Beast Keeper #1 [Paperback]

Beasts of Olympus is a series of 144-page illustrated chapter books set in a magical Ancient Greece where strange things still walk the Earth. Beast Keeper tells the story of Pandemonius (a.k.a. Demon, the half-god son of Pan) who, on his tenth birthday, is called upon to look after all the mythical creatures that belong to the stables of Olympus.

Lucy Coats studied English and Ancient History at Edinburgh University, then worked in children's publishing and now writes full time. She is a gifted children's poet and has also written several picture book texts. She is widely respected for her lively retellings of myths. Her 12-book series, Greek Beasts and Heroes, was published by Orion in the U.K. Beasts of Olympus will be her first U.S. publication. Lucy's website is at www.lucycoats.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @lucycoats.

Chapter 1

Demon was chatting to the chickens about eggs when his dad arrived. He’d never met his dad before, but he knew it was him all right. His dad had:
 
Thick, hairy, goaty legs.
 
Big curly horns.
 
Yellow eyes with black, slitted pupils.
 
No clothes to speak of.
 
And a set of silver reed pipes.
 
Demon’s dad was a god.
 
“Foxgodfoxgodfoxgodrunrunrunsquawwwwkkkk!” The chickens scattered across the yard, gabbling and squawking in terror. Demon kneeled in the dirt and bowed his head. He wasn’t too sure if that’s what you did with a dad, but it was certainly what you did with a god. Especially if that god was Pan, ruler of forests and all wild creatures. A god who could call up a pack of hungry bears that could rip you to bits in an instant.
 
“Pandemonius, my boy!” said his dad. Pan’s voice was like mossy bark on ancient trees. It was deep and velvety with a hint of crumbly roughness at the edgel£3