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Great idea, except as the goo expanded, it hardened into something like cement, locking my foot in the shoe. The foam had now reached the fabric of my sock.

“Percy, just step out of your shoe!” yelled Annabeth, who was now chasing a one-handed, half-bear Daedra around the room, trying to brain her with a bronze pot.

“I know!” I yelled back.

Did she think I was dumb? Had I ever given her reason to—You know what? Forget I asked that.

“Help!” Grover said.

His lips and eyes were almost swollen shut from bronze-bee stings. Gale, still attached to that golden chain, had leaped out of his armpit and scurried away. She was now being outstandingly unhelpful by hiding in an air duct, watching the chaos from a safe distance. In her defense, it was probably the first time in two days she wasn’t being chased by bees or shuffled from one evil perfumery to another.

I yanked against the goo-cement. On my third try, I pulled my foot out of my sock with a loudPOPand a sharp pain in my ankle. At least I was free. If you’re keeping score, that means my Halloween costume was now down to a loincloth, an arm shield, one sock, and one shoe. If I couldn’t kill the nymphs with my sword, maybe I could horrify them to death with my appearance.

I limped over to Grover—yeah, my ankle was definitely messed up—then started yelling and swatting at bees.

Meanwhile, Annabeth caught up with Daedra and whacked her over the head with the pot. Daedra stumbled off in a daze, tufts of bear fur falling off her face. If she could have found a potion that made cartoon birdies swirl around her head, she probably would’ve drunk it.

Unfortunately, Annabeth had been distracted from her earlier task of tying up Phaedra, who was starting to stir.

“Behind you!” I yelled.

I would have done more, but I was swarmed.

Pro tip: If you’re going to make Celestial bronze bees angry, it’s best not to do so in your underwear. For every bee I managed to smack with my sword, I got half a dozen stings. Each felt like a hot nail being hammered into my skin.

At least I gave Grover time to think. He grabbed the nearest Bunsen burner, rolled up a scroll, and lit a homemade torch.

From across the room, a newly unparalyzed Phaedra shrieked, “Stop! Those are priceless recipes!”

Annabeth punched her in the mouth with the hilt of her dagger—a scene that was also priceless.

Grover waved his torch, driving off the bees with smoke. I kept swatting until the last bronze butt-biter flew into the wall with a satisfyingcrunch.

I turned to Grover, who was gasping and covered in welts.

“You okay?” I asked.

Before he could answer, from across the room came a triumphant “Ha-HA!”

Annabeth had been grappling with Phaedra, who was still acting pretty feisty despite getting bashed in the mouth. The cry had come from Daedra, now fully naiad again, minus one hand, and only partially concussed, I guessed. She threw herself into the fray, jumping on Annabeth’s back.

Annabeth staggered.

We limped over to help, but Phaedra was faster. She pulled another potion out of her pocket—in a mother-of-pearl flask that looked expensive enough to be deadly.

Annabeth managed to shake off Daedra.

Phaedra chugged her potion and yelled, “BEAST BREATH!”

I didn’t know villains actually yelled the names of their special attacks in real life. Maybe the twins had been playing too muchMortal Kombat. Grover and I got to Annabeth’s side just as Phaedra opened her mouth and spewed a cloud of white gas at us.

At least Annabeth didn’t take the entire blast. To cover the most ground, Phaedra breathed on us the way you might slash with a blade—diagonally, top to bottom. Annabeth got fogged in the face. I got it across the chest. Grover got fumigated below the belt.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. I felt so relieved I smacked Phaedra in the nose with the hilt of my sword. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed. Annabeth elbowed Daedra in the face, putting her on the floor, too. I hoped there were some good plastic surgeons in the area because after this fight, the twins were going to need matching nose jobs.

Both of our attackers were down. The bees had been smashed. We’d only destroyed half the laboratory, and Gale was still alive, watching us cautiously from her perch in the air duct.

I sighed in relief. “That…actually could have been worse.”