The Sea of Monsters: Chapters 9–12

by Rick Riordan
In this second book of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the thirteen-year-old demigod must travel through dangerous waters to save his best friend and retrieve the magical cure for the poison destroying Camp Half-Blood.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–12, Chapters 13–16, Chapters 17–20

Here are links to our lists for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    Annabeth stepped away from the window. Her face was ashen.
  2. approximation
    the quality of coming near to identity
    Then his voice changed, becoming a husky approximation of Luke’s.
  3. stern
    the rear part of a ship
    The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship.
  4. dais
    a platform raised above the surrounding level
    The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket.
  5. sarcophagus
    a stone coffin, usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions
    The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths.
  6. unruly
    unable to be governed or controlled
    His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short.
  7. intercept
    seize, interrupt, or stop something on its way
    His fists came down toward Luke's head—a double overhead blow that would’ve knocked a hole in titanium—but the bear twins intercepted. They each caught one of Tyson’s arms and stopped him cold.
  8. overwhelm
    overcome by superior force
    I uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second we would be overwhelmed.
  9. bearing
    the direction or path along which something moves or lies
    "36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west,” I said immediately. Then I shook my head. “Whoa. How did I know that?”
    "Because of your dad,” Annabeth guessed. “When you’re at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool.”
  10. frazzle
    exhaust physically or emotionally
    I could feel the change from salt water to fresh water. Suddenly I was tired and frazzled, like I was coming down off a sugar high.
  11. bramble
    any of various rough thorny shrubs or vines
    All I saw was a patch of brambles. Then Annabeth moved aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and I realized I was looking into a camouflaged shelter.
  12. provision
    a store or supply of something
    Stacked in the corner was everything you could want for a campout—sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest, and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions, too—bronze javelin tips, a quiver full of arrows, an extra sword, and a box of ambrosia.
  13. musty
    covered with or smelling of mold
    The place smelled musty, like it had been vacant for a long time.
  14. sinister
    wicked, evil, or dishonorable
    It did seem a little weird, but, I mean, donut shops weren’t real high on my list of sinister forces.
  15. franchise
    a business authorized to sell a company's goods or services
    "Haven’t you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?” she asked. “One day there’s nothing and then the next day—boom, there’s a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four—exact replicas spreading across the country?”
  16. flail
    thrash about
    I sliced the Hydra’s head clean off. It rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon.
  17. parry
    impede the movement of
    Annabeth moved in on my left and tried to distract one of the heads, parrying its teeth with her knife, but another head swung sideways like a club and knocked her into the muck.
  18. ironclad
    a wooden warship of the 19th century plated with armor
    The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser.
  19. berth
    a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers
    Assign them hammocks on the berth deck.
  20. crude
    not carefully or expertly made
    There was a wool-covered La-Z-Boy recliner and a wool-covered television set, crude bookshelves loaded with sheep collectibles—coffee mugs shaped like sheep faces, plaster figurines of sheep, sheep board games, and picture books and action figures.
  21. lush
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    There were lush green hills on either side and a wide valley in the middle, split by a deep chasm that was spanned by a rope bridge.
  22. piston
    mechanical device that has a plunging or thrusting motion
    The engine groaned as we increased speed.
    Tyson muttered nervously, “Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water.”
  23. relish
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    She said it with such relish I almost wanted to believe her.
  24. buffet
    strike against forcefully
    Every time she exhaled, we rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves.
  25. vortex
    a powerful circular current of water
    The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but we kept sliding toward the center of the vortex.
  26. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    “I can fix it.”
    Clarisse looked at him incredulously. “You?”
  27. maelstrom
    a powerful circular current of water
    The first thing I noticed was the reef—a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a maelstrom.
  28. maw
    the mouth, jaws, or throat
    Charybdis was an orthodontist's nightmare. She was nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite, and she’d done nothing for centuries but eat without brushing after meals.
  29. gullet
    the passage between the pharynx and the stomach
    Three rounds were blasted into the monster’s maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet.
  30. inedible
    not suitable for food
    Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including our cannon balls, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.
  31. strait
    a narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water
    I used all of my willpower to keep the ship from capsizing, but we were still spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.
  32. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    I woke up in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric.
  33. salvage
    save from ruin, destruction, or harm
    Annabeth showed me some things she’d salvaged from the wreckage—Hermes’s thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors’ shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper.
  34. measly
    contemptibly small in amount
    I looked down at our measly possessions—the empty wind thermos, the bottle of multivitamins.
  35. dugout
    a canoe made by hollowing out and shaping a large log
    Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three-masted sailing ship.
  36. benevolent
    showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding
    C.C. smiled benevolently. "My dear, you are lovely. Really! But you’re not showing off yourself or your talents at all. So much wasted potential!”
  37. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    The other guinea pigs squealed in terror and scuttled around the cage.
  38. ransack
    steal goods; take as spoils
    We ran down the hillside through the terraces, past screaming spa workers and pirates ransacking the resort.
  39. scalawag
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    “Those scalawags are a-boarding me vessel! Get ’em, lads!”
  40. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    Annabeth looked at me like I was nuts, but in the next second, the air was filled with whistling sounds of ropes being snapped taut, canvases unfurling, and wooden pulleys creaking.
Created on Tue Jul 05 16:19:50 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Aug 08 09:17:40 EDT 2023)

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