"Is your mom really horrible?" Annabeth asked. "Can we see her?"

 

"No!" Luke snapped.

 

Annabeth shrank away from him as though his anger surprised her.

 

"I . . . I'm sorry," he said. "Just wait here. I promise everything will be

okay. Nothing's going to hurt you. I'll be back — "

 

A brilliant golden flash illuminated the woods. The demigods winced, and a man's

voice boomed: "You should not have come home."

 

The vision shut off.

 

My knees buckled, but Annabeth grabbed me. "Percy! What happened?"

 

"Did . . . did you see that?" I asked.

 

"See what?"

 

I glanced at Hestia, but the goddess's face was expressionless. I remembered

something she'd told me in the woods: If you are to understand your enemy Luke,

you must understand his family. But why had she shown me those scenes?

 

"How long was I out?" I muttered.