“Do you have anything to declare?' the statue asked me. 'Yes. I do have something to declare.' I said. 'I declare this is [dumb]”

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

“Now, come over here so I can pat you down.""But you don't have-" Percy stopped. "Uh, sure."He stood next to the armless statue. Terminus conducted a rigorous mental pat down."You seem to be clean," Terminus decided. "Do you have anything to declare?""Yes," Percy said. "I declare that this is stupid.”

“Do you think me cruel?” Neith asked. “Oh, yes, I collect the pockets of my enemies.”“Horrifying,” I said. “I didn’t know demons had pockets.”“Oh, yes.” Neith glanced in either direction, apparently to be sure no one was eavesdropping. “You just have to know where to look.”

“There’s nothing here,” Carter said.“What do you want?” I asked. “We’ve got wax, some toilet papyrus, an ugly statue.”

“I'm calm," Rachel insisted. "Every time I'm around you, some monsters attack us. What's to be nervous about?""Look," I said. "I'm sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you our or anything.""Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb.""Was it hard?" Annabeth asked.”

“I looked at Rachel. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? I mean....you talked to Chiron, right?"She managed a faint smile. "You're worried about me doing something stupid?”