How will Demon, official Beast Keeper of Mount Olympus, heal a herd of sick unicorns before it's too late? Demon has just returned from a trip to Asgard when a brand-new set of disasters fall into his lap. Not only does he have a groggy volcano monster to deal with, but something seems to be wrong with the unicorns, too. Demon's only clue is a mysterious note saying "Unicorn Emergency!" left on his bed. What does it mean? And how will Demon figure out the problem and fix it before time runs out? 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 is her first series published in the U.S. Brett Bean has created art for TV, film, games, and books, for clients such as Nickelodeon, Disney TV, Leapfrog, and Nerd Corps. He is working on his fifth art book, a graphic novel short story collection. More art can be found on his blog: 2dbean.blogspot.com   Chapter 1   Farewell to Asgard     Demon cracked one eye open, groaned, and shut it again. His brain felt as if Hephaestus had been hitting it with hammers, and there was a strange ringing in his ears. It had been a very late night.   “Go ’way!” he said as a hand shook his shoulder roughly. “It’s too early.”   “No it’s not,” said Thrud Thorsdaughter, his new friend and the latest shield-maiden of Asgard. “You’ve been asleep for ages. I haven’t even been to bed yet,” she added proudly.   Demon groaned again. The evening before was all a bit of a blur. There’d been a lot of very loud singing with Thrud’s fellow maidens, and once most of the gods had left, there had also been a great deal of toasting his new status as holder of the Order of Yggdrasil. The Valkyries had insisted he try several sips of their mead, which had made his head go all funny and his knees wobble like a newborn lamb’s. He seemed to remember some rather energetic dancing, too. Sitting up cautiously, he opened his other eye.   “Tell me I didn’t make a complete fool of myself last night,” he said. Thrud sniggered and hurriedly turned it into a cough.   “Let’s just say that your version of the Bear Dance will go down in Asgard history, but your song about Fenrir needs some work on the wolf howling,” she said. “Come on, you’ll feel better after breakfast.”   The feasting hall of Valhalla was strewn with gnawed bones, overturned tables, empty mead flagons—and quite a few snoring bodies. The Asgardians definitely partied hard.   “I’m not really sure I feel much like breakfast,” Demon said, avoiding a puddle of something questionable on the floor. “I think I’ll go and check on Goldbristle instead.” Goldbristle was the boar he’d cured the day before, banishing the darkness caused by Loki, Thrud’s evil uncle.   “Oh, he’s long gone,” said Thrud, skipping toward the doors and flinging them wide open, so that the diamond-bright light of day filled the hall. “Frey couldn’t wait to drive up into the sky with him this morning. Doesn’t it all look WONDERFUL?” she exclaimed.   Demon blinked and screwed up his eyes, trying hard to ignore the sensation of daggers being driven into his skull as a million rainbow reflections bounced off the snow-covered streets.   “Lovely,” he muttered, putting his furry sheepskin hood up to block out the rays. Just then, a huge golden-haired god carrying a gigantic silver hammer came striding into view. It was Thor, god of thunder.   “Dad!” Thrud yelled, running out of the door and leaping into his arms.   “How’s my little shield-maiden?” Thor asked, whirling her around. “Have you tried out Mjolnirina yet?”   Thrud shook her head, stroking the small silver hammer hanging at her belt.   “Not yet,” she said. “I wanted to see if she could beat your Mjolnir. Let’s put them through their paces.” She turned and beckoned to Demon. “Come on, Olympus Boy. You can watch.”   As she and Thor strode off down the snowy streets, Demon stumbled after them. His head now felt as if it were full of mush. These Asgardians were very strange. How could Thrud and Thor talk about their hammers as if they were alive?   He soon found out. The minute they reached the other side of Asgard’s high wall, Thrud and Thor began whirling Mjolnirina and Mjolnir around their heads.   “Whee!” yelled Thrud, letting go.   “Woo-hooo!” shouted Thor, launching Mjolnir upward at exactly the same moment. Demon’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. Instead of rising and then falling to the ground, the two hammers shot up and up into the sky. When they were no more than dark specks against the blue, white clouds boiled up around them. Thunder roared above, and then, like two streaks of silver lightning, the hammers returned to earth, hitting with a ground-shaking thum