Hey all! Enjoy Chapter Eleven!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE PERCY JACKSON CHARACTERS AND/OR PLOT LINE. ALL RIGHTS GO TO RICK RIORDAN!

We returned Gladiola to his owners, which was a relief, an hour later, trying to act like we randomly found him on the streets. That was the story we told, at least. No way were we gonna tell them that Grover had struck up a conversation with him and got information for a ride West. That'd be kind of hard to explain to the mortals.

Fortunately, we weren't attacked on the train ride, but I didn't bother getting my hopes up. I didn't want to risk tempting the Three Fates. Percy tried to keep a low profile because he was kind of a wanted adolescent, with pictures of him splattered everywhere we went. We found a picture of him with his sword drawn (although mortals probably thought it was a baseball bat or something) in the Trenton Register-News with a caption:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry," I told Percy, although I was probably trying to reassuring myself as well. "Mortal police could never find us." I wasn't sure he believed me.

The train ride was uneventful; I almost wished there were some monsters to fight. Almost. Luckily, I had brought my architecture book with me. Otherwise, I probably would've been pacing though the train like Percy was.

He (and Grover, who was snoring beside me) was driving me insane with all his restless pacing, but after a few minutes, he finally settled down into the seat next to me and fell asleep along with Grover.

I sighed and shook my head. Boys.

I continued reading the book until I heard a soft mumbling next to me. I tensed, looking around for signs of trouble, but I soon realized that the noise was coming from Percy.

"Uhh...I won't help you...I..."

I frowned, debating whether to wake him up or not. It was Grover who made my decision easier. He bleated in his sleep loudly, and I quickly slapped my head over his mouth, looking around to see if any of the other passengers noticed. No one else did, but Percy did. He wiped a hand over his mouth, probably making sure he wasn't drooling, and blinked. I opened my mouth to say something, but at the moment, Grover shuffled around, making his fake shoe fall off.

I groaned inwardly. Grover...

Percy was fully awake by now, and he helped me put on his shoe.

"So," I asked him, after we'd gotten Grover's sneaker adjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"

Percyseemed reluctant to talk, but finally, he told me about an evil voice from a pit.

I stayed quiet for a long time, trying to figure this all out. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"

"I guess...if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"

Percy shook his head helplessly, and we lapsed into silence again, each lost in our own thoughts.

The last time I saw Hades was at the winter solstice on Mount Olympus. He was there for the meeting the gods held on the solstices. He could've easily stolen the bolt, but gods aren't allowed to steal each others' items of power. So he must've used a demigod. The only demigods there were me, Luke, Clarisse, and a few of the other senior counselors. I couldn't believe that any of them, including Clarisse, would do something for Hades, especially something so unthinkable. I knew for certain, however, that something was really off about this quest. Nothing seemed to fit together.

The only possibility is Hades. He's always wanted revenge on his brothers. Just take Thalia for an example. And the fact that the Kindly Ones attacked us, like last time. It must be him.

Grover snorted in his sleep and turned his head. I readjusted his cap so it cover his horns. I felt a sudden surge of anger against Hades. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"

"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"

I reached my hand up to my necklace, fingering the bead they gave us the summer Thalia died and Zeus turned her into a tree to guard the camp's borders. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for you mom."

"What would you do if it was your dad?"

"That's easy," I said, not caring how harsh I was going to sound. "I'd leave him to rot."

"You're not serious?"

I fixed my eyes on Percy. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," I said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"But how...I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."

I almost laughed aloud at his question and the obvious discomfort he felt asking me. "I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something." I scoffed. "But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."

"My mom married a really awful guy," Percy told me, "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."

I knew Percy was trying to make me feel better, and I was grateful that he was even trying. I fingered the college ring on my necklace, the one my dad had sent me along with an invitation to visit. I didn't even know why I wore it. It's not as if things would suddenly be better between my family and I.

"He doesn't care about me," I answered finally. "His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."

"How old were you?"

"Same age as I started camp. Seven."

"But...you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."

"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."

I turned away before he could ask me for details, my mind already going back in time. I could still remember the day I ran away from home. I had waited until everyone was asleep before I left, grabbing my backpack and a baseball bat I had taken from Bobby, one of my stepbrothers, while silently sneaking out of the house through the window in my room. Even at seven, I was resourceful. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have made it. It was tough at first. I mean, a seven-year-old demigod had to avoid both monsters and mortals. Until I met Luke and Thalia.

I replayed memories in my head until my eyes started getting droopy and fell into a dreamless sleep.

We reached St. Louis on June 13, eight days before the deadline. I craned my neck to see the Gateway Arch. I've always loved architecture, like all children of Athena. My dream was to become an architect one day.

"I want to do that," I sighed.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?" Seeing the Parthenon made the Top 5 on my bucket-list. I must see it in person before I get killed by some monster or die whatever gruesome death the Fates want for me.

"Only in pictures."

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person." I said, "I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"

For some reason, what he said rubbed me the wrong way. What's wrong with me being an architect? My cheeks flushed at his ignorance. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

Percy looked out the window and stayed quiet.

Serves him right. But then I thought about how he had tried to comfort me two days ago. Maybe I was being too hard on him. "Sorry," I said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" he pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"

I thought about it. There really wasn't much, but I managed to think of one. "I guess...the chariot," I said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon create horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

I watched the Arch disappear behind a hotel before answering, "I suppose,"

We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. Which gives us just enough time to visit the Arch. I smiled at my geniousness.

Grover stretched, finally coming out of his deep sleep. His first word was, "Food."

"Come on, goat boy," I said. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," I said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

They exchanged looks, but I knew the answer. They would never let me go alone, and I was going whether or not they come with me.

Finally, Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

The Arch was about a mile from the train station, but the walk didn't feel long at all as I was super excited. This was the first national monument I've ever visited. "This is the tallest monument in Missouri," I explained, acting as an unofficial tour guide for the boys, who were busily munching down jellybeans. "Eero Saarinen won this competition and was allowed to build this. The structure took more than 2 years to build and it's actually an equilateral triangle, even though it might not seem like it. It's 630 feet long and wide."

I stopped at a small information plate and began reading aloud, "The Gateway Arch was built using many construction equipment, as normal cranes could not reach all the way. The workers used creeper derricks and-"

"Guys," Percy interrupted. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"

I was annoyed that he had cut me off, but I looked over anyway. "Yeah?"

"Well, Hade-"

Grover cleared his throat before I could. "We're in a public place...You mean, you friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," Percy said, correcting himself, "our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"

"You mean the Helm of Darkness," I guessed, assuming that that was what he meant. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" Percy asked.

I nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus-the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true..." I trailed off at the thought.

"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate feat so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"

"But then...how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?"

Grover and I exchanged looks. For all we know, he might be setting up an ambush right now.

Grover spoke our thoughts aloud. "We don't."

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"

We made our way to the tiny elevator car that would take us to the observation deck. I kept bouncing on the soles of my shoes, barely containing my excitement. Oh, Malcolm would be so jealous right now, I thought.

We got into the car with a larger lady and her Chihuahua. I frowned, thinking it was a bit strange that the guards let pets in, but decided it wasn't a big deal. As we started going up the elevator, the lady asked us, "No parents?"

"They're below," I lied. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growled. "Now, now, sonny," the woman said, "Behave."

The dog glared at us with beady eyes.

Percy asked, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told him, and smiled.

I forgot about the weird lady as soon as we reached the top. "This is amazing," I exclaimed. "Although, I would've made bigger windows. And a see-through floor. That way, we could see everything outside and feel just exactly how high up we are." I continued talking about the structural support of the Arch until the park ranger announced that the deck would be closing in a few minutes.

I could almost feel Percy's relief as he steered me and Grover into the elevator. He was about to get into the car with us but then realized that there wasn't enough room.

"Next car, sir." the park ranger said.

"We'll get out," I said. "We'll wait with you."

Percy shook his head. "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

I wanted to protest but the elevator doors slid shut. Immediately, I knew we shouldn't have left Percy up there at the top. I looked at Grover who was nervously tapping his thigh.

"This was a bad idea," he said.

"You too, huh? I asked. "Maybe it's nothing. It's just the nerves from Medusa's place."

But as we got off the elevator at the bottom, and the doors closed again, I knew I was wrong. We waited for the next car, tapping our feet nervously.

Grover kept muttering to himself, "I knew it, I knew it."

"We should-"

The words had barely left my mouth when there came a huge explosion above us. People screamed as the building shook. I cursed under my breath and grabbed Grover's arm, dragging him out of the building.

We both looked up simultaneously.

Grover's eyes dilated with fear. "Oh, Styx,"

So that was Chapter Eleven. I know I'm a bit late on the updating again, sorry. It was midterm finals week, which sucked.

As always, review please! Thanks :)

~annabeth669