“Die human, DIE!! Die nasty polluting person!!!!' yelled Grover. I turned him so he faced me. He kept on clicking his plastic gun towards me as if I was part of the game.”

“Die,human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!”

“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.”

“You cannot imprison me!" He bellowed. "I am Hyperion! I am-" The bark closed over his face. Grover took his pipes from his mouth. "You are a very nice maple tree.”

“I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"His eyes lit up. "Me?"Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch."Maia!" he shouted.He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos."Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!""Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.”

“Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!""Roooaaarrr!""Maybe not," Grover corrected.”

“Don't die on me," she ordered. "You are not dying on me.""Yes, ma'am." He felt light-headed, but she was about the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her hair was smoldering. Her face was smudged with soot. She had a cut on her arm, her dress was torn, and she was missing a boot. Beautiful.”