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“Don’t call me a man!” he sobbed.

The tremble in my gut was getting worse and started moving down into my legs. I wished I’d been first in line with the beast breath. I probably would have turned into a mackerel head or something, but at least Annabeth would’ve still been able to talk and tell us what to do. She would’ve had an idea.

Me…I had a hundred new suckers and a strange desire to hunt lobsters.

“Grover, tie up the twins, would you?” I pleaded. “I gotta think.…”

“Okay, okay.” Grover shuffled awkwardly toward Daedra. “How do youwalkon these? They’re so tender! Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.”

Meanwhile, Annabeth, who, thankfully, still had human arms, started tying Phaedra’s wrists together with rubber hoses. I hoped that meant she was still thinking like herself.

Grover grabbed some duct tape. He knelt next to Daedra, who was now groaning and half-conscious, then apparently realized it was going to be hard to tie her wrists together since she only had one hand. He padded over to the severed bear paw, picked it up by one claw, and took it back to Daedra. He duct-taped it back to her wrist, despite the fact that it was several sizes too big.

“A good surgeon should be able to reattach this if you hurry,” Grover said.

“It’s a bear paw!” Daedra complained. “I’m a nymph!”

“Er, there, there,” Grover said, patting her shoulder, which did not seem to comfort her.

“There’s got to be something in this lab,” I said. “All these potions…”

“There isn’t,” Phaedra said. “You’re doomed to stay as you are! Even if youcouldconcoct a cure, you don’t have time.”

“WHO?”Annabeth asked.

“Look!” Phaedra pointed with her chin.

The bubbling pool of cauldron soup continued to spread. It was now six feet in diameter, with gooey tendrils snaking between the stone tiles, cracking the floor apart. Noxious steam rose from the fissures. The trembling I felt wasn’t just me. The room was shaking.

“We may be doomed,” Phaedra cackled, “but you are too if you stay here! Soon this entire building will collapse into a bottomless pit!”

That definitely didn’t sound good.

What would Annabeth do? I mean, if she wasn’t a barn owl…

I glanced up at Gale, still watching us curiously from the air duct. I remembered my shadow-travel disco experience with Hecuba, and the way we had finally bonded at the ruins of Troy.…

“Grover, Annabeth,” I said. “Get the twins out of here. Get to safety.”

“Looking like this?” Grover demanded.

“AWK!”screeched Owl-a-beth.

“I have an idea,” I promised.

I met Annabeth’s big black bird eyes. I didn’t need to be an expert in owl facial expressions to know she was skeptical. I had ideas the way other people had rashes…they were usually embarrassing and not something you wanted to share.

“Trust me,” I said, flailing my new purple tentacles. “I’m going to talk to the polecat.”

Actually, I couldn’t talk to polecats.

If I’d been logical about it, I would’ve left that job to Grover. But Grover was in no mood. He was too depressed about having toenails.

While he and Annabeth dragged the nymphs upstairs, I approached Gale as nonthreateningly as I could. That wasn’t easy with the floor cracking under my feet. My tentacles didn’t help, either. They lashed around as if they had minds of their own…which, come to think of it, octopus tentacles did. The ADHD part of my head-brain wondered if I could subcontract homework assignments to my new arm-brains.No…bad Percy. Stay focused on the polecat.

“Hey, Gale.” I tried to sound casual, like we’d just run into each other at a coffee shop. “I don’t blame you for hiding up there. Last few days have been a lot, huh?”

Gale glared at me, probably thinking,Dude, you’re part octopus. Yes, that’s a lot.