Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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9 didn ' t want to —" " There !" a woman screamed . The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in . " Meet me outside ," Annabeth told me . " And him ." She pointed to Tyson , who was still sitting dazed against the wall . Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn ' t quite understand . " You ' d better bring him ." " What ?" " No time !" she said . " Hurry !" She put on her Yankees baseball cap , which was a magic gift from her mom , and instantly vanished . That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers . " Percy Jackson ?" Mr . Bonsai said . " What ... how ..." Over by the broken wall , Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks . " Head hurts ." Matt Sloan was coming around , too . He focused on me with a look of terror . " Percy did it , Mr .
Bonsai ! He set the whole building on fire . Coach Nunley will tell you ! He saw it all !" Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine , but just my luck — he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name . " Eh ? Yeah . Mm-hmm ." The other adults turned toward me . I knew they would never believe me , even if I could tell them the truth . I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans , told Tyson , " Come on !" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building .
Chapter Three
We Hail The Taxi Of Eternal Torment
Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street . She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past , heading for Meriwether Prep . " Where ' d you find him ?" she demanded , pointing at Tyson . Now , under different circumstances , I would ' ve been really happy to see her . We ' d made our peace last summer , despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn ' t get along with my dad . I ' d missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit .
But I ' d just been attacked by cannibal giants , Tyson had saved my life three or four times , and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem . " He ' s my friend ," I told her . " Is he homeless ?" " What does that have to do with anything ? He can hear you , you know . Why don ' t you ask him ?" She looked surprised . " He can talk ?" " I talk ," Tyson admitted . " You are pretty ." " Ah ! Gross !" Annabeth stepped away from him . I couldn ' t believe she was being so rude . I examined Tyson ' s hands , which I was sure must ' ve been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls , but they looked fine — grimy and scarred , with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips — but they always looked like that . " Tyson ," I said in disbelief . " Your hands aren ' t even burned ."
" Of course not ," Annabeth muttered . " I ' m surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around ."
Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth ' s blond hair . He tried to touch it , but she smacked his hand away . " Annabeth ," I said , " what are you talking about ? Laistry-what ?" " Laistrygonians . The monsters in the gym . They ' re a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north . Odysseus ran into them once , but I ' ve never seen them as far south as New York before ."