“Far below, I heard Cacus bellowing as millions, maybe even thousands of filthy gallons of water slammed into him. Meanwhile, Annabeth alternately shouted, gagged, hit me, called me endearing pet names like, "Idiot! Stupid--dirty--moron--" and topped it all off with "Kill you!”

“I shouted the perfect words to scare him off. It was just the delivery (and only the delivery) that made me sound like a twelve-year-old girl with pee running down her leg. I felt dirty and stupid.”

“The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?""Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.That got exactl;y the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage."Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!""You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."I hoped to the gods she was already moving when she said that, because Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice. I heard the rock smash into a thousand fragments.To a terrible moment, there was silence. Then Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!""You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!"Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice.Now, the "Nobody" thing would have confused anybody, but Annabeth had explained to me that it was the name Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops's eye out with a large hot stick. Annabeth had figured Polyphemus would still have a grudge about that name, and she was right. In his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot about resealing the cave entrance. Apparently, he did even stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was female, whereas the first Nobody had been male. On the other hand, he'd wanted to marry Grover, so he couldn't have been all that bright about the whole male/female thing.I just hoped Annabeth could stay alive and keep distracting him long enough for me to find Grover and Clarisse.”

“I feel a whole country growing inside me, thousands of years, millions of people, stupid, crazy, shrewd people, and all of them me. I never felt like that before, I never felt that there was anything inside me, even myself.”

“Because through the heavy water, I heard the sound of an angel calling my name, calling me to the only heaven I wanted.”

“You heard my name was Chief Shouting Bear," he said. "It doesn't matter. You can call me whatever you want, Stupidlegs.”