We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax. I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.

I tried to keep a low profile because my name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register News showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes. My sword was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.

The picture's caption read:

Twelve-year-olds Percy Jackson and Hinata Hyuga, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of Jackson's 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 Hyuga and another teenage accomplices. Jackson's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to their capture.

"Don't worry," Hinata told me. "Nobody's gonna find us."

But she didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the day I spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows.

Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.

Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I tried not to drool in my sleep, since Hinata was sitting there next to me. She wouldn't be happy with drool on the book Annabeth gave her .

Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Hinata and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.

"So Perce," Hinata asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "What happened in that dream of yours?"

"What do you mean?"

"You kept saying, 'I won't help you' in your sleep just now. Who was asking you for help?"

I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered me so much I finally told her.

Hinata was quiet for a long time. "Based on the information in the book, who you describe doesn't really fit Hades description. The book says he always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

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

"I don't know but..." She sighed, looking out the window and mumbled "Forget it, you probably won't listen to me."

I started to wonder what she was talking about until it hit me. I been so stressed out and nervous about another attack, I forget to apologize to her.

"Of course, I'll listen."

She rolled her eyes "Yeah right"

"Hinata...I'm...I'm sorry"

She turned her eyes on me and I took that as a sign to continue.

"Look, you were right I was an idiot for not listening to you all does times. It's just...all this is still new to me, ya know?"

Her face softened "Well I guess I can't blame you, after all this is new to me too."

"Still I should have listened to you. I mean you seem prepared for all this."

She chuckled "I don't think anybody can ever truly be prepared to fight big nasty monsters. But I guess I come close to it."

"So...am I forgiven?"

She smirked "Only if you do my family's training with me for a month."

"Do I have a second option?"

She just stared at me.

I sighed "Deal"

She smiled "You're forgiven."

While I was happy we made up, we got off topics "So what were going to say before?"

She looked down at the book "I'm not sure Hades took the bolt"

I was at a lost for words "Huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, he is still a suspect. But based on the Furies..."

"Kindly Ones."

She rolled her eyes "Whatever, based what happen on the bus with them and how aggressive they were I'm not hundred percent sure he took it. It's a gut feeling and you know how that is with me."

Yeah, I did and that's what worried me. Whenever that happened, it meant that her assumptions were right but I was sure this time she was wrong. She had to be wrong, if she wasn't then...

"We're still going to underworld to save your mom."

I jerked my head up quickly, staring at her like a deer to headlights

She looked amused "Did you really think I didn't know about your plan to rescue your mom?"

"B-But how-"

"Since our tour with Chiron, when you started asking questions about the Underworld."

I sighed "Of course you did."

"Like I said, he's still a suspect but you have to wonder why would they ask for the bolt if he already has it?"

I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something.

Where is it? Where?

Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.

Hinata readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, I don't think it's a good idea to bargain with Hades. From what Annabeth has told me he's known to be deceitful, heartless, and greedy."

"What choice to I have?" I asked. "He has my mom. I have to make this deal. Wouldn't you for your parents ?"

Her hand gripped the knife. She ran her finger through the engraving on the flat. "I'd do anything to make sure my family is safe. I owe them, especially after what 'they' put them through "

I caught the resentment in her tone when she said they. I knew she was talking about her birth parents: Apollo and Aphrodite.

"You really hate them, don't you?"

"What was your first clue?," she said. "Don't you hate your dad?."

"I'm not gonna lie, I am mad at my dad for leaving my mom and me but to say I hate him?"

She shook her head "Then you more forgiving than I am."

"What happened to make you feel this way?"

Hinata's lavender eyes turned a darker tone as they fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she blasted the hellhound. "Demigods are suppose to be raised by one of their parents. Normally it's the mortal parent but not in my case. Instead of both of them or at least one of them raising me, they give me away to a mortal family knowing that they would be putting them in danger."

"But ...your parents knew about the Gods..."

"That doesn't change the guilt I feel. They took me in, fed me, cloth me, loved me, called me their daughter despite me not being their own flesh and blood and the dangers of keeping me. I can't remember everything but to me everything started when I was in kindergarten. Monsters came and we constantly moved from state to state, trying to get away from them. The longest we ever stayed in a place was a year and the shortest was 5 months. This went on for about five had to waste so much money just to keep me safe"

I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make her feel better, so I did the only thing that came to mind. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug.

"You already know that my mom married Smelly Gabe," I told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. I think they did it because they care and would do anything for you."

Hinata kept looking at her knife but leaned into me. She was rubbing the bronze knife that strapped tight on her thigh. It was still a mystery to me. I alway wonder why she never told me the story behind that knife or why she was so attached to it.

"My dad and grandmother would," she said. "But I'm not so sure about my mother. When we started moving, that's when our relationship began to get rocky. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters- My dad and grandmother wouldn't blame me at all but my mom would look at me like she was saying, 'Why are you doing this to us?."

"It's not your fault."

"You and I both know that's a lie."

"But ...if your dad and grandma could deal with it, why can't she?"

The expression on her face never changed but I could see her fist turning white. She was really clutching them. "My family business is country wide, both here in the US and in Japan. The largest headquarters of our business here in the US is in New York, second is in California. My dad is the owner and head of the company, so naturally he has to be there most of the time. The states we've moved to weren't close, so my dad would only be home on the weekends, sometimes he couldn't come home and we would wait a month or two until we could see him. My mom became lonely and depressed during those time, she would isolate herself from me. I guess she thought if she felt alone, I should feel the same way."

There was more to her story than what she lead on and I wanted to ask, but Hinata seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by, enjoying the warmth of her head on my shoulder.

Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis.

"Percy, I feel like I need to apologize to you." Hinata said

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because I feel that I've been taking advantage of you."

"What makes you think that?"

"After we moved back to Manhattan, I begged my parents to enroll me in school. I was tired of being by myself and having no friends. My parents were skeptical about my request, knowing monsters were still around but they eventually agreed to it. During my time at school, I expected monsters to come after me but they never did and I didn't know why until now."

I knew where she was heading with this. The day after we met, we instantly became friends and spent all our free time together. Smelly Gabe's scent on me must have rubbed off on her and masked her own scent.

"My parents weren't too fond of you at first. The other students' parents told them about how weird things happen around you and they immediately thought you know..."

"Monsters."

"Yeah, but after spending time with you, I think they realized that you were the reason why monsters didn't come back..."

"And they decided we can be friends after that."

She looked at her knees, ashamed "Yeah..."

"Then I don't mind."

Hinata looked at me wide eyed.

"My friendship with you is the only thing I can thank Smelly Gabe for since it's his smell that covers our scents."

"That's so disgusting."

I laughed "I couldn't have said it better myself, besides your parents and my mom get along great and they like me now, right?"

She giggled "Yeah, they do."

"But did you really have no friends?"

"Well I had one, a wolf."

I looked at her like she was crazy "A wolf?"

She fondly smiled "A wolf pup actually. Oh Percy, he was so cute and full of life. I found him when my family moved to Montana, he was abandoned and by how small he looked, he was the runt of the litter. We were the best of friends, we played together, cuddle together, slept together. Me and Haru had the best time together."

"Haru? Doesn't that mean sun?"

"Glad to see you listen to when I'm teaching you Japanese. Yes, I named him that because when I found him, he was in the cold snow and the sunlight was shining on him, like it was warming him up."

In the back of my head, I was wondering if Apollo led her to Haru.

"So what happened when you left?"

She sighed sadly "I begged my parents to keep him but apparently people in California aren't to fond of wolves. So before I left, I tied a blue scarf around his neck with the kanji of love on it and prayed that he would survive and we would met again."

"I'm sure you will. Sorry you lost your friend."

She smiled, leaning on my shoulder "Yeah but I have you."

I had to turn away because I probably looked like a tomato.

We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

"There's no food, my half goat friend," Annabeth said. "Come on, we're doing some sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "Part of my deal with Annabeth was to take pictures of any architectural structures I came across."

Grover and I exchanged looks.

I wanted to say no, but if this was the price for Hinata coming instead of Annabeth, I guess we can deal with it beside we couldn't let her go alone. Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Hinata kept taking pictures from very angle, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay.

I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover.

He took his nose out of the jelly bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Under ground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

But something felt wrong to me. I had a feeling we shouldn't be here. "Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"

Hinata had been in the middle of taking a picture of the underbelly of the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"

"Well, Hade-"

Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," I said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"

"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Grover said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" I asked.

He 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..."

"According to the book it allows him to become darkness," Hinata confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear 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?" I asked.

Hinata and Grover exchanged looks.

"We don't," Grover said.

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

I'd almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and I knew I was in trouble. I hate confined places. They make me nuts.

We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.

We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it.

"No parents?" the fat lady asked us.

She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.

"They're down below," Hinata told her, moving me away from her. "Not really a big fan of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.

I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told me.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick.

Hinata kept taking picture and got a brochures on the arch's history and it's structure. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for me the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

I steered Grover and Hinata toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me.

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

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

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

Grover looked nervous, Hinata shook her head and handed him her backpack and got off. The elevator door slide shut and the car disappeared down the ramp.

"You could've just went with him." I said

"I could've but you alway seem to get into trouble when you're alone, so I'm staying with you."

I gave her a slightly annoyed look and she gave me a smirk in return.

Now the only people left on the observation deck were us, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?

"Damn..." Hinata muttered

Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at me. "Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"

His parents pulled him back.

Hinata pulled me back, keeping a hand on her necklace "Be ready..."

The Chihuahua bared his teeth at us, foam dripping from his black lips.

"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."

Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were side-ways slits, like a reptile's.

The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood- caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954.

I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were numb. I was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson and Hinata Hyuga. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test heroes with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

I stared at her. All I could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

"Does she look like an anteater?!" Hinata exclaimed "She and her husband, Typhon, were known as the mother and father of all Greek mythical creatures. While Typhon was sealed away, Zeus spared her and her children as challenges for future heroes."

She purred, her reptilian face turning brown and green with delight . "You're so well informed, my dear!Normally I'm mistaken for that hideous anteater, it's the reason why I hate Australia! It's nice to meet someone who knows who I really am. But as for you, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you for that insult!"

The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. We managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.

Hinata and I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.

I couldn't let them get hurt. I uncapped my sword and Hinata got out her bow. I ran to one other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible.

Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at me.

I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eye-brows.

Where I had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.

Riptide was now a shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck.

That was my fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. I tried to regain my balance, but I was so worried about defending myself against the fiery lion's mouth, I completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its fangs into my calf.

"Percy!" Hinata screamed

My whole leg was on fire. I tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.

"Hey, ugly!"

I heard the sound of arrows flying and the Chimera roaring in pain. Through the pain, I looked up and saw one arrow pierced the serpent's neck and two pierced the eyes of the goat and lion.

"Sonny!" Echidna cried

"Percy!" Hinata ran over to me and checked my calf "The poison is spreading and fast. We need to get out-"

"Look out!" I yelled

The Chimera swing it's arm at us. Hinata pushed me out of the way, taking the hit. She slid across the deck to the hole.

"No!" I cried

She slipped through the hole

"Hinata!"

Ignoring the pain, I quickly crawled to the hole. My heart was pounding and my eyes burned with unshed tears. She couldn't be gone, she can't be, please gods, any God no.

"Percy!" A familiar voice cried

I got to the hole and let out a sob of relief and joy. Hinata was there, hanging by the edge of the hole for dear life.

"I-I'll pull you up!" I said

"No, no! Don't turn your back to them!" She warned

I turned to them and managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost. I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. My friend was hanging on for her life. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out.

I backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, their left eyes blooding from the arrows, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"

A heard a grunt behind and movement of Hinata pulling herself up.

"My, my the heroine doesn't die easy, does she?" Echidna said looking amused

Hinata stood by my side, keeping me steady "Percy, I lost Haruki." She muttered

The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish us off now that I was beaten.

I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just ... die. I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head felt dizzy. I had no sword. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared.

The only thing keeping me still was Hinata. She pulled out her kunai and pointed it at the Chimera. Her eyes showed her determination to keep fighting and fear of either dying or losing me to the poison or both. I can't tell. Her left arm and hands were bleeding fast, it must have been from the Chimera's hit earlier and climbing back on the deck. She was growing pale from the blood loss.

I admired her bravery but how could we fight? There was no place else to go, so she and I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered. If we died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?

"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson and abandon the daughter of Apollo and Aphrodite. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."

Yeah, right, I thought. I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple of stories up was like jumping onto solid asphalt. From here, I'd splatter on impact. But I'd deserve that if I left Hinata here with them.

The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.

"You have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you both, little cowards. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."

She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not Hinata, not even the gods.

"Percy..." Hinata whimpered with tears in her eyes. She was scared for me and I was scared for me too and for her. If I died now, these two would kill her. I couldn't let that happen.

I backed us up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. He must have visited me when I was in my cradle.

I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed me as his son.

But this wasn't the sea. This was the Mississippi, dead center of the USA. There was no Sea God here.

"Die, faithless ones," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward our faces.

"Father, help us," I prayed.

I tackled Hinata and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, Hinata was screaming and I held her tightly in my arms as we plummeted toward the river.