The Demigods of Olympus: An Interactive Adventure by Rick Riordan Page A

.”
    It took me a moment to catch on. “You think B is Baucis, and Phil the cook is Philemon?”
    I stared at the waitress and the cook. I tried to imagine they were thousands of years old—characters from Greek mythology. I wasn’t good at guessing adults’ ages, but they didn’t look that ancient.
    “Not all the mythical beings you meet will be evil,” Sam said. “At least, I hope not. This place might be a refuge for demigods, in which case we got lucky. Or the names B and Phil could just be a coincidence. Still”—Sam lifted his tea—“unlimited free refills, you know?”
    I decided not to argue. Sam forked more lettuce into his mouth. I dug into my sandwich.
    “What do you think about getting to Zilker Park?” I asked. “Should we walk?”
    Sam picked up a steak fry from the plate in the middle of the table. Ketchup dripped from the tip. He eyed it with distaste.
    “Something wrong?” I asked.
    “It kinda looks like a bloody finger, doesn’t it?” Sam returned the offending potato to the plate.
    “Thanks, Sam,” I said. “You’re just full of good cheer.”
    “Sorry. Austin freaks me out. The cannibals who live here—”
    It was my turn to gag. “Whoa. Back up. Cannibals? As in people who eat people ?”
    I glanced around at the other patrons in the diner. They seemed normal enough. Then again, so had my guidance counselor before she turned into a lioness and tried to kill me. For all I knew, these Texans were munching on man-burgers with pickles and special sauce.
    “No, not human cannibals,” Sam clarified. “Demon satyrs .”
    “Oh, that’s much better.”
    “A whole pack of them lives underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. They attack and eat other satyrs if they get the chance.”
    The pieces fell into place. “That’s why you hate Austin. The last time you were here, they almost made you into shish-ka-Sam.”
    “Yeah. It happened while I was watching the bats.”
    “Bats. Right. What?” I shuddered. I have a terrible phobia of rats that almost got us killed when we went to see Mnemosyne. I couldn’t imagine having to face flying rats.
    “There’s a huge bat colony—hundreds of thousands of them. They live in the nooks beneath the bridge. People come from all over to watch them fly out at sunset. It’s pretty amazing, actually—an enormous fluttering black cloud that covers the sky. And the gossip you can get from that many bats—”
    I cut him off, desperately trying not to freak out. “You speak bat?”
    He looked at me blankly. “Of course. Anyway, I was so busy watching the bats I didn’t see this demon satyr. He snuck up on me from behind a group of camera-toting tourists. Once I noticed him”—he swallowed hard—“I knew I was in big trouble. Red slits for eyes, no pupils. Hot, foul breath, like week-old roadkill rotting in the sun. Fangs and blood-splotched fur. Definitely a meat-eater. And the dude was huge . If satyrs were candy bars, he’d be king-size to my fun-size.” He rubbed his face with his hands as if to wash away the image. “Honestly, I thought I was a goner.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I ran. And I kept running until…” He paused, embarrassment clouding his face.
    “Until what?”
    “I tripped, okay? It was humiliating. I mean, I’m a satyr. We’re known for being nimble, and there I am, tripping over my own hooves. To make matters worse, I fell into a street vendor’s cart.” He shook his head in self-disgust. “The vendor was giving out free samples of tea. The little paper cups flew everywhere. Anyone standing nearby got showered.”
    “What happened to the satyr?”
    Sam scratched his head. “I’m not sure. I heard him bellow once. Maybe he was laughing at me. Maybe he was frustrated because I’d gotten the attention of so many witnesses. When I looked back, he had vanished. I vanished, too. Got the heck out of Austin as soon as I could. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to death. I still have nightmares. I—I swore