“Tell me when it's over " Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding on to us so we couldn't fall but still Thalia clutched his arm like it was the most important thing in the world. "Everything's fine " I promised. "Are... are we very high " I looked down. Below us a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks. "Nah " I said. "Not that high.”

“I looked at Thalia. "You're afraid of heights."Now that we were safely down the mountain, her eyes had their usual angry look. "Don't be stupid."That explains why you freaked out on Apollo's bus. Why you didn't want to talk about it."She took a deep breath. Then she brushed the pine needles out of her hair. "If you tell anyone, I swear—"No, no," I said. "That's cool. It's just… the daughter of Zeus, the Lord of the Sky, afraid of heights?”

“Jason muttered "And I saw something...Really terrible.""That was Hera," Thalia grumbled, "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.""That's it, Thalia Grace," Said the goddess. "I will turn you into and aardvark, so help me-" "Stop it, you two," Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.”

“Thalia's shoulders relaxed. "I owe you one.""Two.""One and a half," Thalia said.She smiled, and for a second, I remembered that I actually liked her when she wasn't yelling at me.”

“Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?""Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."...I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at me. "I do not understand.""I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said."And..." Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam t-shirt.”

“I stared at the river far below. "Why did you park us on the mountain? Why not closer?"Bast shrugged, as if this hadn't occurred to her. "Cats like to get as high up as possible. In case we have to pounce on something.""Great," I said. "So if we have to pounce, we're all set.”