Rick Riordan The Titan’ s Curse- 03
Another tour guide was talking over the microphone, telling the tourists about water supplies in Nevada. I prayed that Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were okay. They might already be captured, or eating at the snack bar, completely unaware that we were being surrounded. And stupid me: I had trapped myself in a hole hundreds of feet below the surface.
I worked my way around the crowd, trying not to be too obvious about it. There was a hallway at the other side of the balcony— maybe some place I could hide. I kept my hand on Riptide, ready to strike.
By the time I got to the opposite side of the balcony, my nerves were shot. I backed into the little hallway and watched the tunnel I ' d come from. Then right behind me I heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton. Without thinking, I uncapped Riptide and spun, slashing with my sword. The girl I ' d just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex. " Oh my god.'" she shouted. " Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?" The first thing that went through my head was that the sword hadn ' t hurt her. It had passed clean through her body, harmlessly. " You ' re mortal!" She looked at me in disbelief. " What ' s that supposed to mean? Of course I ' m mortal! How did you get that sword past security?" " I didn ' t— Wait, you can see it ' s a sword?" The girl rolled her eyes, which were green like mine. She had frizzy reddish-brown hair. Her nose was also red, like she had a cold. She wore a big maroon Harvard sweatshirt and jeans that were covered with marker stains and little holes, like she spent her free time poking them with a fork.
" Well, it ' s either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world," she said. " And why didn ' t it hurt me? I mean, not that I ' m complaining. Who are you? And whoa, what is that you ' re wearing? Is that made of lion fur?"
She asked so many questions so fast, it was like she was throwing rocks at me. I couldn ' t think of what to say. I looked at my sleeves to see if the Nemean Lion pelt had somehow changed back to fur, but it still looked like a brown winter coat to me.
I knew the skeleton warriors were still chasing me. I had no time to waste. But I just stared at the redheaded girl. Then I remembered what Thalia had done at Westover Hall to fool the teachers. Maybe I could manipulate the Mist.
I concentrated hard and snapped my fingers. " You don ' t see a sword," I told the girl. " It ' s just a ballpoint pen." She blinked. " Um … no. It ' s a sword, weirdo." " Who are you?" I demanded. She huffed indignantly. " Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?" " No!" I said. " I mean, I ' m kind of in a hurry. I ' m in trouble." " In a hurry or in trouble?" " Um, sort of both." She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. " Bathroom!" " What?" " Bathroom! Behind me! Now!" I don ' t know why, but I listened to her. I slipped inside the boys ' bathroom and left Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside. Later, that seemed cowardly to me. I ' m also pretty sure it saved my life. I heard the clattering, hissing sounds of skeletons as they came closer. My grip tightened on Riptide. What was I thinking? I ' d left a mortal girl out there to die. I was preparing to burst out and fight when Rachel Elizabeth Dare started talking in that rapid-fire machine gun way of hers.
" Oh my god! Did you see that kid? It ' s about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god ' s sake. You security guys let a sword-swinging lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."
The skeletons clattered excitedly. I heard them moving off.
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