Guess what! I finally updated! Whoooo!
Disclaimer: I am a GIRL! So, no I'm not Rick Riordan.
"Where do you think he is?" Grover asked again.
"He's got to be around here somewhere," I told him.
We were still looking for him when we heard a news reporter say, "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."
Let me guess, Percy just somehow blowtorched a national monument. Thus, falling out of the hole and into the Mississippi River. Wait! If he fell, then he should show up near the Mississippi.
I voiced my thoughts to Grover and started toward the river.
"…an adolescent boy," another reporter said as we past by. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities…"
I swear I'm gonna murder that kid when I find him.
I was knocked out of my thoughts by Grover bleated, "Perrr-cy!"
He turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug. "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"
"We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?" I said trying my best to sound angry.
"I sort of fell."
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"
Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said, "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy!" This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she saw us. "There he is! That's the boy!"
Percy turned quickly and pulled Grover and me after him. We disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going on?" I demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
He told us the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, his high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.
"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."
Before I could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, "Percy Jackson," he said. "That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fit's the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."
We ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"
Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.
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