Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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27 size of a garbage truck . I walked into the arena , and a wall of darkness slammed into me . " WOOF !" The next thing I knew I was flat on the ground with a huge paw on my chest and an oversize
Brillo-pad tongue licking my face . " Ow !" I said . " Hey , girl . Good to see you too . Ow !" It took a few minutes for Mrs . O ' Leary to calm down and get off me . By then I was pretty much drenched in dog drool . She wanted to play fetch , so I picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena .
By the way , Mrs . O ' Leary is the world ' s only friendly hellhound . I kind of inherited her when her previous owner died . She lived at camp , but Beckendorf . . . well , Beckendorf used to take care of her whenever I was gone . He had smelted Mrs . O ' Leary ' s favorite bronze chewing bone . He ' d forged her collar with the little smiley face and a crossbones name tag . Next to me , Beckendorf had been her best friend .
Thinking about that made me sad all over again , but I threw the shield a few more times because Mrs . O ' Leary insisted .
Soon she started barking — a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun — like she needed to go for a walk . The other campers didn ' t think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena . It had caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide accident . So I opened the gates of the arena , and she bounded straight toward the woods .
I jogged after her , not too concerned that she was getting ahead . Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs . O ' Leary . Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close .
When I finally tracked her down , she wasn ' t using the facilities . She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial . The place didn ' t look so good . The grass had turned yellow . The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves . But that ' s not what surprised me . In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio I ' d ever seen : Juniper the tree nymph , Nico di Angelo , and a very old , very fat satyr .
Nico was the only one who didn ' t seem freaked out by Mrs . O ' Leary ' s appearance . He looked pretty much like I ' d seen him in my dream — an aviator ' s jacket , black jeans , and a T-shirt with dancing skeletons on it , like one of those Day of the Dead pictures . His Stygian iron sword hung at his side . He was only twelve , but he looked much older and sadder .
He nodded when he saw me , then went back to scratching Mrs . O ' Leary ' s ears . She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks . Being the son of Hades , he ' d probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places .
The old satyr didn ' t look nearly so happy . " Will someone — what is this underworld creature doing in my forest !" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot . " You there , Percy Jackson ! Is this your beast ?" " Sorry , Leneus ," I said . " That ' s your name , right ?" The satyr rolled his eyes . His fur was dust-bunny gray , and a spiderweb grew between his horns . His belly would ' ve made him an invincible bumper car . " Well , of course I ' m Leneus . Don ' t tell me you ' ve forgotten a member of the Council so quickly . Now , call off your beast !" " WOOF !" Mrs . O ' Leary said happily . The old satyr gulped . " Make it go away ! Juniper , I will not help you under these circumstances !" Juniper turned toward me . She was pretty in a dryad-y way , with her purple gossamer dress and her elfish face , but her eyes were green-tinted with chlorophyll from crying . " Percy ," she sniffled . " I was just asking about Grover . I know something ' s happened . He wouldn ' t stay gone this long if he wasn ' t in trouble . I was hoping that Leneus —" " I told you !" the satyr protested . " You are better off without that traitor ." Juniper stamped her foot . " He is not a traitor ! He ' s the bravest satyr ever , and I want to know where he is !" " WOOF !" Leneus ' s knees started knocking . " I . . . I won ' t answer questions with this hellhound sniffing my tail !" Nico looked like he was trying to not crack up . " I ' ll walk the dog ," he volunteered . He whistled , and Mrs . O ' Leary bounded after him to the far end of the grove .