Read The Demigods of Olympus: An Interactive Adventure for Free Online Page A

old helium balloons. “Your—your sister? You mean you and Ms. Roche—”
    “We are leontes !” the lion bellowed. “The children of Atalanta! We always hunt in pairs. Normally, the female has the honor of the kill, but since you sent her back to Tartarus—”
    “Wait.” I was hoping if I bought us a little time, Sam could get us out of this somehow. Maybe one of the packs in the cabinet contained a few hand grenades or possibly a bazooka. “Um, Mr. Lion…sorry, but I always like to know who’s killing me. You said you’re a child of who?”
    “Atalanta!” he cried. “The most famous Greek heroine! A glorious hunter. The fastest of runners. She and our father Hippomenes were cursed by that ridiculous love goddess Aphrodite simply because they forgot to make a few sacrifices during their wedding ceremony. Aphrodite changed them into lions! Ever since, we their descendants have prowled the world, looking for revenge. Since we cannot destroy the gods, we destroy their children!”
    I was out of magical tree-growing gold coins, so I glanced at Sam, hoping he had found a bazooka. Sadly, he was frozen in terror. He may have been my self-proclaimed protector, but at the moment he was about as helpful as the statue of Nemo Sign.
    “Well, Mr. Lion…” My voice sounded as squeaky as Mickey Mouse. “I can tell you’re upset. But, uh, I don’t even know the gods. I didn’t know I was a demigod until like an hour ago—”
    “Good!” snarled the lion. “I will destroy you before you learn your powers!”
    I looked around frantically. Should I go for the sword? Or try to outwit the lion?
    The lion tensed to pounce.

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“The road,” I said. “It looked like there were a lot of cars up there. We can get someone to help us out.”
    “I don’t know…” said Sam. “You’re not, like, great with adults.”
    “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, and took off for the road, Sam hot on my heels. His breathing whistled and puffed exactly like a horse or…a goat. So let’s see, I thought. I need to convince someone to let a half-animal, half-man into their car and drive us to an abandoned library . I didn’t feel very good about our chances, but I felt worse about staying in the forest.
    We got to the cracked asphalt and stopped, looking into the distance in either direction.
    “No cars,” said Sam, his voice tight. He looked back toward the forest.
    “Yeah, I see that,” I said.
    “Should we go back?” As if in answer to his question, a howl echoed out of the woods and the treetops quivered like something very large was shaking them.
    Just when I was thinking I’d made the wrong choice, I spotted a small red dot moving toward us, wavering in the heat reflecting off the road. “There!”
    Sam spun around and pumped his fist in the air. “ Yes ! Okay, look. We probably only have one shot at this, so remember to make eye contact and smile. And don’t mumble. And relax your shoulders. And stand up straight. And don’t shift your weight…”
    “I got it!” I said and stepped into the middle of the road, waving my hands in the air, rehearsing what I was going to say. Sam was right to worry. I wasn’t always good at reading people or talking to adults. But I understood the stakes. This time, I had no room for error.
    A red convertible came flying toward me, then braked hard, its engine slowing to a low, even idle under a wall of music. The driver revved it and gestured for me to get out of the way.
    Instead, I pasted a big smile on my face and walked toward the front of the car. “Hi, sir,” I shouted over the thumping bass, “Thanks for stopping.”
    The man, in his early thirties, had stylishly messy brown hair. He was wearing dark aviator sunglasses and a crisp blue button-down rolled up at the sleeves,