Thalia glanced at Luke. He counted silently: One, two, three! He ripped away the

tin, and a little girl flew at him with a hammer.

 

"Whoa!" Luke said.

 

The girl had tangled blond hair and was wearing flannel pajamas. She couldn't

have been more than seven, but she would've brained Luke if he hadn't been so

fast.

 

He grabbed her wrist, and the hammer skittered across the cement.

 

The little girl fought and kicked. "No more monsters! Go away!"

 

"It's okay!" Luke struggled to hold her. "Thalia, put your shield up. You're

scaring her."

 

Thalia tapped Aegis, and it shra nk into a silver bracelet. "Hey, it's all

right," she said. "We're not going to hurt you. I'm Thalia. This is Luke."

 

"Monsters!"

 

"No," Luke promised. "But we know all about monsters. We fight them too."

 

Slowly, the girl stopped kicking. She studied Luke and Thalia with large

intelligent gray eyes.