“Right, right,” Annabeth said, and turned toward the van.
As Norris fell into step beside her, he said, “How do you feel about the Defenders holiday party now?”
Annabeth didn’t hesitate. “Of course I’ll come! I was cutting off my nose to spite my face before. I’m sure it’ll be lovely.”
Norris looked immensely relieved. “Oh, good. Because there’s something I have to tell—Uh-oh.”
He stopped in the middle of the lawn, looking worried. His face began to turn red. He looked around wildly.
Annabeth grabbed his arm. “Are you all right?”
“Er... Not exactly.” Sweat broke out on his face.
She snatched her cell phone out of her purse. “I’ll call 911!”
“No, no!” Norris exclaimed, backing away from her.
As she started to follow him, Roland caught her elbow. “Stay here. He’ll be fine.”
“There’s a hose!” Merlin shouted, and dashed to a faucet at the side of the house.
Natalie neatly plucked the phone from Annabeth’s hand. “He’s fine, he just—”
Norris turned into a Dunkleosteus.
Annabeth stared, baffled and relieved and astounded. She’d seen his Dunkleosteus before—she’d ridden on its back that very morning—but there was something incredibly surreal about the sight of an enormous armored fish on a suburban front lawn.
Norris flapped his fins reassuringly at her.
“He needs water!” Annabeth shouted, then saw that Merlin was already aiming a garden hose at his gills.
Norris gave a grateful flip of his tail, sending a trash can flying.
Annabeth turned to the Defenders, puzzled. “Er... Is this normal?”
They looked at each other with the distinctive furtive expressions of people who know something they’ve promised not to tell.
“Norris will explain,” said Carter.
The Defenders seized upon this with visible gratitude.
“Yes, Norris will tell you what’s going on,” said Dali.
Pete spoke loudly, meeting Norris’s eyes. “He’ll tell youeverything.”
“He should shift back in about five minutes,” Roland said reassuringly.
Sure enough, after a few minutes the Dunkleosteus vanished. Norris spluttered as the blast from the hose caught him in the face.
“Sorry!” Merlin hurriedly switched off the hose.
Tirzah rolled down the van window and stuck out her head. “Guys, we have got to get out of here. Pile in!”
They all piled into the van, leaving the hose where it was. Annabeth took a last look out the window as the van pulled away. The entire area around the house was drenched.
“That’s going to turn into ice in a couple hours,” she remarked. “That’ll going to make it even harder to get his stuff off the roof. I’m not sure he’ll even be able to set up ladders.”
“Too bad for him,” said Norris, not sounding sorry at all.
