“How was lunch?" she asked, watching, me bound up the stairs. "The soup was excellent." I called over my shoulder, knowing she wasn't inquiring about the food.”

“That's when I started thinking about my sister.I thought about the time when she and her friends painted my fingernails, and how that was okay because my brother wasn't there. And the time she let me use her dolls to make up plays or let me watch whatever I wanted to watch on TV. And when she started becoming a "young lady," and no one was allowed to look at her because she thought she was fat. And how she really wasn't fat. And how she was actually very pretty. And how different her face looked when she realized boys thought she was pretty. And how different her face looked the first time she really like a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy. And then I wondered how her face would look when she came out from behind those doors.”

“I was last. Sam walked up and held me for a long time. Finally she whispered in my ear. She said a lot of wonderful things about how it was okay that i wasn't ready last night and how she would miss me and how she wanted me to take care of myself while she was gone."You're my bestfriend," was all i could say in return.”

“You know how spooky Ashwini is. She called an hour ago to tell me she has a secret stash of handheld grenade launchers she thought I might want to know about. My response was, 'What the fuck?”

“I have Michael's number on my phone. I could call him and ask him to come over."I'd do whatever it took to talk to Michael. If that included serving up some extra crazy with a side of sauce, so be it."Babe?" he called over his shoulder to Dru, watching me with wide eyes as I kept singing, twirling my hair around my finger. "You might wanna hurry.”

“Before I could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to me now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs.""Why?" I asked."Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover."Um, he asked why.""Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy.”