“Back in Khufu's day I knew a magician who parted the Nile just so he could climb to the bottom and retrieve a girl's necklace. Then there was that Israelite fellow, Mickey.""Moses?""Yeah, him.”

“I kept climbing--past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive--partly because his lunch box was cool, partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head toward the engine room.”

“Dan was thrilled that the second clue had been safely smuggled out of the church in his pants."So, really, I saved the day," he decided."Wait a minute," Amy said, "I climbed onto the roof in the middle of a thunderstorm.""Yeah, but the clue was in my pants.”

“Whoa," said Nico as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?""Yeah," I (Percy) said."Why is there lava pouring down it?""Little extra challenge..." - Percy”

“Facinating." He broke into a wide grin. "I've discovered something, Khufu. This is not Memphis, Egypt."Khufu gave me a sideways look, and I could swear his expression meant, Duh."I've also discovered a new form of magic called blues music," the man continued. "And barbecue. Yes, you must try barbecue.”

“He nodded nervously. ‘He looks like a magician. I hate magicians. They usually have rabbits.’I stared at him. ‘You’re scared of bunnies?’ ‘Blah-hah-hah! They’re big bullies. Always stealing celery from defenceless satyrs.”

“But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just...ask me out?"He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon, any day."So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.”