Until she spotted the two-headed monster, Annabeth
didn’t think her day could get any worse.
She’d spent all morning doing makeup work for school.
(Skipping classes on a regular basis to save the world from
monsters and rogue Greek gods was seriously messing up her
GPA.) Then she’d turned down a movie with her boyfriend
Percy and some of their friends so she could try out for a summer internship at a local architecture fi rm. Unfortunately, her
brain had been mush. She was pretty sure she had fl ubbed
the interview.
Finally, around four in the afternoon, she trudged through
Washington Square Park on her way to the subway station
and stepped in a fresh pile of cow manure.
She glared at the sky. “Hera!”
The other pedestrians gave her funny looks, but Annabeth
didn’t care. She was tired of the goddess’s practical jokes.
Annabeth had done so many quests for Hera, but still the
Queen of Heaven left presents from her sacred animal right
where Annabeth could step in them. The goddess must have
had a herd of stealth cows patrolling Manhattan.
By the time Annabeth made it to the West Fourth Street
station, she was cranky and exhausted and just wanted to
catch the F train uptown to Percy’s place. It was too late for
the movie, but maybe they could get dinner or something.
Then she spotted the monster.
Annabeth had seen some crazy stuff before, but this beastie defi nitely made her “What Were the Gods Thinking?”
list. It looked like a lion and a wolf lashed together, wedged
butt-fi rst into a hermit crab shell.
The shell itself was a rough brown spiral, like a waffl e
cone—about six feet long with a jagged seam down the middle, as if it had been cracked in half, then glued back together.
Sprouting from the top were the forelegs and head of a gray
wolf on the left, a golden-maned lion on the right.
The two animals didn’t look happy about sharing a shell.
They dragged it behind them down the platform, weaving
left and right as they tried to pull in diff erent directions. They
snarled at one another in irritation. Then both of them froze
and sniff ed the air.
Commuters streamed past. Most maneuvered around
the monster and ignored it. Others just frowned or looked
annoyed.