"We need a shroud. A shroud for the son of Hermes."

"Beckendorf, whose legs were now working fine (nothing like being chased by a huge monster to get your body back in order) shook his head and gasped for breath. "You shouldn't have turned it on! It's unstable! After a few years, automatons go wild!"

"Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brat didn't get himself killed and now he'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...."

"No Tyson, the guy in the story did not attract the attention of a moose. Tyson is sad now."

"She had to go on this quest. The fate of the world might depend on it. But part of him wanted to say: Forget the world. He didn't want to be without her."

"A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and murk. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never knew."

"Huh," said Percy. "Never seen Jason fly before. He looks like a blond superman."

"He'd learned years ago it was better not to dwell too much on who was related to whom on the godly side of things. After Tyson the Cyclops adopted him as a brother, Percy decided that that was about as far as he wanted to extend the family."

"What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year."

"What's the best part of being in Hermes cabin?Connor: You are never lonely. I mean seriously, new kids are always coming in. So you always have someone to talk to.Travis: Or prank.Connor: Or pickpocket. One big happy family."

"I hate Hera."

"Maybe it's okay to be a kid once in a while."

"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm.""Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in."Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."

"No," I said. "I choose the prophecy. It will be about me.""Why are you saying that?" she cried. "You want to be responsible for the whole world?"It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it."I can't let Nico be in any more danger," I said. "I owe that much to his sister. I let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more."

"He hated when his own advice applied to himself."

"I tend to think of a myth and then explore how it would play out if it were happening in the modern-day world. I modify all the myths I use, but I stick very closely to their structure - it is the hidden teacher in me."

"Your voice is your identity. If you don't use it, your halfway to Asphodel already."

"I don't fight without reason. I don't want war without end."

"I'll be back with the sandwiches, she said. "But I had some leftover seven-layer dip."Yum. Percy dug in with a tortilla chip. "She's kinda famous for this, guys.Sally ruffled his hair. "There's guacamole, sour cream, refried beans, salsa-"Seven layers? I looked up in wonder. "You knew seven is my sacred number? You invented this for me?Sally wiped her hands on her apron. "Well, actually, I can't take credit-"You are too modest! I tried some of the dip. It tasted almost as good as ambrosia nachos. "You will have immortal fame for this, Sally Jackson!"

"All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorms room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my Essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book."

"Reyna sent me to get Percy," Frank said. "Did Octavian accept you?""Yeah," Percy said. "He slaughtered my panda."

"You're cute when you're worried. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."

"If you ever leave me again,' she said, her eyes stinging, 'I swear to all the gods-'Percy had the nerve to laugh. Suddenly the lump of heated emotions melted inside Annabeth.'Consider me warned,' Percy said. 'I missed you, too."

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract."

"Remake the world, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world."

"You know how teachers tell you the magic word is 'please'? That's not true. The magic word is 'puke'. It will get you out of class faster than anything else."

"Maybe it's okay to still be a kid every once in a while."

"Yeah, Hera was definitely channelling her inner Wicked Witch of the West that day."

"After his experience with Minos, Nico realized that most spectres held only as much power as you allowed them to have. They pried into your mind, using fear or anger or longing to influence you. Nico had learned to shield himself. Sometimes he could even turn the tables and bend ghosts to his will."

"Percy is the most powerful demigod I've ever met. No offense to you guys but it's true."

"Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

"Too bad Jason wasn't a metal automaton. At least then Leo would have some idea of how to help his best friend. But with humans, Leo felt helpless. They broke way too easily."

"Looking at the elementary schoolers in their colorful T-shirts from various day camps, Percy felt a twinge of sadness. He should be at Camp Half-Blood right now, settling into his cabin for the summer, teaching sword-fighting lessons in the arena, playing pranks on the other counselors. These kids had no idea just how crazy a summer camp could be."

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."

"Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball ofgreen flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything....I stared out the window into deep blue water. Beckendorf was supposed to go to college in the fall. He had a girlfriend, lots of friends, his whole life ahead of him. He couldn't be gone."

"Annabeth wanted to sob. She wanted someone, anyone to be here for her. She wanted Leo with his fire skills, or Jason with his lightning, or Hazel to collapse the tunnel. Most of all she wanted Percy. She always felt braver when Percy was with her."

"Part of their problem was Percy. He fought like a demon, whirling through the defender's ranks in a completely unorthodox style, rolling under their feet, slashing with his sword instead of stabbing like a Roman would, whacking campers with the flat of his blade, and generally causing mass panic."

"Leo: I'm almost out of gas! Woah, that came out wrong. I meant the burning kind!"

"The driver got out smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, I had the uneasy feeling it was Luke, my old enemy. This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn't Luke. His smile was brighter and more playful. (Luke didn't do much more than scowl and sneer these days.) The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt."Wow" Thalia muttered. Apollo Is hot.""He's the sun god," I said."That's not what I meant."

"You will suffer, son of Hades!' What else is new? Nico thought."

"Anyway, I'm glad you found her. (Calypso) You promised to find a way back to her, and I just wanted to say that if we do survive all this, I'll do anything to help you. Thats a promise I will keep."

"Dude." Jason gave Percy a bear hug."Back from Tartarus!" Leo whooped. "That's my peeps!"

"It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the internet-""You invented the internet?", Martha said., George said."It was my idea!" Hermes said. "I mean the internet, not the rats. But that's not the point."

"I stared at her. Maybe I wasn't the brightest guy in the world when it came to girls, but I was pretty sure Rachel had just dumped me, which was lame considering we'd never even been together."

"Pluto claimed that in ancient times, all humans had been a combination of male and female. Each person had two heads, four arms, four legs. Supposedly, these combo-humans had been so powerful they made the gods uneasy, so Zeus split them in half - man and woman. Ever since, humans had felt incomplete. They spent their whole lives searching for their other halves."

"The two of them looked so comfortable together it made Nico glad. But it also it caused an ache in his heart " a ghostly pain, like an old war wound throbbing in bad weather."

"Hermes's shoulders sagged. "They'll try, Percy. Oh, we'll all try to keep our promise. And maybe for a while things will get better. But we gods have never been good at keeping oaths. You were born because of a broken promise, eh? Eventually we'll become forgetful. We always do.""You can change."Hermes laughed. "After three thousand years, you think the gods can change their nature?""Yeah," I said. "I do."

"Leo, Hazel gasped, "I can't-my arms-"Hazel, he said. "Do you trust me?"No!"Me neither, Leo admitted."

"You guys are so... dark. Even if I used flash, I'm not sure it would come out.""Y-yeah," Percy managed. "You guys aren't photogenic."

"Five syllables," Apollo said, counting them on his fingers. "That would be real bad."