The Son of Neptune Read Online Free PDF Page B

way to the Wolf House. We’re tested and trained.
    If Lupa thinks we’re worthy, she sends us south to join the legion. But I’ve never heard of someone losing his memory. How did you find Camp Jupiter?”
    Percy told her about the last three days—the gorgons who wouldn’t die, the old lady who turned out to be a goddess, and finally meeting Hazel and Frank at the tunnel in the hill.
    Hazel took the story from there. She described Percy as brave and heroic, which made him uncomfortable. All he’d done was carry a hippie bag lady.
    Reyna studied him. “You’re old for a recruit. You’re what, sixteen?”
    “I think so,” Percy said.
    “If you spent that many years on your own, without training or help, you should be dead. A son of Neptune? You’d have a powerful aura that would attract all kinds of monsters.”
    “Yeah,” Percy said. “I’ve been told that I smell.”
    Reyna almost cracked a smile, which gave Percy hope. Maybe she was human after all.
    “You must’ve been somewhere before the Wolf House,” she said.
    Percy shrugged. Juno had said something about him slumbering, and he did have a vague feeling that he’d been asleep—maybe for a long time. But that didn’t make sense.
    Reyna sighed. “Well, the dogs haven’t eaten you, so I suppose you’re telling the truth.”
    “Great,” Percy said. “Next time, can I take a polygraph?”
    Reyna stood. She paced in front of the banners. Her metal dogs watched her go back and forth.
    “Even if I accept that you’re not an enemy,” she said, “you’re not a typical recruit. The Queen of Olympus simply doesn’t appear at camp, announcing a new demigod. The last time a major god visited us in person like that…” She shook her head. “I’ve only heard legends about such things. And a son of Neptune…that’s not a good omen. Especially now.”
    “What’s wrong with Neptune?” Percy asked. “And what do you mean, ‘especially now’?”
    Hazel shot him a warning look.
    Reyna kept pacing. “You’ve fought Medusa’s sisters, who haven’t been seen in thousands of years. You’ve agitated our Lares, who are calling you a graecus. And you wear strange symbols—that shirt, the beads on your necklace. What do they mean?”
    Percy looked down at his tattered orange T-shirt. It might have had words on it at one point, but they were too faded to read. He should have thrown the shirt away weeks ago. It was worn to shreds, but he couldn’t bear to get rid of it. He just kept washing it in streams and water fountains as best he could and putting it back on.
    As for the necklace, the four clay beads were each decorated with a different symbol. One showed a trident. Another displayed a miniature Golden Fleece. The third was etched with the design of a maze, and the last had an image of a building—maybe the Empire State Building?—with names Percy didn’t recognize engraved around it. The beads felt important, like pictures from a family album, but he couldn’t remember what they meant.
    “I don’t know,” he said.
    “And your sword?” Reyna asked.
    Percy checked his pocket. The pen had reappeared as it always did. He pulled it out, but then realized he’d never shown Reyna the sword. Hazel and Frank hadn’t seen it either. How had Reyna known about it?
    Too late to pretend it didn’t exist.…He uncapped the pen. Riptide sprang to full form. Hazel gasped. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.
    “What is that?” Hazel asked. “I’ve never seen a sword like that.”
    “I have,” Reyna said darkly. “It’s very old—a Greek design. We used to have a few in the armory before…” She stopped herself. “The metal is called Celestial bronze. It’s deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer.”
    “Imperial gold?” Percy asked.
    Reyna unsheathed her dagger. Sure enough, the blade was gold. “The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the