But Percy and annabeth will be in the new books Rick riordan's said that in his blog and Percy will play an important part in the book so don't say any thing if u don't know what you are talking about

lol here he says they will be councilers in a Vlog go check out the link not "cabin" councilers but "camp" councilers
and yes he did say percy will play a important roll...

DONT ARGUE WITH ME!!!!

OK CALM DOWN YOU PEOPLE!!! anybody got any news?

But it would make sense for it to be about Nico because Rachel's prophecy said something about the doors of death, which sounds like the underworld, and Nico is the son of Hades. Just putting it out there.

doors of death would be - the pit of tarturus-
cause hades palace... bin there destroyed that :P
doesnt necisarily mean nico.... but nico would be pretty awsome.

also in news 3 more tributes have been posted...... they r kinda cute and i hear that they have already chose the cast for the second movie and are officially making the screenplay of PJO and the sea of monsters....
The_amazer out

I wish it would go back to Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Grover, Tyson, Chiron,ext. because i hate it when they start new series and they're NOT the main characters.

lol ya codynr has a point but well this new series R.R said will still have P+A around quite often

BTW if any1 knows any reallt good series can u message me with a title plzzz i am offiacially done all my material....

yo peeps! as of two days ago i am completely done with the pjo series. and ive been reading fanfiction and it is awesome! though there seems to be an overload of xes material though.

ps- spell xes backwards.

i even started a book six.

it'll be on fanfiction soon. my user mame is
yourmomsaman. i know, great name any way i have excactly 16 minutes untill i can start posting stuff on fan fic a little ooc. just a little.

Hey, guys. Where do you go for the info about Percy's importance in the Second series?

yay gratz jercy_prackson but book 6? whats with that u gunna write one or u gunna read another one cause i remember seeing a 6th book vid on youtube....... either way gratz on finishing PJO

um he said it in a video i posted link to a few of my comments back or even ask him in a email

k i went on his blogg and here i directly quote (with my masta skill of copy and paste =P)"We had a nice week in the Riordan house as I finished up the manuscript for the first book in the new Camp Half-Blood series. It's always quite a relief to wrap up a manuscript, even though I know there are months of revisions ahead of me before it's ready for publication in the fall. Still, the majority of the work is done. The story is in place. And best of all, I got to read it to my kids! Haley and Patrick are always my first editors. Reading it aloud to them, I can quickly tell whether it's going to work for kids, which parts need tightening, which parts might be confusing. Becky was reading the manuscript at the same time, and we all finished it yesterday.

Their verdict? Becky gave it thumbs up. Her first comment, "Wow, the fans are going to be so pleased." I can't tell you why, of course, but she had good reasons for saying that. When I put Patrick to bed last night, he said, "Thanks for writing a masterpiece, Dad." LOL. You've got to cherish feedback like that. Haley told me jokingly that I had gone from being his third favorite author to his second favorite. Woohoo! I'm not sure if I displaced Derek Landy or Suzanne Collins, but either way it's quite a compliment. Both boys wanted to know when the next volume of the series will be ready. They've decided this book is one of my best, and I hope they're right -- and of course, I hope you agree when it's published in the fall. Now it goes off to my editor."
this is directly from his blog and i find that hearing these reviews both makes me over joyed and soooo jealous they got to read it before all we did XD and he so beat derek landy but NO 1 is ever gunna beat Suzanne collins..... SHE ROCKS DA HUNGER GAMES MON!!!!
ki dont think i can make this bigger so..... ill continue to find this stuff around the web

wow largest comment ive seen in a while.... READ IT

woops didnt post everything i copied =(
quoted via R.R's blog "No hints on the plot -- sorry! Title? Nope, can't tell you that yet either. But I can promise you many surprises, and you will get to catch up with old friends as well as meet a cool new cast of demigods. As soon as I can say more -- probably late in the spring -- I will post on my website."

here is the site fr all of you who might not know it

link

i am making a Percy Jackson animated mini series! it will be cool and i know how to anamate that way it will look like a real animaton and not sum bad flash video. cant whate utill i get people tp play as the people! plus i cant hold in all of my exitment for series two it will not matter who it is about it will be amazing!!!!!

by the way i am new nice to meet all of you!!

This is the first chapter of my fan-made sixth book. Well, not really. This is more like a larger Demigod Files, speaking of which, there will be those three stories in it.

ONE

I Fight A Giant Haywire Dragon


One dragon can ruin your whole day.
Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched, and poisoned. I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed, and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.
But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles 'n' Dragon Bits.

The evening started simply enough.
It was the end of June. I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another, and our camp director, Dionysus, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.
After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because tonight's capture-the-flag was going to be totally vicious.
The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares—with my help, thank you very much—which meant that tonight the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well... they're always out for blood, but tonight especially.
On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes, and me—the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once, Athena and Ares—both war god cabins—were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag, and my friend Annabeth was their captain.
Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.
Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, seaweed brain."
"Will you stop calling me that?"
She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback. She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean,Owl-head and Wise Girl are kind of lame insults.
"You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armor, so it kind of hurt. Her gray eyes sparkled under the helmet. Her blond ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armor, but Annabeth pulled it off.
"Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position—like right flank, for instance—I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."
"Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."
She smiled. "See you on the battlefield."
She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her highfives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."
"Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."
"Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."
"Makes a lot of sense."
Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."
I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counselor for Hephaestus. He was this huge African American dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges his whole life. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the fall. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach—like, the biggest dating event of the summer—made my stomach do somersaults.
Then Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big brown eyes, and when she walked, the guys tended to watch. She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.
"Uh..." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.
I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."

Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job.
While the Apollo cabin played defense with their bows, the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy. Meanwhile, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders, and get the flag back to our side. Simple.
Why the left flank?
"Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."
Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."
He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us: bronze chameleon armor, enchanted to blend into the background. If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms, and shields turned gray. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.
"This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"
"You got it, Captain."
Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called captain. The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.

We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance: swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.
"No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."
"Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to get sloppy on defense, even if her team did outnumber us.
We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get overrun sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows.
We crept along the base of an oak tree. Suddenly, a girl's face emerged from the trunk. "Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.
"Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."
"Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.
We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved.
Then, suddenly, we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.
"Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."
I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before, but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops—four stories at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of...
"Myrmekes," I muttered.
That's Ancient Greek for ants, but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack.
The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armored shells glistened bloodred. Their eyes were beady black, and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal—old armor, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.
"They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox."
He sounded envious.
"Don't even think about it," I said.
"Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we..."
His eyes widened.
Fifty feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal toward their nest. The thing was the size of a refrigerator. It was all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw its face.
I just about jumped out of my skin. "That's a—"
"Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.
"But that's a—"
"Dragon's head," he said in awe. "Yes. I see it."
The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth, like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body—chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled.
The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few inches with every tug.
"If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them."
"What?" I asked. "Why?"
"It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"
I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armor blending into the trees.
I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.
"Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on, because she was totally invisible.
I tried to move, but she dug her knife under my chin. Silena appeared out of the woods, her sword drawn. Her Aphrodite armor was pink and red, color-coordinated to match her clothes and makeup. She looked like Guerilla Warfare Barbie.
"Nice work," she told Annabeth.
An invisible hand confiscated my sword. Annabeth took off her cap and appeared before me, smiling smugly. "Boys are easy to follow. They make more noise than a lovesick Minotaur."
My face felt hot. I tried to think back, hoping I hadn't said anything embarrassing. No telling how long Annabeth and Silena had been eavesdropping.
"You're our prisoner," Annabeth announced. "Let's get Beckendorf and—"
"Beckendorf!" For a splitsecond I'd forgotten about him, but he was still forging ahead,straight toward the dragon's head. He was already forty feet away. He hadn't noticed the girls, or the fact that I wasn't behind him.
"Come on!" I told Annabeth.
She pulled me back. "Where do you think you're going, prisoner?"
"Look!"
She peered into the clearing and for the first time seemed to realize where we were. "Oh, Zeus..."
Beckendorf leaped into the open and struck one of the ants. His sword clanged off the thing's carapace. The ant turned, snapping its pincers. Before I could even call out, the ant bit Beckendorf's leg, and he crumpled to the ground. The second ant sprayed goo in his face, and Beckendorf screamed. He dropped his sword and slapped wildly at his own eyes.
I surged forward, but Annabeth pulled me back. "No."
"Charlie!" Silena yelled.
"Don't!" Annabeth hissed. "It's already too late!"
"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "We have to—"
Then I noticed more ants swarming toward Beckendorf—ten, twenty. They grabbed him by the armor and dragged him toward the hill so fast he was swept into a tunnel and gone.
"No!" Silena pushed Annabeth. "You let them take Charlie!"
"There's no time to argue," Annabeth said. "Come on!"
I thought she was going to lead us on a charge to save Beckendorf, but instead she raced to the dragon's head, which the ants had momentarily forgotten. She grabbed it by the wires and started dragging it toward the woods.
"What are you doing?"I demanded. "Beckendorf—"
"Help me," Annabeth grunted. "Quick, before they get back."
"Oh, my gods!" Silena said. "You're more worried about this hunk of metal than Charlie?"
Annabeth spun around and shook her by the shoulders. "Listen, Silena! Those are Myrmekes. They're like fire ants, only a hundred times worse. They bite poison. They spray acid. They communicate with all the other ants and swarm anything that threatens them. If we'd rushed in there to help Beckendorf, we would have been dragged inside, too. We're going to need help—a lot of help—to get him back. Now, grab some wires and pull!"
I didn't know what Annabeth was up to, but I'd adventured with her long enough to figure she had a good reason. The three of us tugged the metal dragon's head into the woods. Annabeth didn't let us stop until we were fifty yards from the clearing. Then we collapsed, sweating and breathing hard.
Silena started to cry. "He's probably dead already."
"No," Annabeth said. "They won't kill him right away. We've got about half an hour."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"I've read about the Myrmekes. They paralyze their prey so they can soften them up before—"
Silena sobbed. "We have to save him!"
"Silena," Annabeth said. "We're going to save him, but I need you to get a grip. There is a way."
"Call the other campers," I said, "or Chiron. Chiron will know what to do."
Annabeth shook her head. "They're scattered all over the woods. By the time we got everyone back here, it would be too late. Besides, the entire camp wouldn't be strong enough to invade the Ant Hill."
"Then what?"
She pointed at the dragon's head.
"Okay," I said. "You're going to scare the ants with a big metal puppet?"
"It's an automaton," she said.
That didn't make me feel any better. Automatons were magical bronze robots made by Hephaestus. Most of them were crazed killing machines, and those were the nice ones.
"So what?" I said. "It's just a head. It's broken."
"Percy, this isn't just any automaton," Annabeth said. "It's the bronze dragon. Haven't you heard the stories?"
I stared at her blankly. Annabeth had been at camp a lot longer than I had. She probably knew tons of stories I didn't.
Silena's eyes widened. "You mean the old guardian? But that's just a legend!"
"Whoa," I said. "What old guardian?"
Annabeth took a deep breath. "Percy, in the days before Thalia's tree—back before the camp had magical boundaries to keep out monsters—the counselors tried all sorts of different ways to protect themselves. The most famous was the bronze dragon. The Hephaestus cabin made it with the blessing of their father. Supposedly, it was so fierce and powerful that it kept the camp safe for over a decade. And then... about fifteen years ago, it disappeared into the woods."
"And you think this is its head?"
"It has to be! The Myrmekes probably dug it up while they were looking for precious metal. They couldn't move the whole thing, so they chewed off the head. The body can't be far away."
"But they chewed it apart. It's useless."
"Not necessarily." Annabeth's eyes narrowed, and I could tell her brain was working overtime. "We could reassemble it. If we could activate it—"
"It could help us rescue Charlie!" Silena said.
"Hold up," I said. "That's a lot of ifs. If we find it, if we can reactivate it in time, if it will help us. You said this thing disappeared fifteen years ago?"
Annabeth nodded. "Some say its motor wore out so it went into the woods to deactivate itself. Or its programming went haywire. No one knows."
"You want to reassemble a haywire metal dragon?"
"We have to try!" Annabeth said. "It's Beckendorf's only hope! Besides, this could be a sign from Hephaestus. The dragon should want to help one of Hephaestus's kids. Beckendorf would want us to try."
I didn't like the idea. On the other hand, I didn't have any better suggestions. We were running out of time, and Silena looked like she was about to go into shock if we didn't do something soon. Beckendorf had said something about a sign from Hephaestus. Maybe it was time to find out.
"All right," I said. "Let's go find a headless dragon."

We searched forever,or maybe it just seemed that way, because the whole time, I was imagining Beckendorf in the Ant Hill, scared and paralyzed while a bunch of armored critters scuttled around him, waiting for him to be tenderized.
It wasn't hard to follow the ants' trail. They'd dragged the dragon's head through the forest, making a deep rut in the mud, and we dragged the head right back the way they'd come.
We must've gone a quarter of a mile—and I was getting worried about our time—when Annabeth said, "Di immortalis."
We'd come to the rim of a crater—like something had blasted a house-size hole in the forest floor. The sides were slippery and dotted with tree roots. Ant tracks led to the bottom, where a large metal mound glinted through the dirt. Wires stuck up from a bronze stump on one end.
"The dragon's neck," I said. "You think the ants made this crater?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Looks more like a meteor blast...."
"Hephaestus," Silena said. "The god must've unearthed this. He wanted us to find the dragon. He wanted Charlie to..." She choked up.
"Come on," I said. "Let's reconnect this bad boy."

Getting the dragon's head to the bottom was easy. It tumbled right down the slope and hit the neck with a loud, metallic bonk! Reconnecting it was harder.
We had no tools and no experience.
Annabeth fiddled with the wires and cursed in Ancient Greek. "We need Beckendorf. He could do this in seconds."
"Isn't your mom the goddess of inventors?" I asked.
Annabeth glared at me. "Yes, but I'm good with ideas. Not mechanics."
"If I was going to pick one person in the world to reattach my head," I said, "I'd pick you."
I just blurted it out—to give her confidence, I guess—but immediately I realized it sounded pretty stupid.
"Awww. . ." Silena sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Percy, that is so sweet!"
Annabeth blushed. "Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger."
I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it. Instead she used it as a screw-driver, to open a panel in the dragon's neck. "Here goes nothing," she said.
And she started to splice together the celestial bronze wires.
It took a long time. Too long.
I figured capture-the-flag had to be over by now. I wondered how soon the other campers would realize we were missing and come looking for us. Beckendorf probably had five or ten minutes left before the ants got him, if Annabeth's calculations were correct (and they always were).
Finally Annabeth stood up and exhaled. Her hands were scraped and muddy. Her fingernails were wrecked. She had a brown streak across her forehead where the dragon had decided to spit grease at her.
"All right," she said. "It's done, I think...."
"You think?" Silena asked.
"It has to be done," I said. "We're out of time. How do you, uh, start it? Is there an ignition switch or something?"
Annabeth pointed to its ruby eyes. "Those turn clockwise. I'm guessing we rotate them."
"If somebody twisted my eyeballs, I'd wake up," I agreed. "What if it goes crazy on us?"
"Then... we're dead," Annabeth said.
"Great," I said. "I'm psyched."
Together we turned the ruby eyes of the dragon. Immediately, they began to glow. Annabeth and I backed up so fast we fell over each other. The dragon's mouth opened, as if it were testing its jaw. The head turned and looked at us. Steam poured from its ears, and it tried to rise.
When it found it couldn't move, the dragon seemed confused. It cocked its head and regarded the dirt. Finally, it realized it was buried. The neck strained once, twice... and the center of the crater erupted.
The dragon pulled itself awkwardly out of the ground, shaking clumps of mud from its body the way a dog might, splattering us from head to toe. The automaton was so awesome none of us could speak. I mean, sure, it needed a trip through the car wash, and there were a few loose wires sticking out here and there, but the dragon's body was amazing—like a high-tech tank with legs. Its sides were plated with bronze and gold scales, encrusted with gemstones. Its legs were the size of tree trunks, and its feet had steel talons. It had no wings—most Greek dragons don't—but its tail was at least as long as its main body, which was the size of a school bus. The neck creaked and popped as it turned its head to the sky and blew a column of triumphant fire.
"Well..." I said in a small voice. "It still works."
Unfortunately, it heard me. Those ruby eyes zeroed in on me, and it stuck its snout two inches from my face. Instinctively, I reached for my sword.
"Dragon, stop!" Silena yelled. I was amazed her voice still worked. She spoke with such command that the automaton turned its attention to her.
Silena swallowed nervously. "We've woken you to defend the camp. You remember? That is your job!"
The dragon tilted its head like it was thinking. I figured Silena had about a fifty-fifty chance of getting blasted with fire. I was considering jumping on the thing's neck to distract it when Silena said, "Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, is in trouble. The Myrmekes have taken him. He needs your help."
At the word Hephaestus, the dragon's neck straightened. A shiver rippled through its metal body, throwing a new shower of mud clods all over us.
The dragon looked around, as if trying to find an enemy.
"We have to show it," Annabeth said. "Come on, dragon! This way to the son of Hephaestus! Follow us!"
Just like that, she drew her sword, and the three of us climbed out of the pit.
"For Hephaestus!" Annabeth yelled, which was a nice touch. We charged through the woods. When I looked behind us, the bronze dragon was right on our tail, its red eyes glowing and steam coming out its nostrils.
It was good incentive to keep running fast as we headed for the Ant Hill.

When we got to the clearing, the dragon seemed to catch Beckendorf's scent. It barreled ahead of us, and we had to jump out of its way to avoid getting flattened. It crashed through the trees, joints creaking, feet pounding craters into the ground.
It charged straight for the Ant Hill. At first, the Myrmekes didn't know what was happening. The dragon stepped on a few of them, smashing them to bug juice. Then their telepathic network seemed to light up, like: Big dragon. Bad!
All the ants in the clearing turned simultaneously and swarmed the dragon. More ants poured out of the hill—hundreds of them. The dragon blew fire and sent a whole column of them into a panicked retreat. Who knew ants were flammable? But more kept coming.
"Inside, now!" Annabeth told us. "While they're focused on the dragon!"
Silena led the charge; it was the first time I'd ever followed a child of Aphrodite into battle. We ran past the ants, but they ignored us. For some reason, they seemed to consider the dragon a bigger threat. Go figure.
We plunged into the nearest tunnel, and I almost gagged from the stench. Nothing, I mean nothing, stinks worse than a giant ant lair. I could tell they let their food rot before eating it. Somebody seriously needed to teach them about refrigerators.
Our journey inside was a blur of dark tunnels and moldy rooms carpeted with old ant shells and pools of goo. Ants kept surging past us on their way to battle, but we just stepped aside and let them pass. The faint bronze glow of my sword gave us light as we made our way deeper into the nest.
"Look!" Annabeth said.
I glanced into a side room, and my heart skipped a beat. Hanging from the ceiling were huge, gooey sacks—ant larvae, I guess—but that's not what got my attention. The cave floor was heaped with gold coins, gems, and other treasures: helmets, swords, musical instruments, jewelry. They glowed the way magic items do.
"That's just one room," Annabeth said. "There are probably hundreds of nurseries down here, decorated with treasure."
"It's not important," Silena insisted. "We have to find Charlie!"
Another first: a child of Aphrodite uninterested in jewelry.
We forged on. After twenty more feet, we entered a cavern that smelled so bad my nose shut down completely. The remains of old meals were piled as high as sand dunes—bones, chunks of rancid meat, even old camp meals. I guess the ants had been raiding the camp's compost heap and stealing our leftovers. At the base of one of the heaps, struggling to pull himself upright, was Beckendorf. He looked awful, partly because his camouflage armor was now the color of garbage.
"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and tried to help him up.
"Thank the gods," he said. "My—my legs are paralyzed!"
"It'll wear off," Annabeth said, "but we have to get you out of here. Percy, take his other side."
Silena and I hoisted Beckendorf up, and the four of us started back through the tunnels. I could hear distant sounds of battle—metal creaking, fire roaring, hundreds of ants snapping and spitting.
"What's going on out there?" Beckendorf asked. His body tensed. "The dragon! You didn't—reactivate it?"
"Afraid so," I said. "Seemed like the only way."
"But you can't just turn on an automaton! You have to calibrate the motor, run a diagnostic... there's no telling what it'll do! We've got to get out there!"
As it turned out, we didn't need to go anywhere, because the dragon came to us. We were trying to remember which tunnel was the exit when the entire hill exploded, showering us in dirt. Suddenly we were staring at open sky. The dragon was right above us, thrashing back and forth, smashing the Ant Hill to bits as it tried to shake off the Myrmekes crawling all over its body.
"Come on!" I yelled. We dug ourselves out of the dirt and stumbled down the side of the hill, dragging Beckendorf with us.
Our friend the dragon was in trouble. The Myrmekes were biting at the joints of his armor, spitting acid all over him. The dragon stomped and snapped and blew flames, but it couldn't last much longer. Steam was rising from its bronze skin.
Even worse, a few of the ants turned toward us. I guess they didn't like us stealing their dinner. I slashed at one and lopped off its head. Annabeth stabbed another right between the feelers. As the celestial bronze blade pierced its shell, the whole ant disintegrated.
"I—I think I can walk now," Beckendorf said, and immediately fell on his face when we let him go.
"Charlie!" Silena helped him up and pulled him along while Annabeth and I cleared a path through the ants. Somehow, we managed to reach the edge of the clearing without getting bitten or splashed, though one of my sneakers was smoking from acid.
Back in the clearing, the dragon stumbled. A great cloud of acid mist was roiling off its hide.
"We can't let it die!" Silena said.
"It's too dangerous," Beckendorf said sadly. "Its wiring—"
"Charlie," Silena pleaded, "it saved your life! Please? for me."
Beckendorf hesitated. His face was still bright red from the ant spit, and he looked as if he were going to faint any minute, but he struggled to his feet. "Get ready to run," he told us. Then he gazed across the clearing and shouted, "Dragon! Emergency defense, beta-activate!"
The dragon turned toward the sound of his voice. It stopped struggling against the ants, and its eyes glowed. The air smelled of ozone, like a thunderstorm.
ZZZZZAAAAAPPP!
Arcs of blue electricity shot from the dragon's skin, rippling up and down its body and connecting with the ants. Some blew up. Others smoked and blackened and fell off, their legs twitching. In a few seconds, there were no more ants on the dragon. The ones that were still alive were in full retreat, scuttling back toward their ruined hill as fingers of electricity zapped them in the butts to prod them along.
The dragon bellowed in triumph. Then it turned its glowing eyes toward us.
"Now," Beckendorf said, "we run."

This time we did not yell, "For Hephaestus!" We yelled, "Heeeeelp!"
The dragon pounded after us, spewing fire and zapping lighting bolts over our heads like it was having a great time.
"How do you stop it?" Annabeth yelled.
Beckendorf, whose legs were now working fine (nothing like being chased by a huge monster to get your body back in order) shook his head and gasped for breath. "You shouldn't have turned it on! It's unstable! After a few years, automatons go wild!"
"Good to know," I yelled. "But how do you turn it off?"
Beckendorf looked around wildly. "There!"
Up ahead was an outcropping of rock, almost as tall as the trees. The woods were full of weird rock formations like that, but I'd never seen this one before. It was shaped like a giant skateboard ramp, slanted on one side, with a sheer drop-off on the other.
"You guys, run around to the base of the cliff," Beckendorf said. "Distract the dragon. Keep it occupied!"
"What are you going to do?" Silena said.
"You'll see. Go!"
Beckendorf ducked behind a tree while I turned and yelled at the dragon, "Hey, lizard-lips! Your breath smells like gasoline!"
The dragon spewed black smoke out of its nostrils. It thundered toward me, shaking the ground.
"Come on!" Annabeth grabbed my hand. We ran for the backside of the cliff. The dragon followed.
"We have to hold it here," Annabeth said. The three of us readied our swords.
The dragon reached us and lurched to a stop. It tilted its head like it couldn't believe we'd be so foolish as to fight. Now that it had caught us, there were so many different ways it could kill us it probably couldn't decide.
We scattered as its first blast of fire turned the ground where we'd been standing into a smoking pit of ashes.
Then I saw Beckendorf above us—at the top of the cliff—and I understood what he was trying to do. He needed a clear shot. I had to keep the dragon's attention.
"Yaaaah!" I charged. I brought Riptide down on the dragon's foot and sliced off a talon.
Its head creaked as it looked down at me. It seemed more confused than angry, like, Why did you cut off my toe?
Then it opened its mouth, baring a hundred razor-sharp teeth.
"Percy!" Annabeth warned.
I stood my ground. "Just another second..."
"Percy!"
And just before the dragon struck, Beckendorf launched himself off the rocks and landed on the dragon's neck.
The dragon reared back and shot flames, trying to shake Beckendorf, but Beckendorf held on like a cowboy as the monster bucked around. I watched in fascination as he ripped open a panel at the base of the dragon's head and yanked a wire.
Instantly, the dragon froze. Its eyes went dim. Suddenly it was only the statue of a dragon, baring its teeth at the sky.
Beckendorf slid down the dragon's neck. He collapsed at its tail, breathing heavily.
"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You did it!"
Annabeth came up to me and squeezed my shoulder. "Hey, seaweed brain, you okay?"
"Fine... I guess." I was thinking how close I'd come to being chopped into demigod hash in the dragon's mouth.
"You did great." Annabeth's smile was a lot nicer than that stupid dragon's.
"You, too," I said shakily. "So... what do we do with the automaton?"
Beckendorf wiped his forehead. Silena was still fussing over his cuts and bruises, and Beckendorf looked pretty distracted by the attention.
"We—uh—I don't know," he said. "Maybe we can fix it, get it to guard the camp, but that could take months."
"Worth trying," I said. I imagined having that bronze dragon in our fight against the titan lord Kronos. His monsters would think twice about attacking camp if they had to face that thing. On the other hand, if the dragon decided to go berserk again and attack the campers, that would pretty much stink.
"Did you see all the treasure in the Ant Hill?" Beckendorf asked. "The magic weapons? The armor? That stuff could really help us."
"And the bracelets," Silena said. "And the necklaces."
I shuddered, remembering the smell of those tunnels. "I think that's an adventure for later. It would take an army of demigods even to get close to that treasure."
"Maybe," Beckendorf said. "But what a treasure..."
Silena studied the frozen dragon. "Charlie, that was the bravest thing I ever saw—you jumping on that dragon."
Beckendorf swallowed. "Um... yeah. So... will you go to the fireworks with me?"
Silena's face lit up. "Of course, you big dummy! I thought you'd never ask!"
Beckendorf suddenly looked a whole lot better. "Well let's get back, then! I bet the capture-the-flag is over."

I had to go barefoot, because the acid had eaten completely through my shoe. When I kicked it off I realized the goo had soaked into my sock and turned my foot red and raw. I leaned against Annabeth, and she helped me limp through the woods.
Beckendorf and Silena walked ahead of us, holding hands, and we gave them some space.
Watching them, with my arm around Annabeth for support, I felt pretty uncomfortable. I silently cursed Beckendorf for being so brave, and I don't mean for facing the dragon. After three years, he'd finally gotten the courage to ask Silena Beauregard out. It wasn't fair.
"You know," Annabeth said as we struggled along, "it wasn't the bravest thing I've ever seen."
I blinked. Had she been reading my thoughts?
"Um... what do you mean?"
Annabeth gripped my wrist as we stumbled through a shallow creek. "You stood up to the dragon so Beckendorf would have his chance to jump—now that was brave."
"Or pretty stupid."
"Percy, you're a brave guy," she said. "Just take the compliment. I swear, it is so hard?"
We locked eyes. Our faces were, like, two inches apart. My chest felt a little funny, like my heart was trying to do jumping jacks.
"So..." I said. "I guess Silena and Charlie are going to the fireworks together."
"I guess so," Annabeth agreed.
"Yeah," I said. "Um, about that—"
I don't know what I would've said, but just then, three of Annabeth's siblings from the Athena cabin burst out of the bushes with their swords drawn. When they saw us, they broke into grins.
"Annabeth!" one of them said. "Good job! Let's get these two to jail."
I stared at him. "The game's not over?"
The Athena camper laughed. "Not yet... but soon. Now that we've captured you."
"Dude, come on," Beckendorf protested. "We got sidetracked. There was a dragon, and the whole Ant Hill was attacking us."
"Uh-huh," said another Athena guy, clearly unimpressed. "Annabeth, great job distracting them. Worked out perfectly. You want us to take them from here?"
Annabeth pulled away from me. I thought for sure she was going to give us a free walk back to the border, but she drew her dagger and pointed it at me with a smile.
"Nah," she said. "Silena and I can get this. Come on, prisoners. Move it."
I stared at her, stunned. "You planned this? You planned this whole thing just to keep us out of the game?"
"Percy, seriously, how could I have planned it? The dragon, the ants—you think I could've figured all that out ahead of time?"
It didn't seem likely, but this was Annabeth. There was no telling with her. Then she exchanged glances with Silena, and I could tell they were trying not to laugh.
"You—you little—" I started to say, but I couldn't think of a name strong enough to call her.
I protested all the way to the jail, and so did Beckendorf. It was totally unfair to be treated like prisoners after all we'd been through.
But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"
She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.
I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just... ask me out?"
He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon, any day."
So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.

Oh and that was a start off with Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon. I think I'll put together the second chapter and keep going through the entire summer. Once I'm done with that, I'll come up with the other two short stories(careful, they might be in a different order) and have the stories all come together. Anyway, I'll start the next chapter ASAP and please review!

hello?

how do i refresh the page???????

I HATE THE PERCY JACKSON MOVIE!!!!!!! i finished the last book on the way to the movies and i watched the movie and it was so bad that when it was over i tried to convince myself that it was a preview and thew movie did not start yet but that did not work!

!!!

so how do you refresh?

crap that should break the guiness books for world's longest comment!

Just Kidding! NOT making another book, I'm just updating Rick Riordan's short stories for you guys. I really don't mind writing it. Just I'm not there yet. I'm going to update Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot next! Don't go away, I'll be back! Hasta la vista baby!

Here's Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot!

Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot



I was in fifth period science class when I heard these noises outside.
SCRAWK! OW! SCREECH! HIYA! Like somebody was getting attacked by possessed poultry, and believe me, that’s a situation I’ve been in before.

Nobody else in class seemed to notice the commotion. We were doing a lab so everybody was talking, and it wasn’t hard for me to go look out the window while I pretended to wash out my beaker.

Sure enough: there was a girl in alley with a sword drawn. She was tall and muscular like a basketball player, with stringy brown hair and jeans and combat boots and a denim jacket. She was hacking at a flock of black birds the size of ravens. Feathers stuck out of her clothes in several places. A cut was bleeding over her left eye. As I watched, one of the birds shot a feather like an arrow and it lodged in her shoulder. She cursed and sliced at the bird, but it flew away.

Unfortunately, I recognized the girl. It was Clarisse, my old enemy from demigod camp. Clarisse usually lived at Camp Half-Blood year-round. I had no idea what she was doing on the Upper East Side in the middle of a school day, but she was obviously in trouble. She wouldn’t last much longer.

I did the only the thing I could.

“Mrs. White,” I said, “can I go to the restroom? I feel like I’m going to puke.”

You know how teachers tell you the magic word is please? That’s not true. The magic word is puke. It will get you out of class faster than anything else.

“Go!” Mrs. White said.

I ran out the door, stripping off my safety goggles and gloves and lab apron. I got out my best weapon – a ballpoint pen called Riptide.

Nobody stopped me in the halls. I exited by the gym. I got to the alley just in time to see Clarisse smack a devil bird with the flat of her sword like she was hitting a home run. The bird squawked and spiraled away, slamming against the brick wall and sliding into a trash can. That still left a dozen more swarming around her.

“Clarisse!” I yelled.

She glared at me in disbelief. “Percy? What are you doing –”

She was cut short by a volley of feather arrows that zipped over her head and impaled themselves in the wall.

“This is my school,” I told her.

“Just my luck,” Clarisse grumbled, but she was too busy fighting to complain much.
I uncapped my pen, which grew into three-foot-long bronze sword, and joined the battle, slashing at the birds and deflecting their feathers off my blade. Together, Clarisse and I sliced and hacked until all the birds were reduced to piles of feathers on ground.

We were both breathing hard. I had a few scratches, but nothing major. I pulled a feather arrow out of my arm. It hadn’t gone in very deep. As long as it wasn’t poison, I’d be okay. I took a baggie of ambrosia out of my jacket, where I always kept it for emergencies, broke a piece in half and offered some to Clarisse.

“I don’t need your help,” she muttered, but she took the ambrosia.

We swallowed a few bites – not too much, since the food of the gods can burn you to ashes if you overindulge. I guess that’s why you don’t see many fat gods. Anyway, in a few seconds our cuts and bruises had disappeared.

Clarisse sheathed her sword and brushed off her denim jacket. “Well . . . see you.”

“Hold up!” I said. “You can’t just run off.”

“Sure I can.”

“What’s going on? What are you doing away from camp? Why were those birds after you?”

Clarisse pushed me, or tried to. I was too used to her tricks. I just sidestepped and let her stumble past me.

“Come on,” I said. “You just about got killed at my school. That makes it my business.”

“It does not!”

“Let me help.”

She took a shaky breath. I got the feeling she really wanted to punch me out, but at the same time there was a desperate look in her eyes, like she was in serious trouble.

“It’s my brothers,” she said. “They’re playing a prank on me.”

“Oh,” I said, not really surprised. Clarisse had lots of siblings at Camp Half-Blood. All of them picked on each other. I guess that was no big surprise since they were sons and daughters of the war god Ares. “Which brothers? Sherman? Mark?”

“No,” she said, sounding more afraid than I’d ever heard her. “My immortal brothers. Phobos and Deimos.”

*

We sat on a bench at the park while Clarisse told me the story. I wasn’t too worried about getting back to school. Mrs. White would just assume the nurse sent me home, and sixth period was shop class. Mr. Bell never took attendance.

“So let me get this straight,” I said. “You took your dad’s car for a joy ride and now it’s missing.”

“It’s not a car,” Clarisse growled. “It’s a war chariot! And he told me to take it out. It’s like . . . a test. I’m supposed to bring it back at sunset. But –”

“Your brothers carjacked you.”

“Chariot-jacked me,” she corrected. “They’re his regular charioteers, see. And they don’t like anybody else getting to drive. So they stole the chariot from me and chased me off with those stupid arrow-throwing birds.”

“Your dad’s pets?”

She nodded miserably. “They guard his temple. Anyway, if I don’t find the chariot . . .”

She looked like she was about to lose it. I didn’t blame her. I’d seen her dad Ares get mad before, and it was not a pretty sight. If Clarisse failed him, he would come down hard on her. Real hard.

“I’ll help you,” I said.

She scowled. “Why would you? I’m not your friend.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Clarisse had been mean to me a million times, but still, I didn’t like the idea of her or anybody else getting beat up by Ares. I was trying to figure out how to explain that to her that when a guy’s voice said, “Aw, look. I think she’s been crying!”

A teenage dude was leaning against the telephone pole. He was dressed in ratty jeans, a black T-shirt and a leather jacket with a bandana over his hair. A knife was stuck in his belt. He had eyes the color of flames.

“Phobos.” Clarisse balled her fists. “Where’s the chariot, you jerk?”

“You lost it,” he teased. “Don’t ask me.”

“You little –” Clarisse drew her sword and charged, but he disappeared as she swung and her blade bit into the telephone pole.

Phobos appeared on the bench next to me. He was laughing, but he stopped when I stuck Riptide’s point against his throat.

“You’d better return that chariot,” I told him. “Before I get mad.”

He sneered and tried to look tough, or as tough as you can with a sword under your chin. “Who’s your little boyfriend, Clarisse? You have to get help fighting your battles now?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Clarisse tugged her sword out of the telephone pole. “He’s not even my friend. That’s Percy Jackson.”

Something changed in Phobos’s expression. He looked surprised, maybe even nervous. “The son of Poseidon? The one who made Dad angry? Oh, this is too good, Clarisse. You’re hanging out with a sworn enemy?”

“I’m not hanging out with him!”

Phobos’s eyes glowed bright red. Clarisse screamed. She swatted the air as if she were being attacked by invisible bugs. “Please, no!”

“What are you doing to her?” I demanded.

Clarisse backed up into the street, swinging her sword wildly.

“Stop it!” I told Phobos. I dug my sword a little deeper against his throat, but he simply vanished, reappearing back at the telephone pole.

“Don’t get so excited, Jackson,” Phobos said. “I’m just showing her what she fears.”
The glow faded from his eyes.

Clarisse collapsed, breathing hard. “You creep,” she gasped. “I’ll – I’ll get you.”

Phobos turned toward me. “How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I’ll find out, you know. I always do.”

“Give the chariot back.” I tried to keep my voice even. “I took on your dad once. You don’t scare me.”

Phobos laughed. “Nothing to fear but fear itself. Isn’t that what they say? Well, let me tell you a little secret, half-blood. I am fear. If you want to find the chariot, come and get it. It’s across the water. You’ll find it where the little wild animals live – just the sort of place you belong.”

He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a curtain of yellow vapor.

Now I’ve got to tell you, I’ve met a lot of godlings and monsters I didn’t like, but Phobos took the prize. I didn’t like bullies. I’d never been in the “A” crowd at school, so I’d spent most of my life standing up to punks who tried to frighten me and my friends. The way Phobos laughed at me and made Clarisse collapse just by looking at her . . . I wanted to teach this guy a lesson.

I helped Clarisse up. Her face was still beaded with sweat. “Now are you ready for help?” I asked.

We took the subway, keeping a lookout for more attacks, but nothing bothered us. As we rode, Clarisse told me about Phobos and Deimos.

“They’re minor gods,” she said. “Phobos is fear. Deimos is terror.”

“What’s the difference?”

She frowned. “Deimos is bigger and uglier, I guess. He’s good at freaking out entire crowds. Phobos is more, like, personal. He can get inside your head.”

“That’s where they get the word phobia?”

“Yeah,” she grumbled. “He’s so proud of that. All those phobias named after him. The jerk.”

“So why don’t they want you driving the chariot?”

“It’s usually a ritual just for Ares’s sons when they turn fifteen. I’m the first daughter to get a shot in a long time.”

“Good for you.”

“Tell that to Phobos and Deimos. They hate me. I’ve got to get the chariot back to the temple.”

“Where is the temple?”

“Pier 86. The Intrepid.”

“Oh.” It made sense, now that I thought about it. I’d never actually been on board the old aircraft carrier, but I knew they used it as some kind of military museum. It probably had a bunch of guns and bombs and other dangerous toys. Just the kind of place a war god would want to hang out.

“We’ve got maybe four hours before sunset,” I guessed. “That should be enough time if we can find the chariot.”

“But what did Phobos mean, ‘over the water’? We’re on an island, for Zeus’s sake. That could be any direction!”

“He said something about wild animals,” I remembered. “Little wild animals.”

“A zoo?”

I nodded. A zoo over the water could be the one in Brooklyn, or maybe . . . someplace harder to get to, with little wild animals. Some place nobody would ever think to look for a war chariot.

“Staten Island,” I said. “They’ve got a small zoo.”

“Maybe,” Clarisse said. “That sounds like the kind of out-of-the-way place Phobos and Deimos would stash something. But if we’re wrong --”

“We don’t have time to be wrong.”

We hoped off the train at Times Square and caught the 1 downtown toward the ferry terminal.


*


We boarded the Staten Island Ferry at three-thirty, along with a bunch of tourists who crowded the railings of the top deck, snapping pictures as we passed the Statue of Liberty.

“He modeled that after his mom,” I said, looking up at the statue.

Clarisse frowned at me. “Who?”

“Bartholdi,” I said. “The dude who made the Statue of Liberty. He was a son of Athena and he designed it to look like his mom. That’s what Annabeth told me, anyway.”

Clarisse rolled her eyes. Annabeth was my best friend and a huge nut when it came to architecture and monuments. I guess her egghead facts rubbed off on me sometimes.

“Useless,” Clarisse said. “If it doesn’t help you fight, it’s useless information.”

I could’ve argued with her, but just then the ferry lurched like it had hit a rock. Tourists spilled forward, tumbling into each other. Clarisse and I ran to the front of the boat. The water below us started to boil. Then the head of a sea serpent erupted from the bay.

The monster was at least as big as the boat. It was gray and green with a head like a crocodile and razor-sharp teeth. It smelled . . . well, like something that had just come up from the bottom of New York Harbor. Riding on its neck was a bulky guy in black Greek armor. His face was covered with ugly scars and he held a javelin in his hand.

“Deimos!” Clarisse yelled.

“Hello, sister!” His smile was almost as horrible as the serpent’s. “Care to play?”

The monster roared. Tourists screamed and scattered. I don’t know exactly what they saw. The Mist usually prevents mortals from seeing monsters in their true form, but whatever they saw, they were terrified.

“Leave them alone!” I yelled.

“Or what, son of the sea god?” Deimos sneered. “My brother tells me you’re a wimp! Besides, I love terror. I live on terror!”

He spurred the sea serpent into head-butting the ferry, which sloshed backwards. Alarms blared. Passengers fell over each other trying to get away. Deimos laughed with delight.

“That’s it,” I grumbled. “Clarisse, grab on.”

“What?”

“Grab on to my neck. We’re going for a ride.”

She didn’t protest. She grabbed onto me and I said, “One, two, three – JUMP!”

We leaped off the top deck and straight into the bay, but we were only under for a moment. I felt the power of the ocean surging through me. I willed the water to swirl around me, building force, until we burst out of the bay on top of a thirty-foot-high water spout. I steered us straight toward the monster.

“You think you can tackle Deimos?” I yelled to Clarisse.

“I’m on it!” she said. “Just get me within ten feet.”

We barreled toward the serpent. Just as it bared its fangs, I swerved the water spout to one side and Clarisse jumped. She crashed into Deimos and both of them toppled into the sea.

The serpent came after me. I turned the water spout to face him then summoned all my power and willed the water to even greater heights.

WHOOOOM!

Ten thousand gallons of salt water crashed into the monster. I leaped over its head, uncapped Riptide and slashed with all my might at the creature’s neck. The monster roared. Green blood spouted from the wound and the serpent sank beneath the waves.

I dove underwater and watched as it retreated back to the open sea. That’s one good thing about sea serpents. They’re big babies when it comes to getting hurt.

Clarisse surfaced near me, spluttering and coughing. I swam over and grabbed her.

“Did you get Deimos?” I asked.

Clarisse shook her head. “The coward disappeared as we were wrestling. But I’m sure we’ll see him again. Phobos, too.”

Tourists were still running around the ferry in a panic, but it didn’t look like anybody was hurt. The boat didn’t seem damaged. I decided we shouldn’t stick around. I held on to Clarisse’s arm and willed the waves to carry us toward Staten Island.

In the west, the sun was going down over the Jersey shore. We were running out of time.

*

I’d never spent much time on Staten Island, and I found it was a lot bigger than I thought and not much fun to walk. The streets curved around confusingly and everything seemed to be uphill. I was dry (I never got wet in the ocean unless I wanted to) but Clarisse’s clothes were still sopping wet so she left mucky footprints all over the sidewalk and the bus driver wouldn’t let us on the bus.

“We’ll never make it in time,” she sighed.

“Stop thinking that way.” I tried to sound upbeat, but I was starting to have doubts, too. I wished we had reinforcements. Two demigods against two minor gods was not an even match, and when we met Phobos and Deimos together, I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. I kept remembering what Phobos had said, How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I’ll find out, you know.

After dragging ourselves halfway up the island past a lot of suburban houses and a couple of churches and a McDonalds, we finally saw a sign that said ZOO. We turned the corner and followed this curvy street with some woods on one side until we came to the zoo entrance.
The lady at the ticket booth looked at us suspiciously, but thank the gods I had enough cash to get us inside.

We walked around the reptile house and Clarisse stopped in her tracks.

“There it is.”

It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would’ve been beautiful if all the pictures hadn’t shown people dying painful deaths. The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils.

Families with strollers walked right past the chariot like it didn’t exist. I guess the Mist must’ve been really strong around it, because the chariot’s only camouflage was a handwritten note taped to one of the horses’ chests that said, OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE.

“Where are Phobos and Deimos?” Clarisse muttered, drawing her sword.

I couldn’t see them anywhere, but this had to be a trap.

I concentrated on the horses. Usually I could talk to horses, since my dad Poseidon had created them. I said, Hey. Nice fire-breathing horses. Come here!

One of horses whinnied disdainfully. I could understand his thoughts, all right. He called me some names I can’t repeat.

“I’ll try to get the reins,” Clarisse said. “The horses know me. Cover me.”

“Right.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to cover her with a sword, but I kept my eyes peeled as Clarisse approached the chariot. She walked around the horses, almost tip-toeing.

She froze as a lady with a three-year-old girl passed by. The girl said, “Pony on fire!”

“Don’t be silly, Jessie,” the mother said in a dazed voice. “That’s an official zoo vehicle.”

The little girl tried to protest but the mother grabbed her hand and they kept walking. Clarisse got closer to the chariot. Her hand was six inches from the rail when the horses reared up, whinnying and breathing flames. Phobos and Deimos appeared in the chariot, both of them now dressed in pitch-black battle armor. Phobos grinned, his red eyes glowing. Deimos’s scared face looked even more horrible up close.

“The hunt is on!” Phobos yelled. Clarisse stumbled back as he lashed the horses and charged the chariot straight toward me.

Now I’d like to tell you that I did something heroic, like stand up against a raging team of fire-breathing horses with only my sword. The truth is, I ran. I jumped over a trash bin and an exhibit fence, but there was no way I could outrun the chariot. It crashed through the fence right behind me, plowing down everything in its path.

“Percy, look out!” Clarisse yelled, like I needed somebody to tell me that.

I jumped and landed on a rock island in the middle of the otter exhibit. I willed a column of water out of the pond and doused the horses, temporarily extinguishing their flames and sending them into confusion. The otters weren’t really happy with me. They chattered and barked and I figured I’d better get off their island quick before I had crazed sea mammals after me, too.

I ran as Phobos cursed and tried to get his horses under control. Clarisse took the opportunity to jump on Deimos’s back just as he was lifting his javelin. Both of them went tumbling out of the chariot as it lurched forward.

I could hear Deimos and Clarisse starting to fight, sword on sword, but I didn’t have time to worry about it because Phobos was riding after me again. I sprinted toward the aquarium with the chariot right behind me.

“Hey, Percy!” Phobos taunted. “I’ve got something for you!”

I glanced back and saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar treads and a turret and a long gun barrel. A tank. I recognized it from this research report I had to do for history class. Phobos was grinning at me from the top of a World War II Panzer.

“Say cheese!” he said.

I rolled to one side as the gun fired.

KA-BOOOOM! A souvenir kiosk exploded, sending fuzzy animals and plastic cups and disposable cameras in every direction. As Phobos re-aimed his gun, I got to my feet and dived into the aquarium.

I wanted to surround myself with water. That always increased my power. Besides, it was possible Phobos couldn’t fit the chariot inside the doorway. Of course, if he blasted through it, that wouldn’t help . . .

I ran through the rooms, washed in weird blue light from the fish tank exhibits. Cuttlefish, clown fish, and eels all stared at me as I raced past. I could hear their little minds whispering, Son of the sea god! Son of the sea god! It’s great when you’re a celebrity to squids.

I stopped at the back of the aquarium and listened. I heard nothing. And then . . . Vroom, Vroom. A different kind of engine.

I watched in disbelief as Phobos came riding through the aquarium on a Harley-Davison. I’d seen this motorcycle before: its black flame-decorated engine, its shotgun holsters, its leather seat that looked like human skin. This was the same motorcycle Ares had ridden when I first met him, but it had never occurred to me that it was just another form of his war chariot.

“Hello, loser,” Phobos said, pulling a huge sword out of its sheath. “Time to be scared.”

I raised my own sword, determined to face him, but then Phobos eyes glowed brighter and I made the mistake of looking into them.

Suddenly I was in a different place. I was at Camp Half-Blood, my favorite place in the world, and it was in flames. The woods were on fire. The cabins were smoking. The dining pavilion’s Greek columns had crumbled and the Big House was a smoldering ruin. My friends were on their knees pleading with me. Annabeth, Grover, all the other campers.

Save us, Percy! they wailed. Make the choice!

I stood paralyzed. This was the moment I had always dreaded: the prophecy that was supposed to come about when I was sixteen. I would make a choice that would save or destroy Mount Olympus.

Now the moment was here, and I had no idea what to do. The camp was burning. My friends all looked at me begging for help. My heart pounded. I couldn’t move. What if I did the wrong thing?

Then I heard the voices of the aquarium fish: Son of the sea god! Wake!

Suddenly I felt the power of the ocean all around me again, hundreds of gallons of salt water, thousands of fish trying to get my attention. I wasn’t at camp. This was an illusion. Phobos was showing me my deepest fear.

I blinked, and saw Phobos’s blade coming down toward my head. I raised Riptide and blocked the blow just before it could cut me in two.

I counterattacked and stabbed Phobos in the arm. Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, soaked through his shirt.

Phobos growled and slashed at me. I parried easily. Without his power of fear, Phobos was nothing. He wasn’t even a decent fighter. I pressed him back, swiped at his face and gave him a cut across the cheek. The angrier he got, the clumsier he got. I couldn’t kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn’t have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.
Finally I kicked him backwards against the water fountain. His sword skittered into the ladies room. I grabbed the straps of his armor and pulled him up to face me.

“You’re going to disappear now,” I told him. “You’re going to stay out of Clarisse’s way. And if I see you again, I’m going to give you a bigger scar in a much more painful place!”

He gulped. “There will be a next time, Jackson!”

And he dissolved into yellow vapor.

I turned toward the fish exhibits. “Thanks, guys.”

Then I looked at Ares’s motorcycle. I’d never ridden an all-powerful Harley-Davison war chariot before, but how hard could it be? I hopped on, started the ignition, and rode out of the aquarium to help Clarisse.

I had no trouble finding her. I just followed the path of destruction. Fences were knocked down. Animals were running free. Badgers and lemurs were checking out the popcorn machine. A fat-looking leopard was lounging on the park bench with a bunch of pigeon feathers around him.


I parked the motorcycle next to the petting zoo and there were Deimos and Clarisse in the goat area. Clarisse was on her knees. I ran forward but stopped suddenly when I saw how Deimos had changed form. He was Ares now – the tall god of war, dressed in black leather and sunglasses, his whole body smoking with anger as he raised his fist over Clarisse.


“You failed me again!” the war god bellowed. “I told you what would happen!”


He tried to strike her but Clarisse scrambled away, shrieking, “No! Please!”


“Foolish girl!”


“Clarisse!” I yelled. “It’s an illusion. Stand up to him!”


Deimos’s form flickered. “I am Ares!” he insisted. “And you are a worthless girl! I knew you would fail me. Now you will suffer my wrath.”


I wanted to charge in and fight Deimos, but somehow I knew it wouldn’t help. Clarisse had to do it. This was her worst fear. She had to overcome it for herself.


“Clarisse!” I said. She glanced over and I tried to hold her eyes. “Stand up to him!” I said. “He’s all talk. Get up!”


“I – I can’t.”


“Yes, you can. You’re a warrior. Get up!”


She hesitated. Then she began to stand.


“What are you doing?” Ares bellowed. “Grovel for mercy, girl!”


Clarisse took a shaky breath. Very quietly, she said, “No.”


“WHAT?”

She raised her sword. “I’m tired of being scared of you.”


Deimos struck, but Clarisse deflected the blow. She staggered backward but didn’t fall.
“You’re not Ares,” Clarisse said. “You’re not even a good fighter.”


Deimos growled in frustration. When he struck again, Clarisse was ready. She disarmed him and stabbed him in the shoulder – not deep, but deep enough to hurt even a godling.


He yowled in pain and began to glow.


“Look away!” I told Clarisse.


We averted our eyes as Deimos exploded into golden light – his true godly form – and disappeared.


We were alone except for the petting zoo goats who were tugging at our clothes, looking for snacks.


The motorcycle had turned back into a horse-drawn chariot.


Clarisse looked at me cautiously. She wiped the straw and sweat off her face. “You didn’t see that. You didn’t see any of that.”


I grinned. “You did good.”


She glanced at the sky, which was turning red behind the trees.


“Get in the chariot,” Clarisse said. “We’ve still got a long ride to make.”



*

A few minutes later, we reached the Staten Island ferry building and remembered something obvious: We were on an island. The ferry didn’t take cars. Or chariots. Or motorcycles.


“Great,” Clarisse mumbled. “What do we do now? Ride this thing across the Verrazano Bridge?”


We both knew there wasn’t time. There were bridges to Queens and New Jersey, but either way it would take hours to drive the chariot back to Manhattan, even if we could fool people into thinking it was a regular car.


Then I got an idea. “We’ll take the direct route.”


Clarisse frowned. “What do you mean?”

I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. “Drive straight ahead. Go!”


Clarisse was so desperate she didn’t hesitate. She yelled, “Hiya!” and lashed the horses. They charged straight toward the water. I imagined the sea turning solid, the waves becoming a firm surface all the way to Manhattan. The war chariot hit the surf, the horses’ fiery breath smoking all around us, and we rode the tops of the waves straight across New York Harbor.



*



We arrived at Pier 86 just as the sunset was fading to purple. The U.S.S. Intrepid, temple of Ares, was a huge wall of grey metal in front of us, the flight deck dotted with fighter aircraft and helicopters. We parked the chariot on the ramp and I jumped out. For once, I was glad to be on dry land. Concentrating on keeping the chariot above the waves had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done. I was exhausted.


“I’d better get out of here before Ares arrives,” I said.


Clarisse nodded. “He’d probably kill you on sight.”


“Congratulations,” I said. “I guess you passed your driving test.”


She wrapped the reins around her hand. “About what you saw, Percy. What I was afraid of, I mean –”


“I won’t tell anybody.”


She looked at me uncomfortably. “Did Phobos scare you?”


“Yeah. I saw the camp in flames. I saw my friends all pleading for my help, and I didn’t know what to do. For a second, I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed. I know how you felt.”


She lowered her eyes. “I, uh . . . I guess I should say . . .” The words seemed to stick in her throat. I wasn’t sure Clarisse had ever said thank you in her life.


“Don’t mention it,” I told her.


I started to walk away, but she called out, “Percy?”


“Yeah?”


“When you, uh, had that vision about your friends . . .”


“You were one of them,” I promised. “Just don’t tell anybody, okay? Or I’d have to kill you.”


A faint smile flickered across her face. “See you later.”


“See you.”


And I headed off toward the subway. It had been a long day, and I was ready to get home.


THE END

So, if you wish me to update The Sword of Hades I'll do so!

damn im still scrolling dwn...... ahh im dun
u should totally make a thread for all that

so.... to refresh u gotta go back to your previous page then come back cause the lil refresh button dont work =(

BTW i feel your pain about the movie..... i yelled at the screen at the end..... my comments through it wernt to popular either

gawd making comments is getting hard with that big guy there >_>
think im a need to spamm us to da next page =)
JUMP
JUMP
JUMP
JUMP
JUMP
JUMP
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
NOW
NOW
NOW
NOW
UP
LEFT
RIGHT
I LIKE DA COOKIE!!!!
k dont reports me im just trying to gets us to nextpage....

damn didnt work XD

battle crys of PJO
BUTTER FLY!!!!!!!
PENUTBUTTER!!!!!!
FOR KRONOS!!!!
FOR POSIDON!!!!!!
FOR YOUR MOM!!!!
JK on da last 1

k 3 things 1 my new icon Child of Hades didnt load propperly
2: for nico fans i got some kool unknown stuff here The name Nico di Angelo is most likely derived from the name of the protagonist in the 1984 movie Oxford Blues, Nick Di Angelo. Nick Di Angelo works at a casino in Las Vegas, much how Nico lived in a casino for about seventy years. The name Nico is most likely derived from the prefix necro, meaning the dead. The name di Angelo is Italian for "of angels," alluding to at his role as the Lord of the Dead's son. Bianca comes from Rick Riordan's small hamster.

and 3: a sarcastic and stupid remark...
I AM DEAH OF ANGELS and thats my sister bianca PS: she is named after a hamsta U SHALL FEAR MY HAMSTA SISTA

im tired some1 else should keep u posted while i sle-...... ZZZZZzzzz

OK now the_amazer is sleeping. Seems he never gets tired...
Yeah i_am_zim i know it's sad. when i heard the lightning thief director was the same guy who made fist two harry potter movies... well i knew there would be changes. but not SUCH changes! i mean the first 2 HP movies were OK (sort of) and the changes were kinda reasonable... but this time... I CURSE THE LIGHTNING THIEF MOVIE TO HADES!!!!!!!

you know i've met pretty many harry potter haters. and they all told me they've never read the books. their reason for hating HP is that they watched the movie first and then they thought if the movie was so boring the books would be such a failure too....... SO PLEASE PEOPLE STOP MAKING MOVIE VERSIONS OF BOOKS!!! ALL IT DOES IS BRING BAD REPUTATION TO MY FAVE SERIES!!!

by the way i love your name jercy_packson
TheNewSeries, no offense but scrolling down REALLY SUCKS!!! but keep posting anyway i love the short stories

i now your disappointed the_amazer but seems that 25 comments make a page no matter how long the comments are (u know i have been counting the comments on evry page)... so keep scrolling down :P
by the way my comment is the 15th on this page

thanks for telling me the_amzer because i had to know that

i love pjato

how do you make a person your friend?

I read the books a long time ago but after the movies but anyway I love the books and I know that most of u don't like the movie but I actually like the movie me and my sister laughed at some parts but I didn't really compare them together

im not sure kind confused bout that 2 but ive got a few fans of me and ive only been fanpoppin for bout 5 days and mmhmm im back =)
MUHAHA and roheha u have some major points there..

BTW anybody gots some news on any PJO stuff like the new title?
cause i heard R.R will be releasing the title of the new series and book 1 sometime early may late april....

ima just goin off rumors not fact

ok ima get to the next page if it kills me.....

PERCY

JACKSON

IS AWSOME AND...