With his wind-ruffled blond hair and his icy blue eyes, he looked ruggedly handsome and in control- just like a son of Jupiter should. Over his jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, he’d donned a toga and a purple cloak-symbols of his old rank as praetor. Otherwise he looked calm for a guy who was making himself a target. His knuckles were white on the hilt of his golden sword. He stood at the bow on the raised crossbow platform, where the Romans could easily spot him. Joke, though Annabeth could never be sure with Piper.) Her choppy brown hair was braided down the right side with an eagle’s feather.
Today she was dressed in tattered jeans, worn-out sneakers, and a white tank top with pink Hello Kitty designs. For a child of Aphrodite, Piper tried hard to play down her beauty. “We just want to talk.” Her charmspeak was so powerful, the words flowed over Annabeth, filling her with the desire to drop her dagger and have a nice long chat. Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album, or raise sails by shaking his Wii controllers really fast. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, and motion-control sensors from a Nintendo Wii. Most helmsmen would’ve been satisfied with a pilot’s wheel or a tiller. On the stern quarterdeck, Leo rushed around like a madman, checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Annabeth gripped one of the bronze shields that lined the starboard rail. The clouds broke around their hull, revealing the gold-and-green carpet of the Oakland Hills below them. She wasn’t sure the Romans had a sense of humor. Leo had wanted to paint a giant message on the bottom of the hull-WASSUP? with a smiley face-but Annabeth vetoed the idea. Hopefully the message had gotten through. She’d asked Leo to send one of his special inventions-a holographic scroll-to alert their friends inside the camp. Annabeth had tried to give the Romans a heads-up. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete…well, it wasn’t the most appropriate ride for a meet-and-greet with the neighbors. The Argo II definitely did not look friendly.
What if this was a bad idea? What if the Romans panicked and attacked them on sight? The warship descended through the clouds, but Annabeth couldn’t stop second-guessing herself. Even that mysterious chill she’d been feeling since the ship launched had dissipated, at least for now. The last thing they needed as they flew a magical Greek trireme into a potentially hostile Roman camp was a middle-aged satyr in gym clothes waving a club and yelling “Die!” Everything seemed to be in order. Most important, she pulled aside their war-crazed chaperone, Coach Gleeson Hedge, and encouraged him to take the morning off in his cabin and watch reruns of mixed martial arts championships. She reviewed the plan with the rest of the crew-and the backup plan, and the backup plan for the backup plan. She confirmed that the white “We come in peace” flag was flying from the mast. She’d paced the deck of their flying warship, the Argo II, checking and double-checking the ballistae to make sure they were locked down. UNTIL SHE MET THE EXPLODING STATUE, Annabeth thought she was prepared for anything. About the Author To Speedy Strays and wanderers are often sent by the gods.Hyperion Books, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.Copyright © 2012 by Rick Riordan All rights reserved.
Also by Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One: The Lightning Thief Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two: The Sea of Monsters Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Three: The Titan’s Curse Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Five: The Last Olympian The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid The Kane Chronicles, Book Two: The Throne of Fire The Kane Chronicles, Book Three: The Serpent’s Shadow The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of NeptuneĪCKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to Seán Hemingway, curator of Greek and Roman antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for helping me follow the Mark of Athena to its source.
0 kommentar(er)
