"POWDERED DONUTS!" Tyson said proudly, holding up a pastry box.
Viviene stared at him. She was acting completly normal now for a girl who was barely breathing five minutes ago. "Where did you get that? We're in the middle of the wilderness. There's
nothing around for-"
"Fifty feet," Tyson said. "Monster Donut shop-just over the hill!"
"This is bad," Vivien muttered, walking up to Annabeth and sharing a look with her.
They were crouching behind a tree, staring at the donut shop in the middle of the woods. It looked brand new, with brightly lit windows, a parking area, and a little road leading off into the forest, but there was nothing else around, and no cars parked in the lot. They could see one employee reading a magazine behind the cash register. That was it. On the store's marquis, in huge black letters that even Viviene could read, it said:
MONSTER DONUT
A cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the O in MONSTER. The place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate donuts.
"This shouldn't be here," Annabeth whispered. "It's wrong."
"What?" Percy asked. "It's a donut shop."
"Shhh!"
"Why are we whispering? Tyson went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him."
"He's a monster."
"Aw, c'mon, Annabeth. Monster Donut doesn't mean monsters! It's a chain. We've got them in New York."
"A chain," she agreed.
"And don't you think it's strange that one appeared immediately after you told Tyson and Annabeth to get donuts? Right here in the middle of the woods?" Viviene spoke up.
"It could be a nest," Annabeth explained.
Tyson whimpered. Viviene doubted he understood what Annabeth was saying any better than his brother did, but her tone was making him nervous. He'd plowed through half a dozen donuts from his box and was getting powdered sugar all over his face.
"A nest for what?"
"Haven't you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?" she asked. "One day there's
nothing and then the next day-boom, there's a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four- exact replicas spreading across the country?"
"Um, no. Never thought about it."
"Percy, some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the
life force of a monster. Some children of Hermes figured out how to do it back in the 1950s. They
breed-"
She froze.
"What?" Percy demanded. "They breed what?"
"No-sudden-moves," Annabeth said, like her life depended on it. "Very slowly, turn around."
Then Viviene heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves. She turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. She ouldn't understand what she was seeing at first. Then she realized the thing had multiple necks-at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read:
YOU ARE READING
RED ¹ / Percy Jackson !
Fanfiction"I suggest you stop this nonsense." "No. No unless she does as I say, or I swear, I will murder Percy right here right now." "Don't you dare touch a single hair on Percy, do you hear me?" Viviene yelled, taking a step closer to her father. " I fucki...
