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"Sorry, Annabeth," he said "You bring your own equiphting two-handed with just a sword gives youone-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility There are more ht back to Chiron, who’d told ht Noas going to pay for not listening to hied and almost killedthroughmy ribs

I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade aith his shield

"My, Percy," Luke chided "You’re out of practice"

He caain with a swipe to the head I parried, returned with a thrust He sidestepped easily

The cut on ain, I jue of strength I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke’s face

The force of the water knocked hi and blinded But before I could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again

I attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn’t even faze his Suddenly h was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed My jeans were ripped above the knee I was hurt I didn’t kno badly Luke hacked doard and I rolled behind a deck chair I tried to stand, but ht

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated

I rolled again as Luke’s sword slashed the deck chair in half,pool, trying hard not to black out I’d neverThe edge of his sas tinged with red

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy" He looked at the bear- Annabeth and Grover by the necks "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius

Bon appetit"

"He-he! He-he!" The bear-man lifted my friends and bared his teeth

That’s when all Hades broke loose

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius’s mouth With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crurius wailed He let the pegasus’s reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miauards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins’ bodies dissolve into smoke

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against ed out of the ht

Mythe crowd, but his relatives were al like him There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold paloe-and-white spots like paint horses Sohtly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER Some were aruns One had his face painted like a Coe Styrofoa Nureen A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side

Rick Riordan

The Sea Monsters - 02

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned I couldn’t tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack

Apparently both As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custolove on the end It s into the swi pool

His warriors scattered I couldn’t bla stallion is scary enough, but when it’s a centaur, ar hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat

88

"Coet some!" yelled one of the party ponies

They let loose with their paintball guns A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke’s warriors, blinding the them from head to toe They tried to run, only to slip and fall

Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited theet up, butstill felt like it was on fire

Luke was crawling out of the pool

"Attack, you fools’" he ordered his troops Soe alarm bell thrummed

I knew any second ould be swaetting over their surprise, co at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn

Tyson slapped half a dozen of theuardrail into Mia up the stairs

"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said

"You won’t get aith this, horse ot slove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair