Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief by Rick Riordan Read Free Book Online

asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.
    Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.
    Oops.
    "Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"
    "How do you know all this?"
    "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."
    "Keeping me near you? But—"
    Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.
    He'd smelled us.
    The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.
    The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate!
    Remember what I said."
    I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.
    He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.
    The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.
    "Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.
    "Mom!"
    She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.
    "No!"
    Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.
    The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. I couldn't allow that.
    I stripped off my red rain jacket.
    "Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid!
    Ground beef!"
    "Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists. I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.
    But it didn't happen like that.
    The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. Time slowed down.
    My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.
    The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being