The waiter brought fresh-baked bread and cheese, a bottle of sparkling water for Annabeth, and a Coke with ice for me (because I’m a barbarian).

Spontaneous combustion IS a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.

He was the class clown, the court jester, because he'd learn early that if you cracked jokes and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up. Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs. Plus, humor was a good way to hide the pain

No matter how many times Percy killed them and watched them crumble to powder, they just kept re-forming like large evil dust bunnies.

Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey-when you are the son of Poseidon, you don't have to hurry. And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.

When he woke, daylight was coming through the glass floor, and a boy's voice said, "Oh...You are in so much trouble.

Love was the most savage monster of all.