The Titan's Curse

with light brown skin and slicked-back dark hair. He wore an expensive brown silk suit like the guys on Wall Street wear, but you’d never mistake this dude for a broker. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half. His eyes were like stone. I felt as if I were looking at a living statue. It was amazing he could even move.
    “You have already failed me, Thorn,” he said.
    “But, General—”
    “No excuses!”
    Thorn flinched. I’d thought Thorn was scary when I first saw him in his black uniform at the military academy. But now, standing before the General, Thorn looked like a silly wannabe soldier. The General was the real deal. He didn’t need a uniform. He was a born commander.
    “I should throw you into the pits of Tartarus for your incompetence,” the General said. “I send you to capture a child of the three elder gods, and you bring me a scrawny daughter of Athena.”
    “But you promised me revenge!” Thorn protested. “A command of my own!”
    “ I am Lord Kronos’s senior commander,” the General said. “And I will choose lieutenants who get me results! It was only thanks to Luke that we salvaged our plan at all. Now get out of my sight, Thorn, until I find some other menial task for you.”
    Thorn’s face turned purple with rage. I thought he was going to start frothing at the mouth or shooting spines, but he just bowed awkwardly and left the room.
    “Now, my boy.” The General turned to Luke. “The first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her.”
    “The Hunters will be difficult to dispose of,” Luke said. “Zoë Nightshade—”
    “Do not speak her name!”
    Luke swallowed. “S–sorry, General. I just—”
    The General silenced him with a wave of his hand. “Let me show you, my boy, how we will bring the Hunters down.”
    He pointed to a guard on the ground level. “Do you have the teeth?”
    The guy stumbled forward with a ceramic pot. “Yes, General!”
    “Plant them,” he said.
    In the center of the room was a big circle of dirt, where I guess a dinosaur exhibit was supposed to go. I watched nervously as the guard took sharp white teeth out of the pot and pushed them into the soil. He smoothed them over while the General smiled coldly.
    The guard stepped back from the dirt and wiped his hands. “Ready, General!”
    “Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey.”
    The guard picked up a little tin watering can with daisies painted on it, which was kind of bizarre, because what he poured out wasn’t water. It was dark red liquid, and I got the feeling it wasn’t Hawaiian Punch.
    The soil began to bubble.
    “Soon,” the General said, “I will show you, Luke, soldiers that will make your army from that little boat look insignificant.”
    Luke clenched his fists. “I’ve spent a year training my forces! When the Princess Andromeda arrives at the mountain, they’ll be the best—”
    “Ha!” the General said. “I don’t deny your troops will make a fine honor guard for Lord Kronos. And you, of course, will have a role to play—”
    I thought Luke turned paler when the General said that.
    “—but under my leadership, the forces of Lord Kronos will increase a hundredfold. We will be unstoppable. Behold, my ultimate killing machines.”
    The soil erupted. I stepped back nervously.
    In each spot where a tooth had been planted, a creature was struggling out of the dirt. The first of them said:
    “Mew?”
    It was a kitten. A little orange tabby with stripes like a tiger. Then another appeared, until there were a dozen, rolling around and playing in the dirt.
    Everyone stared at them in disbelief. The General roared, “What is this? Cute cuddly kittens? Where did you find those teeth?”
    The guard who’d brought the teeth cowered in fear. “From the exhibit, sir! Just like you said. The saber-toothed tiger—”
    “No, you idiot! I said the tyrannosaurus! Gather up those . . . those infernal fuzzy little beasts and take them outside. And never let me see your face again.”
    The terrified guard dropped his watering can. He gathered up the kittens and scampered out of the room.
    “You!” The General pointed to another guard. “Get me the right teeth. NOW! ”
    The new guard ran off to carry out his orders.
    “Imbeciles,” muttered the General.
    “This is why I don’t use mortals,” Luke said. “They are unreliable.”
    “They are