Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Demigod Files Read Free

and a couple of churches and a McDonald’s, we finally saw a sign that said ZOO. We turned a corner and followed this curvy street with some woods on one side until we came to the entrance.
    The lady at the ticket booth looked at us suspiciously, but thank the gods I had enough cash to get us inside.
    We walked around the reptile house, and Clarisse stopped in her tracks.
    “There it is.”
    It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would’ve been beautiful if all the pictures hadn’t shown people dying painful deaths. The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils.
    Families with strollers walked right past the chariot like it didn’t exist. I guess the Mist must’ve been really strong around it, because the chariot’s only camouflage was a handwritten note taped to one of the horses’ chests that said OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE.
    “Where are Phobos and Deimos?” Clarisse muttered, drawing her sword.
    I couldn’t see them anywhere, but this had to be a trap.
    I concentrated on the horses. Usually I could talk to horses, since my dad had created them. I said, Hey. Nice fire-breathing horses. Come here!
    One of horses whinnied disdainfully. I could understand his thoughts, all right. He called me some names I can’t repeat.
    “I’ll try to get the reins,” Clarisse said. “The horses know me. Cover me.”
    “Right.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to cover her with a sword, but I kept my eyes peeled as Clarisse approached the chariot. She walked around the horses, almost tiptoeing.
    She froze as a lady with a three-year-old girl passed by. The girl said, “Pony on fire!”
    “Don’t be silly, Jessie,” the mother said in a dazed voice.
    “That’s an official zoo vehicle.”
    The little girl tried to protest, but the mother grabbed her hand and they kept walking. Clarisse got closer to the chariot. Her hand was six inches from the rail when the horses reared up, whinnying and breathing flames. Phobos and Deimos appeared in the chariot, both of them now dressed in pitch-black battle armor. Phobos grinned, his red eyes glowing. Deimos’s scarred face looked even more horrible up close.
    “The hunt is on!” Phobos yelled. Clarisse stumbled back as he lashed the horses and charged the chariot straight toward me.
    Now, I’d like to tell you that I did something heroic, like stand up against a raging team of fire-breathing horses with only my sword. The truth is, I ran. I jumped over a trash bin and an exhibit fence, but there was no way I could outrun the chariot. It crashed through the fence right behind me, plowing down everything in its path.
    “Percy, look out!” Clarisse yelled, like I needed somebody to tell me that.
    I jumped and landed on a rock island in the middle of the otter exhibit. I willed a column of water out of the pond and doused the horses, temporarily extinguishing their flames and sending them into confusion. The otters weren’t happy with me. They chattered and barked, and I figured I’d better get off their island quick, before I had crazed sea mammals after me too.
    I ran as Phobos cursed and tried to get his horses under control. Clarisse took the opportunity to jump on Deimos’s back just as he was lifting his javelin. Both of them went tumbling out of the chariot as it lurched forward.
    I could hear Deimos and Clarisse starting to fight, sword on sword, but I didn’t have time to worry about it because Phobos was riding after me again. I sprinted toward the aquarium with the chariot right behind me.
    “Hey, Percy!” Phobos taunted. “I’ve got something for you!”
    I glanced back and saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar treads, a turret, and a long gun barrel. A tank. I