And if someone doesn’t believe in any afterlife?” I asked. Walt gave me a sad look. “Then that’s what they experience.

In a way, it's nice to know that there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some devine force is really trying to mess up your day.

The last thing I wanted to do was blow up another school.

That was Hera. Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.

It wasn't exactly like talking, but it went something like this: Could you give us a ride north, Percy asked, like as close to Portland as possible? Eat seals, the whale responded. Are you seals? No, Percy admitted. I've got a man satchel full of macrobiotic beef jerky, though. The whale shuddered. Promise not to feed me this, and I will take you north. Deal.

Calm down, Horus said. "Don't tell me to calm down!" Bast frowned. "I didn't." "Talking to him!" I pointed at my forehead.

For the rest of my life I would always be thinking about her. She would always be my biggest what if. -Perseus Jackson