To call the place an anthill would be like calling the Versailles Palace a single-family home. Earthen ramparts rose almost to the tops of the surrounding trees--a hundred feet at least. The circumference could have accommodated a Roman hippodrome. A steady stream of soldiers and drones swarmed in and out of the mound. Some carried fallen trees. One, inexplicably, was dragging a 1967 Chevy Impala.

Then the glow grew brighter: a holographic golden sickle with a few sheaves of wheat, rotating just above Meg McCaffrey.A boy in the crowd gasped. "She's a communist!

Oh, why does college have to happen to perfectly good people?

This brings to mind an expression I coined ages ago: A peach a day keeps the plague spirits away!'Percy sneezed. 'I though it was apples and doctors.'The karpos hissed.'Or peaches,' Percy said. 'Peaches work too.''Peaches,' agrees the karpos.Percy wiped his nose. 'Not criticizing, but why is her grooting?