My understanding of magic is fairly straightforward. Hit enemies with a sword until they’re dead. If they rise again, hit them again. Repeat as necessary. It worked against Set.

What? You run? Coward! Stand still and die!” Percy had no intention of doing that.

Great," Percy said. "Seven of us against Hercules." "And a satyr!" Hedge added. "We can take him.

I need to use the Dam Bathroom, I need to use the Dam Snack bar, I want a Dam Tee-Shirt.

I do like to wrap things up and leave some things to the readers' imagination.

Curled up at the base of the scales, fast asleep, was the oddest monster I'd seen yet. It had the head of crocodile with a lion's mane. The front half of its body was a lion, but the back end was sleek, brown, and fat - a hippo, I decided. The odd bit was, the animal was tiny - I mean, no larger than an average poodle, which I suppose made him a hippodoodle.

You can't call a ninja lord dweeb.