Chapter 28
Harry's Point of View
We walked to the St Louis Arch, feeling the need to stretch our limbs after the long journey here. It was a warm day, which was nice compared to the rain that had been pelting us on and off for the past couple of days. It seemed that Zeus was debating how annoyed he was, and which area of the country he was most annoyed at, judging from the weather reports we caught on the news in one of the bars we had stopped in on the way.
Before riding to the top of the Gateway Arch, Annabeth and Luna dragged us through the underground museum, sprouting random facts as we looked at old wagons that were a couple of hundred years old, or the plans and structures that went into building the arch.
Grover, who had brought a packet of jelly beans on the way over kept passing Percy some at random intervals, just often enough to keep him from complaining. I laughed at Percy's fidgety state, as a mixture of boredom and the worry that something might happen over took him. His ADHD was playing up again, and he kept pointing out the strangest things to me or Grover, or would disappear into thought for a minute or so, before commenting on whatever was on his mind. I mainly tuned him out, quite used to this after years of having to deal with a sugar-high Percy, and paid attention to Annabeth's ramblings and laughing at Luna's strange inputs.
"Grover…" Percy suddenly said, sounding deadly serious. "Grover can you smell anything?"
Grover shuffled his feet, and took a deep breath in. "Underground. Underground always smells of monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
Percy nodded, but started keeping a keen eye on the other people standing in the queue around us. I watched with him for a while, trying to see what was bothering him so much, but when no answer revealed itself to me, I was forced to ask him.
'Percy, what is it, what's wrong? Did you see anything?'
'I didn't see anything per say…' Percy muttered, distracted. 'It's more the fact that the hair on the back of our neck has been tingling for a few minutes now. I feel like we're being watched, and not by friendly eyes…'
I frowned. 'I haven't felt anything.'
Now it was Percy's time to chuckle. 'No, you were too interesting in what Luna was saying, weren't you?'
'She's funny, ok? We've never met anyone quite like her who says exactly what's running though their mind and can sprout the most amazing nonsense while sounding like she is speaking perfect sense.' I retorted.
Before anything more could be said, we reached the front of the line and we caught sight of the small elevator we were going to ride to the top in. Our nerves peaked. If there was one thing that Percy and I hated it was being confined. Especially in small places. It drove us nuts.
We were herded into the small car with a large lady and her Chihuahua, which was wearing a rhinestone collar. Percy frowned, noticing how the guards didn't mention so much as glance at the dog. Ok, admittedly we weren't the front of all knowledge when it came to muggles, but we did know that both worlds didn't let pets go to the top of important monuments. We mentioned this to Grover, but he just shrugged, muttering something about it possibly being a dog trained to help blind people or something. We were still sceptical, but didn't say anything else, deciding to keep a firm eye on the lady and her dog instead.
The elevator started with a jerk, and we shivered as it curved upwards, our stomach twisting viciously.
"No parents?" The large woman asked, her voice curious.
We tilted our head at her, taking in the woman's beady eyes and pointy stained teeth. She was wearing a floppy denim hat and a matching dress that seemed to bulge so much she looked like a ball of blue denim. We shook our head in the negative to her question.
"We left them below." Annabeth lied smoothly, Grover chipping in with:
"They're afraid of heights you see."
"The poor dears." The lady said. There was something unrealistic and mocking in the lady's voice, and we glared at her.
The Chihuahua growled right back at us. We shivered again, noticing the viciously intelligent beady eyes that matched his owners almost perfectly.
'I really don't like this.'
'No.' I agreed. 'This is bad. Even if they are mortal, they're wrong somehow.'
"Behave, sonny. We have guests."
"You named your dog Sonny?" Percy asked incredulously, getting distracted again.
The woman bared her pointy teeth in a smile. "No."
She said the word as if it would answer all our questions. And while she hadn't actually done anything that could suggest that she might be an evil monster sent to kill us, but our instincts told us otherwise. It's always best to listen to your instincts. Always.
The observation deck at the top of the Arch looked a bit like a carpeted tin can. The walls were lined with rows of tiny windows that looked out over the city on one side, and the river on the other. Now, I told you how Percy and I don't like confined spaces. Add in a large height into that equation and we were feeling a bit sick. I was more than ready to go by now, but we felt that it would be mean to cut Luna and Annabeth's time short.
They were rambling on about the structural supports, and how they would have made the windows bigger, and perhaps designed a see through floor. There was a boy next to her, listen in rapt attention, occasionally adding in his own ideas for the lighting and the lift and various other mechanical stuff.
Curious, Percy and I took a closer look at the boy. He was small Latino, with curly brown hair and slightly pointed ears, and the warmest brown eyes we'd ever seen on a boy. He was buzzing with excitement. His clothes were slightly wrinkled and were a bit dirty, as if he'd been on a streets a while.
Suddenly I noticed the smoke that was curling from his hair. I blinked, the looked again. Nope, still there!
"Um… Dude, sorry to interrupt but we think your hair might be on fire."
The boy cursed in what sounded like Spanish, patting his hair down. He flashed us a bright smile. "Sorry about that. It keeps doing that! Anyway, I'm Leo. Who are you?"
"We're Harry and Percy."
Leo chuckled. "And British! Cool. Do you people watch Doctor Who? Because, come on. That is pretty much the best British T.V. show there is."
We laughed, thinking about the sci-fi show that Lily liked watching. We always used to sneak in and watch it with her, hiding behind the sofa and trying not to shriek when the bad guys scared us. I mean – Silence in the Library? We wouldn't even go near the Potter Library for months after that episode.
"We do, but we were at boarding school all year, so missed the latest season."
The boy pouted. "Ouch. Boarding School? Geeze, how much do your parents hate you?"
Immediately we threw up our barriers, and gave the boy a blank stare. His enthusiasm faltered slightly at our cold gaze. "What's it to you? Our life is our own, leave it be!"
"Percy! Harry!" Annabeth and Luna grabbed our shoulder in a tight grip. "Lay off, ok? He's joking. I know it's normal for you to be sent off to boarding school, but for us normal school is bad enough without being there twenty-four seven. Just… ease up, ok? He wasn't implying that your parents were trying to get rid of you or something."
We flinched, realising the truth in their words and gave Leo an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I guess we don't get along to well with Lily and James. They spent a long time favouring our brother, Charles, so… yeah. Touchy subject."
"Yeah." Leo looked sad now. "I lost my Mum a few years ago in a fire. My dad ditched us when I was born so… I guess I know a bit of how you must have felt."
A few more minutes later, we started to head down, with Leo joining us. We sent Luna and Grover into the elevator first, before realising that the car was full, as two other passengers were already inside.
"We'll see you at the bottom." I told them with a small smile when Annabeth opened her mouth to protest. "Annabeth, if you stay we wouldn't see you again till the Arch closed for the night. We need to get a train, remember?"
She pouted, but didn't deny it. We scanned the observation deck as we waited. It was early, before the morning rush, so the only people up here were a small boy and his family, Leo and the fat woman with the Chihuahua. We sent an uneasy smile at the fat lady. She returned it, her forked tongue flicking between her teeth.
We froze. Hold on, forked tongue! Before we could certify we'd actually seen that, the Chihuahua decided to start barking at us, jumping up and down. The woman sighed, and gave her dog a long look.
"Now, Sonny, does this really look link a good time? With all these nice people here?"
"Doggie!" The small boy cried happily, but his parents pulled him back. Percy pushed Leo behind us as the Chihuahua started growling at us, foam gathering on his black lips.
"Well then, son." The woman sighed. "If you insist."
"Did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" Leo asked incredulously, while we nodded in agreement.
"Chihuahua?" The woman laughed. "Oh no dear, he's a Chimera, dear. It's an easy mistake to make, though."
Pushing back her denim sleeves, the woman revealed green scaly arms. This time when she smiled we spotted fangs and noticed her pupils were reptile-like slits.
The Chihuahua kept barking, louder and louder, growing in size with each bark until it reached the size of a lion. Its tail grew thin and green, a snake head forming at the end, its red eyes glaring evilly at us. The former Chihuahua's back legs became more goat-like, forming little hooves. As the rhinestone dog collar grew with its owner until the words were clear to read:
Chimera – rabid, fire-breathing, poisonous – if found, please call Tartarus – ext.954
"Wow," Leo gasped, "that's one heck of a dog."
Leo's voice pulled us out of our shock, making us realise that we hadn't even uncapped our sword. The little boy was screaming his head off in the background and we were standing but a few metres from the beast's bloody maw, and we knew without doubt that as soon as we moved, it would lunge.
The snake-lady let out a long hissing sound that could possibly have been laughter. "Be honoured, Perseus Potter. It is rare that Lord Zeus lets me test a hero with one of my own. For I am the terrible Echidna, Mother of Monsters!"
We started blankly at her. "Really. We are standing facing a fire-breathing, poisonous rabid Chimera, and you think that saying that would scare us or put us in awe of you? Geeze! Gods these days!"
Meanwhile, Leo was thinking something very different. "Echidna? I thought that was a kind of anteater?"
The terrible Echidna let out a howl, her face turning brown with anger as she released a gust of horrible breath all over us. "Gah! I hate Australia! Naming some ridiculous animal after me. For that, I will destroy you as well!"
The Chimera charged, gnashing its lion's teeth together in a deadly chink. Grabbing Leo, we only just managed to throw ourselves aside a dodge the bite. We ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who was also on the deck. All four of them were screaming now, desperately trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. We steeled our nerves.
'We can't let them get hurt.' Percy said, uncapping Riptide. I nodded in agreement, stepping back to give Percy full control to fight. He ran to the opposite side of the deck and yelled; "Hey Chihuahua, over here!"
The chimera moved faster than we believed to be possible. It opened its mouth, unleashing a wave of fiery breath straight at us. Before the inferno could reach us, however, Leo stepped in front of us, his hands out stretched, and somehow forced the flames back to the chimera, burning the lion's mane off.
The beast roared in pain, and Percy used the distraction to swing his blade at its neck. A mistake. The shimmering bronze blade merely bounced off the dog collar. As we fought to regain our balance, keeping an eye on the lion's head, we forgot about the snake. It struck swiftly, sinking its fangs into our calf.
$Ouch!$ We hissed in pain as the venom set our leg on fire. Percy attempted to jab Riptide in the chimera's mouth, the serpent wrapped around our ankles and pulled us off-balance; our blade flew out of our hand and into a shadowy corner far out of our reach.
The snake prepared to strike again, and we yelped.
$Wait! Please stop!$
The snake paused, retracting its fangs and flicking its tongue out to smell us. $You speak?$
$Yessss.$ We hissed, drawing out the word. $Why are you attacking us?$
$You are a demigod, our natural enemy. Your scent calls to us to kill you.$
Apparently the lion didn't understand us, because it roared again, sending a wave of fire at the wall, the heat melting the wall. The pain was making us delirious now, and we collapsed to the floor.
$Please don't hurt us.$ We pleaded, one hand gently rubbing at the lion's mane. It purred slightly, and its red eyes softened slightly.
"Chimera poison is deadly, son of Poseidon. Show true to your heritage. Jump into the river and let your friend here die, or save him and die yourself." Echidna declared happily, crouching down beside us.
"Percy – catch!"
Leo threw us Riptide. We caught our sword, but only just, stabbing Echidna in the chest. She howled in pain before collapsing to the floor in a pile of dust. The chimera whined, then licked our cheek, its rough tongue strangely soothing.
"Water." We gasped at Leo. "Do you have any water?"
The confused boy pulled out a water bottle from the pack he was wearing. Both Leo and the chimera watching in amazement as we poured the water over our injured calf, the water following our commands and drawing out some of the poison. The water ran out too quickly though, so we only managed to save some time. We quickly turned to the snake again.
$We aren't just a demigod. We are also a wizard, blessed of Hecate, and a twin soul.$
The snake hissed again. $Marked with Zeus' bolt and blessed by Pan… Go, hatchling. It's not the Fates' decision for you to die today. Jump, and embrace Poseidon. Go!$
Noticing the snake had said nothing of Leo, who we were pretty sure must be a demigod of some-kind by now, we grabbed our friend and limped over to the hold in the wall.
"Trust us?"
Leo shook his head.
"Then this is going to be hard. But we don't trust the chimera not to kill you. Please don't hurt us till we've healed again." We requested before jumping, pulling Leo with us.
Leo screamed as we fell, but we used our control on the water of the river below to soften the impact. We both might be a little bruised, but it was better that then dead. The water worked quickly, healing our calf and clearing our head. We quickly searched for Leo, who was lying on the river bottom a few feet away, in shock. We grabbed, him, knowing that it would be urgent to get him to the surface to that he could breathe. Surprisingly, as soon as we touched Leo a thin bubble of air covered his skin, drying his clothes and letting him breathe. The boy gasped in oxygen, and looked at us with wide eyes.
"What? I'm breathing! But we're underwater! How? What? I-"
"Hey!" We exclaimed. "Calm down a little, would you? We're a son of Poseidon, the god of the seas. Hence we can control water. Including let you breathe under it. Oh, and don't worry. We were the exact same when we found out."
We used the water to propel us closer to the surface before sneaking out the river, avoiding the press that the crowded by the river. We heard several rumours about the hole in the arch being a terrorist attack, and quickly ran off, looking for Luna and Annabeth and Grover.
Annabeth and Luna were not best pleased with us at all.
"You! Of all the reckless and stupid things to do, you blow torch a national monument! Perseus and Harry James Potter!"
We flinched away from the blows they were raining down on our head, glaring at Leo and Grover as they sniggered at us. "Ouch! Hey! Lay off! It's wasn't our fault! The Chimera attacked us, it wasn't as if we were trying to provoke it. If anything, it was Leo's comment that annoyed Echidna the most!"
Leo immediately put his hands up in surrender. "In my defence, I didn't know it was possible for a Chihuahua to turn into a large fire-breathing poisonous and rabid Chimera, so please forgive my comments."
"You… you saw it?" Annabeth gasped. Luna tuned in then. "Your smoking hair. I'd say you were a son of Hephaestus. Rare gift that, very rare. I'd suggest keeping it a secret for now."
We all nodded. "Alright. So. Any ideas on how to get back to New York from here?"
As it turned out, the remainder of the money that we had been given from camp had been lost when I fought the Chimera. And since Leo was tagging along now too, we needed money, and fast. Tomorrow was the twenty-first, and we had a deadline to keep to.
At lunch-time, we sat in a park. We knew that we didn't have enough money to get to New York, so we decided to get food for lunch, and debated what to do while we waited. Grover spotted something in the bushes and disappeared off for a minute or so. When he returned, he was carrying something very pink, and very fluffy.
It turned out to be a pink poodle. Grover was talking to it quietly before he looked up at us and grinned.
"Everyone, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, meet Harry and Percy, Leo, and Annabeth and Luna."
"Hello Gladiola." Luna replied immediately. Leo rolled his eyes, but did the same.
Everyone then turned to look at us expectantly. We looked at them wide-eyed. "Oh, no. We are not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it."
"Potter." Annabeth growled. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."
The poodle growled.
We said hello to the poodle.
Grover explained how Gladiola had overheard us talking about our need for money. He had mentioned that she had run away from a local rich family who's posted a two hundred-dollar reward for his safe return. While Gladiola didn't really want to return to his family, he was willing to if it would help out a satyr.
"How does Gladiola know about the rewards?" Leo asked, voicing the question that had been on our mind too.
"He read the signs." Grover replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh."
Leo exchanged a look with us. "Oh course," We said together. "Silly us."
Grinning, we high-fived the Latino, who grinned back at us.
"Why are you both Percy and Harry?" Leo asked.
We pulled a face. "We are two people in one body I guess. Annabeth and Luna are the same. We just share control."
Leo asked dozens of questions, many of them old, but some of them new. "What's it like sharing your mind with someone? What happens if you don't agree? Do you both dream the same dreams?"
We laughed and tried to answer the questions as best we could as we tracked down Gladiola's family to get the reward money before booking the train tickets to NYC. Finally, our quest was almost complete…
Hey! Apologies about last weekend. I was busy with work and homework and helping sort stuff out at the Scout Hut... Anyway, here it is! Leo's here! :D I'm not convinced I got it character perfect, but lets face it - if I was a good a writer as Rick Riordan, I would be publishing by now so... :P
Anyways! Happy bonfire night to any who celebrate it. Personally I find the constant fireworks a bit annoying, but hey! It's fun while it lasts.
Next chapter should be the returning of the bolt to Olympus (and they get to meet the Olympian council :D) with a few difficulties of course :P
I have my Classics controlled assessment started next week, along with all three of my Science ISAs :( Kill me now :( actually don't. Life is good at the moment :D
percyjackson123: I do quite like the idea of Fred and George being twin souls with Travis and Connor, the idea of twin souls was that they're rare, so having four might push that a little... I might make them cousins or something though... or write something else where they are twin souls... I don't know yet :) Um... I am planning on going up to seventh year and the fight with Kronos. Hopefully Heroes of Olympus too. Depends how far I can get in three years, since I doubt I'm going to have time at Uni to write this... :/ But yes, that is the plan! :D
Talia-Elizabeth: Your teacher is amazing! Mine are all rather rule abiding. Except my Japanese teacher. But since we're a class of four, we tend to be taught rather informally anyway (phones out every lesson :D). The Maze Runner is amazing! Have you seen the film yet? Or read James Dashner's other series, The Eye of Minds? If not - read it! It's really good :)
Percy-Jackson-is-the-best-ever: I admit unfortunately I've never been to America... My theory though is that Harry and Percy grew up in the countryside, with very little experience in big cities, outside the occasionally trip to Diagon Alley. Following this theory, as a city girl I find the country very quiet, so entering any city after being there is very loud and messy. So I wasn't trying to imply that Denver isn't a lovely city, I promise! Just in Percy and Harry's point of view it is louder and messier to what they're used to. Sorry :/ Please to tell me if I do anything like that again. Because I shouldn't and it is bad of me...
Sommermaedchen: I was going to keep Annabeth and Luna in the same House; Ravenclaw. They aren't quite as loud and obvious as Harry and Percy, and so are only going to tell people they're a twin soul if they're asked sort of thing. So yeah... But yes, I'm British. And I feel your pain! That's really mean that the Heroes of Olympus are coming out so late in Germany... Evil publishers!
Thank you to everyone else you reviewed and followed and favorited. :D You are amazing!
Alright. So Olympians and talking back to Zeus next week :)
Smartiepants :P
