

They were just elementary-age kids, armed with nothing but water balloons and Super Soakers. I’d read that the sacred animal of Sobek wore something just like it back in Egypt, though what the monster was doing in a Long Island subdivision, I had no idea.Īs Percy and I took in the scene, the crocodile clamped down and bit the green Prius in half, spraying glass and metal and pieces of air bag across the lawns.Īs soon as he dropped the wreckage, half a dozen kids appeared from nowhere-apparently they’d been hiding behind some of the other cars-and charged the monster, screaming at the top of their lungs. The necklace was how I had realized that the monster was a petsuchos, back at the marsh. Around his neck hung an elaborate collar of gold chains and enough precious stones to buy a private island. But the weirdest thing about him was his bling. The creature’s eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light. I guessed this monster had the same holy perspiration. I remembered Sobek once telling me that his divine sweat created the rivers of the world.
THE SON OF SOBEK PERCY SKIN
His skin glistened blackish green and gushed water that pooled around his feet. He was about forty feet long, as tall as a delivery truck, with a tail so massive and powerful, it overturned cars every time it swished. Whatever the case, on dry land the crocodile looked even scarier than he had in the water. Maybe he just didn’t like poodles and/or honor students. Maybe the petsuchos thought the Toyota was another crocodile, and he was asserting his dominance. Unfortunately, the all-American scene was kind of ruined by the monster, who was busily eating a green Prius hatchback with a bumper sticker that read MY POODLE IS SMARTER THAN YOUR HONOR STUDENT. Ringing the cul-de-sac were half a dozen single-story homes with well-kept front lawns, economy cars in the driveways, mailboxes at the curb, flags hanging above the front porches.

We sprinted to the top of the hill, then hopped the fence of somebody’s backyard and ran into a residential cul-de-sac.Įxcept for the giant crocodile in the middle of the street, the neighborhood could have been Anywhere, USA. How do we kill it?”įrom above came another scream, followed by a loud CRUNCH, like the sound made by a metal compactor. It was like the mascot of Sobek’s temple, worshipped as a living god.” “It’s a Greek word, but the monster is Egyptian. “So this monster, this pet-suck-o or whatever-” That didn’t seem to make him feel any better. Percy glanced at the khopesh I’d retrieved from the river, then the wand in my belt. A voice, very deep in my mind, said: Shut up. He stared at me, and I could swear the air between us turned electric. “This monster is a petsuchos-a son of Sobek.” “No,” I tried again, halfway up the hill.
