Quotes from The Ship of the Dead

“I figured something out. You can't hold onto hate forever. It won't do a thing to the person you hate, but it'll poison you, sure enough.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“You’re a strange person.” “I prefer the term fabulously weird.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Sometimes you lie to deceive people. Sometimes you lie because you need the lie to become the truth.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Annabeth shook her head. "All these years sneaking around, and we could've just been ourselves?"
"You should always do that." Alex strolled alongside, back in human form, though he still had a few flamingo feathers stuck in his hair. "And you have to flaunt the weird, my friends."
"I'm going to quote you on that," Percy said.
"You'd better.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Where's the gold?" I demanded. "Don't make me unleash my sword's playlist.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“The world will end. The big picture cannot be changed. But in the meantime, as Loki once said, we can choose to alter the details. That’s how we take control of our destiny.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“you have to flaunt the weird, my friends.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Annabeth frowned. "Percy's sword is a she?"
Jack laughed. "Well, duh."
Percy studied Riptide, though I could've told him from experience it was almost impossible to tell a sword's gender by looking at it.
"I don't know," he said. "Are you sure -?"
"Percy," said Alex. "Respect the gender."
"Okay, fine," he said. "It's just kinda strange that I never knew."
"On the other hand," Annabeth said, "you didn't know the pen could write until last year."
"That's low, Wise Girl.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“In case you're wondering, Old York looks absolutely nothing like New York.
It looks older.
Magnus Chase, master of description. You're welcome.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“He turned to leave, then hesitated. "One more thing."
He walked up to me. "I've also been thinking about your declaration of undying love or whatever."
"I didn't - it wasn't -"
He clamped his hands on the sides of my gooey face and kissed me.
I had to wonder: was it possible to dissolve into chocolate on a molecular level and melt into a puddle on the carpet? Because that's how I felt. I'm pretty sure Valhalla had to resurrect me several times during the course of that kiss. Otherwise, I don't know how I was still in one piece when Alex finally pulled away.
He studied me critically, his brown and amber eyes taking me in. He had a chocolate moustache and goatee now, and chocolate down the front of his sweater vest.
I'll be honest. A small part of my brain thought, Alex is male right now. I have just been kissed by a dude. How do I feel about that?
The rest of my brain answered: I have just been kissed by Alex Fierro. I am absolutely great with that.
In fact, I might have done something typically embarrassing and stupid, like making the aforementioned declaration of undying love, but Alex spared me.
"Eh." He shrugged. "I'll keep thinking about it. I'll get back to you. In the meantime, definitely take that shower."
He left, whistling a tune that might have been a Frank Sinatra song from the elevator, "Fly Me to the Moon".”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Most of the time, Alex identified as female, but today he was definitely male. Sometimes I slipped up and used the wrong pronouns for him/ her, so Alex liked to return the favor by teasing me mercilessly. Because friendship.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“But I suppose if you're friends of Magnus's ..." He went completely still. His runes faded. Then he leaped out of my hand and flew towards Annabeth, his blade twitching as if he was stiffing the air. "Where is she? Where are you hiding the babe?"
Annabeth backed towards the rail. "Whoa, there, sword. Personal space?"
"Jack, behave," Alex said. "What are you doing?"
"She's around here somewhere," Jack insisted. He flew to Percy. "Aha! What's in your pocket, sea boy?"
"Excuse me?" Percy looked a bit nervous about the magical sword hovering at his waistline.
Alex lowered his Ray-Bans. "Okay, now I'm curious. What do you have in your pocket, Percy? Enquiring swords want to know."
Percy pulled a plain-looking ballpoint pen from his jeans. "You mean this?"
"BAM!" Jack said. "Who is this vision of loveliness?"
"Jack," I said. "It's a pen."
"No, it's not! Show me! Show me!"
"Uh ... sure." Percy uncapped the pen.
Immediately it transformed into a three-foot-long sword with a leaf-shaped blade of glowing bronze.. Compared to Jack, the weapon looked delicate, almost petite, but from the way Percy wielded it I had no doubt he'd be able to hold his own on the battlefields of Valhalla with that thing.
Jack turned his point towards me, his runes flashing burgundy. "See Magnus? I told you it wasn't stupid to carry a sword disguised as a pen!"
"Jack, I never said that!" I protested. "You did.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“You can't hold on to hate forever. It won't do a thing to the person you hate, but it'll poison you, sure enough.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“The last I saw of Percy and Annabeth, their Prius was turning the corner on First Avenue, Percy singing along with Led Zeppelin on the radio, Annabeth laughing at his bad voice.
Alex crossed his arms. "If those two were any cuter together, they'd cause a nuclear explosion of cuteness and destroy the Eastern Seaboard.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“That awkward moment when you jump out a window because your friend jumped out a window, then you remember that your other friend can fly.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Blitz and Hearth were almost at the shore when Alex stopped abruptly.
I didn't have any energy left either, but I thought I should try to sound encouraging. "We - we have to k-keep going." I looked over. We were nose-to-nose under the blankets. Her eyes glinted, amber and brown. Her scarf had dipped below her chin. Her breath was like limes.
Then, before I even knew what was happening, she kissed me. She could have bitten off my mouth and I would have been less surprised. Her lips were cracked and rough from the cold. Her nose fitted perfectly next to mine. Our faces aligned, our breath mixed. Then she pulled away.
"I wasn't going to die without doing that," she said.
The world of primordial ice must not have frozen me completely, because my chest burned like a coal furnace.
"Well?" She frowned. "Stop gaping and let's move."
We trudged towards the shore. My mind wasn't working properly. I wondered if Alex had kissed me just to inspire me to keep going, or to distract me from our imminent deaths. It didn't seem possible she'd actually wanted to kiss me. Whatever the case, that kiss was the only reason I made it to shore.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Eat chocolate first, destroy the world later.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“We hurtled through the sky like things that hurtle through the sky.
The wind whipped my face. The snow blinded me. The cold was so bad it made me cold.
Okay, yeah, the mead of poetry definitely wasn't working.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Congratulations, man. What's her name?"
"Estelle. It was my grandmother's name. Um, on my mom's side, obviously. Not Poseidon's."
"I approve," Alex said. "Old-fashioned and elegant. Estelle Jackson."
"Well, Estelle Blofis," Percy corrected. "My stepdad is Paul Blofis. Not much I can do about that surname, but my little sis is awesome. Five fingers. Five toes. Two eyes. She drools a lot."
"Just like her brother," Annabeth said.
Alex laughed.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Quick, Boy Wonder! To the pottery studio!”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“I mentally began composing a list of words that began with F: Frey. Father. False. Friend. Frick. Frack. And some others.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“You don't hear heroes say that a lot.
Quick, Boy Wonder! To the pottery studio!
But Alex's tone left no doubt it was a matter of life and death.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“The only strange thing about Jackson was the tattoo on the inside of his forearm - a trident as dark as seared wood, with a single line underneath and the letters SPQR.
He'd told me the letters stood for Sono Pazzi Quelli Romani - those Romans are crazy. I wasn't sure if he was kidding.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“I will tell you a secret, Andiron said. When I whispered into that well, I made a wish. I wanted to be as kind and as good as you, brother. You are perfect.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“Hearthstone snapped his fingers for attention. I'm glad too, he signed. He patted the bag of runes at his belt. Stupid cages were magic-proof. Blitzen was crying a lot.
"I was not," Blitzen protested, signing along. "You were."
I was not, Hearthstone said. You were.
At that point, the ASL conversation deteriorated into the two of them poking each other in the chest.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“I think the hardest thing we can ever do is see someone for who they really are. Our parents. Our friends. Ourselves.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“I saw my problem immediately.
I should never have introduced Alex to Percy Jackson. She had learned way too much from his relentless training methods. Maybe Alex couldn't summon sea animals, but she could turn into them. That was just as bad.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“It seemed strange, the Muslim Maghrib prayer aboard a Viking ship full of atheists and pagans. Then again, Samirah's ancestors had been dealing with Vikings since the Middle Ages. I doubted this was the first time prayers to Allah had been said aboard a longship. The world, the worlds, were a lot more interesting because of constant intermixing.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

“I love you," Amir told her.
Samirah stumbled backwards like she'd been hit in the face with a giant eagle egg. Alex propped her up.
"I ... yes," Sam squeaked. "Also. Too."
Amir nodded. He turned and got into his car. A moment later, his tail-lights disappeared down Flagship Way.
Samirah smacked her own forehead. "Also? Too? I am such an idiot."
Alex patted her arm. "I thought you were quite eloquent. Come on sister. Your neon-yellow warship awaits.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Ship of the Dead

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