Percy Jackson and the sea of monsters
Author: Rick Riordan
Date: 2006-04-02 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Young Adult; Fiction; Middle Grade; Adventure; Greek Mythology; Childrens; Urban Fantasy; Magic
Description: After a year spent trying to prevent a catastropic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson--a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any "normal" friends.But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: The magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by

PERCY JACKSON AND THE SINGER OF APOLLO RICK RIORDAN I know what you're going to ask.

"Percy Jackson, why are you hanging from a Times Square billboard without your pants on, about to fall to your death?"

Good question. You can blame Apollo, god of music, archery, and poetry- also the god of making me do stupid quests.

That particular disaster started when | brought my friend Grover some aluminum cans for his birthday.

Perhaps | should mention...I'm a demigod. My dad, Poseidon, is the lord of the sea, which sounds cool, | guess, but mostly it means my life is filled with monster attacks and annoying Greek gods who tend to pop up on the sub-way or in the middle of math class or when I'm taking a shower. (Long story. Don't ask.)

| figured that maybe I'd ge ta day off from the craziness for Grover's birthday, but of course | was wrong.

Grover and his girlfriend, Juniper, were spending the day in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, doing naturey stuff like dancing with the local tree nymphs and serenading the squirrels. Grover's a saytr. That's his idea of fun.

Juniper seemed to be having an expecially good time. While Grover and | sat on the bench together, she frolicked across Long Meadow with other nature spirits, her chlorophyll- tinted eyes glinting in the sunlight. Since she was a dryad, Juniper's life sourced was tied to a bush back on Long Island, but Grover explained that she could take shorts trips away

from home from home as long as she kept a handful of fresh juniper berries in her pockets. | didn't want to ask what would happen if the berries got accidentally smashed.

Anyways, we hung out for awhile, talking and enjoying the nice weather. | gave Grover his aluminum cans, which may sound like a lame gift, but that's his favorite snack.

He happily munched on the cans while the nymphs started discussing what party games we should play.

Grover pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and suggested Pin the tail on the Human, which made me kind of nervous since | was the only human.

Then without warning, the sunlight brightened. The air turned uncomfortably hot. Twenty feet away, the grass hissed and a cloud of steam whoosehed up like somebody opened a big pressing machine at a Laundromat. The steam cleared, and standing in front of us was the god Apollo.

Gods can look like anything they want, but Apollo always seemed to go for that I-just-auditioned-for-a-boy-band look. Today he was rocking pencil-thin jeans, a white muscle shirt, and gilded Ray-Ban sunglasses. When he smiled the dryads squealed and giggled.

"Oh, no..." Grover murmured. "This can't be good."

"Percy Jackson!" Apollo beamed at me. "And um, your goat friend-"

"His name is Grover," | said. "And we're kind of of duty, Lord Apollo. It's Grover's birthday."

"Happy birthday!" Apollo said. "I'm so glad you're taking the day off. That means you two can help me with a small

problem!" Naturally, the problem wasn't small.

Apollo led Grover and me away from the party so we could talk in private. Juniper didn't want to let Grover go, but she couldn't argue with a god. Grover promised to come back safely. | hoped it was a promise he'd be able to keep.

When we got to the edge of the woods, Apollo faced us. "Allow me to introduce the chrysaea celedones."

The god snapped his fingers. More steam erupted from the ground and three golden women appeared in front of us. When | say golden, | mean they were literally gold. Their metallic skin glittered. Their sleevless gowns were made from enough gilded fabric to finance a bailout. Their golden hair was braided and piled on top of their heads into a sort of classical beehive hairdo. They were uniformly beauitful, and uniformly terrifying.

I'd seen living statues- automatons- many times before. Beautiful or not, they almost always tried to kill me.

"Uh..." | took a step back. "What did you say these were? Krissy Kelly something?"

"Chrysaea celedones," Apollo said. "Golden singers. They're my backup band!" | glanced at Grover, wondering if this was some kind of joke.

Grover wasn't laughing. His mouth hung open in amazement, as if the golden ladies were the largest, tastiest aluminim cans he'd ever seen. "I-I didn't think they were real!"

Apollo smiled. "Well, it's been a few centuries since | brought them out. If they perform too often, you know, their novelty wears off.They used to live at my temple in Delphi. Man, they could rock that place. Now | only use them for special occasions."

Grover got teary-eyed. "You brought them out for my birthday?"

Apollo laughed. "No, fool! | 've got a concert tonight on Mount Olympus. Everyone is going to be there! The Nine Muses are opening, and I'm performing a mix of old favorites and new material. | mean it's not like | need the celedones. My solo career has been great. But people will expect to hear some of my classic hits with the girls: ‘Daphne on My Mind,' 'Stairway to Olympus,' 'Sweet Home Atlantis." It's going to be awesome!"

| tried not to look nauseous. I'd heard Apollo's poetry before, and if his music was even half that bad, this concert was going to blow harder than Aeolus the wind god.

"Great," | said half-heartedly. "So what's the problem?" Apollo's smile faded. "Listen."

He turned to his golden singers and raised his hands like a conductor. On cue, they sang in harmony: "Laaaa!"

It was only one chord, but if filled me wit hbliss. | suddenly couldn't remember where | was or what | was doing. If the golden singers had decided to tear me to pieces at that moment, | wouldn't have resisted, as long as they kept singing. Nothing mattered to me, except that sound.

Then the golden girls went silent. The feeling passed. Their faces returned to beautiful, impassive metal.

"That..." | swallowed. "That was amazing."

"Amazing?" Apollo wrinked his nose. "There are only three of them! Their harmonies sound empty. | can't perform without the full quartet."

Grover was weeping with joy. "They're so beautiful. They're perfect!"

| was kind of glad Juniper wasn't within earshot, since she's the jealous type.

Apollo crossed his arms. "They're not perfect, Mr. Satyr. | need all four or the concert will be ruined. Unfortunately, my fourth celedon went rogue this morning. | can't find her anywhere."

| looked at the three automatons, staring at Apollo, waiting for orders. "Uh....how does a backup singer, go rogue?"

Apollo made another confuctor wave, and the singers sighed in three-part harmony. The sound was so mournful my heart sank into my gut. At that moment, | felt sure I'd never be happy again. Then, just as quickly, the feeling dissipitated.

"They're out of warranty," the god explained. "Hephaesteus made them for me back in the old days, and they worked fine...until the day after their two-thousand year warranty expired.Then, naturally, WHAM! The fourth one goes haywire and runs off to the big city." He gestured in the general direction of Manhattan. "Of course, | tried to complain to Hephaestus, but he's all, 'Well, did you have my Protection Plus package?’ And I'm like, 'I didn't want your stupid extended warranty!’ And he acts as if it's my fault that the celedon boke, and says if I'd bought the Plus package, | could've had a dedicated service hotline, but-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," | interrupted. | really didn't want to get in the middle of a god-versus-god argument. I'd been there too many times. "So if you know that your celedon is in the city, why can't you just look for her yourself?"

"| don't have that time! | have to practice. | have to write a test list and do a sound check. Besides, this is what heroes are for."

WORK IN PROGRESS THIS IS A SAMPLE