PLEASE READ THE REWRITE INSTEAD OF THIS. THIS IS ONLY UP UNTIL THE REWRITE IS COMPLETED. PLEASE READ THE REWRITE TO PREVENT LOSING THE BOOK BEFORE YOU'RE DONE.
Veronica Westcourt didn't like Camp Half-Blood. She didn't like the fact that she hadn't...
Veronica looked around as they made their way across the sky bridge into the streets of Olympus. The shops were closed. The parks were empty. A couple of Muses sat on a bench strumming flaming lyres, but they looked a little out of it. There was a single Cyclops sweeping the street with an uprooted oak tree. A minor godling spotted the teenagers from a balcony and ducked inside, closing his shutters.
They passed under a big marble archway with statues of Zeus and Hera on either side. Annabeth and Veronica made a face at the queen of the gods.
"Hate her," she muttered.
"Same," Veronica said.
"Has she been cursing you too, Annabeth?" Percy asked.
"Just little stuff so far," Annabeth answered. "Her sacred animal is the cow, right?"
Percy nodded. "Right."
"So she sends cows after me."
Percy tried not to smile. "Cows? In San Francisco? That's almost as weird as in New York."
"Haven't seen one since I drove the first batch insane and then killed them," Veronica said. "I did get a letter from my dad telling me that I'd done well, though. What about you, Annabeth?"
"Usually I don't see them," Annabeth said, "but the cows leave me little presents all over the place—in our backyard, on the sidewalk, in the school hallways. I have to be careful where I step."
"Look!" Pollux cried, pointing toward the horizon. "What is that?"
Everyone froze. Blue lights were streaking across the evening sky toward Olympus. It looked like they were coming from all over the city, heading straight toward the mountain. As they got close, they fizzled out. The half-bloods watched them for several minutes and they didn't seem to do any damage, but it was still confusing.
"Like infrared scopes," Michael Yew muttered. "We're being targeted."
"Let's get to the palace," Percy ordered.
No one was guarding the hall of the gods. The gold-and-silver doors stood wide open. The demigods' footsteps echoed as they walked into the throne room.
Of course, "room" doesn't really cover it. The place was the size of Madison Square Garden. High above, the blue ceiling glittered with constellations. Twelve giant empty thrones stood in a U around a hearth. In one corner, a house-size globe of water hovered in the air, and inside swam Bessie the Ophiotaurus, half-cow, half-serpent.
"Moooo!" he said happily, turning in a circle.
Percy smiled. "Hey, man," he said. "They treating you okay?"
