Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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He nodded nervously . Now that we were away from Camp Half-Blood , the Mist had distorted his face again . Unless I concentrated very hard , it seemed that he had two eyes instead of one . " Okay ," Annabeth said . " So what exactly do you smell ?" " Something bad ," Tyson answered . " Great ," Annabeth grumbled . " That clears it up ." We came outside on the swimming pool level . There were rows of empty deck chairs and a bar closed off with a chain curtain . The water in the pool glowed eerily , sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship .
Above us fore and aft were more levels — a climbing wall , a putt-putt golf course , a revolving restaurant , but no sign of life .
And yet ... I sensed something familiar . Something dangerous . I had the feeling that if I weren ' t so tired and burned out on adrenaline from our long night , I might be able to put a name to what was wrong . " We need a hiding place ," I said . " Somewhere safe to sleep ." " Sleep ," Annabeth agreed wearily . We explored a few more corridors until we found an empty suite on the ninth level . The door was open , which struck me as weird . There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table , an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand , and a mint on the pillow with a handwritten note that said : Enjoy your cruise !
We opened our duffel bags for the first time and found that Hermes really had thought of everything — extra clothes , toiletries , camp rations , a Ziploc bag full of cash , a leather pouch full of golden drachmas . He ' d even managed to pack Tyson ' s oilcloth with his tools and metal bits , and Annabeth ' s cap of invisibility , which made them both feel a lot better . " I ' ll be next door ," Annabeth said . " You guys don ' t drink or eat anything ." " You think this place is enchanted ?" She frowned . " I don ' t know . Something isn ' t right . Just ... be careful ." We locked our doors . Tyson crashed on the couch . He tinkered for a few minutes on his metalworking project — which he still wouldn ' t show me — but soon enough he was yawning . He wrapped up his oilcloth and passed out .
I lay on the bed and stared out the porthole . I thought I heard voices out in the hallway , like whispering . I knew that couldn ' t be . We ' d walked all over the ship and had seen nobody . But the voices kept me awake . They reminded me of my trip to the Underworld — the way the spirits of the dead sounded as they drifted past . Finally my weariness got the best of me . I fell asleep ... and had my worst dream yet . I was standing in a cavern at the edge of an enormous pit . I knew the place too well . The entrance to Tartarus . And I recognized the cold laugh that echoed from the darkness below . If it isn ' t the young hero . The voice was like a knife blade scraping across stone . On his way to another great victory .
I wanted to shout at Kronos to leave me alone . I wanted to draw Riptide and strike him down . But I couldn ' t move . And even if I could , how could I kill something that had already been destroyed — chopped to pieces and cast into eternal darkness ?
Don ' t let me stop you , the titan said . Perhaps this time , when you fail , you ' ll wonder if it ' s worthwhile slaving for the gods . How exactly has your father shown his appreciation lately ? His laughter filled the cavern , and suddenly the scene changed . It was a different cave — Grover ' s bedroom prison in the Cyclops ' s lair . Grover was sitting at the loom in his soiled wedding dress , madly unraveling the threads of the unfinished bridal train . " Honeypie !" the monster shouted from behind the boulder . Grover yelped and began weaving the threads back together . The room shook as the boulder was pushed aside . Looming in the doorway was a Cyclops so huge he made Tyson look vertically challenged . He had jagged yellow teeth and gnarled hands as big as my whole body . He wore a faded purple T-shirt that said WORLD SHEEP EXPO 2001 . He must ' ve been at least fifteen feet tall , but the most startling thing was his enormous milky eye , scarred and webbed with cataracts . If he wasn ' t completely blind , he had to be pretty darn close .