so mortals tend to see only what they can understand.

What about a compromise? I’ll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I’ll apologize.

Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines. And everything can be reused. - Hephaestus

Before I could do anything rash, a familiar voice behind me said, "Hello, Sadie." The other girls let out a collective gasp. My pulse quickened from "slow walk" to "fifty-meter-dash." I turned and found that-yes, indeed-the god Anubis had crashed our dance.

I pictured my mom, alone in our little apartment on the Upper East Side. I tried to remember the smell of her blue waffles in the kitchen. It seemed so far away.

I looked at Thalia. "You're afraid of heights." Now that we were safely down the mountain, her eyes had their usual angry look. "Don't be stupid." That explains why you freaked out on Apollo's bus. Why you didn't want to talk about it." She took a deep breath. Then she brushed the pine needles out of her hair. "If you tell anyone, I swear—" No, no," I said. "That's cool. It's just… the daughter of Zeus, the Lord of the Sky, afraid of heights?

Please excuse Jason from eternal damnation. He has had amnesia.