Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian - 05
She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."
"Which is why he agreed to let me come with you guys on vacation?"
"Yes . . . but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were
with us. Besides, there's something I want to talk—" She stopped abruptly.
"Something you want to talk about?" I asked. "You mean . . . so serious we'd have to go to
St. Thomas to talk about it?"
She pursed her lips. "Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple of normal
people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."
I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made
her hair look like fire.
We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the
more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away,
just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there,
away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag.
"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."
She nodded. "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it
take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"
"Oh . . ." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows—slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um . . ."
I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than . . .
well, than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain
trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.
I'm not sure what I would have done next—but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge
black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a
WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!
Hey, boss, a voice said in my head. Nice car!
Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the
craters he'd just put in the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be real stoked.
"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you—"
Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more
complicated.
" 'Sup, Percy."
Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, w ould make most monsters
cry for their mommies. He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every
summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armorsmiths. He made some seri-
ously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of
a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole
legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.
Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black
camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.
"Time?" I asked.
He nodded grimly.
A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning for it for weeks,
but I'd half hoped it would never happen.
Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."
"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned
you."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his
hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."
"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.
I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom—"
"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."
I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.
"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill
some monsters for me."
My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching
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