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Puffin is over seventy years old. Sounds ancient, doesn’t it? But Puffin has never been so lively. We’re always on the lookout for the next big idea, which is how it began all those years ago.
Penguin Books was a big idea from the mind of a man called Allen Lane, who in 1935 invented the quality paperback and changed the world. And from great Penguins, great Puffins grew, changing the face of children’s books forever.
The first four Puffin Picture Books were hatched in 1940 and the first Puffin story book featured a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge. In 1967 Kaye Webb, Puffin Editor, started the Puffin Club, promising to ‘make children into readers’. She kept that promise and over 200,000 children became devoted Puffineers through their quarterly instalments of Puffin Post.
Many years from now, we hope you’ll look back and remember Puffin with a smile. No matter what your age or what you’re into, there’s a Puffin for everyone. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure: whether it’s a picture book or a paperback, a sticker book or a hardback, if it’s got that little Puffin on it – it’s bound to be good.
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Letter from Camp Half-Blood
Map of Camp Half-Blood
The Inner Circle
Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot
Interview with Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon
Interview with Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares
Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon
Interview with Connor and Travis Stoll, Sons of Hermes
Interview with Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena
Interview with Grover Underwood, Satyr
Percy’s Summer Report
A Guide to Who’s Who in Greek Mythology
Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades
Weapons Guide
Olympian Crossword Puzzle
Olympian Word Jumble
The Twelve Olympian Gods Plus Two
Answers to Puzzles
Monsters: a Spotter’s Guide!
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First published in the USA by Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group, 2009
Published in Great Britain in Puffin Books 2010
The Sword of Hades was published in Great Britain for World Book Day 2009
Text copyright © Rick Riordan, 2009
Illustrations copyright © Steve James, 2009
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-141-93924-7
To Otto and Noah,
my demigod nephews
Dear Young Demigod,
If you are reading this book, I can only apologize. Your life is about to get much more dangerous.
By now, you have probably realized that you are not a mortal. This book is meant to serve as an inside look at the world of demigods that no regular human child would be allowed to see. As senior scribe at Camp Half-Blood, I hope the top-secret information within will give you some tips and insights that may keep you alive during your training.
The Demigod Files contains three of Percy Jackson’s most dangerous adventures never before committed to paper. You will learn how he encountered the immortal and terrible sons of Ares. You will find out the truth about the bronze dragon, long considered to be only a Camp Half-Blood legend. And you will discover how Hades gained a new secret weapon, as well as how Percy was forced to play an unwitting part in its creation. These stories are not meant to terrify you, but it is important that you realize just how perilous the life of a hero can be.
Chiron has also given me clearance to share confidential interviews with some of our most important campers, including Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. Please keep in mind that these interviews were given in strictest confidence. Share this information with any non-demigod and you may find Clarisse coming after you with her electric spear. Believe me, you do not want that.
Study these pages well, for your own adventures have only just begun. May the gods be with you, young demigod!
Yours truly,
Rick Riordan
Senior Scribe, Camp Half-Blood
MAP OF CAMP
HALF-BLOOD
Okay, it’s not every day that you’ll find yourself battling a doughnut-eating monster but, for the sake of argument, let’s say you did. These are the guys you’d want around as your back-up team.
(NB I only added Clarisse ’cause she’s got me out of a few scraps. Really, I hate her.)
Name: CHIRON
Gender: Male-slash-horse
Age: Like, really, really old, man!
Location: Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York
Occupation: Activities Director at Camp Half-Blood
About Chiron: Chiron’s dad is none other than the scariest Titan of them all, Kronos. The same Titan who wants to kill ME!
Body type: When he’s in his wheelchair you wouldn’t know that he’s a centaur. From the waist up he looks like a regular middle-aged guy: curly brown hair, check. Scraggly beard, check. But from the waist down he’s a white stallion!
Name: ANNABETH CHASE
Gender: Female
Age: 13 and a half (and apparently way more mature than me)
Location: San Francisco
Quote: Always, always have a plan.
About Annabeth: She’s had a kinda tough life. She ran away from home when she was seven because her dad got remarried and then she hung around with Luke and Thalia for a while before coming to camp.
Status: Why does everybody think Annabeth and I are a couple? She’s just my friend, seriously!
Body type: 179cm, kinda athletic, I guess, blonde hair, grey eyes.
Name: GROVER UNDERWOOD AKA THE G-MAN
Gender: Male-slash-goat
Age: 26 (but satyrs mature twice as slowly as humans, so he’s really 13)
Location: Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York
Quote: Give a hoot, don’t pollute!
Best feature: You’ll never have a problem with recycling when the G-man is around. He’ll eat all your aluminium cans!
Body type: Barnyard. He has shaggy legs and hooves. His top half is… um, very buff. Yes, very…
About the G-man: He’s a satyr: half man, half goat. He finally got his searcher’s licence to find the missing god Pan, but he keeps getting interrupted! Oh well, at least the Cyclopes didn’t eat him.
Name: TYSON
Gender: Cyclops (but don’t worry, he’s a goodie)
Age: 14 going on 4
Location: Poseidon’s palace, somewhere at the bottom of the sea
Body type: Huge, bulky and yeah, oh right, he only has one eye.
About Tyson: He’s had it kinda rough too. As the child of a nature spirit and a god (okay, my dad, Poseidon), he was cast out and tossed aside. Tyson had to grow up on the streets, until I found him, that is.
Name: CLARISSE
Gender: Female (ish)
Age: I’m too scared to ask.
Quote: Hey, Prissy (aka Percy), get ready to be pulverized!
Location: Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York
Body type: Big and ugly and real mean-looking.
About Clarisse: I’m gonna give you a massive heads-up here. All you need to know about Clarisse is that her father is Ares. Who’s he? Only the GOD OF WAR!
