Titan's Curse

Riordan, Rick. 2007. The Titan's Curse.

For fans of The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and his creator, Rick Riordan, need no introduction. Titan's Curse is the third installment in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series known for featuring gods, goddesses, half-bloods, and one adventure after another. In The Lightning Thief, Percy finds out he's the son of Poseidon. In the Sea of Monsters, Percy finds out that he may be the half-blood that fulfills a dangerous prophecy. In Titan's Curse, he learns just how dangerous the threat of that prophecy can be and how far certain characters will go to manipulate him onto their side.

The prophecy? That the son (or daughter) of one of the Big Three (Hades, Poseidon, or Zeus) will either bring salvation or destruction to the Olympians. The condition? This prophecy will be fulfilled when he/she is sixteen. If Percy is the 'one' of the prophecy he has two years to prepare for the temptations that will surely arise. But there is a person who is even closer to fulfilling the prophecy: Thalia. When Thalia is resurrected at the end of Sea of Monsters, no one is quite sure what to think. Will this daughter of Zeus--who is almost sixteen--be the 'one' of the prophecy? Can she be trusted? Whose side will she be on? Will she remember her happy childhood days with Luke and betray her new friends? Or betray her first true friend to do the 'right' thing by Olympian standards? Her sixteenth birthday is fast approaching and another even more critical deadline is approaching: Winter Solstice.

Titan's Curse has more of everything. More gods. More goddesses. More heroes (and heroines). More villains. More action and adventure. More danger. More prophecies. And strange as it may seem, more poetry as well. This is the Half-Bloods most dangerous adventure by far. And certain sacrifices will have to be made along the way, are Percy and his friends ready for what could prove to be their final battle?

THE TITAN'S CURSE will be released in May 2007. (May 1, 2007, according to Amazon.)

The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school. We picked up my friends Annabeth and Thalia on the way.
It was an eight-hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn't seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much. Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover hall, it was getting dark, and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me.
Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh yeah. This'll be fun."
Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" my mother asked.
"No, thanks, Mom," I said. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."
"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."
I hoped I wasn't blushing. It was bad enough I had to depend on my mom to drive me to my battles.
"It's okay, Ms. Jackson." Annabeth smiled reassuringly. Her blond hair was tucked into a ski cap and her gray eyes were the same color as the ocean. "We'll keep him out of trouble."
My mom seemed to relax a little. She thinks Annabeth is the most levelheaded demigod ever to hit eighth grade. She's sure Annabeth often keeps me from getting killed. She's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
"All right, dears," my mom said. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."
"Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"
"Mom--"
"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"
"Mom, seriously! We'll be fine. Come on, guys."
She looked a little hurt, and I was sorry about that, but I was ready to be out of that car. If my mom told one more story about how cute I looked in the bathtub when I was three years old, I was going to burrow into the snow and freeze myself to death.
Annabeth and Thalia follwed me outside. The wind blew straight through my coat like ice daggers.
Once my mother's car was out of sight, Thalia said, "Your mom is so cool, Percy."
"She's pretty okay," I admitted. "What about you? You ever get in touch with your mom?"
As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn't. Thalia was great at giving evil looks, what with the punk clothes she always wears--the ripped-up army jacket, black leather pants and chain jewelry, the black eyeliner and those intense blue eyes. But the look she gave me now was a perfect evil "ten." "If that was any of your business, Percy--"
"We'd better get inside," Annabeth interrupted. "Grover will be waiting."
Thalia looked at the castle and shivered. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."
I stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall.
"Nothing good," I guessed. (1-3)

Chapter One of Titan's Curse as read by Rick Riordan