Reading The Hidden Oracle: Chapter 38 (SPOILERS)
"The plague spread." These are not promising starting words.
"Strangely enough, Damien White got sick right after he learned that Chiara was sick. The two had cots next to each other in the infirmary . . . even though they kept sniping at each other whenever they knew they were being watched." OTP OTP OTP
"recruiting whales and hippocampi to help him haul away the Colossus." How're they gonna get rid of the oil? Would the seashells and sand dollars that Percy used that the Triple G Ranch and in the Manhattan rivers work in this scenario?
"his own weathered, bearded mien." MIEN (n.): a person's look or manner, especially one of a particular kind indicating their character or mood
"The canoe dock could be rebuilt." And guess who's gonna be rushing to be the first to use it? None other than our best worst Canoe Duo!
"The Colossus's footstep craters could be repurposed as convenient foxholes or koi ponds." I really like the koi pond idea.
"The only major damage was to the Demeter cabin . . . the Colossus had managed to step on it before turning around" I'll bet that was on purpose. What if Nero goes after Miranda and Billie and any of Meg's other half-siblings as a warning to her?
Oh wait, is Apollo going to get slapped in the face by the Styx for using the plague arrow on the Colossus? Ah, the Styx's slaps are relatively gentle, anyway.
"At the moment, I did not want to be Apollo. All the destruction I saw below me... it was my fault." You know, this is one of the few times when the protagonist wallows over a disaster or conflict being their fault and I actually agree somewhat. The villain being his distant descendant, he's responsible for them to a degree and his neglect of his duties as a god allowed them to grow their power. Most of the Oracles being lost is his fault, but I am hesitant to blame the loss of Delphi on him considering the lockdown state of Olympus and split personality going on when Python took it over. Lots of this is his fault, though.
"What I needed to do was to find her. I wondered if Meg had phrased her order that way on purpose, or if that was just wishful thinking on my part." 100% wishful thinking. There was too much going on at that time for Meg to think that much about her phrasing and even if she did, if she wanted to be found, she wouldn't have run away to begin with.
"I should leave Camp Half-Blood immediately, before the campers woke." Don't do that. That is unwise. Athena would never recommend that. Don't pull a Nico and suddenly disappear when no one is looking.
"I wanted to flirt with Chiara and steal her away from Damien... or perhaps steal Damien away from Chiara, I wasn't sure yet." Please do not.
"Because I was a coward, I waited too long." Same.
"Lord Apollo." I love how Rachel still calls him Lord Apollo when he clearly looks like Lester Papadopoulos.
"The Arrow of Dodona just gives random advice." Yeah, where did that arrow come from? I'm willing to bet it's just something that exists in Greek mythology with no further explanation. It talks and gives sage advice simply because it does. No further context.
"'I appreciate the offer of assistance, but--' 'Whoa.' Percy held up his hands." He's drawing a CLEAR line. No taking chances that he might end up going unwillingly on a quest again. "'I'll go,' Rachel said. I shook my head." Aw, I wanted to see The Wacky Misadventures of Rachel the Prophecyless Oracle and Apollo the Powerless Sun God. It'd be so interesting to see a mortal go on a quest normally intended for demigods!
"I've lost too many people to bad influence . . . We almost lost Nico, too..." Bullshit. Nico never once blinked in the general direction of Kronos's army.
"I didn't want to speak the words." No, not the limerick! "A limerick?" "I know! . . . I'm doomed!" No, not the limerick!
"Percy slapped his knee. 'There you go. Happiness approaches. Happy is a name'" I get that Percy knows Festus, but how does he know that he's a three-seater? He's only seen Festus in his dragon form when he picked up Gaea. I guess it's unreasonable to assume the Lost Trio never bragged about their own quest.
Where did Leo get all that Celestial bronze to rebuild Festus's body? They had a hard enough time getting enough bronze to repair the ship that one time with Echo and Narcissus.
Anyway, HAPPINESS APPROACHES. I never thought to link that to Festus!