“If not for the horses, Piper would've died.”

“Blackjack," Percy said, "this is Piper and Jason. They're friends."The horse nickered."Uh, maybe later," Percy answered.Piper had heard that Percy could speak to horses, being the son of the horse lord Poseidon, but she'd never seen it in action."What does Blackjack want?" she asked."Donuts," Percy said. "Always donuts.”

“Piper had a new entry in her top-ten list of Times Piper Felt Useless. Fighting Shrimpzilla with a dagger and a pretty voice? Not so effective.”

“Like water leaking through a dam," said Piper."Yeah," smiled Percy. "We've got a dam hole.""What?" Piper asked."Nothing," he said. "Inside joke.”

“Beautiful,' Jason exclaimed. 'Piper, you... you're a knockout.”

“Hi,” Piper said, as casually as she could. “We’re back.”

“Leo scratched his head. “Well I dunno about Enchiladas—”“Enceladus,” Piper corrected.“Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?”“Porphyrion?” Piper asked. ”He was the giant king, I think.”