Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson

Chapter 12: I Would Not Recommend Fighting a Flaming Dog


Six hours later…

"There!" Christina pointed, as the lights of the town came into view. "We should be able to find a train station here."

The group walked down the hill from the woods and towards the town below them, arriving at the first building they spotted, which was a gas station.

"I'll go inside and ask for directions." Annabeth told them, before disappearing into the building.

Christina sat down on the curb, resting her head in her hands, and within a few seconds, Percy joined her while Grover stood watch.

"Are you okay?" He asked his sister, concerned.

Christina nodded, looking up. "Just tired. And I can't help but think that maybe we missed something about this quest."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, confused.

Christina sighed. "Like why did Zeus accuse you of stealing the lightning bolt? If he were going to accuse either of us, it would make sense that he would accuse me. I was actually at Olympus that day. But he accused you when you didn't even know you were a demigod. It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe there is something we missed." Percy said, shrugging. "Do you remember anything unusual when you were on Olympus?"

Christina shook her head. "No, everything seemed completely normal. Luke was acting a little weird that one time, but he was probably confused as to why I was also awake at two a.m. It probably means nothing."

Before Percy could say anything in response, Annabeth came out of the gas station and walked over in their direction, quickly glancing around to make sure no one was following them.

"The train station is a couple of blocks in that direction." She told them, pointing. "With the amount of money we have, we'll only be able to make it as far as Denver, and there's a layover in St. Louis, but at least we'll be closer to our destination."

Christina nodded. "Let's get going so we don't miss the train. We can take turns sleeping, so we'll know in case anything happens."

Percy and Christina stood up from their spots on the curb, and the group hurried down the road towards where the train station was. Grover, Percy, and Christina all hung back away from the terminal, while Annabeth conversed with the employee and handed over their money. After a few minutes, she turned back around, shot them a thumbs up, and hurried back over.

"Here's our tickets." She told them, handing them each their ticket. "We're in the fourth car, near the back."

The group quickly joined the line of people hurrying to get onto their spots on the train. After handing the employee their tickets, they made it to their seats without much difficulty.

"Percy and I are going to keep watch first." Christina told Annabeth and Grover as soon as they sat down. "You two can get some rest."

Annabeth and Grover nodded, and in a few minutes they were sound asleep, just as the train exited the platform and began to move. Christina leaned back in her seat and watched as the countryside sped by outside the window.

"How did you, Annabeth, and Grover become so close?" Percy asked, after a few minutes of silence. "If you don't mind me asking." He corrected.

Christina sighed, turning to her brother. "As you know, Grover was the one who rescued me when I was a baby, and that automatically made us pretty close. Annabeth got to camp fairly young too, although not as young as me, and I was one of the few people around her age. I showed her around camp, and the two of us became really good friends."

"Is there a reason Annabeth got to camp so young?" Percy asked, curious.

Christina nodded. "There is, but that's something you should ask Annabeth when she's awake. It's not my story to tell."

"Maybe I will." Percy commented, more to himself, and glanced over at Annabeth, who was asleep next to him.

Turning back to the window, Christina set her gaze on the rolling countryside and became lost in her thoughts.


The next day…

Christina groaned as she was shaken awake. Blinking open her eyes, she glanced up at Grover's concerned face.

"We're at our layover in St. Louis." He told her, leaning back once he realized she was awake. "Annabeth wants to get out and see the Arch, since we have an hour.

Christina nodded, sitting up and grabbing her backpack from the floor, and following Grover out of the car. Outside, Percy and Annabeth were standing together waiting.

"Finally!" Annabeth exclaimed when they walked over. "I thought you were going to take forever." But Christina could tell she didn't have any malice behind the statement.

Christina shoved her friend good-naturedly. "C'mon, let's go see the Arch."

They threaded through the crowd of people, finally making it to the line to get onto the elevators. Christina glanced around the underground museum, feeling more uneasy then before.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked, concerned.

Christina shook her head. "I'm not sure. There's something about this place that makes me uneasy, but maybe it's just my imagination."

"Do you smell anything Grover?" Annabeth asked, turning to the satyr.

Grover shrugged. "Satyrs aren't that good underground; it messes with our senses. I can't tell if I smell anything, or if being underground is confusing me."

"Well, if it is anything, we should be able to take it." Percy told them, although he didn't sound too sure about it.

Before the rest of them could respond, they moved forward in line, getting onto one of the elevators with an older woman and her chihuahua. The woman was bigger, with a denim dress on, and she glanced at them like they were dirt under her shoes.

"Can I get your dog?" Christina asked, curious.

The woman smirked. "I don't think Sonny would like that very much."

"Is that your dog's name?" Percy asked, confused.

The woman shook her head. "No, it's not."

Christina shot a glance at Grover and Annabeth, who both shrugged in response. Before they got a chance to respond to the older woman, the elevator doors dinged open, and the group got off.

Annabeth hurried over to the side of the Arch, Grover and Christina trailing after her, while she rattled off facts from the top of her head, her eyes glowing in excitement.

Grover and Christina caught each other's eyes over Annabeth's head and grinned at their friend's excitement, before following her through the displays.


Twenty minutes later…

"Come on." Christina said, tapping Annabeth on the shoulder. "We don't want to miss the train."

The other girl nodded, turning away from the display in front of her, and the two of them walked across the viewing platform, meeting Percy and Grover by the line for the elevators. They went to pile in to one of the elevators, but stopped as it filled up with Christina and Percy still on the observation deck.

"Don't worry." Christina told her friends, as Annabeth and Grover started to exit the elevator. "Percy and I will take the next one."

Annabeth frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Percy said, nodding his head. "Neither of us are alone."

Grover glanced back at the observation deck, spotting the woman and the chihuahua from before, and a family. "Something just doesn't feel right. Annabeth and I will wait with you two until we find another elevator."

Christina turned around, about to walk over to the second elevator, but her eyes caught the woman from their first elevator ride from across the observation deck.

She grinned and looked down at her chihuahua, who was pulling incessantly on the leash.

"Well Sonny," she sighed. "If you insist."

Grover, Annabeth, Percy, and Christina's eyes all widened as the woman let the chihuahua off of its leash, the dog growing bigger and bigger with each bark. The woman smiled, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth, as her arms turned scaly and green.

"That's a rather large dog you have there." Christina commented, pulling her sword off of her bracelet. "I've never seen a chihuahua that big."

The woman grinned. "Not a chihuahua dear, a Chimera. But I understand your mistake."

"Mommy." The little boy from across the observation desk whimpered, tugging on his mom's sleeves. "That doggie is scaring me."

The Chimera turned around, growling loudly at the little boy, who ran behind his mother, and bearing his teeth at the family. Christina met Annabeth's eyes from across the observation deck and nodded to her, both girls thinking the same thing.

"Hey Chimera!" Christina yelled, brandishing her sword. "If you want us, come and get us."

The Chimera growled, shooting a jet of flames out from its maw, as the woman cackled. "It's going to take more than that to defeat my son, or me for the matter. I am the terrible Echidna, tremble before me demigods."

"I think I'll pass on the trembling part." Percy commented, uncapping Riptide. "I don't think anyone whose name sounds like an anteater could ever be scary."

Echidna scowled. "How dare you compare me to that creature! I am more terrifying and powerful then some common rodent. You should fear me!"

As Percy distracted Echidna, Christina snuck around behind her to confront the Chimera, and Annabeth put on her Yankee's cap, disappearing from view. Christina made eye contact with Grover from across the deck, gesturing towards the scared family.

Nodding, the satyr ran towards them, whispering a few words to the family, before quietly ushering them towards the elevator. Christina made her way around the Chimera, who hadn't noticed her yet, and stabbed it in the shoulder blades, the creature roaring in pain, as Echidna whipped around.

"No!" She hissed. "You're stronger than them, my son. Defeat those puny demigods."

Taking advantage of her distraction, Percy swung his sword, beheading Echidna and sending her straight to Tartarus. The Chimera roared, furious at the death of its' mother, and swung its' tail around, hitting Christina in the chest and sending her flying into the wall.

"Annabeth go!" Christina yelled, struggling to sit up, the poison weakening her. "You and Grover need to get the family out of here. Percy and I have this handled."

Annabeth hesitated, not wanting to leave her friend there. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Christina yelled back, standing up on shaky legs. "Protect the mortals."

Turning back to the Chimera, she hefted her sword, nailing it in the shoulder, which only caused the creature to roar in pain. Glancing back at her brother, who was doing his best to enrage the creature, she glanced towards the hole in the side of the arch, an idea surfacing.

"We need to head to the river." She yelled to Percy, who had taken a break from agitating the Chimera and had ducked behind the rubble. "It's the only way to defeat it."

Percy ducked out from behind the rubble, glancing towards the hole in the arch. "Are you sure? We're thousands of feet in the air. We'll die if we try to jump."

"Have you forgotten who our dad is?" Christina asked, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "The water won't hurt us. Trust me."

Percy nodded, running out from behind the rubble, Christina at his heels. Grabbing one of the Stolls' explosives from her backpack, she threw it at the Chimera before jumping out of the arch, pulling Percy with her. As the Chimera exploded behind them, she willed her father to help her as she plunged closer and closer to the river below. With one big splash, the two of them hit the water, sinking slowly to the bottom.

"Woah." Percy gasped, looking around the river, before meeting her eyes. "We're actually breathing underwater."

Christina cracked a grin. "Incredible, isn't it? One of the coolest benefits of being a child of Poseidon."

Percy glanced around them, his eyes straining through the pollution, before they widened. "Do you see that woman over there? She looks like my mom." He asked in wonder, turning to his sister.

Christina peered through the gloom, her eyes lighting up when she spotted who her brother was referring to. "It's one of the nereids. I always wanted to meet one of them."

"It is wonderful to finally meet you both." The nereid said, finally reaching them. "My sisters and I have been watching over you two for a long time, and I am incredibly happy that you've finally met each other. However, I can't stay long. This river is much too polluted for me. But I bring a gift for you two that I hope will help in your journey."

She held out her hand, dropping two pearls each into Percy and Christina's hands, who stared at the pearls in wonder.

"These are a gift from your father." She told them. "Use them wisely. And remember, what belongs to the sea can always return to the sea."

With that, she disappeared into the gloom, leaving the two demigods alone, except for the four pearls.

"What do you think she meant by that?" Percy asked, as they walked up the beach and onto the sidewalk, startling a young child playing by the water.

Christina shrugged, tucking the pearls into her backpack. "I'm not sure, but I think we should be careful with them. We don't know what the price of using the gifts will be."

"But aren't they from our father?" Percy asked, confused. "Surely he wants to help us."

Christina frowned. "Just because they're from our father doesn't mean anything. The gods love to give out gifts, but they rarely come without a price, and I shudder to think what this one might be."

"Christina! Percy!" Annabeth and Grover cried, running over to the two of them, and cutting off whatever Percy was going to say next. "Are you alright?"

Christina nodded, smiling at her two friends. "We're all right. Was the family okay?"

"A little shaken, but they'll be okay." Annabeth told her. "Now come on, you two can tell us all about what happened on the train. We should probably get out of this crowd."

Percy glanced over towards where the news crew was beginning to assemble. "Probably for the best." He agreed, as the four of them slipped out of the crowd gathering at the base of the St. Louis Arch, and towards the train station.


"So, what happened?" Annabeth demanded as soon as they were safely back on the train and it had started pulling away from St. Louis. "Last thing Grover and I saw, the two of you were fighting the Chimera and falling off of the arch."

Christina smirked. "I realized Percy and I wouldn't be able to defeat the Chimera by ourselves, not when I had already been poisoned by its tail. So, I did the next logical thing. I threw one of the Stolls' explosives at it and then jumped out the side of the arch with Percy. There was a river below, so I knew we would be fine. One of the nereids met us in the river and gave us some pearls, and then we met up with you two."

Both Annabeth and Grover stared at her for a second, before bursting out laughing, and soon all four of them were in stiches from the absurdity of the situation.

"Only you Christina, only you." Grover said, shaking his head. "What do those pearls do?"

Percy shrugged. "We don't know. The nereid just said that they were a gift from our father and that they would help us on our journey. She also said that 'what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea'."

"Well," Annabeth finally said. "Let's get some sleep. We can worry about the pearls later."

The three of them nodded, and Christina turned over, watching the countryside go by, before she slowly passed out from exhaustion.


Christina really hasn't figured out that Luke is the lightning thief yet, she's just commenting on how weird he was acting. And even though she's more observant than most, she would never begin to think that Luke would do anything like this, since he's been a big brother figure to her for so long. She's in a similar mindset to Annabeth.

And Christina and Percy's conversation on the train has replaced Annabeth and Percy's. Now don't get me wrong, I love Percabeth and their conversations while Grover is asleep, but I felt like this was more appropriate to have the siblings talk. They'll still be developed, but more from an outside person's perspective rather than a first person perspective.

If anyone is curious, it really does take a day on train from about where they would have been in New Jersey to St. Louis. A day and an hour to be exact. And if they had taken the train all the way to Los Angeles, it would have only taken three days.

Also, if you ever want to have a laugh, look up Camp Half-Blood on Google Maps, and read the reviews. Someone put it in as an actual place and the reviews are hilarious.

I did increase the number of pearls they receive, precisely because there are four of them on the quest, not three. I don't want to go the way of the horrible Peter Johnson movies and be forced to leave one of them in the Underworld.

Please review. I love reviews.