Piper looked at the title of the chapter before looking up at Annabeth then to Poseidon. Annabeth saw the look on Pipers face and understood. Annabeth looked down at Percy with a frown.

"Oh seaweed brain," Annabeth said softly running her fingers through his hair.

13 I PLUNGE TO MY DEATH

Everyone but Ares, Hera, Zeus, Hades, Athena and Artemis paled at that. All eyes were on Annabeth and Percy,

"He's fine, he's been through worst," Grover kept saying under his breath. The few people that sat neat him looked at him with worry.

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.

"Smart," Athena said with no emotion, she was still having a hard time trying to get over the fact her daughter was dating a sea spawn.

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.

Again everyone who didn't know him was looking at him. They were having a hard time picturing the sleeping boy being anything but what they saw.

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-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.

"Oh he really has the worst luck in the world," Thalia said shaking her head. Everyone nodded agreeing with her.

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.

Poseidon tried to get out of his seat but Hestia was faster than him.

"You're son in fine and right there," Hestia told him pointing to where Percy was busy drooling on Annabeth,

"Plus we have a few more books to read and perhaps after were done then you can decide what to do with him," Hera added looking at her brother who just nodded accepting her proposal

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. "Mortal police could never 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)

"Oh we all do," Will smiled, all the kids nodded.

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.

"Party ponies," Grover smiled, all the kids except Leo, Piper and Jason nodded agreeing. Chiron looked at Annabeth with a questioned looked. She just smiled and shook her head.

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,

Thalia looked at Percy shocked, Grover just shook his head,

"Annabeth do you think the books would use foreshadowing?" Thalia asked looking at Annabeth with worry.

"I don't think so," Annabeth answered looking down at Percy.

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 Annabeth was sitting right next to me.

"He failed," Annabeth laughed remembering how Percy's head had ended up on her shoulder.

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

Grover blushed at that. Will smiled looking up glad that the atmosphere in the room seemed to be mostly calm, joyous even

"So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "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?" 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. Annabeth was quiet for a long time.

"Of course he trusted you first," Grover smiled shaking his head,

"I don't think it's like that. I just think he didn't want to worry you," Annabeth smiled at Grover. All Percy's friends nodded agreeing

"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?"

"Annabeth who does have the bolt," Athena asked worried

"All I'll say it not someone you would ever guess," Annabeth answered looking her mother dead in the eye. Athena looked at Annabeth and saw that Annabeth was slightly pointing in the direction right across from Athena's throne. Athena in the corner of her eyes that it was Ares. To say she was shocked was an understatement.

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. Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy.

Hades nodded agreeing with her.

"He's not so bad," Percy mumbled in his sleep. Hades looked at Percy with a frown.

"Can he hear us?" Zeus asked

"Probably," Annabeth answered slightly worried for Percy.

I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-" "This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?" Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens.

Annabeth did the same, she looked p and looked at Thalia who just smiled sadly at her.

"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 your mom." "What would you do if it was your dad?" "That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."

"Annabeth!" Athena scolded.

"Piper would you please just read," Annabeth asked not in the mood to fight with her mother over something that little.

"You're not serious?" Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she 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.

Athena was shocked he had figured that he had gotten over it and choose to love their daughter.

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 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. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had 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."

Percy tightened his arms around Annabeth. She smiled and looked down at him. Athena looked at her daughter with sadness. She never knew, maybe she just choose not to know.

I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how. "My mom married a really awful guy," I told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."

"That's sweet of him," Hestia smiled, all the girls nodded agreeing.

Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much. "He doesn't care about me," she said. "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 when I started camp. Seven."

Jason, Piper and Leo looked at her with new found respect. All the other kids smiled at her sadly, most of them understood ow she felt.

"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 wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth 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. Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice,

"Why does he keep bringing up the amount of days that are left?" Thalia asked slightly worried.

"I think I know why, but I'm not going to say," Annabeth answered looking at Grover who nodded agreeing with her.

we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.

Annabeth resisted the urge to hit Percy over the head,
"it's a good think you didn't know what he was thinking that day, or he would be dead," Thalia laughed. All the kids nodded agreeing with her.

"I want to do that," she sighed. "What?" I asked. "Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?" "Only in pictures." "Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

"And I did," Annabeth said proudly. All the gods looked at her.

I laughed. "You? An architect?" I don't know why, but I found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day. Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

Athena and Poseidon nodded at that. All the kids laughed they were happy that Annabeth and Percy had finally gotten together, they didn't know how much longer they could have handled how Percy and Annabeth were.

I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below. "Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean." "Can't we work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?" Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete." "Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

"Oh I think you two get along quite well," Rachel laughed making everyone around her laugh as well.

We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel. "I suppose," she said at last. 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." "Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing." "Sightseeing?" "The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?" Grover and I exchanged looks. I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn't very well let her go alone.

"You're really sweet, stupid but sweet," Annabeth whispered before kidding Percy's head.

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 Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, 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. "Underground 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?" Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build 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,"

All eyes turned to Hades who looked down at his helm.

"If I find out the person who stole the bolt stole my helmet as well there will be hell," Hades threatened. Annabeth and Grover shared a look

Annabeth 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. She 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..." "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 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. Annabeth 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?"

"He really does try to eat his worries away," Will smirked feeling uneasy.

"He only did that summer. I think it had to do more about the blue and his mom." Annabeth answered thinking back to all there adventures

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.

"Not good," All the kids said at the same time.

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 below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights." "Oh, the poor darlings." The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave."

Zeus sat up in his throne, he had a feeling he knew what monster they would be facing next

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. Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. 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.

"Yes, time to go," Poseidon said worried. He had a bad feeling about that woman and her dog. He also didn't like the way Zeus was acting.

I steered Grover and Annabeth 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," Annabeth 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 and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp. Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, 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.

"Really not good. Please get out of there," Chiron said worried as well.

Wait a minute. Forked tongue? 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. The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, 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.

Poseidon's head snapped at Zeus. Zeus mealy looked away as if he didn't see anything.

"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 sideways 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.

Piper started reading faster and faster, the tension in the room seem to be getting worse and worse. Annabeth kept looking between Poseidon and Zeus worried that Poseidon would attack Zeus at any moment.

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. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood.

"Poseidon no!" Hera, Demeter and Hestia yelled just as Poseidon jumped up. In a flash the three sister were between the two brothers.

"We will not fight, so sit down." Hera ordered her voice booming through the room. Poseidon sent a glare at Zeus before be moved back to his throne.

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?"

At that everyone in the room laughed, they couldn't help themselves.

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!" The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to leap aside and dodge the bite. 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, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!"

"I don't think he's going to like that," Thalia said shaking her head, she knew that Percy was fine, but she still didn't like it that he was in danger.

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 eyebrows.

With that everyone looked at Percy trying to imagine how he would look with none eyebrows.

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.

"Not going to work," Artemis shook her head, rolling her eyes. Most of the kids just looked away, they knew they would have made the same mistake.

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. 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.

Everyone in the room were speechless, they didn't know what to say or to do.

I 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. 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, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"

"He's 12 he shouldn't even be on a quest in the first place," Poseidon growled glaring at Zeus. Chiron closed his eyes, dread fulling him.

"Lord Poseidon, Chiron he's fine," Annabeth said trying to calm the two men down.

The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish me 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. There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered. If I died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?

"Oh seaweed brain," Annabeth whispered smiling down sweetly at him. The female goddesses looked at him, they didn't completely know how to feel about the boy.

"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. 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. 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, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless.

"How dare she," Zeus yelled angry.

"You don't get to speak," Hera snapped at him. Zeus looked at her shocked

The poison is in your heart." She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not even the gods. I backed up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby.

"Just jump, the water will heal you," Poseidon said wishing Percy would just jump already.

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 one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face. "Father, help me," I prayed.

"I will, just jump" Poseidon urged getting more worried.

I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted toward the river.

"Who wants to read next?" Piper asked holding the book up.

"I hate to say it but it's late and I think we all need to go to sleep. We can continue in the morning," Hestia said getting up from her seat. Everyone but Grover and Annabeth looked at her like she was crazy.

"No. everyone up and go to bed," Hestia said glaring at the gods. Reluctantly everyone got up.

"I'll show the kids where they will be sleeping," Hestia smiled. She snapped her fingers and Percy started to levitate. Slowly the group followed her.

I do not own any of the characters or the books, they all are the property of Rick.

Thank you for reading these. Reviews are appreciated