Looking up in the sky, I saw the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before- a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girls figure- a girl with a bow, running across the sky. "Let the world honor you, my Huntress. Live forever in the stars.

Mrs. O' Leary is my pet. I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might've scared her.

[My mom's] funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.

So I took her hand, and I don't know what everybody else heard, but to me it sounded like a slow dance: a little sad, but maybe a little hopeful, too.

A real man's weapon is his mind.

Even the gods couldn't devise a fates so twisted.

Great,” Percy said. “I always wanted to be glue.