The Gorgon Slayer (5 page)

“Not much,” Warren agreed. “Ten bucks and no tip.”

“Are you going to be here tomorrow, or were you just telling Princey a story?”

“I’ll be here tomorrow.”

Rick sighed. “I guess I will be, too. I really need that new bike. I’ll see you.”

“Yeah,” Warren said, “I’ll see you.” He watched as Rick walked stiffly away, then climbed, groaning, onto his bicycle. His legs screamed from the pain of the minor refleshing they’d undergone.

“Hopefully,” he said to himself, “they aren’t so sore that they can’t speed me past the unicorn crossing.”

“Beware of the sausage maker on your ride home, Piggy.” Rank Frank laughed.

“Go kiss Medusa, Frank.” Warren pedaled painfully away.

The sun was setting. The air was summer-evening cool, with birds singing sweetly in the trees. A fairy family was having a picnic on a napkin across the street—a corn kernel, a whole thimbleful of soda, and a miniature marshmallow for dessert. It promised to be a beautiful evening.

Warren sighed. If only tomorrow would hold so much promise.

Tomorrow was just another day working at
Prince Charming’s Damsel in Distress Rescue Agency. If Warren was unlucky, and after today he had no reason to think he wouldn’t be, it would be another day of lousy assignments at half pay.

But maybe things will be different
, he thought.
Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe I’ll get an easy assignment—like slaying a dragon
.

H
EROES
OF
M
YTHOLOGY

The ancient Greeks believed that the world was flat and circular and that the only existing sea, the Mediterranean, was filled with dragons, monsters, and enchantresses. Believing in heroes and gods who championed the common man gave people a sense of well-being and security.

HERCULES
—the son of the god Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene. This hero was famous for his strength and courage. His most outstanding exploits were his twelve labors. The sixth of those labors, which is mentioned in this book, was cleaning the stables of King Augeas by running rivers through them.

JASON
—the son of King Aeson of Thessaly. Jason was raised by the centaur Chiron. When he was grown up and ready to take his place on the throne of Thessaly, he found that it had been usurped by his uncle Pelias. Pelias promised to give the throne back if Jason could bring him the Golden Fleece from Colchis. Jason led a band of heroes, called the Argonauts, on a successful mission to find the pure gold wool of the sacred ram.

ORPHEUS
—the son of the muse Calliope. Orpheus went to the god of the underworld, Pluto, to rescue his wife from him. Orpheus’ singing was so beautiful and sad that Pluto let him take her. There was one condition: He couldn’t look back at her as they left the underworld. Out of concern, Orpheus glanced back, and his wife was lost to him forever.

THESEUS
—the son of Aegeus of Athens. This hero was one of Jason’s band of Argonauts and was involved in several fantastic adventures. He was most famous for killing the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

PERSEUS
—the son of Zeus and Danäe. With the help of a helmet of invisibility, Athena’s shield, and Hermes’ sword, he cut off the head of the Gorgon Medusa. He looked into the shield to escape her gaze, which would have turned him to stone.

ACHILLES
—the son of a nymph and Peleus. He was a great hero of the Trojan war. When he was a baby, he was dipped into the river Styx to make him invincible. His mother held him by the heel, which became the only spot on Achilles’ body that could be hurt. During the Trojan war he was shot in the heel with an arrow, and he died near the main gate of Troy.

Don’t miss all the exciting action!

The Legend of Red Horse Cavern

Will Little Bear Tucker and his friend Sarah Thompson have heard the eerie Apache legend many times. Will’s grandfather especially loves to tell them about Red Horse—an Indian brave who betrayed his people, was beheaded, and now haunts the Sacramento Mountain range, searching for his head. To Will and Sarah it was just a story—until they decide to explore a newfound mountain cave, a cave filled with dangerous treasures.

Deep underground Will and Sarah uncover an old chest stuffed with a million dollars. But now armed bandits are after them. When they find a gold Apache statue hidden in a skull, it seems Red Horse is hunting them, too. Then they lose their way, and each step they take in the damp, dark cavern could be their last.

Rodomonte’s Revenge

Friends Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are video game whizzes. So when a new virtual reality arcade called Rodomonte’s Revenge opens near their home, they make sure they’re its first customers. The game is awesome. There are flaming fire rivers to jump, beastly buzz-bugs to fight, and ugly tunnel spiders to escape. If they’re good enough they’ll face
Rodomonte, an evil giant waiting to do battle within his hidden castle.

But soon after they play the game, strange things start happening to Brett and Tom. The computer is taking over their minds. Now everything that happens in the game is happening in real life. A buzz-bug could gnaw off their ears. Rodomonte could smash them to bits. Brett and Tom have no choice but to play Rodomonte’s Revenge again. This time they’ll be playing for their lives.

Escape from Fire Mountain

“
 … please, anybody … fire … need help
.”

That’s the urgent cry thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts hears over the CB radio the weekend she’s left alone in her family’s hunting lodge. The message also says that the sender is trapped near a bend in the river. Nikki knows it’s dangerous, but she has to try to help. She paddles her canoe downriver, coming closer to the thick black smoke of the forest fire with each stroke. When she reaches the bend, Nikki climbs onshore. There, covered with soot and huddled on a rock ledge, sit two small children.

Nikki struggles to get the children to safety. Flames roar around them. Trees splinter to the ground. But as Nikki tries to escape the fire, she doesn’t know that two poachers are also hot on her trail. They fear that she and the children have seen too much of their illegal operation—and they’ll do anything to keep the kids from making it back to the lodge alive.

The Rock Jockeys

Devil’s Wall
.

Rick Williams and his friends J.D. and Spud—the Rock Jockeys—are attempting to become the first and youngest climbers to ascend the north face of their area’s most treacherous mountain. They’re also out to discover if a B-17 bomber rumored to have crashed into the mountain years ago is really there.

As the Rock Jockeys explore Devil’s Wall, they stumble upon the plane’s battered shell. Inside, they find items that seem to have belonged to the crew, including a diary written by the navigator. Spud later falls into a deep hole and finds something even more frightening: a human skull and bones. To find out where they might have come from, the boys read the navigator’s story in the diary. It reveals a gruesome secret that heightens the dangers the mountain might hold for the Rock Jockeys.

Hook ’Em, Snotty!

Bobbie Walker loves working on her grandfather’s ranch. She hates the fact that her cousin Alex is coming up from Los Angeles to visit and will probably ruin her summer. Alex can barely ride a horse and doesn’t know the first thing about roping. There is no way Alex can survive a ride into the flats to round up wild cattle. But Bobbie is going to have to let her tag along anyway.

Out in the flats the weather turns bad. Even worse, Bobbie knows that she’ll have to watch out for the
Bledsoe boys, two mischievous brothers who are usually up to no good. When the boys rustle the girls’ cattle, Bobbie and Alex team up to teach the Bledsoes a lesson. But with the wild bull Diablo on the loose, the fun and games may soon turn deadly serious.

Danger on Midnight River

Daniel Martin doesn’t want to go to Camp Eagle Nest. He wants to spend the summer as he always does: with his uncle Smitty in the Rocky Mountains. Daniel is a slow learner, but most other kids call him retarded. Daniel knows that at camp, things are only going to get worse. His nightmare comes true when he and three bullies must ride the camp van together.

On the trip to camp Daniel is the butt of the bullies’ jokes. He ignores them and concentrates on the roads outside. He thinks they may be lost. As the van crosses a wooden bridge, the planks suddenly give way. The van plunges into the raging river below. Daniel struggles to shore, but the driver and the other boys are nowhere to be found. It’s freezing, and night is setting in. Daniel faces a difficult decision. He could save himself … or risk everything to try to rescue the others, too.

Look for these thrill-packed adventures coming soon!

Captive!

Roman Sanchez is trying hard to deal with the death of his dad—a SWAT team member gunned down in the line of duty. But Roman’s nightmare is just beginning.

When masked gunmen storm into his classroom, Roman and three other boys are taken hostage. They are thrown into the back of a truck and hauled to a run-down mountain cabin, miles from anywhere. They are bound with rope and given no food. With each passing hour the kidnappers deadly threats become even more real.

Roman knows time is running out. Now he must somehow put his dad’s death behind him so that he and the others can launch a last desperate fight for freedom.

Project: A Perfect World

When Jim Stanton’s family moves to a small town in New Mexico, everyone but Jim is happy. His dad has a great job as a research scientist at Folsum Laboratories. His mom has a beautiful new house. Folsum Labs even buys a bunch of new toys for his little sister.