Rick Riordan

“So I saved your life, and you repaid me by raising Kronos. That's fair.”

“First, you start carrying a man satchel. Next thing you know, you're running around in a bathrobe and pink bunny slippers, chasing chickens with a weed whacker.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t try to be awesome. It just comes natural.”

“A real man's weapon is his mind.”

“Death has more in common with Love than you might imagine.”

“You do the easy thing, the appealing thing, the peaceful thing, mostly it turns sour in the end. But if you take the hard path - ah, that's how you reap the sweet rewards. Duty. Sacrifice. They mean something.”

“Nobody welcomes a war - not if they're smart. But war finds everyone sooner or later. It's inevitable.”

“He raised an eyebrow. "You claim not to know me? Of course I'm Thoth. Also called Djehuti. Also called--"I [Sadie] stifled a laugh. "Ja-hooty?"Thoth looked offended. "In Ancient Egyptian, it's a perfectly fine name. The Greeks called me Thoth. Then later they confused me with their god Hermes. Even had the nerve to rename my sacred city Hermopolis, though we're nothing alike. Believe me, if you've ever met Hermes--”

“WARNING:The following is a transcript of a digital recording. In certain places, the audio quality was poor, so some words and phrases represent the author's best guesses. Where possible, illustrations of important symbols mentioned in the recording have been added. Background noises such as scuffling, hitting, and cursing by the two speakers have not been transcribed The author makes no claims for the authenticity of the recording. It seems impossible that the two young narrators are telling the truth, but you, the reader, must decide for yourself.”

“I'm just a kid, Chiron," I said miserably. "What good is one lousy hero against something like Kronos?"Chiron managed a smile. '"What good is one lousy hero'? Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said something like that to me once, just before he single-handedly changed the course of your Civil War.”

“Chaos is impatient. It's random. And above all it's selfish. It tears down everything just for the sake of change, feeding on itself in constant hunger. But Chaos can also be appealing. It tempts you to believe that nothing matters except what you want.”

“Sometimes you have to lose a piece to win a game.”

“We create order out of chaos, beauty and meaning out of ugly randomness.”

“I plucked a ruby off the nearest plant and threw it at Hades.”

“You have a humming dodo bird," I said stupidly.”

“I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said.I stared at her as if she'd just said "I need to eat a large, smelly boot.""What for?”

“A little slower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over.”

“Tyson! Thank the gods, Annabeth is hurt!""You thank the gods that she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.”

“I guess it wasn't everyday they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.”

“I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have too.”

“The Feast of Fortuna had nothing to do with tuna, which was fine with Percy.”

“You think it's okay that we're eating Rudolph?""Dude," Percy said, "I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm HUNGRY.”

“You seem to be clean," Terminus decided. "Do you have anything to declare?""Yes," Percy said. "I declare this is stupid.”

“Percy hated tests. Since he'd lost his memory, his whole life was one big fill-in-the-blank. He was _____, from _____. He felt like _____, and if the monsters caught him, he'd be _____.”

“Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?”

“Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music.”

“Gods tend to be selfish. Even when they're helpful, they always have their own motives. That's why you have to be careful about trusting them.”

“You see gods have great power, but only humans have creativity, the power to change history rather than simply read it.”

“Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.”

“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.”

“As he fell toward the highway, a horrible scenario flashed through his mind: his body smashing against an SUV's windshield, some annoyed commuter trying to push him off with the wipers. "Stupid 16-year-old kid falling from the sky! I'm late!”

“At the Feast of Fortune, she'll awaken, and the demigods will be cut down like-- like---""Like our low prices at Bargain Mart!" Stheno suggested.”

“Heroes like you always have a weak spot. We just have to find it, and then we can kill you. Won't that be lovely? Have a cheese 'n' Wiener!”

“Heroes!" Euryale said with disgust. "They always bring that up, just like our mother! 'why can't you turn people to stone? your sister can turn people to stone.' Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, boy! That was Medusa's curse alone. she was the most hideous one in the family. She got all the luck!" Stheno looked hurt. "Mother said I was the most hideous.”

“Look, ladies, we've been over this. I don't even remember killing Medusa. I don't remember anything! Can't we just call a truce and talk about your weekly specials?" Stheno gave her sister a pouty look, which was hard to do with giant bronze tusks. "Can we?”

“HAZEL: "THERE," she said.The official building on their left had a single word etched on the glass doors: AMAZON."oh," Frank said."Uh, no, Hazel. That's a modern thing. They're a company, Right? they sell stuff on the internet. They're not actually Amazons.""Unless..." Percy walked through the doors.”

“The horse seemed to bend time and space as he ran, blurring the landscape and making Frank feel like he'd just drunk a gallon of whole milk without his lactose-intolerance medicine: "Seven hundred and fifty miles per hour. Eight hundred. Eight hundred and three. Fast. very Fast.”

“Everything happens for a reason, Sadie, even bad things.”

“You promised you would protect her Nico said. He might as well have stabbed me with a rusty dagger.It would've hurt less than reminding me of my promise.”

“your loved ones have been used to lure you into Kronos's traps. Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty Percy. You do not know when it is time to cut your losses. To save a friend you would sacrifice the world.”

“Your former friend Luke " Poseidon corrected. "He once promised things like that. He was Hermes's pride and joy. Just bear that in mind Percy. Even the bravest can fall.”

“There are parties and then there are huge major blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice go for the Olympian.”

“Zoe readied her arrows. Grover lifted his pipes. Thalia raised her shield and I noticed a tear running down her cheek. Suddenly it occurred to me: this had happened to her before.She had been cornered on Half- Blood Hill. She'd willingly given her life for her friends. But this time she couldn't save us.”

“Tell me when it's over " Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding on to us so we couldn't fall but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world. "Everything's fine " I promised. "Are... are we very high " I looked down. Below us a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks. "Nah " I said. "Not that high.”

“I should throw you off this building minus the flying horse and see how heroic you sound on the way down.”

“Grover started to sniffle and I figured if I didn't cheer him up he'd either start bawling or chewing up my mattress. He tends to eat household objects whenever he gets upset.”

“If my mom told one more story about how cute I looked in the bathtub when I was three years old I was going to burrow into the snow and freeze myself to death.”

“I hoped I wasn't blushing. It was bad enough I had to depend on my mom to drive me to my battles.”

“Annabeth Thalia and I hadn't seen each other in months but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do we were too nervous to talk much. Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover Hall it was getting dark and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me.”

“Um..." Hazel faltered. "You mean you won't... you're not going to-" "Claim your life?" Thantos asked. "Well, let's see..." He pulled a pure-black iPad from thin air. Death, tapped the screen a few times, and all Frank could think was: Please don't let there be an app for reaping souls. "I don't see you on the list," Thantos said. "Pluto gives me specific orders for escaped souls, you see. For some reason, he has not issued a warrant for yours. Perhaps he feels your life is not finished, or it could be n oversight. If you'd like me to call and ask-" "No!" Hazel yelped. "That's okay." "Are you sure?" Death asked helpfully. "I have video-conferencing enabled. I have his Skype address here somewhere...”