Hatchetfield's Camp.

I Ruin A Perfectly Good Bus

It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur hor in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Peter  had found for me.

The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions-whatever that meant. He gave Hannah and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt.

It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.

Hannah was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom which was given to her sister Lex's boyfriend, Ethan Green, it's complicated, in which . She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.

Peter wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his probably big brother goat Ted had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.

We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Grace, daughter of Zeus.

Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the eye dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Peter, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Bliklotep," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

I heard footsteps behind us.

Max came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."

Hannah blushed, the way she always did when Max was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Max told me. "And I thought...um, maybe you could use these."

He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.

Max said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Peter said.

Max smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days...." His expression turned sad.

I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Max had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift....It made me blush almost as much as Hannah.