Percy speaking
Percy's thoughts
Adamos speaking
Adamos thoughts
Characters are owned by Rick
(Except Adamos he's mine)
Chapter 12
Things Get Deep
My eyes were heavy as I tried to open them. One of the last things that I remembered was the pain and soreness of my body before falling asleep. Adamos had said that he would skin the gryphon for me, then my thoughts focused on the beast. The gryphon that I killed, the look in its eyes as I pierced its chest. The look of acceptance at its fate, of its noble spirit as it passes, it was so much to process.
I open my eyes slowly, blinking the dreariness from my sight, to find an unfamiliar sight. I was in a forest. I know that Grover, Annabeth, and I were camping in a forest but this one seemed different. The terrain seemed to be filled with more rocks than before, the trees were shorter yet branched wider. The ground was dry, and shrubs were everywhere. This was not like any forest in New York that I've seen. The sun was almost at its highest peak, meaning that it was close to noon.
"If you don't get a move on, we'll be here all day." A male voice whispered in amusement from somewhere around me. I turned to look for the source of the voice. It sounded familiar, yet slightly different so I couldn't put a place to it.
"Stop talking I'm trying to concentrate!" A young female voice snapped. This voice sounded high pitched, like that of a young child.
It took me a few moments before I was able to find where the two voices were because they were very well hidden. In the brush was a young man and a little girl, both crouched, with the little girl holding a bow with an arrow drawn. I tried to call out to them until I realized I couldn't talk. I crouched and walked closer to see what they were aiming at. A lone deer was grazing in the middle of a field.
The young girl drew back her bow further before letting go. The arrow flew mostly straight but still missed the deer. As soon as it flew past the deer's head jolted up and then it took off in the opposite direction.
"Why didn't it hit?! I did everything you said!" The young girl cries out in frustration as she stands and stomps out of the bush. Now that she isn't concealed, I can see that she is around six years old and wearing an ancient Greek chiton. She had a head of fiery auburn hair that was tied in a braid.
"You rushed it. You can't just draw back and fire. Every time you draw you need to reset yourself." The man said as he followed her out of the brush. He was also wearing a chiton with a bow and quiver on his back. He had a head of messy black hair that was tied back and seemed to glimmer in the light. He turned his head to look at the young girl. He looked like Adamos but was older than I last saw him, yet his voice was younger. He looked to be around eighteen years old.
"But I did do that. Why is this so hard!" The young girl complains heatedly. She glared at the arrow that was stuck near where the deer was.
"Nooo," Adamos said calmly yet with a smile full of amusement. "You rushed. If you want to hunt you need to learn patience. Now come on, we can still catch another deer if we go now." He smirks before walking off in the direction of the deer. His footsteps not making any noise.
The young girl races after him and falling to his side. Her footsteps making a slightly rustling sound as she treads through the grass. I follow after the two as neither notice me there. Adamos leads her through the brush occasionally pointing at snapped twigs and hoof prints. He stops.
"We're close enough. You take it from here." Adamos said as he crosses his arms.
"Can't you just show me where the deer is? Why do I have to look for it if you already where it is?" The young girl questioned.
"Because if I just tell you, you'll never learn. I can't always be here to get food for you, your mom and brother. You have to be able to hunt for yourself." Adamos says in a soft tone.
"Fine." The young girl said. She then wanders around the area looking closely at the bushes, the ground and trees before stopping and following a trail that I couldn't see. Adamos and I followed behind her, she stopped a few times to find the trail once again, until about ten minutes later she and Adamos were crouched in a brush once again. Another deer was standing in a grassy area, grazing.
"All right, remember to take your time. Don't rush." Adamos whispers into her ear as she draws an arrow back. "Aim just above the foreleg, right where the heart is located. One shot, one kill." The young girl draws back the bow. She takes a deep breath and readjusts her aim. After a silent moment, she lets go of the string and the arrow flies. A thunk is heard followed by a cry from the deer.
"I did it!" The little girl says excitedly. "Did you see that? Did you?" She runs over to the downed deer as Adamos walks over at his own pace.
"I did. That was very good. Your first hunt is a success. How do you feel?" Adamos asks with a smile on his face as he watches the little girl jump up and down excitedly.
"I think I can take down a bear now. Can we? Please?" She says as she tries to convince him with some of the most adorable puppy dog eyes I've ever seen.
"I think we have enough meat for now, and it's too soon for you to go after bear." He says. The small girl visibly deflates. "Besides a real hunter," The girl gives him an adorable glare, "or huntress," she smiles at him thinking she won, "never takes more than they need. You need to respect the balance of nature. Respect the deer, for through its life it has grown big, and through its death it provides us with what we need to survive." Adamos kneels down and gently removes the arrow from deer's carcass. "Come here." Adamos says to the small girl, motioning her over.
The girl walks over to Adamos and kneels next to him. Adamos puts his hand on her shoulder and her eyes seem to glow. She gasps as a pure white deer forms over the body of the fallen animal. The white deer bows before them. The little girl reaches out slowly, as if to pet the formed soul. Her hand almost touches it, then the deer dissolves into motes of light.
"What was that?" The little girl asks her voice filled with awe.
"That was the soul of the deer you just hunted. Even after death you must respect it. That is one of the most important things I can teach you as a hunter." Adamos stands and picks up the deer, he uses a knife and cuts its throat and lets blood flow out, then puts it over his shoulder. "Come my little huntress we must take your spoils back so your mother may make a feast of it." Adamos shouts in a jovial tone and walks back to the forest.
The little girl runs to his side and slips her hand into his larger one. "Thank you for taking me hunting," A blush spreads across her face as her gaze goes to the ground. "Big brother."
Adamos gives her a heartfelt smile. "Of course, my little huntress," the girls turns her head and her blush grows. "I will take you out as often as you want. I quite enjoy these little outings with my baby sister. Now let's go, I promised your brother I would teach him how to use a sword and we need to process this meat." Adamos says as they both walk off.
I stare at their retreating figures. This was another dream about Adamos's past, yet I didn't know who this little sister was.
"Percy!" I hear a faint voice coming from somewhere. "Percy!" The voice says again, but this time a little louder. I whirl around, looking around the forest, but not seeing anyone.
"Percy!" The voice says louder, and it sounds feminine and so familiar, yet I couldn't place it. Slowly the forest begins to dissolve as shadows creep forward and engulf everything. I back away as they seem to get closer before stopping. Then all at once the shadows recede and the scenery had changed. The forest was gone and now I was in a dark cave. At the center was a large gaping pit. Mist began to form all around me, whispers caressed my ears and the faint feeling of hands were holding my shirt from the mist. Yet I felt a strange pull to the pit. It compelled me as I walked closer, till I was at the edge of the hole. Staring down made me sick. The pit seemed to go down forever, yet I felt that something was trying to claw its way up. Something horrid and dark.
"Little hero," A dark voice said from the bottom of the pit, its voice laced with amusement. "So young, so weak, but you will do." The voice felt heavy and seemed to bear down on me like massive weights.
"They have misled you boy," It said. "if you're willing to make a deal, I can give you what you want." At this the space above the pit shimmered. It solidified and the form of my mother appeared as she was when the minotaur crushed her, and she vanished. Her face was frozen in an expression of desperation and horror. Her eyes still held the same pleading message for me to run away. I wanted to cry out to her, but my voice still didn't work.
The voice just laughed. An invisible force began to pull me forward toward the chasm, but I started to back away.
"Help me rise boy," the voice became louder as it echoed through the cavern, "Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!"
The mist gathered around me and began to grab at my clothes. The whispers grew louder. "Get away! GET AWAY!"
Over the pit the figure of my mom faded away, then the pulling strengthened. Something was coming, and it sent an ice-cold chill through my body. I tried to back away from the pit but the pull seemed to only increase.
"Percy! Come on." I heard from behind me. I turned around and a glowing doorway was there. A silhouette of a man was holding out his hand to me. "Grab my hand!" I reached out as I kept moving away from the crevice. Each step was like moving my legs through knee high mud. Slowly I made my way till I was just within reach. The silhouette man reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me through the doorway. I was off balance and tripped over my own feet as I went through the doorway and landed on my back. The man closed the door and briskly walked away.
"That was close. You were almost in a tight spot there Perce. Luckily I got there in time." The man said as he made his way to a strange console in the center of the room. I looked around and noted the strange style of the room. The walls were metallic with glowing round orbs in them, and out of them were coral style arches. The floor was a steel grid. However, the strangest thing was the console in the center. It was round and had a bunch of weird switches, knobs, buttons, and a bunch of other things. A large glass case rose from its center and glowed blue. A slight wheezing sound was sounding around me. The man had his back to me, and he was wearing a well-fitting blue suit.
"Uh thanks for getting me out of there. Uh, but who are you." I ask.
"Oh, but Percy we already know each other." The man says as he fiddles with the console and keeps his back to me. "Well we've never formally met, but we've known each other for a while."
"Ok? But who are you?" I ask as I get up from the ground.
The man turns around. His messy pitch-black hair shimmered in the low light. His multi colored eyes were filled with mirth as he smiled at me. "Percy. I'm hurt." He says, putting his hand over his heart in a mock form of disbelief. "We've been so close and yet it seems we're still so far. I mean how could you forget this genius wit."
"…Adamos?" I say but it was more in a question than a confirmation.
"The one and only." Adamos says as he puts his hands in his pockets and leans against the console.
"Oh…" I say. This is the first time that I've actually met the guy…god in person. "I guess its nice to finally meet you."
"And to you as well little brother." Adamos says with a smile.
"So, would you mind explaining where we are?" I ask as I look around at the weird décor.
"Just a way to get to our destination. Which we are coming to right about now." Adamos says as the wheezing sound grows louder. The room begins to shake violently, and I nearly fall over, only stopping myself by grabbing the console that Adamos was still leaning against casually. The shaking then began to die down until it came to a stop. I slowly rose to my feet.
"What was that?" I ask.
"That would be us arriving at our destination." Adamos says. "Why don't you step outside and take a look." Adamos says as he points to the wooden doors that I came through. I make my way over to the doors. I look back to Adamos and he just nods to the doors. I open the doors and step outside. The sunlight was harsh on my eyes, making it so I had to cover them for a brief moment as they adjust. What I saw was a tropical island. A beautiful ocean washed over a white sand beach. A vibrant jungle was off to the side it was filled with many colored flora. I turned back to where Adamos was and saw something weird. The doorway that connected to the large room where Adamos was belonged to a blue wooden box, the word police was written on the top.
"So, what do you think?" Adamos said with giant smile on his face. He looked to the blue box and then at me, like he was expecting me to say something about it.
"I guess…" I said.
"Yeah?" Adamos's grin grew.
"it's smaller on the outside." I said with a shrug. Adamos however seemed to lose just about all his joy in the moment as his smile fell.
"You ruined it. I managed to do everything perfectly, and yet you somehow you ruined it." Adamos says with a sigh. He then snaps his fingers and the blue box disappears. The suit that he was wearing morphs into a short toga that only covered one peck. His lower half was covered with a cloth that wrapped around legs with an opening in the middle and a leather skirt and loin cloth on top that reached to his knees. He had golden greaves on his legs and sandals. His arms were bare except for arm guards. On his left hand was a plain silver ring. His body was lean yet muscular, like a perfect balance of agility and power. It was the body of a warrior. Adamos though sulked as he sat on the sands.
"Uh… you ok?" I ask.
"Yeah, yeah." He waves me off. "Anyways I just wanted to congratulate you on taking down the gryphon. You managed to do it with barely any help from me." He said though his tone made it sound like an off handed comment. It reminded me of a certain wine god.
"Riigghht." I say and look around. "So what exactly is going on?"
"You," He says as he points at me. "were in a demigod dream. It wasn't good by any means. That voice was the enemy that's trying to start a war amongst Olympus. He was trying to tempt you into doing what he wants"
"And he's the one who has my mom? I mean I saw her there. She was right there." I say.
"No," Adamos shakes his head. "She wasn't actually there. That was an illusion, I'm sure of it." Adamos then looks at me dead in the eyes. "A word of warning Percy. Never trust him. He is a manipulator and a double crosser. He will say whatever to get what he wants and throw you away when he no longer needs you."
"And who is he exactly?" I ask as I sit next to him. The sand was pleasantly warm and soft.
"Names have power, so its best if you don't know his actual name. For now we can just refer to him as the Crooked one." Adamos says as his gaze goes out to the endless expanse of ocean in front of us.
"Ok, next question. Where are we?" I ask.
"An island." Adamos says.
I look at him, expecting him to say more. But he doesn't and just sits there. "And?"
"And what?" He says with a raised brow.
"How did we get here? Where are Annabeth and Grover? We were just in a forest so where are we now?" I list off questions.
"We came here in the police box—"
"And what's with that" I interrupt.
"It was nothing just a joke that I thought would be enjoyable, but it doesn't matter anymore." Adamos says, his tone going back slightly to a sulk "Anyways, Annabeth and the satyr are still in the forest, I brought you back there and after a few working hours on a project while you All were sleeping Annabeth took over watch and now, I'm here with you."
"Wait how can I be here with you but with them as well?"
Adamos gave me a raised brow. "You really are pretty slow." I blush at the straight forward comment. "Your still dreaming Percy. All of this," He gestures to our surroundings. "is just a mental construct. Just like the blue police box."
"So, I came up with all of this?" I say as I look around at the admittingly beautiful scenery.
Adamos laughs. "Oh Hades no. I made all of this. This is where I stay while I'm in your body and not controlling it or doing anything. I mean just look over there." He says as he points to his left.
I lean back so as to see past him. A large and majestic looking beach house sat It was a three story mansion that seemed to be made out of blocks of sea stone with two balconies. The mansion was built in the form of an omega that wrapped around a floating dock that lead to the ocean. "Is that—"
"A mansion? Yes, yes, it is. Does it exist? Yes. This whole island is an exact model of one that I created in the middle of the pacific about ninety years ago."
"Damn." I simply said.
Adamos chuckles. "Yeah that seems like an appropriate word to use. I would love to show you more of the island and the mansion, but it's time for you to wake up. There's an Amtrak half a mile south of here. We got enough money, so I suggest you buy some tickets west. I'm going to sleep so you'll be on your own for a while." Adamos yawns. I must have given him a weird look because he followed up. "Don't look at me like that. Even us gods need to sleep sometimes, and besides I used a lot of power last night fixing things and working on a few items, and I'm drained. Even if it's not as often or as necessary as you mortals need it a nap can still do wonders. Anyways it was nice to meet face to face Perce. I'll see you later."
"Uh… yeah. I'll see you when you wake up." I said and then the island began to fade away.
My eyes snapped open and I raised myself onto my elbows. Daylight shown in my eyes as I raised my hand to block the offending light.
"So the zombie lives." Annabeth says from my side. "Here, I got you breakfast." She tosses a bag of chips at my feet.
"How long was I out?" I asked as I opened the bag and began to eat.
"A few hours. And Grover went out to explore and found something I guess." She said and nodded in a direction. I followed where she was directing and saw Grover pacing back and forth animatedly, and with something in his arms.
"Percy your awake!" Grover said excitedly.
"Uh yeah. I am." I said to the obvious.
"I went exploring and come across something wonderful. The lands been restored during the night. There's no trash anywhere and there's so much life in the forest. The wild here has been restored." Grover says with pure joy. I look around at the area. Where there was once a grass area littered with cans and trash was now a lush forest that looked straight out of a fantasy novel. I took a deep breath and the smell of rot and the river were nowhere, instead the area smelled like flowers and soil. "Only Pan could do this. This must mean that he wants to be found."
Grover seemed to be jumping around with glee. I however remember talking with Adamos and he said that he spent the night fixing things. I could only assume that he meant that he spent a lot of power fixing the pollution in the area and probably far around, which explained why he said he was tired., but I couldn't tell Grover that.
"Uh Grover, not that that isn't great and all but what are you holding?" I say as I look at the pink thing in his arms.
"Oh! Right, this is Gladiola." He says as he stops moving so I can get a good look at the thing in his arms. It was fuzzy, dirty and…pink? It took me moment to see that what he was holding was a poodle. A pink poodle.
The poodle yapped at me. "No, he's not." Grover replied.
I blinked and wondered if I was still dreaming. "Are…are you talking to that thing?"
The poodle growled at me. "This thing…," Grover warned. "Is Gladiola. Say hello to Gladiola Percy."
I looked at Annabeth for some kind of notion that this was a practical joke, but she gave no indication. "I'm not saying hello to a poodle." I said.
"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." The poodle meanwhile growled at me.
I however wasn't intimidated by the dog in the slightest as I stared at it and drew out Riptide and uncapped it. In the presence of the bronze sword the pink dog seemed to shrink a bit. "I'm not doing that. Why do you even have it with you?" I know it might be extreme, but I took on a gryphon last night. A pink dog wasn't going to scare me.
"Gladiola," Grover said with emphasis. "is our ticket west. He used to belong to a rich family till he ran away. According to him they are currently posting two-hundred dollars for his return. Gladiola has offered to be returned so we can collect the money to go west. There's even a train station a half mile away."
"How does he know about the reward?" I ask.
"He can read the signs." Grover said. "Duh."
I gave him an incredulous look and then looked at Annabeth. She was facepalming and shaking her head. "That is pretty stupid. How can a dog learn to read? Never mind." I say, cutting him off from what he was about to say. "We don't need the dog. I think I have enough money for train tickets." I say as I reach in to my back pack and dig around till I find what I'm looking for. I pull out and in my hand is a large fold of bills.
Both of their eyes bug. "Where did you get all that?" Annabeth asks.
"Aunt Hestia gave it to me before we left." I say like it was no big deal. Annabeth gave me an inquisitive eyebrow and Grover just had his mouth hanging open..
"Why would she do that?" Annabeth asks.
I blink. "Because she's a nice person." I simply said. "Now let's get going. We have no time to waste." I say as I pack up all my things and just head off. Both of them take a moment to collect themselves and follow me.
"Grover put the dog down." Annabeth loudly whispers to him as he seemed to forget he was still holding the poodle. He placed the dog down and jogs to catch up.
Line Break
We made our way to the Amtrak station and purchased our tickets West, but it was only enough to get us to Denver. We got on and spent two days on the train. We sped past golden fields, large rivers, and mountains. Nothing was attacking us but that only lessened the tension a little. Adamos woke up after our first few hours on the train, and that made me feel better. You never appreciate a monster detector until it goes offline.
The entire time I was trying to keep a low profile after I saw my name and picture on the front pages of half a dozen newspapers. One of them even had a picture of me as we escaped the bus the other day. The article read that after me and my mom disappeared, I was last seen attacking three elderly women and fleeing with two accomplices. There was even a reward for my capture set by Gabe.
"Don't worry Percy," Annabeth tried to comfort me. "Mortal police will never find us." Key word 'tried'.
The rest of the day on the train I spent just watching the scenery go by, and occasionally walking around the train. At one point I saw a family of centaurs galloping next to the train. There was even a child one. And another time I saw something huge moving through the woods. Its fur shimmered golden in the evening sun. Adamos said that that was the Nemean Lion, which I could kinda believe since it looked to be the size of a truck.
"Hey Percy?" Annabeth asked after hours of silence.
"Hmm?" I barely responded.
"Do you think that something's going wrong with this quest?" She said.
"What do you mean?" I said as my attention was now fully on her.
"I mean things seemed weird. Like at Auntie Em's. She knew my name even though we never said them. It was almost like she was expecting us." Annabeth had a speculative look.
"That does seem weird. You think someone told her we were on a quest." I said. I knew that someone was probably Luke, but I didn't want to tell her that since she seemed to like the older boy a lot.
"Maybe." Annabeth said as she glanced at me "How did you know that she was a monster?"
"Uh," I said as my eyes widen slightly. I try to school my features and hope that she didn't notice. "Well she seemed to nice to be real and I heard her lock the door when we went in. So I thought that she was a monster." I shrugged.
Annabeth looked like she was in deep thought for a moment but then seemed to push that thought away. "I guess that makes sense." She mutters. "But what really has me concerned were the Kindly ones.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When the Kindly ones attacked us on the bus, they were asking for it, not he, or him, but it." Annabeth explained.
"So, they're looking for something." I finished her statement.
"Yes, but what they are looking for is the problem. The Kindly ones only report to the god of the dead so if they're looking for something it must be an important item to him."
"This just gets better and better." I mumble. "Even if we knew what they were looking for we can't go and get it. Were on a quest of our own and we have no idea what they are looking for to begin with. I think we should just ignore it." I say.
Annabeth gives me a thoughtful look, like she wanted to say more, before deciding against it and just nodding. The silence once again engulfs us.
"So you think she's right." I ask.
"Oh yeah," Adamos thought. "It is a good plan. With two weapons missing the gods are gonna start pointing fingers. Zeus already thinks we stole the bolt, and with Hade's item gone it would make the most sense to think you stole it."
"Great. Just what I need. Another angry god after me." I moan.
"Aw come on it'll be fine." Adamos thinks. "It could be worse."
"How could it be worse?"
"I don't really know at the moment, but it could be." Adamos shrugs.
"That isn't exactly comforting." I think in exasperation. After that it was mostly quiet. I went back to looking out the window. Nothing really happened, except for one time when one of Grover's fake feet fell of an Annabeth and I had to put it back on.
The silence continued for a bit longer before Annabeth broke it once more. "Who is it that needs your help?"
"Excuse me?" I ask.
"Back in the forest. You kept mumbling about not helping. So who wants your help."
I paused. I thought, "Should I tell her?"
"That is up to you Percy. It was your dream." Adamos responds.
I go over it a few times in my head before making my mind up and I ended up telling Annabeth about the pit. I left out the parts about Adamos because I doubt that she would understand his eccentricities.
"That doesn't sound like Hades." Annabeth said as she rubbed her chin. Hades always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."
"Oh don't even talk like you know him." Adamos mumbles in my mind.
"And he was asking for the bolt. But if we're going to the Underworld to get the bolt, then why would he try to trade my mom for it.?" I said, feigning ignorance at the knowledge of the bolt not being in Hade's possession.
"I don't know Percy, but even so you can't make a deal with Hades for your mother, if it comes down to it w might have to leave her." She said with a serious look.
I was taken back. "What would you do if it was your parent?" I asked.
Annabeth began to finger the ring that was on the necklace she wore. "I would leave him to rot."
I blinked. "You can't be serious?"
Annabeth's eyes fixed on me with a hard gaze. "My dad's resented me since I was born." She said with venom. "He never wanted a baby. He even asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy and told him that heroes needed to be raised by their mortal parents."
"But he's still your dad. He must care." I said.
Annabeth snorts. "When I was born I appeared on my dad's doorstep in a golden basket, carried down by Zephyr, the west wind. You'd think he would consider it a miracle, take a few pictures or something. But he would always talk about it as if it was the most inconvenient thing to happen to him. He even got married and forgot all about me and my mom. He got a regular mortal wife and two regular mortal kids."
"Athena." I hear Adamos say in exasperation.
"He doesn't care about me," Annabeth said, her voice going faster as she spills her past. "His wife thought I was a freak. I couldn't be near her children, and dad just went with it. Anything dangerous was my fault, any accident was my fault. They would just look at me like 'how dare you put our family in danger.' I got the hint that I wasn't wanted so I left."
"How old were you?" I asked softly.
"Seven. The same age as when I came to camp." She whispered.
"How did you get to camp then? I can't imagine a seven-year-old doing that."
"I wasn't alone. My mom, Athena, guided me to help. I made a few unexpected friends who took care of me."
"You mean Grover, Luke, and …the daughter of Zeus." I said. I almost said Thalia but stopped, fearing that the name would hurt Annabeth more.
Annabeth's eyes seemed to glaze over slightly. Whether it was from tears or just being lost in memories I don't know. "Yes." She simply said. After that the conversation died. We each just fell asleep. Though I was upset at her for suggesting leaving my mom, but I was also upset that I seemed to hurt her emotionally. I thought to myself "I need to make this up to her."
Line Break
"OK tell me again why were here?" Adamos asked. His voice held slight bits of irritation. "Were on a time crunch and somehow you convinced me to let you come here."
"Annabeth still seems sad. So, I thought that this would cheer her up." I thought. You see it was the second day on the train and we were in the middle of a three-hour layover in St. Louis before the train would leave for Denver. With this excess time, I suggested that we go on a tour of the St. Louis Arch for sightseeing. After yesterday's talks I felt bad for her, I wanted to cheer her up. So, when she mentioned the Arch I suggested we go and dragged Grover with us. Currently we were waiting in line in the underground passageway for our turn to ride the elevator to the top of the Arch.
"Oh, I can't wait. Did you know that the Arch is the tallest man-made monument in the western Hemisphere? It stands at six hundred and thirty feet tall and is the tallest accessible building in Missouri." Annabeth started spouting out facts about the monument even though Grover and I weren't listening.
"What's wrong?" I asked Grover as we both tuned out Annabeth's tirade of facts. Ever since we came here, he's been fidgeting around nervously.
"Oh, uh nothing, satyrs just don't do well underground. It smells like monsters." Grover said.
"Well, once this is over, we'll be back on the train and be out of here." I said and Grover nodded, him wanting to get this over with. I myself wasn't really feeling well either in the confined space.. As we were ushered forward into the small elevator, I felt like I was going nuts in the small space. It didn't help that the elevator went in a curve.
We rode the elevator to the top and got off onto an observatory that was built into the Arch. The observatory was built like a large soda can. There were rows of small windows on the walls with a view of the city on one side and the river on the other. Annabeth was animatedly walking about, talking about what she would have done if she designed the monument. I walked off to the side and looked out the side that overlooked the river.
"This was a huge mistake." I thought as I looked out one of the windows. "I should not have suggested this."
"You're not having second thoughts now are you. You wanted to make Annabeth feel better." Adamos thinks sarcastically.
"Well clearly I didn't think about being in a metal tube six hundred feet in the air." I thought.
"It's actually six hundred and thirty feet." Adamos corrected.
"You're not helping." I thought. Out of the corner of my eye the next group of tourists came out of the elevator.
I felt Adamos tense in my mind. "Percy, we got a problem."
"Is it a monster?" I asked.
"Ok one. I'm proud that your learning. And two. Yes. Specifically, two of them."
"Where are they?" I ask as I turn.
"Don't turn around!" Adamos shouts in my head. I straighten and face forward. "We can't tip them off. Look casual, yet not too casual."
I slowly turn around and walk to the other side of the observatory where Annabeth and Grover are. "Where are the monsters?" I ask.
"It's that fat lady and her dog." Adamos said. I glanced out of the corner of my eye until I found the woman and her pet. The woman was super fat and dressed in a denim dress that seemed to be stretched to the limit on her large figure. The little dog next to here was a ratty little chihuahua wearing a rhinestone collar. It kept baring its teeth at anyone that came near.
I stayed near Annabeth and Grover while keeping my eye on fat lady and her rat dog. Luckily for me the attendant for the observatory announced that they were closing in a few minutes. I quickly steered Annabeth and Grover over to the elevator as Annabeth seemed to pout at the thought of leaving. I shoved both of them in and was about to get in myself when the attendant stopped me.
"I'm sorry young man, but the elevator is full. You'll have to wait for the next one." He said.
"We'll get out." Annabeth said. "We'll wait with him."
I glanced to the fat lady out of the corner of my eye and saw the chihuahua lick its lips with a forked tongue. My eyes widen a bit before I look back to my friends. "No, it's fine. I'll catch the next one."
Grover had nervous look yet Annabeth had a skeptical look and seemed to be about to say something, but couldn't as the doors slide shut. The number above going down. Now the only people left were me, the monsters, the attendant, and a family of three. I slowly back away from the elevator, the fat lady's eyes following me barely. If they were here for me, I didn't want the mortals to be in the way.
"You got any plans for them?" I ask.
"Yeah. Summon the backpack. I was working on something after you killed the gryphon. I think now would be a good time to test it. Just trace this glyph into the wall." Adamos instructs.
I lean against a wall farther from the elevator. I try to look cool and nonchalant. Like one of those old school bad boys from a 50's themed movie I saw with my mom. I traced the glyph that Adamos instructed into the wall. It was almost like I was drawing an upside-down pineapple. I pour a bit off power into the glyph and it glows before dyeing down. The backpack flops onto the floor. I pick it up and reach in to the bag.
"What am I looking for?"
"You're looking for an amulet." Adamos says as I reach around in the bag. My hand grasps around something with a chain. I pull it out and it was a beautiful necklace with a green gemstone in the center. The gemstone hade a slit in the center that was a mix of yellow and black. A jolt of fear hits me like lightning. My body freezes and by body screams at me to run but it felt like I was petrified.
"Percy!" Adamos shouts in my head. The sudden loudness jolts me, and I nearly drop the amulet. I catch it and make sure to keep it faced in another direction.
"What is this thing?" I ask as I glance at the item in trepidation.
"An amulet from the nest of the gryphon and one of the eyes of Medusa. I based it off of Athena's Aegis but it's less powerful in exchange for carrying convenience." Adamos explained "It will only work once on an opponent in combat so don't try to use it again if they recover from the shock."
I nod and palm the amulet and slip the back pack over my shoulders. I turn back to the elevator, but what I see makes my heart begin to race and my hand go to Riptide in my pocket. The fat lady was staring directly at me with slit eyes, a mouth full of sharp teeth and green, scaly arms that were now revealed as her sleeves were rolled up.
"Oh my. It seems that the little half-blood knows what we are sonny." The chihuahua growls at me. "Oh yes. He does seem to be an interesting one. He will be a fine morsel." She says.
The chihuahua then begins to grow larger as it barked. Then the barks became more distorted and they began to shift to a roar as the beast grew so large that it's back was scraping against the roof. As this happened, I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it, but I could feel my hands shaking slightly in the monster's presence.
"The chimera." Adamos says, his voice tense. The beast was a hodgepodge of different creatures. The head was of a lion with its mane caked with dried blood, the body resembled a goat except for the front legs which were the clawed paws of the lion. In the back was a ten-foot-long snake that seemed to his at me. The only ridiculous thing was the rhinestone collar that was around its neck.
The mortals that were still with us were screaming in fright and trying to pry open the emergency exit but to no avail. Something had them stuck closed, leaving them trapped in here with us.
"We can't let them harm the people. They aren't apart of this." I think.
"Percy don't worry about them. We need to get you out of here. I'm not quite sure you can take these two. Besides they'll probably leave once we escape. The mortals will be fine." Adamos says.
I look over to the people all huddled by the exit doors. The little boy was crying as the chimera snarled at me, the image of my mother being held by the minotaur flashes through my mind. "But there's still the chance that they'll be eaten." I think "I can't leave them to that." I get into a fighting position and grip Riptide tighter. "I won't leave them to that."
Adamos sighs in frustration. "You're just making my job harder." But then I feel as if he's breaking into a huge smile. "But screw it. This way is probably more fun."
I break out into a smile. Which the monster women notices. "Ah it seems that you've accepted your fat. You should feel honored Percy Jackson. It's not everyday that Zeus let's me test a hero with one of my brood." She says with a smile of sharp teeth. "For I am Echidna, Mother of Monster's."
I slightly falter at that. Then my mouth decides to run itself. "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"
The smile on Echidna's face morphs into a face of fury. "NO! I'm not one of those vermin! I hat it when people say that, I hate Australia, and for that your death will be slow. Sonny! Kill him!" She screeches the order at the chimera.
The chimera let out a roar that made the room vibrate and leapt at me with gnashing teeth. I rolled to the side as the chimera landed.
"QUEN." I said and the space around me flashed gold for a brief moment. I felt Adamos pump some godly power into my muscles. I then charge at the chimera, my sword in a position to strike the it in the side. But the beast turned much faster than it should and opened its mouth. A horrible stench emitted from its mouth and hit me first. I had to stamp down the urge to look away and gag. The chimera's maw then began to glow and white hot flames were shot at me.
I stopped my charge and jumped out of the way as the flames engulfed where I once was. Burning away the wall behind me and melting the steal beams like jet fuel(I'm sorry I couldn't resist). The heat was so intense that my clothes had singe marks on them even though I avoided the flame. I looked over to where I once was and felt winds blowing against me. The wall was completely gone. It opened completely to see the city and river.
"Annabeth is gonna be so pissed." I think as I see the amount of damage that the monument had taken.
"You can worry about her killing you later. We have more pressing matters. Now dodge!" Adamos warns. I turn back to the chimera only to see the snake tail lashing out at me. I try to dodge but I was to late as the appendage hits me. The snake's mouth was open as it tries to bite me, but my spell shield holds and all it does is hit me hard enough to knock my breath away for a second. The shield flares and cracks at the impact and then shatters. I quickly get to my feet and move before the snake head can attack again.
"Oh, he is an amusing one. Make sure you hit him twice sonny. It seems the sea spawn can use a bit of magic." Echidna says, delighted by my struggle. The chimera roars as if in acknowledgment and prepares to attack once again.
"Were going to have to take Echidna out first." Adamos says.
"What? Why? Wouldn't the chimera be more the bigger threat?" I ask.
We're in a two on one situation. The chimera is much harder to kill than Echidna. Trying to kill him first will just take longer. It'll be better to lessen the number of threats we have."
I mentally nod at his assessment and it wasn't like I had another plan. I grip the amulet in my hand and pray that it works. "Hey, you ugly rat dog! I'm over here!" I taunt.
The chimera charges at me and I take off to meet it. I raise the amulet in my hand at the two and the effects are immediate. The chimera skids to a halt and recoils at the presence of the of the magical item. It roars as its's body tenses and petrifies in fear. Behind it Echidna recoils in fright as she gazes at the offending item. "Gaahh! You worthless sea bastard."
I don't stop in my charge as I rush past the chimera that backs a bit farther away from the amulet that I carry. Echidna regains recovers just enough to look at me as I charge at her. "Sonny! Save me!" She shrieks. The chimera snaps out of its fear and slowly it stiffly turns in my direction, but it was to late.
Echidna was still mostly frozen, but she brought her arms up to defend herself. But it does little as I swing Riptide in an arc. The celestial bronze blade cleaves through her arms, leaving them as nothing but stumps at the elbow. She screams in excruciating pain as her arms fall to the floor, but I quickly silence her by stabbing her through the chest. Her eyes widen, before she stares at me with a glare filled with nothing but pure hatred, before she disintegrates into golden dust.
For a moment its quiet, I turn to the chimera and raise my sword. "Your next." I say.
The chimera roars loudly, louder than before and I grit my teeth and wince as the sound hurts my ears. It looked at me with a face of pure murder. I raise the amulet to try to ward it off but it only falters for a second before getting over it and stalking towards me, somehow even angrier, its muscles tensed to pounce at a moment's notice.
"If I said I was sorry would that make you feel better?" I nervously say to the chimera, but it doesn't give any indication that it heard me. I pocket the amulet and drop into a stance, prepared to move. I feel Adamos pour his power into my muscles once more.
"QUEN!" I shout as I engage the chimera once more. It roars and tries to swipe at me with its claws. I jump back and slash, earning me a shallow cut on its body but it doesn't even seem to notice as it opens its mouth to let loose more fire. I run around it as it turns, the flames following me until it can't turn any more. The monster's size limiting its movement. I use this chance to get in close enough to stab it. My sword piercing the flesh of its side but not enough. Between the tough hide and powerful muscles my attack is once again to shallow.
The chimera roars in pain and back hands me with its paw. I raise my sword in a guard as the impact hits me. I feel my shield crack and shatter at the massive force as it knocks me onto my back. My arms were shaking and numb from the impact. The lion head roars at me and I scramble to get to my feet and back away, but this was a mistake. My focus had been focused on the front half that I managed to forget the snake tail in the back. As I scramble away, I feel a sharp burning pain in my shoulder. I turn to see the snake head with its teeth buried into my shoulder.
"Percy!" Adamos cries out.
I swing my sword but miss as the snake tail retreats. My shoulder began to burn like fire, the pain was excruciating as I got to my feet. The pain in my shoulder begins to dull slightly as Adamos does his best to heal the poison.
"Percy you can't do this for much longer." Adamos warns.
"J-just tell me how to beat it." I think as the edge of my vision grows a bit fuzzy.
Adamos sighs. "The chimera was originally killed by our brother Bellerophon when he shoved a ball of lead into its maw and it choked to death."
I wince at the information. We were six hundred feet in the air. I couldn't use the earth powers since I wasn't connected to the ground and the water was to far way for me to call. And Echidna said that Zeus sent them so using Adamos's spear was not an option.
"Percy, I have a plan but I'm gonna need you to trust me." Adamos said.
"I'm sure any plan is welcome at this point." I thought.
"How do you feel about high diving into the river?"
I nearly freeze at the thought. I had read somewhere that diving into water from this height would be like hitting concrete. "Are you insane? That'll kill me."
"No Percy. You're a son of Poseidon. Have faith in your heritage. Have faith in me." Adamos says seriously.
"Ok." I think. Adamos tells me his plan. It was insane, dangerous, and just might work.
"Hey stupid!" I shout at the chimera. It growls at me threateningly as I position myself in front of the hole in the wall. "Maybe if you weren't such a momma's boy you wouldn't be such a failure.." I swear I saw fire in its eyes as it looked at me.
It roared as it pounced at me with reckless abandon. I immediately throw Riptide in its direction and rolled away. The sword spins through the air towards the chimera. It digs itself into its eye and the beast falls over as it lands. It then struggles to paw the sword out of its eye, and using this distraction I rush straight at it. The poison in my shoulder burning like molten lead through my veins, despite Adamos's efforts. I charge at the chimera and summon my QUEN spell like I did with the gryphon. I feel a tug in my gut as I pour as much power I could into the spell, making it flare and crack from the overload.
The chimera didn't even notice me as the it the sword created a blind spot where I was. I shoulder charged the chimera as the spell exploded like before. The sound of crash rings out and the blast was enough to knock the chimera out of the hole with me along with it. It roared and spewed fire as it fell towards the river. I myself was freaking out as I the water seemed to rush towards me at blinding speed.
The main thought going through my mind was. "Shit, shit, shit." I closed my eyes as I thought my life flashed before my eyes. Then I remembered something. My father's warm smile when I was younger. To young to properly remember normally.
Then the impact, except that it didn't hurt. I thought that my body would shatter once it hit the water. But I felt invigorated, I felt alive once again. The chimera was below me, struggling in the water as it tries to claw its way to the surface. I grit my teeth and draw upon my power over the water and push it further down. It tried to breathe fire, but it turned to steaming bubbles as I forced it down further. The pull in my gut became incredibly painful as I roared, giving one final push. Pulling the chimera to the bottom of the river. It's mouth flooding with water as struggles one final time before dissolving into gold dust.
I could feel my heartbeat in my ears, my body was still on fire from the poison and my vision becomes blurrier by the second. I hear think I hear Adamos shouting my name, but I can't hear him. My eyes close and I feel tired. I let my body sink to the bottom of the riverbed, and I pass out.
My last thought was, "Not again."
A/N: Sup everyone. Welcome aboard the Fandom ship. This is captain Momentei speaking. Ok this is a bit later than I would have liked to post but here it is. I hope you enjoy. Also one of you said that this is closely similar to the first book. And it is. This is basically an AU of Percy's adventures and I just wanted to keep the first book similar. I have plans on how I want the rest of the books will change. Anyways I want to say that I made a change to one of Adamos's domains. I changed his war domain from combat and weapons skills to battle and weapons skills since it occurred to me that I just used the same domain twice. I wanted Adamos to represent soldiers and leaders in war like how Athena represents tacticians and strategists and Ares represents the atrocities of war and violence. That's all for this story but i'm thinking of starting a second story. A crossover of sorts between PJO and league of legends. My question is which champion I should go with. I can't decide between Pyke or Nautilus but maybe a few other champions could be used. Well anyways I hope you have a good day and leave a review you sexy beasts.