited for the ghouls to pass. I pretended not to see Annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend. 19 WE FIND OUT THE TRUTH, SORT OF Imagine the largest concert crowd you've ever seen, a football field packed with a million fans. Now imagine a field a million times that big, packed with people, and imagine the electricity has gone out, and there is no noise, no light, no beach ball bouncing around over the crowd. Something tragic has happened backstage. Whispering masses of people are just milling around in the shadows, waiting for a concert that will never start. If you can picture that, you have a pretty good idea what the Fields of Asphodel looked like. The black grass had been trampled by eons of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees—Grover told me they were poplars—grew in clumps here and there. The cavern ceiling was so high above us it might've been a bank of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which glowed faint gray and looked wickedly pointed. I tried not to imagine they'd fall on us at any moment, but dotted around the fields were several that had fallen and impaled themselves in the black grass. I guess the dead didn't have to worry about little hazards like being speared by stalactites the size of booster rockets.
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THE LIGHTNING THIEF Percy Jackson a
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It blew my mind that this stuff had
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that I have dyslexia and attention
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I wasn't so sure. I went after Mrs.
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saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr
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I took a deep breath. I picked up t
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"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot,
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I mean these socks were the size of
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good break she ever got was meeting
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teeth. My mom is the nicest lady in
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told my mom to step on it. Our rent
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"Not a school," she said softly. "A
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"What?" "I'm a goat from the waist
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Lightning. That was the only explan
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As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed
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The bull-man wheeled toward him, pa
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He looked down. I stared across the
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He pointed at the guy whose back wa
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couldn't leave. She wanted to keep
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"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father lov
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"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who a
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student for the past six years." "T
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sheets turned down. But there was n
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"For now?" I asked. "You're undeter
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"You don't know anything about me."
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them around like pieces of garbage
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"But those are just—" I almost sa
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"Ambrosia." "Yeah. You asked me som
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"What do you mean?" His face twitch
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again for our attention. Mr. D got
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Luke showed me thrusts and parries
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"That's another honorary thing. She
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"Ares and Athena always lead the te
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Electricity. Her stupid spear was e
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would realize, only later, I had un
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I knew somebody at camp resented me
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"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don
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immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a
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The attic was filled with Greek her
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that both of them have now broken."
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Chiron looked surprised. "I thought
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Luke said, "Maia!" White bird's win
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"You can't," Chiron said. "Can't wh
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winked at me. Traffic slowed us dow
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"They don't open," Grover moaned. "
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The Furies turned, baring their yel
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Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans
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hands, and her head was completely
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"You make these statues yourself?"
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woman had put me in. "Such a pity t
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grabbed the stick and pulled him of
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Empire State Building New York, NY
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when we look at what humans have do
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I realized it wasn't interested in
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hunted lunch. The little boy centau
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"What?" I asked. "Build something l
Page 114 and 115: ulged so much, she looked like a bl
Page 116 and 117: Great, I thought. We just blowtorch
Page 118 and 119: sounded a bit like my mother: Percy
Page 120 and 121: "We can't leave you alone for five
Page 122 and 123: Then I was looking through the mist
Page 124 and 125: Grover's lower lip quivered. I was
Page 126 and 127: "Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do m
Page 128 and 129: "What the heck." Grover shrugged. S
Page 130 and 131: machine. Grover yelled, "Guys!" Up
Page 132 and 133: into the darkness. Annabeth and I h
Page 134 and 135: He slung a blue nylon backpack off
Page 136 and 137: halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to
Page 138 and 139: "You don't have to tell me." "No ..
Page 140 and 141: The evil voice began to laugh. Hail
Page 142 and 143: "So it would only affect Percy," An
Page 144 and 145: slope, and played virtual-reality l
Page 146 and 147: The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us.
Page 148 and 149: Grover shook his head, clearly myst
Page 150 and 151: unwanted war. He has much to occupy
Page 152 and 153: wasn't enough for L.A. to be big; i
Page 154 and 155: "Let my friends go." "Oh, sure I wi
Page 156 and 157: "I think I'll start with the top."
Page 158 and 159: Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, tha
Page 160 and 161: I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We we
Page 162 and 163: "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off
Page 166 and 167: Annabeth, Grover, and I tried to bl
Page 168 and 169: Then I saw what was ahead of us, an
Page 170 and 171: Inside the courtyard was the strang
Page 172 and 173: sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?" "We
Page 174 and 175: "Lord Hades, wait," I said. "This i
Page 176 and 177: Annabeth and Grover were right behi
Page 178 and 179: From his pocket he took out a ski c
Page 180 and 181: "That's cool, dead boy," he said. "
Page 182 and 183: wading in after me. I felt the rhyt
Page 184 and 185: omb?" "Yeah," I said. "Pretty much
Page 186 and 187: fires. Roads wound crazily up to th
Page 188 and 189: "Address Lord Zeus, boy," Poseidon
Page 190 and 191: My heart was pounding. I couldn't b
Page 192 and 193: "He ran away," Gabe told her. "Let
Page 194 and 195: We locked eyes, and I sensed that w
Page 196 and 197: "And you remembered your reed pipes
Page 198 and 199: I remembered what Annabeth had said
Page 200 and 201: "You make it sound like you're leav
Page 202 and 203: Tartarus, Percy. But don't worry, I
Page 204 and 205: Thunder boomed overhead, rattling t
Page 206: "You too, Wise Girl." I watched her
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