The Sea of Monsters

middle-aged couple was standing in the buffet line right behind the devil dog, patiently waiting their turn for the eggs. They didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.
    “Not hungry anymore,” Tyson murmured.
    Before Annabeth or I could reply, a reptilian voice came from down the corridor, “Ssssix more joined yesssterday.”
    Annabeth gestured frantically toward the nearest hiding place—the women’s room—and all three of us ducked inside. I was so freaked out it didn’t even occur to me to be embarrassed.
    Something—or more like two somethings—slithered past the bathroom door, making sounds like sandpaper against the carpet.
    “Yesss,” a second reptilian voice said. “He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong.”
    The things slithered into the cafeteria with a cold hissing that might have been snake laughter.
    Annabeth looked at me. “We have to get out of here.”
    “You think I want to be in the girls’ restroom?”
    “I mean the ship, Percy! We have to get off the ship.”
    “Smells bad,” Tyson agreed. “And dogs eat all the eggs. Annabeth is right. We must leave the restroom and ship.”
    I shuddered. If Annabeth and Tyson were actually agree ing about something, I figured I’d better listen.
    Then I heard another voice outside—one that chilled me worse than any monster’s.
    “—only a matter of time. Don’t push me, Agrius!”
    It was Luke, beyond a doubt. I could never forget his voice.
    “I’m not pushing you!” another guy growled. His voice was deeper and even angrier than Luke’s. “I’m just saying, if this gamble doesn’t pay off—”
    “It’ll pay off,” Luke snapped. “They’ll take the bait. Now, come, we’ve got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket.”
    Their voices receded down the corridor.
    Tyson whimpered. “Leave now?”
    Annabeth and I exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.
    “We can’t,” I told Tyson.
    “We have to find out what Luke is up to,” Annabeth agreed. “And if possible, we’re going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus.”

NINE

I HAVE THE WORST FAMILY REUNION EVER
    Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but I convinced her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody went.
    “Nobody!” Tyson voted. “Please?”
    But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. We stopped at our cabin long enough to gather our stuff. We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo. I made sure Riptide was in my pocket and the vitamins and thermos from Hermes were at the top of my bag. I didn’t want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told me not to worry about it. Tyson could carry three full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as I could carry a backpack.
    We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship’s YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. We hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.
    As we came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed,
    “Hide!” and shoved us into a supply closet.
    I heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.
    “You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?” one of them said.
    The other laughed. “Yeah, it’s awesome.”
    Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed my arm hard. I got a feeling I should know that second guy’s voice.
    “I hear they got two more coming,” the familiar voice said. “They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!”
    The voices faded down the corridor.
    “That was Chris Rodriguez!” Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. “You remember—from Cabin Eleven.”
    I sort of recalled Chris from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. Now that I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen Chris at camp this summer. “What’s another half-blood doing here?”
    Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.
    We kept going down the corridor. I didn’t need maps anymore to know I was getting close to Luke. I sensed something cold and unpleasant—the presence of evil.
    “Percy.” Annabeth stopped suddenly. “Look.”
    She stood in