Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Author:Rick Riordan [Riordan, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780141926902
Google: AWMxzoncFBgC
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2008-04-30T18:30:00+00:00

MONSTER DOUGHNUT

A cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the O in MONSTER. The place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate doughnuts.

‘This shouldn’t be here,’ Annabeth whispered. ‘It’s wrong.’

‘What?’ I asked. ‘It’s a doughnut shop.’

‘Shhh!’

‘Why are we whispering? Tyson went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him.’

‘He’s a monster.’

‘Aw, c’mon, Annabeth. Monster Doughnut doesn’t mean monsters! It’s a chain. We’ve got them in New York.’

‘A chain,’ she agreed. ‘And don’t you think it’s strange that one appeared immediately after you told Tyson to get doughnuts? Right here in the middle of the woods?’

I thought about it. It did seem a little weird, but, I mean, doughnut shops weren’t real high on my list of sinister forces.

‘It could be a nest,’ Annabeth explained.

Tyson whimpered. I doubt he understood what Annabeth was saying any better than I did, but her tone was making him nervous. He’d ploughed through half a dozen doughnuts from his box and was getting powdered sugar all over his face.

‘A nest for what?’ I asked.

‘Haven’t you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?’ she asked. ‘One day there’s nothing and then the next day – boom, there’s a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four – exact replicas spreading across the country?’

‘Um, no. Never thought about it.’

‘Percy, some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster. Some children of Hermes figured out how to do it back in the 1950s. They breed –’

She froze.

‘What?’ I demanded. ‘They breed what?’

‘No – sudden – moves,’ Annabeth said, like her life depended on it. ‘Very slowly, turn around.’

Then I heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.

I turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing at first. Then I realized the thing had multiple necks – at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: I’M A MONSTER DOUGHNUT KID!

I took out my ballpoint pen, but Annabeth locked eyes with me – a silent warning. Not yet.

I understood. A lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. It was possible the Hydra might pass us by. But if I uncapped my sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.

We waited.

The Hydra was only a metre or so away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. Then I noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas – one of our duffel bags. The thing had already been to our campsite. It was following our scent.

My heart pounded. I’d seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare me for the real thing.

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