“Hey, can I see that sword you were using? I showed him Riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it. Cool! Does it ever run out of ink? Um, well, I don't actually write with it. Are you really the son of Poseidon? Well, yeah. Can you surf really well, then? I looked at Grover, who was trying hard not to laugh. Jeez, Nico, I said. I've never really tried. He went on asking questions. Did I fight a lot with Thalia, since she was a daughter of Zeus? (I didn't answer that one.) If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (I tried not to strangle Nico for asking that one.) Was Annabeth my girlfriend? (At this point, I was ready to stick the kid in a meat-flavored sack and throw him to the wolves.)”
