Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Demigod Files Read Free Page A

recognized it from this research report I’d had to do for history class. Phobos was grinning at me from the top of a World War II panzer.
    “Say cheese!” he said.
    I rolled to one side as the gun fired.
    KA-BOOOOM! A souvenir kiosk exploded, sending fuzzy animals and plastic cups and disposable cameras in every direction. As Phobos re-aimed his gun, I got to my feet and dived into the aquarium.
    I wanted to surround myself with water. That always increased my power. Besides, it was possible Phobos couldn’t fit the chariot inside the doorway. Of course, if he blasted through it, that wouldn’t help. . . .
    I ran through the rooms washed in weird blue light from the fish tank exhibits. Cuttlefish, clown fish, and eels all stared at me as I raced past. I could hear their little minds whispering, Son of the sea god! Son of the sea god! It’s great when you’re a celebrity to squids.
    I stopped at the back of the aquarium and listened. I heard nothing. And then . . . Vroom , Vroom . A different kind of engine.
    I watched in disbelief as Phobos came riding through the aquarium on a Harley-Davidson. I’d seen this motorcycle before: its black flame-decorated engine, its shotgun holsters, its leather seat that looked like human skin. This was the same motorcycle Ares had ridden when I’d first met him, but it had never occurred to me that it was just another form of his war chariot.
    “Hello, loser,” Phobos said, pulling a huge sword out of its sheath. “Time to be scared.”
    I raised my own sword, determined to face him, but then Phobos’s eyes glowed brighter, and I made the mistake of looking into them.
    Suddenly I was in a different place. I was at Camp Half-Blood, my favorite place in the world, and it was in flames. The woods were on fire. The cabins were smoking. The dining pavilion’s Greek columns had crumbled, and the Big House was a smoldering ruin. My friends were on their knees pleading with me. Annabeth, Grover, all the other campers.
    Save us, Percy! they wailed. Make the choice!
    I stood paralyzed. This was the moment I had always dreaded: the prophecy that was supposed to come about when I was sixteen. I would make a choice that would save or destroy Mount Olympus.
    Now the moment was here, and I had no idea what to do. The camp was burning. My friends looked at me, begging for help. My heart pounded. I couldn’t move. What if I did the wrong thing?
    Then I heard the voices of the aquarium fish: Son of the sea god! Wake!
    Suddenly I felt the power of the ocean all around me again, hundreds of gallons of salt water, thousands of fish trying to get my attention. I wasn’t at camp. This was an illusion. Phobos was showing me my deepest fear.
    I blinked and saw Phobos’s blade coming down toward my head. I raised Riptide and blocked the blow just before it cut me in two.
    I counterattacked and stabbed Phobos in the arm.
    Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, soaked through his shirt.
    Phobos growled and slashed at me. I parried easily. Without his power of fear, Phobos was nothing. He wasn’t even a decent fighter. I pressed him back, swiped at his face, and gave him a cut across the cheek. The angrier he was, the clumsier he got. I couldn’t kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn’t have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.
    Finally I kicked him backward against the water fountain. His sword skittered into the ladies room. I grabbed the straps of his armor and pulled him up to face me.
    “You’re going to disappear now,” I told him. “You’re going to stay out of Clarisse’s way. And if I see you again, I’m going to give you a bigger scar in a much more painful place!”
    He gulped. “There will be a next time, Jackson!”
    And he dissolved into yellow vapor.
    I turned toward the fish exhibits. “Thanks, guys.”
    Then I looked at Ares’s motorcycle. I’d never ridden an all-powerful Harley-Davidson war chariot before, but how hard could it be? I hopped on,