Quick release

He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.
‘Gee,’ | said. ‘Thanks.’
‘Percy, that’s a gift from your father. I’ve kept it for years, not knowing you were who | was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one.’
| remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?
| took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, | held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.
‘The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into,’ Chiron told me. ‘Its name is Anaklusmos.’
‘“Riptide”,’ | translated, surprised

TLT pg.135