The Sea of Monsters

poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods.”
    Luke gritted his teeth. “You know that! Why do you keep asking me?”
    “Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you.”
    “ What audience?”
    Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.
    Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.
    “Well,” said Dionysus dryly, “some unplanned dinner entertainment.”
    “Mr. D, you heard him,” I said. “You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn’t Chiron’s fault.”
    Mr. D sighed. “I suppose not.”
    “The Iris-message could be a trick,” Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.
    “I fear not,” Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. “It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse’s pinochle games.”
    Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn’t bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world.
    “I got it!” he cackled.
    “We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus,” Mr. D announced.
    Tantalus looked stunned. “What? But—”
    “You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed.”
    “No! But—Nooooooooooo!”
    As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.
    Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.
    I was feeling pretty good about myself, until Luke turned and gave me a murderous look.
    “Kronos was right, Percy. You’re an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced.”
    I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I didn’t have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.
    Luke smiled at me. “You’ll never leave this boat alive.”

EIGHTEEN

THE PARTY PONIES INVADE
    “One on one,” I challenged Luke. “What are you afraid of ?”
    Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.
    Before he could saying anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I’d ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would’ve washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.
    “Sir!” Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. “Your steed is ready!”
    Luke kept his eyes on me.
    “I told you last summer, Percy,” he said. “You can’t bait me into a fight.”
    “And you keep avoiding one,” I noticed. “Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?”
    Luke glanced at his men, and he saw I’d trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he’d lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.
    “I’ll kill you quickly,” he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword. Its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn’t know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.
    He grinned at me wickedly.
    “Luke,” Annabeth said, “at least give him a shield.”
    “Sorry, Annabeth,” he said. “You bring your own equipment to this party.”
    The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more