[Cassidy POV]
We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. We tried to keep a low profile because Percy's 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 from the Greyhound bus. He had a wild look in his eyes and his sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick if the Mist did its job.
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."
"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 travelling with three teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture."
"Wait. That's your Dad!" I said, noting the greasy looking guy in the picture next to his name, covering my mouth so I didn't laugh in his face. "Stepdad!" Percy said angrily, "Bruh, I thought that was some homeless dude who invaded your house!" I laughed, remembering the man I met when I went to the Jackson residence hunting for him.
Percy spent the next twenty minutes explaining his deep hatred for 'Smelly Gabe' and why he was the worst person alive. I nodded as he told me the details. "Your stepdad seems like a tool." I said, Percy nodded, "You have no idea" he began to look around nervously.
"Don't worry," Annabeth told us. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure. "Thankfully, do you know how many demigods and monster kids there are in Juvie? It's a nightmare."
Annabeth looked at me, "You've been to Juvie?" I shrugged, "On a hunt, yeah, not anything I had done. Well, nothing I've been caught for."
The rest of the day I spent napping, only staying awake when it was my turn to keep watch or when I wanted to entertain myself by looking at the pictures in the magazines strewn about the train.
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, so I didn't sleep too comfortably, I was awoken by a conversation.
"So," Annabeth asked Percy, "Who wants your help?" I didn't need to see him to know he had flushed and panicked, "What do you mean?" "When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"
Percy went on to explain that he was having nightmares about a voice offering him things if he freed them from a pit, at this point, I opened my eyes and sat up, if I wanted Percy to trust me, I couldn't eavesdrop on his conversations.
After I announced myself and Percy said it was fine. Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs." I shrugged, "That's not entirely true."
Percy was certain it was Hades though, "He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?" Annabeth bit her lip, "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?"
"Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless and greedy. 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. "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."
I explained, "Percy, Hades isn't as bad as Annabeth and everyone else says but he's still a god, basically a synonym of asshole, he doesn't make deals that don't favor him, he's clever, cunning, he couldn't rule the Underworld if he wasn't".
"Put it this way, I wouldn't make a deal with him even if I were the one who wrote it. He isthatcrafty. Anything, any misstep and it's game set match with that guy." Annabeth nodded and Percy understandably got upset with us.
"What would you do if it was your dad?" He snapped at Annabeth "That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot." I chortled, "You're not serious?" Annabeth's grey eyes fixed on Percy. I never realised how pretty they were, I guess Aunty Em had a point.
"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."
"Wow, your dad sounds like a tool too." She smirked and agreed "Mom 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..." Percy said, stunned.
"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."
To show some support, I tried to comfort her, "Well, it could be worse, my mom set me on fire once." I said to distract her, she snapped her fingers, "Hephaestus!" She said confidently.
She pouted like a kid when I shook my head and told her she was way off base. After a few seconds of a tense silence, Percy spoke, trying to comfort us. "My mom married a really awful guy," he told us. "Smelly Gabe." I shook my head.
"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." Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads.
"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." "But... you couldn't have got all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."
"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me towards help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."
"Well, people are usually most afraid of what they don't understand. Not saying I agree with your stepmom, but I could understand why she was worried." I pointed out, trying to change her perspective, she shrugged.
It finally dawned on me as I looked at the pine tree on her beaded necklace, I could do nothing but place my hand on her shoulder and give a weak smile, she nodded in appreciation. "Don't worry blondie. I understand you..." I comforted.
"And you still scare me" I said, ducking as she tried to swing at me, her mind off the past. I did understand her more now. If only a little. I decided to open up too. "I was six when I met my first monster." I spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Grover.
"A Harpy picked me up by the wrist and tried to carry me away" I said. "Mom filled it with arrows like a hedgehog." I mimicked the harpy being shoted and they giggled.
"Then we went and got ice cream. That was that no fuss, no explanation, just ice cream and a couple of bandages. I thought it was a dream within a week."
"She sounds awesome." Percy sighed, I suppose I should have picked a better story under the circumstances, but it was what came naturally, "Yeah she was." I smiled at the memory of her sprinting after me, looking more intimidating than any god on Olympus could ever hope to be.
Towards the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St Louis.
We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour stopover 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, Percy 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 and I wanted to see if they had a cool gift shop. 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 and Percy 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."
"I'll take 'famous last words' for 500 Alex." I chuckled as I struggled to read anything around me, looking for the words 'Gift Shop' in the jumbled mess that my eyes showed to me. It's really boring going to an exhibit of something you can't read about. I wonder if they had audiobooks.
"Guys," Percy said as I was debating the pros and cons of lobotomy via jellybean. "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?"
"Yeah, along with his fork." I recalled, "You mean the Helm of Darkness," 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 helmet 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?"
"Because they're a bunch of sissies, I dare him to try it, I'll send him back to the Underworld with a one-way ticket." I said, grabbing the hilt of Gleam, which was disguised as a flashlight. "I've been itching for a fight since Aunty Em's."
"But then... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked. Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks. "We don't," Grover said. "Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy groaned.
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. "Chokepoint." I muttered as we got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.
I was shocked, it seemed well behaved, which was odd, if I was ever in a confined space with an animal, I usually got yipped and yapped at or they try to maul me. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.
"No parents?" the fat lady asked us. "No manners?" I asked back, Annabeth glared at me, what can I say, this lady reminded me of my old Chemistry teacher. She was horrible, I accidentally make napalmonetime and I have to find a new school.
This lady was the spitting image of her, she had the same 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. I realised I'd judged this lady because of that, so I offered her an apology, which she accepted without issue.
"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights." "Oh, the poor darlings." The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.
I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?" "No," the lady told me. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up. At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other.
The view was sweet, I imagine this was how the Titans and Giants saw stuff, I followed Annabeth around as she 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, it was cool seeing her like this, not worrying about the quest, just indulging in her own hobby. Same as with the Hephaestus cabin, I liked seeing her like this.
After a few minutes, the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes. We steered Annabeth towards the exit, she seemed ready to fight us to stay here a second longer, but, after luckily avoiding a fistfight, I loaded her into the elevator with Grover.
I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already three other tourists inside. No room for me or Percy. The park ranger said, "Next car, sirs." "We'll get out," Annabeth said. "Well wait with you."
But Percy seemed fine with it and we all knew that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so he said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."
I waved them off as Grover and Annabeth both looked nervously at us, I threw Annabeth my skateboard, then let the elevator door slide shut. "I wonder how long it would take to use the stairs; do they have stairs?" I asked aloud, the ranger didn't answer, and Percy shrugged.
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.
While we waited for our ride down, I entertained the kid with a few shadow puppets against the wall using Gleam to shine a light as his parents talked between themselves. I was just showing him how to make a fox when Percy elbowed me in the ribs.
Looking over to the portly lady where Percy was pointing, her Chihuahua had jumped down and started yapping at us. "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 us, foam dripping from his black lips. This dog was evidently not up to date with its shots. "Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."
The back of my neck tingled again, I hated that feeling. "Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" I said as I slowly leaned over and grabbed my flashlight. "Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected.
"Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make." She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. "Oh. My mistake." I said as I got to my feet and drew my sword as a weapon this time.
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 Dobermann, then to a lion.
The bark became a roar. The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back towards the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralysed, gaping at the monster. I pushed him towards the exit, and he stood in front of the family.
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 three-metre-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.
The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honoured, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!" I stared at her. All Percy said was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"
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. Percy was swept aside but managed to dodge the bite. I was still next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. He landed just by my feet.
"Protect them!" I commanded, and as I heard Percy yell, "Hey, Chihuahua!" as he clambered up, uncapping Riptide as I charged the Echidna.
"Has nobody told you what we did to Aunty Em?" I taunted as I lunged at her, she hissed at me. I slashed her arm, but she managed to scrape my chest with her claws. "Oh, by the gods!" I sighed at my torn shirt, somehow knowing that this wasn't the only damage it would sustain.
"You know, for a big lady, you're pretty fast. Faster than some of your kids at least. I've met some of them, I mean, most of the time they didn't even put up a fight" I taunted her again, trying to buy the family and the ranger some time to escape.
Enraged, she slithered over to me, "I mean, Ladon managed to survive, hurt a friend of mine, think it's time to repay the debt." She sent two fists in an overhead swing at me, denting the floor beneath me.
Stumbling, I fell backwards, barely rolling to one side fast enough to avoid her tail. I managed to chop off the tip of it as I got my feet under me. She shrieked in pain. "Huh. That's the same noise the Crommyonian Sow made when I shot it in the head."
Instead of crying out in anger and slashing at me like expected, she almost smirked at me, hissing with laughter again. "Sonny. Torch him." She said, looking off into the mid distance. I got that feeling on the back of my neck I hate again.
Spinning on my heel, I'd hoped to dodge whatever was coming, but with a smell of sulphur, I turned to see the plume of fire streaking from the Chimera's mouth. As I turned, the dented metal beneath me threw me off balance.
I could do nothing but cover my face as the flame flashed towards me. Out of a protective reflex, I unsheathed them, a shimmer of mist was all I saw before flame covered my vision, the last feeling I had was of burning agony.
[Percy POV]
After the Chimera bit and disarmed me, I saw its head turn, I was in too much shock to warn him, I snapped out of it as smoke coalesced in the Chimera's mouth. "GET DOWN!" I screamed but the noise was drowned out by the roar of the beast.
A pillar of flame engulfed Cassidy before I could blink, scorching straight through him and blowing a hole in the arch from the heat of the flame. As the blaze cleared, I held out hope that he had somehow dodged it as I averted my eyes.
That hope crumbled when I heard a scream from the woman hiding behind her husband and saw Cassidy, his upper half charred and burnt black. He fell backwards, his legs unable to support him as he died.
Nobody could have survived that, demigod or not, "NOOO!!!" I screamed, forgetting everything, and running to his side, only to get sideswiped by the Chimera and knocked to the edge of the Arch, the monsters were between us now.
I backed into the hole in the wall. Doing what came naturally I shook with anger, If I had Riptide, I'd tear these freaks apart for what they just did, as this thought passed my head, wind whipped around my head, rain began to thrash against the Arch.
It was as if a hurricane had just decided to rock up to St Louis, announcing itself by soaking everything around it. As it did, I felt myself get stronger, the poison seeming to leave my body.
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?" 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. Like Cassidy told me to, I couldn't just... die. I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire with anger. The hurricane was making me feel dizzy.
I had no sword. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. But I was going to destroy them, I knew that much. There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered as rain thrashed against it.
If I jumped to retrieve Riptide, would the monsters follow? Would they leave the humans alone? Would I stand a better chance? As I debated my options, the Echidna almost read my mind, hissing at me like a chuckle.
"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 tar. 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. The poison is in your heart." She was right: I was dying. The rain helped, but 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. 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 centre of the USA. There was no sea god here. "Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame towards my face. "Father, help me," I prayed. I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted towards the river.
[Cassidy POV]
I woke up to rain hitting me in the face. Blinking my eyes and turning my face away from it, I realised what had happened, as my hair and eyebrows grew back and my skin healed, I saw Percy leap off the Arch as the monsters watched him.
I couldn't help but laugh, a one in five chance."Your luck sucks lady." I groaned. The monsters both turned to me in shock.
"By the gods that hurt." I said, kipping up and shaking the soot from my body. "Speaking of which." I sheathed Shade. "Now he's gone. Let's get serious, shall we?" I snarled.
Ripping my necklace. Finally freeing the sword fully, allowing it to shed their cloak of mist. The imperial gold and silver chain now attached to my right forearm clear to see. The two and a half foot claymore made of stygian iron and the black leather covered handle.
Echidna was staring at me, mouth wide open, like a deer in headlights. Even her 'son' seemed frozen, its tongue lolling out as smoke poured from its jaws. It did that dog head tilt, which would have been adorable if it didn't have smoke rising from its mouth and a maw full of razor-sharp teeth. Probably because of the blue flames that coated the blade.
With one slash just below the collar, the Chimera's head rolled off next to me landing with a 'Thunk' It caught fire the second it did, its body becoming a flaming pile of ash and its head burning up as if I had left it as an offering to the gods. All that remained was a Chihuahua sized rhinestone dog collar.
I turned to its mother as she retreated a few steps away in horror, "See, like I said, they don't even put up a fight." I smiled as I closed the distance between us, darting under her arms and slashing her stomach.
The wound burst into flame, I could see that the pain she was in was debilitating. I understood that all too well. The pain of bearing the flaming blades was racing across my body too, I had to finish this fast, before I blacked out from the pain.
She charged at me, slashing everything in front of me, I managed to block, and she sliced her reptilian hands on the blades as she did and decided to instead throw me into the wall, as she did, I could have sworn the Arch began to tip.
My stomach lurched at the thought of making this monument collapse, but luckily, even under the stress of a randomly occurring hurricane, it held up, Annabeth was right, it was an architectural marvel.
As I slid down the wall and Echidna closed in on me, I picked up a poster about the Arch the impact had dislodged from the wall and threw it at her. Not expecting it to do much but forming a plan around it.
While she knocked it aside, I followed it, in the blind spot it caused and managed to sever her hand at the wrist. The appendage falling out of the hole Percy had jumped from as she screeched.
Out of desperation, she made a mad dash for the hole her son had made in the monument, but she was too slow this time, I managed to pin her shoulders to the wall with my blades. She slashed at me once more with her remaining claw.
By the time her claws had left my skin, the wound was healed. "How?" She said as she crumbled into ash from the arms inwards. "Soul fire, if you ever reform, you might want to invest in some." With one last smile I made my blades meet in the middle of her chest and with a gasp she evaporated.
I could taste iron in my mouth, that took too long, I need to stop playing with my food. My arms were shaking violently as a side effect of the weapon, even the necklace didn't dull the effect enough.
As my blade reformed into mist and sucked themselves back into my necklace, I suddenly felt very chilly. Though to be fair, I was in a hurricane, without the flames of the dead to warm me up.
With a shiver, I turned to see the mortals staring at me in abject horror. The ranger almost in the foetal position. "So...enjoying the trip so far?" I said as I bent down to pick up the collar of the chimera and the bit of Echidna I'd chopped off her tail.
Pocketing them, I waltzed over to the emergency exit that the family were trying to pry open, "Excuse me" I squeezed past and pried open the doors with the remaining strength I had. They all bolted past me through the door, screaming, but safe.
I heard the shouting of cops, as well as the wailing of sirens from below. Brilliant. I forced my eyes shut and focused hard on being in the crowd below the monument. Specifically, with Grover and Annabeth.
As the sound got closer, I realised it was pointless, and I don't think the police would look favourably on a teenager walking past them without questioning, so I only had one option. It was one I hated, but a necessary one.
"Look, I don't have time for this, I'm not going to thank you and I still hate you, just get me out of here before they ship me off to Guantanamo. Put me somewhere I can see the arch nearby" I thought.
I got a deep sigh as a reply and as I opened my eyes again, I was looking up as smoke rose from the Arch. There was just one problem. "Oh, you think you're funny. You got jokes now?" I grit my teeth angrily.
I sighed heavily. Standing in the middle of the street on theother sideof the Mississippi River. Holding the poster that I had thrown at Echidna.
"You're the worst." I said and hailed a taxi. The driver seemed perturbed by my state in the current weather. "Didn't check the forecast." I said as I wiped some excess soot from my face.
It was a twelve-minute taxi ride back to the Arch. "Do you take cards?" I asked as we reached our destination. He nodded, I held out my black debit card, "Never leave home without it" I commented as he swiped it.
After a swipe it paid for my cab. The driver took it as payment, if only he knew the huge favour I'd just given him for a thirteen-dollar taxi ride, I think he charged me for 'a suspicious kid with a credit card' tax.
A block away, every emergency vehicle in St Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve. I blended in well, despite my lack of clothing.
After a quick stop to get some refreshments that took another few minutes, I began looking for the others, thinking that a satyr wouldn't be hard to pick out of a crowd.
I was wrong, there were so many people craning their necks and taking pictures that it would have been a miracle to see his rasta cap in the crowd.
Deciding to cut my losses, I turned to try and find a bus route to the Amtrack station that would take us to Denver, knowing the others were heading there too. That's when I saw a familiar-coloured cap crashing into a bone-dry boy holding a sword.
[Percy POV]
My impact with the water hadn't hurt. I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A catfish the size of my stepfather lurched away into the gloom.
Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage – beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags – swirled up all around me. At that point, I realized a few things: first, I had not been flattened into a pancake. I had not been barbecued. I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins any more.
I was alive, which was good. Second realization: I wasn't wet. I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire on my clothes had been quenched. But when I touched my own shirt, it felt perfectly dry.
I looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter. No way, I thought. I flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi. I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry.
I lit it with no problem. As soon as I let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag. Weird. But the strangest thought occurred to me only last: I was breathing. I was underwater, and I was breathing normally.
I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled. I should've been dead. The fact that I wasn't seemed like... well, a miracle. I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother: "Percy, what do you say?"
"Um... thanks. Underwater," I sounded like I did on recordings, like a much older kid. "Thank you... Father." No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the colour of butterscotch.
Why had Poseidon saved me? The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. So I'd got lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance. Those poor people in the Arch were probably toast.
I couldn't protect them. I was no hero. I left Cassidy up there, I reasoned that it was a way to get my sword, but maybe I was just running away. Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders.
Fump-fump-fump. A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around. There, not two metres in front of me, was my sword, its gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud. I heard that woman's voice again: "Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in you."
This time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar. "Where are you?" I called aloud. Then, through the gloom, I saw her.
A woman the colour of the water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were green like mine. A lump formed in my throat. I said, "Mom?"
"No, child, only a messenger, though your mother's fate is not as hopeless as you believe. Go to the beach in Santa Monica." "What?" "It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence."
"But..." I was sure this woman was my mother, or a vision of her, anyway. "Who – how did you –" There was so much I wanted to ask, the words jammed up in my throat. "I cannot stay, brave one," the woman said.
She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress. "You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts..." Her voice faded. "Gifts?" I asked. "What gifts? Wait!" She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone.
I waded towards Riptide and grabbed it by the hilt. The Chimera might still be up there with its snaky fat mother, waiting to finish me off. At the very least, the mortal police would be arriving, trying to figure out who had blown a hole in the Arch.
If they found me, they'd have some questions. But I didn't care. "Thank you, Father," I said again to the dark water. Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface.
After pulling myself out of the Mississippi river I clasped my hand on Riptide and I was determined that I'd go up to the top of the monument to avenge my friend, but then I saw the crowds of police and paramedics on the scene.
I was devising a way to get past them when a familiar voice bleated, "Perrrcy!" I turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug – or goat hug. He said, 'We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!' He joked, but the thought left a lump in my throat.
Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?" I didn't know how to answer that question. 'Oh yeah, sorry, our friend got barbequed because I suck at sword fighting' probably wouldn't go down well.
Luckily, I didn't have to, thanks to a report from a local news anchor which gave me some dwindling hope. "... an adolescent boy," the reporter was saying. "Is said to be in the wreckage. Survivors confirm."
"Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities..."
The last three words gave me more relief then the water ever could, rover and Annabeth seemed relieved too, "I sort of fell." "Percy! Two hundred metres?" I told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, the underwater lady's message. Still unsure how to break the news.
"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad." "No, we have to get Cassidy first, he's hurt. Bad. We need some of that stuff you gave me at camp."
"Ambrosia. Is it that bad?" Annabeth asked as Grover got all quiet, muttering to himself something about repeating history. Looking like he was about to cry.
"Why the long faces? Did someone died?" said a voice that gave me déjà vu as a familiar arm snaked round my shoulder, just like my first day of camp.
[Cassidy POV]
Percy's face was priceless, "What? Seen a ghos-" I was jammed in the chest by Grover as he tackled me for a hug and I felt like a goat had just rammed me, "Nice to see you too G-Man." I coughed out.
"The architecture of that thing is amazing, a few holes in it and a hurricane, all while supporting tourists and a couple of monsters. It's brilliant. All they need now is audiobooks." I said to Annabeth.
Her face had gone a little rosy and I was suddenly very aware my shirt was fully burned and I was basically half naked. Percy and Grover noticed it too. "I'll explain later. I said, changing the subject by reaching into my pockets. "I couldn't find the gift shop, but here. souvenirs."
I smiled as I passed Percy the Collar, Annabeth the poster from the exhibit and Grover the an enchilada I bought on the way here, vegetarian of course.
But to my surprise, Percy dropped his too, it clattered to the floor, he dropped it as if it had burnt him shrieking and covering his head to defend himself from some imaginary energy. I frowned, "Sorry, I didn't get a receipt."
He then went into detail about a fish lady that looked extraordinarily like his mother telling him to avoid gifts as he fell into the water. I nodded, "Well, Greeks and gifts. I suppose we do have a history."
I got punched in the forearm by Annabeth playfully and I had to play it off, but the pain was worse than my steam bath earlier. Dots rose into my vision. "Grover, catch me." I said as I lost all feeling in my body and slumped over, my arm still around Percy's neck.
Woozily, I was led forward , barely able to stand, I knew using the blades was a bad idea, and the travelling as well. Both took a huge toll, combined, they could put me out of the game for a while. Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted.
We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. I collapsed into a seat soon after, only being woken as Grover tried to gently force a liberated 'I heart St. Louis' T shirt over my head, so I wasn't as exposed to the world.
The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St Louis skyline behind us. I just wanted to leave the whole trip behind me. But as I shook off my tiredness, I woke up to find that the others were apparently not so keen.
"Explain." Annabeth said firmly, crossing her legs in her seat, Grover and Percy both nodded. When I didn't reply, she elaborated "Percy told us everything, he said you died. But you show up at the Bottom of the Arch as If nothing happened."
"I'm secretly a base jumper." I shrugged, "Base jumper eh, then what is that?" She asked, pointing to my chest, now I saw in my necklace was still shining in a mystic blue aura.
"Would you believe me if I said it is a custom flashlight?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. They all frowned deeply. I sighed, "How about another game of hackey sack?" I offered, Grover threw an apple at my forehead and I sighed again.
Without really thinking, I said "It's my curse." Annabeth seemed the most curious. "For what?" she enquired, I bit my tongue, scared of what they'd think of me if I told them.
A worried look from Grover is what snapped me out of it, it reminded me of something Silena Beauregard told me once, 'You need more friends' I knew she was right, so I was honest. "For retaliation against Olympus."
Man! That was exhausting.
I'll probably update like friday or weekend, but I promise next chapter will answer a lot of questions.
