The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

The Fates are tired of watching it. There is a storm coming, and if they want to survive... so they force them to read what they're actions are doing to themselves and their children. And they pull Percy and a few others along for the ride.

17. I Plunge to my Death

"That's the end of that chapter." Hestia broke in, shaking her head. "Who wants to read next?" She asked, glancing at the chapter title and getting worried. It wasn't really to the boys death... after all, he was out wandering the palace right now... the boy would be fine, right?

"I guess I will." Rachel said, looking up from where she was drawing something on a sketchpad.

After she got the book, she glanced over at the doors, wondering when Percy was going to come back, when she decided to just start reading. He would come in when he cooled off. " Chapter thirteen: I Plunge to My Death

"That doesn't sound good." Was said in the silence that followed the chapter title. And really, it didn't.

Annabeth and Grover looked grim as they remembered seeing a flaming figure falling off the Arch following an explosion just as they got off the elevator. They never should have left him up there, never should have separated. It was a rookie mistake that they never made again.

(We spent two days on the... amber waves of grain.)

"That just leaves seven days left." Leo said with a grimace as he realized just how badly he overestimated their time limit. All of their time was going to be spent just getting out west, forget actually retrieving the Bolt.

"That is why you never assume you have time. There is never time. No matter what is going on." Annabeth declared to the younger kids.

"Although that scenery sounds nice." Demeter said, relaxing back, she particularly liked how the fields were described.

Annabeth and Grover shrugged, they supposed it was. They were more worried about not being noticed, and how they were going to get from Denver, the rest of the way.

(We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax.)

"Good." A few of the council nodded in approval. He wasn't just assuming they were safe like he did on the bus. He learned from his mistake.

Although, they realized that there were going to be many mistakes made on this quest, but that was to expected, it was their first one and Percy had only been at camp for two weeks, at the most. Although, Annabeth was making mistakes that she should know better, some of the older campers would have passed on advice to the younger ones, surely? Although... the last quest had been a little over two years ago. The only time anybody really left anymore (if it wasn't to go home for the school year) was if a Satyr called for an extraction, which was rare.

(I felt that we were traveling... and maybe from below,)

"Probably were." Aphrodite said with a delicate shrug. There was a lot riding on this quest, if it failed... yeah, this quest was being watched, carefully, by everyone. Minor gods and Olympian's alike.

Annabeth and Grover grimaced at the reminder of just how much pressure they were under to succeed. It had been very nerve-racking, starting out knowing that failure could mean the biggest war in history. Of course, once they got going, they kind of forgot about consequences for failure and focused on survival and getting where they needed to go.

However, they also flinched at the reminder of that 'being watched' feeling that they felt this entire quest. It had made all three of them pretty jumpy, going around for days feeling like they were being watched but unable to see anybody nearby who it could be.

Poseidon winced as he thought about watching his inexperienced son go through this quest.

(that something was waiting... several East Coast newspapers.)

"Oh, that's really not good. Not good at all." Leo said with a wince. That was going to make it twice as hard to stay off the radar, with even the general public keeping their eyes out.

Annabeth and Grover sighed. They hadn't seen those, in fact, Percy had seemed to be trying the entire trip, to make sure they didn't see the papers. They had no idea why, knowing something like that would have been good, that way they would know to keep an eye out for mortals, as well as monsters.

(The Trenton Register-News... I had a wild look in my eyes.)

"Hmm... he gets that look a lot, especially when he's fighting." Rachel muttered, cutting herself off, and thinking of the painting she'd done that one time of Percy.

Annabeth snorted. "Don't tell him that." She cautioned. She knew that Percy struggled with his power, she had a feeling that his greatest fear was losing control... he never said anything to her, but whenever his power was mentioned, he would have a strange look on his face.

(My sword was a metallic... leading to his capture.)

"And... they have now decided that Percy is a criminal. That's just great." Leo said, it was going to be even harder now. Because the police and public were no longer looking for a young man who just lost his mother. Now, they were looking for a criminal. They were going to be harder on him if they did find him than they would have been before. "They're not going to look into other possibilities, anymore. And if they do, it'll be dismissed pretty quick unless you do something dramatic to make them believe it."

"Cash reward..." Katie said, worried.

"Nothing gets people moving faster than a chance to get some money." Rachel said in agreement.

Grover and Annabeth looked at each other. They wished they'd known about this, they would have tried to disguise Percy instead of just letting him walk around.

("Don't worry," Annabeth told me... she didn't sound so sure.)

Percy snorted. "Oh, believe me, mortal police are very good at finding demigods if they want to." He whispered, thinking of his time getting to Camp Jupiter. Although, he supposed he did give them the proper motivation, stealing those two police cruisers along the way like he did. They seemed to have taken that personally for some reason...

The rest of the room stared at him with strange looks on their faces, clearly wondering why he seemed so sure about himself there. Just how much experience did he have with mortal police being after him...? Leo and Leo were nodding in agreement, though. Being a demigod made absolutely no difference when it came to the police finding them.

"I thought he hid the newspapers from you?" Luke asked.

"He did. He just asked what we were going to do if police found us." Annabeth said. "He never said anything about the news article."

(The rest of the day I spent... really hard time sitting still))

"Preach it." All the ADHD demigods in the room muttered. The hardest part of quests that involved taking public transport like this... was the fact that you just sat there. And did nothing. For days. It was torture!

Sally shook her head in amusement, while Paul and Chiron shared looks. They knew exactly how hard it was to get kids like them to sit still, Paul honestly didn't know how Chiron did it with so many of them all at once. Although, he supposed that Chiron had been doing it for several thousand years, and probably picked up more than a few tricks. Not to mention, most of the activities and such at camp, were outside, and they were physically doing something.

(or looking out the windows... The little boy centaur,)

"Ah." Chiron said softly. "It must have been a first hunt, for the whole family to be there." He said with a smile on his face. "It's impressive that you saw them, when with their foals, most centaurs will weave the Mist around them thickly, so not even demigods can see them. We are very protective of our young, after all."

Annabeth sighed, "I didn't see them, I must have been looking at something else."

Poseidon coughed. "This would be one of those times where the Mist didn't even affect him due to being a Child of the Sea." He said, looking at Annabeth apologetically.

"I saw them." Grover said, somewhat smugly. Annabeth glared. He was a satyr, the Mist they wove wouldn't have affected him.

(who was the size of a second-grader on a pony,)

"Yes, a first hunt. A very big deal." Chiron said, with a nod.

(caught my eye and waved... laptop computers or magazines.)

A few gods snorted and shook their heads. The mortals weren't even paying attention around them, to what was around them, to the beauty that was right beside them.

(Another time, toward evening... through the trees and was gone.)

"You guys saw the... You saw the Nemean Lion?" Artemis started to ask Grover and Annabeth, but switched targets when she noticed that the two of them were just as startled as the rest of them, and Percy walked in the door just in time for her to ask him. The other two had clearly either been asleep, or just not paying attention to outside the windows.

He blinked at her before going over to the book to read the description real quick, it was also to buy a bit of time to search through his memories of the train ride. Finally, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did. It was beautiful, too. It was a shame we had to kill it..." He honestly looked regretful as he said that, but it was either it or them, personally, he preferred it to be the Lion. Thalia nodded mournfully beside him. It had been a shame.

Artemis's face went blank while everyone else gaped. "You killed the Nemean Lion?" She asked. The Nemean Lion was one of her Hunter's favorite hunts. Also one of their more challenging ones, they didn't hunt it often. And they weren't allowed to unless she was there.

"Well, it was a group effort." He explained, gesturing between himself, Thalia, and Grover before making a motion to include Zoe as part of the group.

Thalia quirked a sad grin, then quoted. "I think it was thy ice-cream sandwich that killed it." Percy gave her a sad smile while everyone else looked confused before deciding they'd find out later. Nobody noticed Percy and Annabeth flinch slightly, thinking of Zoe made them think of the stars, and thinking of the stars made them think of there. Of them.

While Rachel kept reading, Percy glanced around the room, trying to gauge everyone's reactions. Zeus was looking at him suspiciously, nothing new there, but nobody looked afraid of him... He didn't like scaring kids, it made him feel like a monster.

(Our reward money for... tickets as far as Denver.)

Everybody winced. While that would get them a long way, Denver was still a very long ways off from Los Angeles. Not to mention, how were they going to get from Denver to Los Angeles? They had no money, they spent it all to get to Denver.

(We couldn't get berths... we dozed in our seats.)

There was grumbling from all the demigods. They knew what it was like to endure long train rides in those uncomfortable seats. They were not made for sleeping in, that was for sure.

(My neck got stiff.)

Percy sighed, and everyone else winced in sympathy.

"Can't you do something to make those more comfortable?" Rachel asked Hermes.

He shrugged. "I could, but it wouldn't be as cost efficient. Besides, all seats on public transportation are more comfortable when they're newer. It's when they're used for a long time that they start becoming uncomfortable like that." He quirked a sympathetic grin when all he got was grumbles and glares.

Apollo held his hand over his mouth to hide his grin.

(I tried not to drool in... sitting right next to me.)

"You failed, by the way." Annabeth helpfully informed him, he glared lightly.

She mentally sighed, it seemed he was going to be stepping carefully for a while. She wasn't surprised, she knew that he hated scaring people, especially the younger kids. Earlier, he'd forgotten about them being there in his anger, until he was reminded by his older self that he was scaring them. Now... well, it was going to be hard for anybody to get much of a real reaction from him for a while, he was too busy controlling his emotions to keep from losing his temper.

Not that making him lose his temper was easy in the first place. He was a very laid back guy. His mother just happened to be one of the few buttons he had that could really set him off. And boy, did Zeus set him off earlier by implying that his mother wasn't in any way important. Especially since Percy hadn't seen his mother in so long because of Hera.

(Grover kept snoring and... the other passengers noticed.)

There were a few chuckles, but nothing too bad. And Grover only turned a little red.

Honest, it was just a little...

("So," Annabeth asked me, once... "Who wants your help?")

"Huh?" Where did that question come from? Percy blinked, thinking back and trying to remember just what they talked about on this train-ride.

("What do you mean?"... were you dreaming about?")

Percy sighed, one of these days, his sleep talking was going to get him in serious trouble because he said something he shouldn't have. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to break the habit short of duct taping his mouth shut every night, but that would be a little, er... painful.

Sally shook her head. "He's always talked in his sleep, drove us mad sometimes." She informed the room.

(I was reluctant to say... evil voice from the pit.)

Everyone froze. Annabeth and Percy were carefully watched by the rest of their group, but they just tensed so far.

More dreams about that pit? Ok, it was official, Percy's dreams were bad. Also, that pit was very important to this quest. The gods were hoping that it wasn't who they were thinking doing all this.

(But it bothered me so much I finally told her.)

"There's not much that you don't eventually tell me." Annabeth murmured to Percy. He just grinned at her. She knew everything.

(Annabeth was quiet for a... and he never laughs.")

"I do too laugh." Hades said, mildly offended. Well, he supposed that his wife was really the only one who could really get him to laugh, mostly... but he laughed!

Persephone looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that was the point." She said, amused. Then she glanced suspiciously at her mother, who hadn't said a word the whole they'd been here, comments like the one in the book would have normally had her saying something about him 'laughing in the face of a mother's pain', or something like that. But she was being very quiet.

To her surprise, her mother didn't even look at them, she was pretty intently studying something in her hand. She resolved to figure out what that was all about later.

("He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?")

"Well, he does have a point there." Hades acknowledged with a cough. "However, I am not the only immortal resident of the Underworld with some measure of power over the dead." He continued.

"There's Thanatos." Percy said in agreement. Hades just raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed." He said, and left it at that.

("I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.')

"I don't need 'help rising from the Underworld'." Hades said in distaste. "It's not like I can't leave whenever I want, I'm not stuck there."

Annabeth turned red. "I didn't want to think about other possibilities." She muttered. Hades paused to consider that, before he nodded in reluctant agreement. Yes, he supposed that compared to the other possibilities it could be, he was the more favorable outcome...

(If he wants war with the Olympians.)

"War is the last thing I need!" Hades exclaimed. "The mortals are coming to the Underworld in droves, and for every million souls, only one of them opts for rebirth, and that's if they even get to Elysium in the first place! The lines, the expenses, the paperwork!" He moaned, sinking down in his throne as he considered the paperwork that would have been piled up on his desk. Thank goodness the Fates had frozen time outside the Palace. Persephone patted his arm consolingly. She tried to help out, but there was only so much she could do when she was only there in the winter months.

"I still need to go over the remodeling and expansion of Asphodel with the Roman engineers we have down there." Persephone said quietly. He groaned, although he was thankful that she'd offered to handle it. He had to deal with the Winter Solstice meeting that he didn't have time for, plus all the rest of the day to day business.

"I don't even want to see the lines of dead the other Pantheon's have to deal with." He grumbled quietly so the demigods couldn't hear. The Pantheon's were kept separate by the Fates for a reason, after all. The last time the Greeks and Norse clashed...

The rest of the Council was looking at the eldest brother like they'd never seen him before. Except for Poseidon and Hestia, they'd always thought that all the dead was good for him, a big kingdom, meant a big army. Poseidon was the only one who understood that, when you have an actual kingdom, constant expansion, with nowhere to expand to, was not a good thing. His main problem right now, was the mortals who were overfishing his oceans, and being greedy, trying to drive some of his subjects to extinction. Honestly, some fishing was fine. They had to eat, and an over-populated ocean was an unhealthy ocean.

But there were limits, a line where they needed to stop before it just became greed.

(But why ask you to... been looking for something.)

"He's starting to put the pieces together that something isn't as it seems." Amphitrite said.

Poseidon nodded, proud. "He just needs a few more pieces to the puzzle and he'll have the answer." His son was so much smarter than he really let people believe sometimes. Oh, people knew he was smart. He just acted otherwise so much, that people tended to forget or underestimate just how smart.

Sally smiled at her son in pride, too.

(Where is it? Where?... and turned his head.)

He got a few chuckles, and turned red himself.

(Annabeth readjusted his cap... deceitful, heartless, and greedy.)

"Hey!" Hades protested. "I am not any of those things! Just because I can't give people their loved ones back because they asked, does not make me heartless! And do I even want to know where deceitful and greedy came from?" He asked indignantly. Why was he not surprised that very few of the council refused to meet his eyes. Now, if she had said sadistic... yeah, he would readily admit that he had more than a bit of a sadistic streak to him.

But come on, he had an entire field devoted, just for torture and eternal punishment. Sadistic was part of his job description.

Annabeth at least had the decency to sheepishly apologize, especially when she met Nico's hurt-filled gaze. Percy wrapped an arm around her and whispered something that made her nod and go over to sit next to the young Ghost King and wrap an arm around his shoulders. He blinked in surprise, but didn't try to push her off.

(I don't care if his... as aggressive this time-")

"This time?" Those who didn't know the full story asked, concerned about when she would have met the Furies when they were being aggressive.

Thalia was a little pale, thinking about it, and Luke wrapped an arm around her carefully, not wanting to get electrocuted should she not want it there and he didn't give her enough time to say so. She let him, though. Although she did stiffen up at the contact for a bit before relaxing slightly.

None of the seven who had been there that night when Thalia died offered up any explanation.

Hades just shifted uncomfortably when Zeus glared at him. Nico looked just as uncomfortable.

("This time?" I asked.)

A few snickers when it was revealed they echoed Percy. Percy just rolled his eyes.

("You mean you've run... the image of a pine tree,)

Everyone understood like lightning. It was the Furies that almost killed Thalia, before Zeus turned her into a tree.

No wonder Annabeth didn't like any mention of them.

(one of her clay end-of-summer... a deal for your mom.")

Annabeth snorted at her own words. "I said that then, but now that I've met Sally..." She shrugged. The rest of the older Greeks nodded in agreement. Even Luke, and he hadn't even really met her, but he had seen her around.

(You didn't think he'd just let her and Percy roam unwatched? Percy was one of the biggest threats to the Titan Army, after all. Plus, she'd opened her home to demigods needing medical care or a place to sleep for the night, even some of those in his army took advantage of that from time to time. They'd all brought back nothing but good things to say about her. One of the kids let slip once which side of the war he was on, she didn't do anything aside from ask him about his reasons, and try and explain the gods point of view. Of course, that didn't work because Kronos had well and truly brain-washed all of them by that point. He was still amazed that Chris managed to get away like he did... Luke's abandoning him to the Labyrinth probably helped, of course.)

Percy grinned at her. Yeah, his mom was awesome. That was a fact of life.

Sally smiled at the two and shook her head fondly.

("What would you do... "I'd leave him to rot.")

Athena frowned. She knew things between Frederick and Annabeth hadn't been the greatest when Annabeth left, but to leave him to rot in the Underworld... did she miss something?

Nico pushed Annabeth to go back to Percy, he was fine.

("You're not serious?")

"I couldn't imagine why somebody would hate their mortal parent. I didn't have that problem growing up." Percy said with a shrug.

"No, you just had the evil stepfather to deal with." Clarisse muttered, old jealously rearing up again. Prissy was the subject of much jealousy in camp, because he had somebody like Sally for his mortal parent, and she was amazing. The jealousy had abated a little with time because he was willing to share her, and because she gladly opened up her home as a demigod safehouse, but still. There wasn't a Satyr protector who didn't make it a point of stopping at her apartment overnight when escorting a new demigod to camp.

Percy just smiled sadly at them, he knew now that not all demigods had a loving parent like he did. He was a little naive back then.

(Annabeth's gray eyes fixed... was born, Percy," she said.)

"Not really." She murmured. Her younger self looked at her in confusion. "It wasn't until he met her and they got married that he started acting like it." She reminded Annabeth. She knew that, after coming to camp, she'd done her best to convince herself that he'd always been like that, done her best to forget the good times. Because remembering them only made the bad times even more painful.

Because they used to be close. He used to always have time for her, no matter what was going on at work.

("He never wanted a baby... too busy with his work.)

"Not quite." Athena murmured. When Annabeth looked at her, she sighed and shrugged. "It had nothing to do with his work, he was terrified at the thought of raising a child on his own. He felt like he could barely take care of himself, so how was he supposed to take care of you? Of course, he was also terrified of being able to work and provide, while still being able to be a parent, but that played a small role in it." Both Annabeth's blinked.

They hadn't known that. They thought it was because he had just gotten a new job and didn't want to make time for her, but then over time came to actually care.

(She wasn't happy about that... by their mortal parent.")

"That part is true." Athena added in with a shrug.

("But how ... I mean, I guess... had ever happened to him.)

"I'm sure he didn't mean it like that." Sally said softly. Annabeth shrugged.

"That's how it always sounded. I mean, we were close, and he was always there for me until he got married, but he always made it sound like he never wanted me in the first place. But, then over time he just fell into the role." Annabeth said with a shrug.

Sally looked at her sadly. Frederick had actually gotten ahold of her, somehow. They talked on the phone or IM all the time, and most of their conversations revolved around their children. How he was proud of his daughter, and how he worried about her, leading the life of a demigod. Constantly being hunted by monsters and sent out to do the gods bidding despite her young age. Fighting in the war... He'd mentioned once how he never knew how he was supposed to raise a daughter, how he was supposed to protect her when she had this entire world after her that he wasn't part of. Sally knew that her father loved her, there was no part of him that didn't want her. But how do you tell an intelligent seven year old that when they are hearing something else.

(When I was five he... to pretend I didn't exist.")

"That's not what happened." Sally said quietly to Paul, not sure how to bring this up in this room. The other demigods were looking at Annabeth sympathetically, they knew how that felt. He smiled grimly and kissed her on the top of her head.

"They patched their relationship up, but we can talk to her later about what you know." He said reassuringly.

(I stared out the train... but I didn't know how.)

"The woe's of every male when faced with a girl's problems." Leo said dramatically. The guys all snorted in agreement. Paul nodded.

Honestly, you say something, trying to help, but they take it completely different to what you said, and then it gets blown all out of proportion. Women. Nobody understands them.*

("My mom married a really awful guy," I told her.)

Some more glares were directed Gabe's way, but nobody moved. They wanted to get to the part of the chapter where Percy apparently plunged to his death, because that didn't sound good. At. All.

("Grover said she did it... your dad was thinking.")

"It was, dear." Sally said softly, looking at Annabeth. "Your father and I have been in contact a few times." Both Annabeth's looked down at the ground in thought, while Percy wrapped his arm around her waist and squeezed in support.

(Annabeth kept worrying at... she hated him so much.)

Both Annabeth's turned slightly red. Trust Percy to wonder about that. Everyone else looked understanding, though. Many of them had been abandoned by their mortal parent in some way. Most of them could care less about their mortal parent because of it, but a few still hoped that things would someday change.

("He doesn't care about me," she said.)

"Who are you trying to convince here." Hestia suddenly asked, watching Annabeth knowingly. "Yourself, or young Perseus?" She turned her gaze on Annabeth. Annabeth blushed.

"I was kind of trying to convince myself, I suppose." She muttered.

("His wife-my stepmom-treated... I wasn't wanted. I ran away.")

Sally and Hestia frowned, but didn't say anything else. Annabeth had already mostly mended her relationship with her father, and Annabeth had enough to think about for one day.

("How old were you?"

"Same age as when I started camp. Seven.")

Hestia sighed. So young... too young to be without her family, to be so far away from anywhere to call home. The demigods looked sympathetic. Leo especially, after all, he was eight when he ran away from his first foster home, and he'd been terrified.

He couldn't imagine being younger. He sighed and turned back to his project.

("But ... you couldn't have gotten... guided me toward help.)

Athena nodded proudly to herself, although a few others remembered that it still took her forever to claim Annabeth once she reached camp.

(I made a couple of... a short time, anyway.")

Thalia and Luke smiled at her, they were both proud of how she turned out. Luke's smile was bitter though, he hadn't been part of it like he should have, instead he was leading the opposing side in a war.

"Well, it's not like we expected to find a seven year old trying to bash us with a hammer." Thalia said, teasing.

"Aw, but she was such a cute seven year old with that hammer." Luke added on, falling back into an old rhythm. All three Annabeth's in the room scowled at them, although you could only see two.

(I wanted to ask what... lost in sad memories.)

"Thanks for not pushing." Annabeth said quietly. Percy just smiled softly and kissed her temple before leaning back in his seat, with an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Aphrodite squealed in her head, they were such a cute couple! They hadn't been doing much coupley stuff lately, though...

Maybe she should work a little of her magic...

Her thoughts were cut off by Percy's glare. On second thought... maybe she should leave them alone while here. Yes, that might be best.

(So I listened to the sound... before the summer solstice,)

"Ooh." A few people groaned. That wasn't good, they were still in the Midwest, with a mystery like this on their hands. They weren't going to have much time to figure it out by the time they made it to the Underworld. And, of course, once they got there, they were going to have to somehow escape or talk their way out if they wanted the chance to solve this whole mess.

(we passed through some golden... handle stuck on the city.)

A few demigods snickered while Annabeth and Athena looked offended. That was an amazing piece of architecture! Percy just raised an eyebrow at their offense and shrugged.

"Well, at least our trip won't be boring." Frank murmured to Hazel, she nodded in agreement. There was that.

Percy had an interesting mind, that was for sure.

("I want to do that," she... see the Parthenon, Percy?")

The MS shivered at mention of that place. The place of their most difficult battle to date, possibly the most difficult battle fought by Demigods in history. Especially since the gods didn't come until it was almost too late. The place where the world almost ended... all because of a nosebleed.

Yeah... it wasn't their favorite place in the world.

("Only in pictures."

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person.)

The MS shifted again, and looked at Annabeth in amusement. She saw it alright... as it was being destroyed as a casualty of war. (Last they heard there were tentative plans to rebuild it, for now they just wove the Mist tighter to keep the Mortals from panicking about what happened to it.) She just scowled back.

(I'm going to build the... laughed. "You? An architect?")

"What's that supposed to mean?" Athena yelled, glaring at him angrily. Annabeth looked a little hurt and sat up, to where she wasn't leaning into his side.

Percy blinked, alarmed, then quickly asked Rachel to keep reading, "If I don't explain in the book than I will." He eyed his girlfriend warily.

(I don't know why, but... quietly and draw all day.)

"There, see? I mean, ADHD, demigods, us and sitting still for long periods don't really mix." Percy said, "It was nothing against your abilities." Annabeth sighed before leaning back into his side again in silent apology. Athena continued to watch him somewhat suspiciously.

"I guess I overreacted then, huh?" She asked quietly.

"Don't worry about it." Percy assured her.

(Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an... earthquakes I could mention.")

Poseidon sighed, how long was the girl going to let his relationship with her mother get in the way of having a friendship with his son? Honestly, the relationships of the parents should have no bearing on the relationships of the children. And yet... he hoped she hurried up and realized that.

Sally couldn't help but notice how Annabeth kept saying Athena, and not calling her any variant of 'mother'. That made her sad, because she had heard other demigods refer to their parent as some variation of 'mother' or 'father'. Percy himself called Poseidon 'dad'. It also made her angry, that the gods were so distant from their children that the children didn't even really consider them their parent, they just knew that so-and-so was their godly parent. There was no connection. Not like there should be between parent and child.

Hestia sensed her thoughts and shot her a knowing look. She hated it, too. Hopefully this reading could fix her family.

(I watched the churning... the Mississippi below.)

All of the Seafolk winced at hearing that. No matter the efforts Poseidon put into, the work he and his men put into helping the Mississippi spirit out, they just could not make much of a dent in it. The mortals had it so polluted...

Poseidon frowned and made a mental note to speak with his advisers about coming up with a new plan for cleaning up water pollution. Because what they were doing was helping, but it wasn't enough. There was only so much they could do from their end...

("Sorry," Annabeth said... Poseidon ever cooperate?")

"No." Athena spat, and Poseidon sighed.

"Yes, and no. On occasion, we've sort of helped each other out without really meaning to or realizing it until later." He corrected her, earning himself a glare. The rest of the council sighed. And to think, they used to get along...

(Annabeth had to think about... to make it complete.")

"That's one occasion where we helped without really meaning to." Poseidon said with a shrug. Athena had honestly been tempted to destroy her invention when she realized that the horses created by Poseidon would be perfect to pull it, but didn't because the practical uses were too numerous.

("Then we can cooperate, too... suppose," she said at last.)

"Our arguments shouldn't be your arguments." Hestia murmured, loud enough for all the demigods to hear her. The Greeks looked at her for a moment before looking around at each other and nodding at her with a smile. Most of the group, they argued. A lot.

But some of them honestly couldn't remember the last time they argued with each other based off an argument their parents were having.

(We pulled into the Amtrak... before departing for Denver.)

Some groans sounded again. "More time you guys don't really have." Reyna muttered. She idly wondered just how many times over the years since the camps were separated and forced to forget about each other, how many times had the world almost ended on the Greek side of things? That the Romans weren't aware of?

Now that it looked like at least the camp leaderships were going to know about each other, her and Jason would have to get with Annabeth and Percy later on and work out a communication system between the two camps. Well, assuming Jason came back to his position at Camp Jupiter when this whole thing with the Giants was over with... She glanced sideways at Jason and Piper sitting together, Piper leaning comfortably against the boys side with his arm wrapped around her and sighed mentally. Yet another chance, gone.

(Grover stretched. Before... awake, he said, "Food.")

A few people still snickered a bit, but otherwise were used to the Satyr's love of food.

("Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing.")

"What?" Zeus yelped. "You don't have time for sightseeing, you need to find my bolt!" He exclaimed, glaring at them.

Hera and Poseidon sighed. "They are still in St. Louis. Still in the Midwest, there is nothing they can do until they reach the West. It's either sightseeing, or continue sitting in a metal box on wheels for hours when they don't have to. They are two ADHD demigods and a Satyr. Do you really think they're going to choose sitting on a train versus getting out and about? Moving and stretching their legs?" Poseidon asked his younger sibling. Who just glared resentfully because he knew Poseidon had a point and didn't want to admit it.

"Besides, it's your fault the boy can't just fly out west and save time." Hera said primly. Zeus just looked at her, betrayed.

("Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said... Are you coming or not?")

Rachel paused and blinked a bit. Finally, she looked up and at Annabeth. "You really thought cramming Percy in a small space during that ride to the top was a good idea? Not to mention having him that high up off the ground?" She asked, gesturing towards Zeus.

Annabeth blinked, and glanced between Percy and his uncle. "I... didn't even think about that..." She said slowly. Percy just cleared his throat and looked down, finding the ground to be very interesting. Sally looked away, too, to hide her amusement.

(Grover and I exchanged looks... very well let her go alone.)

"Very smart."

(Grover shrugged. "As... bar without monsters.")

Thalia and Percy both grinned and looked at him, but Annabeth intervened before they could say anything. Honestly, the day she learned what that joke was, the better. Maybe then it wouldn't be quite so annoying everytime she heard it.

Percy gave her his 'baby-seal pouting' face, but she resisted it by looking away as soon as she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye. Percy just pouted some more, but got over it pretty quickly.

Everyone who wasn't watching the by-play going on between the four of them, groaned. Grover just jinxed it, now there were going to be monsters at the Arch.

(The Arch was about a mile... get in weren't that long.)

"Thankfully, we only had three hours before the train left again." Percy said with a shrug.

Grover nodded. "Thankfully we only had three hours, or we wouldn't have been able to hurry her along through the museum as quick as we did." He said.

Annabeth just looked at them, confused. She hadn't noticed them hurrying her anywhere... her boys just grinned innocently at her while everyone else snickered.

"Nice, you two." Hermes said in appreciation. They switched their innocent looks to him.

"I don't know what your talking about, sir." They said. Everyone shivered in dread and hoped that never happened again.

(We threaded our way... me jelly beans, so I was okay.)

A few snorted. The easiest way to Percy Jackson, through his stomach. Or, in this case, candy and sugar. Although that described half the demigod population of the Greek/Roman world...

"What is with you and jelly beans? Whenever I see you with candy, you almost always have jelly beans in your hand." Katie asked suddenly.

Percy blinked at her. "Why not jelly beans?" He asked, honestly confused. What was wrong with jelly beans? His younger self copied his expression.

(I kept looking around… always smells like monsters.)

"That's very, very true." Grover said in distaste. Grover nodded in agreement, Hermes snorted fondly. Pan never had much fondness for the underground, either. It was honestly sort of amusing.

(Probably doesn't mean anything")

"Never assume it means nothing." Grover quickly lectured. "Underground is when you need to be the most vigilant, because it always smells of monsters and you won't be able to smell if there is an actual monster nearby posing a threat." His younger self nodded with wide eyes.

Grover greatly regretted not being more concerned while at the monument. Maybe if they had been more vigilant… maybe Percy wouldn't have been so badly hurt, and the manhunt for him wouldn't have intensified.

(But something felt wrong... we shouldn't be here.)

"Good, listen to your instincts." Poseidon muttered. His children usually had pretty good instincts about danger being nearby. It was just a question of whether they listened to those instincts or not.

("Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbol of power?")

Said gods looked up in interest, wondering where he was going with this.

(Annabeth had been in… You mean, our friend downstairs?")

"Seriously?" Hades asked, deadpan. "Your 'friend downstairs'? That could mean anybody, not the least that I'm not your friend." He sneered a little. He had very few friends. A few demigods he was currently blaming for the theft of his Helm (at least he was assuming that to be what was going on), were not on that list.

Grover just cleared his throat. "I didn't want him to just go blurting your name out. We were in enough trouble without him drawing more attention to us." He explained quickly.

("Um, right," I said. "Our… a hat like Annabeth's?")

Athena's and Hades interest were both peaked with this topic. "That is actually where I got the idea for her hat. Except, obviously, for the fear element."

Hades looked at her, annoyed, but didn't say anything. Since when was he ever asked before they went ahead and did what they wanted?

He didn't see the others look at her, shocked and annoyed when she admitted to this. After all, taking ideas from another's symbol of power, and not even asking… if she wasn't careful, she could be accused of trying to recreate it with the intention of stealing it.

("You mean the Helm… he's allowed to visit Olympus-)

Hades glared around the room. It wasn't his fault death happened, it was a fact of life. He still didn't understand why they banished him over it. It was a fact of life, it happened. What was the big deal?

"And why sound so surprised?" Poseidon questioned his son, curious.

Percy shrugged. "I was being accused of taking the stupid Bolt when I wasn't there, I just happened to be in the city on that day. Uncle Hades was here, and yet the only person accusing him was Chiron." He shrugged again, still finding it extremely unfair he was being accused of doing something when he hadn't even known the thing existed. Poseidon nodded in understanding.

Hades just scowled again.

(the darkest day of the year… become darkness," Grover confirmed.)

A few demigods glanced at Hades a little uneasily at this point, but he merely smirked at them. Now, if it was because his abilities made them uneasy when he used them, then he was fine with that. That was an actual reason.

Nico, smirked alongside him. He knew his father didn't need the Helm to become darkness. The Helm just magnified his natural abilities. Much like he could become part of the shadows for a short time, and travel through them.

All the gods shared this trait, the others just seemed to forget this about Hades. It wasn't the symbol of power that let the god do what they did. The symbol/weapon just magnified their natural ability. That was why they were a symbol of power. The power was theirs.

("He can melt into shadow or pass through walls.)

Percy blinked and suddenly asked Rachel to repeat that sentence. "So… sort of like Nico, just on a larger scale." Nico smirked at him. Percy rolled his eyes and distracted him with blue birthday cake, courtesy of Sally. Where she pulled it from, who knows.

Nico immediately looked his age when he started in on it.

(He can't be touched, or seen… creatures fear the dark?")

"Hey!" Hades protested. "That's not all me! A lot of that is Nyx!" Persephone sighed and patted his arm while some of the demigods shifted a little.

They supposed shifting all blame for some things was unfair...

Immediately at mention of Nyx, five out of seven pairs of eyes shot to carefully watch the other two. Annabeth and Percy started hyperventilating a little at mention of Nyx, but looked like they were doing pretty good in keeping it together. They were mostly holding onto each other, but they were holding it together. To their companions relief.

"Keep in mind, if you two need to step out for a bit…" Jason whispered to them in concern. They flashed him shaky smiles, but stayed in their seats.

("But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked.)

"I could, but I have better things to do than watch you three when you're coming straight to me, anyway." Hades said, shrugging. He didn't mention that he probably wasn't going to be able to use it to watch them, anyway, because it was probably missing.

Besides, he didn't need his Helm to be invisible to those around him. It was just a great tool to have in that aspect. Not to mention the fear it naturally spread.

(Annabeth and Grover exchanged... any blue jelly beans left?")

A few people cracked up laughing. "Nice priorities." Thalia snorted.

Percy shrugged. "I figured there was nothing I could do about it either way, so might as well not dwell on it, right?" He asked, rhetorically. The Stoll brothers answered anyway.

And were promptly hit upside the head by Luke and Katie for being idiots.

(I'd almost mastered my... tiny little elevator car)

Percy and Annabeth let out a tiny whimper at the thought of such a space, but otherwise managed to remain silent. They had never been able to look at elevator's the same way since the Door's. They refused to go anywhere near the one in the Empire State building, if they needed to go to Olympus for any reason, they had Blackjack or Porkpie fly them up.

When it came to the elevator in Percy's apartment building, they took the stairs, even though Percy's apartment was closer to the top floor than the bottom.

The rest of the their group looked at them in worry, but they waved them off. They would be fine, they could get through this.

(we were going to ride... I knew I was in trouble.)

Rachel shot Annabeth a look, and she at least had the decency to look sheepish. She hadn't known that he had issues with small spaces before this. Well, it wasn't like he was claustrophobic, it wasn't that bad. He just couldn't stand small spaces, his ADHD couldn't handle it. She didn't know that locking him in small spaces was also a favorite punishment of Gabe's.

Percy just shook his head and squeezed her shoulder for a moment.

(I hate confined places. They make me nuts.)

Annabeth winced. "Sorry, Perce. I didn't even stop to think about you and Grover." She said apologetically.

He shrugged, but didn't say anything. Just held her closer.

(We got shoehorned into... with a rhinestone collar.)

"Oh, that's even worse than small spaces." Percy moaned.

"Huh?"

"Being in a small space, with bigger people. That just makes the space even smaller, and you have to deal with them moving around, too." The boy explained with a grimace.

"I don't remember a dog." Annabeth said, confused. The tension in the room immediately sky-rocketed. That wasn't good. "Is that what you were talking about when you asked for a name?" She asked, curious. He nodded. Grover frowned.

(I figured maybe the dog... said a word about it.)

"That would be the Mist, because not even I noticed the dog." Annabeth muttered to him. He grimaced.

(We started going up, inside... wasn't too happy about it.)

Annabeth winced, she'd been so excited to be there, she hadn't even considered her companions. The fact that they might be uncomfortable, and yet they both went along with it, without complaint. She knew Grover was uncomfortable being underground, and yet she forced them underground with her in that museum.

She knew that, as a Son of Poseidon, Percy wouldn't be comfortable in the air, but she wanted to go up and he followed without complaint because it wasn't a good idea for any of them to be alone when on a quest. She hadn't even considered that him and small spaces might not mix, especially since his ADHD was worse than most demigods.

How did she end up with two amazing friends like them? They went along with her wishes without complaint. Despite how she'd been treating Percy so far.

Percy noticed how miserable his accounting of the trip to the Arch was making her and sighed. He pulled her closer, "Don't worry about it. We didn't say anything because we saw how you were enjoying yourself, and the break from worrying about the quest was nice."

She bit her lip. "We could have still done something else during the layover. I hear St. Louis has a nice zoo, we could have found a cab or something. You two would have probably been more comfortable with that. I should have at least asked if you guys were alright with the Arch."

Percy shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He repeated.

("No parents?" the fat lady asked... looked like a blue-jean blimp.)

Piper (and the rest of the girls, too) grimaced while her mother shrieked in horror.

Some people just should not wear denim, beyond maybe jeans.

Percy grimaced. That actually sounded worse now that he knew who she was.

("They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights.")

"That's a much better excuse than a circus caravan." Thalia teased. Everyone else laughed while Percy pouted playfully.

Sally shook her head. Percy could come up with some very good excuses when the situation called for it, sometimes.

("Oh, the poor darlings."... owner, intelligent and vicious.)

A few of the demigods shivered at the description. That didn't sound like a normal dog. They would wait, though, and hear what happened later. They were still worried about the chapter title, though. Those that thought about it, were glad the Mississippi was nearby.

(I said, "Sonny. Is that his... cleared everything up.)

"Yeah, no." Travis muttered.

"That didn't do anything to clear anything up." Connor agreed.

Percy shuddered. "That comment was explained in a bit more detail later on." He said with a grimace. He still didn't understand how her and the Chimera were mother and son, but that was the Greek/Roman world for ya. They had strange familial relationships.

(At the top of the Arch... tin can with carpeting.)

Athena and both Annabeths looked offended again. He was insulting the architecture, again!

A few others snickered at hearing how Percy viewed things, he had a very interesting mind, that was for sure.

(Rows of tiny windows... The view was okay,)

Percy nodded in agreement with himself, "Ok, the view was more than ok, but I still didn't want to stay there long." He admitted when he saw Annabeth's look. She smiled slightly. At least he wasn't completely miserable, he found something enjoyable about the trip.

(but if there's anything I like... hundred feet in the air.)

Annabeth sighed at the reminder. She had been really careless with her companions, hadn't she? Percy just shot her a look, reminding her that he didn't think she should worry about it.

Poseidon and Triton grimaced and nodded in agreement. Being that high up, they weren't too fond of it, either. Their place was beneath the waves, not high in the sky.

Nico and Hazel nodded in agreement, too. While Thalia turned a little green at the thought. So far, she'd done a good job not thinking about it, until Percy mentioned just how high it was.

(I was ready to go pretty quick.)

"Do not blame you, at all." Those Big 3 kids that weren't Jason muttered in agreement. As did Hazel and Percy. None of them liked being up off the ground very much. Annabeth turned red when she realized that all the Big 3 kids were in agreement about this. Well, except Jason, but he didn't count. He was a son of Jupiter, he was made to be in the air. So was Thalia, but...

Poseidon quirked a grin. "Sorry, Annabeth. But... mine and Hades children aren't meant to be in the air. My children's place is underneath the waves, while Hades is beneath the ground." He said, somewhat apologetically. Because he could tell that she had really enjoyed herself, and wasn't too happy to hear that Percy had been miserable and she hadn't paid any attention. She grimaced, but nodded.

Zeus nodded in agreement with what his older brother said, he didn't want their children in his territory, either.

"It doesn't help that Zeus kills any of our children who are in the air." Hades grumbled. It was a very good thing that his and Poseidon's children had other ways of getting around other than flying. Or it would take them forever to ever get anywhere. Although, he had a feeling that it would be a while before young Perseus ever found out about that particular ability. Without older siblings to show him his powers, and with Poseidon not able to interact with him much... he had a feeling that if Nico knew, it was only because he was told about it by Hades.

(Annabeth kept talking about... designed a see-through floor.)

The non-child-of-Jupiter Big 3 demigods actually whimpered a bit at that. Thalia was scared of heights, and the others... well, it wasn't a fear of heights, per-say... it was more like a knowledge of what Zeus would do to them if they were ever at a certain height and not on a Pegasus or touching any part of the ground at the time...

Annabeth looked at them, and then blushed as she realized that saying all that about a see-through floor with Percy right there probably wasn't a good idea.

(She probably could've stayed... closing in a few minutes.)

Thalia actually looked relieved. He would be getting down soon, and they wouldn't be hearing anymore about how high up they were. Percy, who had been very quiet so far, sighed in relief too. He'd been tense the whole time they were in the Arch, despite Triton's attempts to get him to relax.

(I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit,)

"Quite eagerly, too." Grover pointed out. Annabeth groaned and nodded. She should have guessed how much Percy didn't want to be up there by how eager he was to leave.

(loaded them into the elevator... inside. No room for me.)

"Uh-oh." Was muttered. They were going to have to stay longer, and risk something happening, or missing the train. That wasn't good.

(The park ranger said... "We'll wait with you.")

"Good idea." Piper said, nodding. And it was.

Annabeth and Grover turned red in embarrassment. If only they had actually done that.

(But that was going to mess... see you guys at the bottom.")

"Don't separate!" A few people yelled. They couldn't believe the risks Percy had already taken on this quest, and now they were separating?!

Were they insane?

Annabeth blushed. "Grover didn't indicate that he smelled any monsters, and I hadn't seen anything to indicate monsters, either. I figured, there was only one way up, and we would be watching from the bottom to make sure nothing snuck on the elevator when we got off. He wasn't going to go anywhere without us, except straight down to join us..." She shrugged sheepishly. Grover nodded with a grimace. They hadn't expected the monster to be there with him.

Sally just sighed. That was her boy, trying to make things easier for everybody else despite his discomfort with the situation.

(Grover and Annabeth both... disappeared down the ramp.)

Grover hit himself on the head. "Stupid, stupid move." He muttered. Grover looked worried. Why was his older self reacting like this? Just what happened in the time they were all separated?

Annabeth was mentally berating herself, she should have known better, she did know better! Luke and Thalia had always drilled it into her head, the whole time they were together before Grover found them, to never, never go off on your own or leave anybody behind on their own. Especially if it was another demigod. One of the biggest rules at camp, was to never leave a demigod behind. If in a group, stay together. Safety in numbers, and all that. It had been drilled into her head for five years.

Percy sighed again, kissed Annabeth on the temple and glanced nervously at his mother. He never told her about this part... He tended to leave out a lot of his more... dangerous stunts.

(Now the only people left... lady with her Chihuahua.)

"Not good, if anything does happen, you'll have the mortals to worry about." Clarisse said, worried for her sort-of kid brother. "Monsters might not care to go after them, but they could still get hurt from debris or something." She explained quickly to the idiots who looked confused about why Percy would have to worry about the mortals when the monsters wouldn't care about them.

"Or, they could start running around in a panic and run right into an attack." Travis muttered. He'd seen it happen. And, it wasn't even his or Connors fault! Not at all. His brother nodded in agreement. Grover did too, thinking about the museum while they were trying to track Artemis after hers and Annabeth's kidnapping.

"Not to mention, if something does happen, the mortals aren't going to know what happened. And, when it's all over and they're being questioned by police..." Percy started and trailed off.

"All they're going to remember is you. And what they saw of the conflict on your part." Connor realized quickly.

"And when they give your description to police..." Travis said.

"They're going to know your traveling West, and your face is going to be all over the place even more." Connor finished.

"Not good!" All four of them said at once. Everyone else just stared at them uneasily. It seemed like whatever had been holding their attention for so long was finished.

Nobody was sure how to feel about that...

(I smiled uneasily at the... flickering between her teeth.)

"Forked tongue?" Reyna asked, eyebrows raised.

"Monster." Everyone said at once.

Annabeth and Grover blinked. "I didn't see that." Annabeth said, looking shocked. "I had a small conversation with her about the architecture, and I didn't see anything like that." How did she miss that?

"She could have been hiding it behind the Mist." Her mother said, mind racing with possibilities. "And if the Sea-spawn is semi-immune to the Mist, then it makes sense that he saw through it." She reasoned.

"I didn't smell anything, either." Grover said. "And we weren't underground anymore, so I should have smelled her." He was honestly shocked. Athena didn't know what to say about that. Except that she could have been covering it up with something else. Which was worrying to the demigods.

"I don't think she was necessarily a monster herself." Percy said slowly. "Just based on something she said. Her dog on the other hand..." He grimaced. If he never saw that thing again, it would be too soon.

(Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?)

There were a few snickers that Reyna and Percy said the same thing, with the more mature demigods staring at those snickering like they were idiots.

(Before I could decide if... and started yapping at me.)

A couple of people grimaced. Mostly those who preferred big dogs. Not the little yappers.

"And, of course the thing is fixed on the only demigod left in the room." Annabeth muttered.

("Now, now, sonny," the lady... these nice people here.")

"Wow, did she just say something in consideration for the mortals nearby?" Apollo muttered, honestly shocked. A few others looked at him, confused, but he just waved them off. Hermes looked at him, concerned. He had realized who it was soon as they described her. He was surprised Artemis didn't seem to have. After all, the two of them were the Hunters in the room... they dealt with her and her children constantly. Even though he didn't hunt nearly as much as she did...

That, and he did have a limited ability to see the future. Comes with the territory of being the god of prophecy. He'd been cheating a little and using it to have some idea of what was coming. Naturally, he wouldn't say anything. The Fates would have his hide if they did. And he quite liked his hide intact.

Much less painful.

("Doggie!" said the little boy... parents pulled him back.)

"Smart parents." Artemis said, trying to figure out why this sounded familiar. Everyone else in the room was getting the same feeling that they should know this, but couldn't think of it. All they did know right now, was that she was not human, and that dog was no dog.

(The Chihuahua bared his... from his black lips.)

"Somebody should have called animal control." Travis said, trying to break the growing tension.

"That thing is obviously rabid, no matter what else it is." Connor nodded in agreement. There were a few nervous chuckles, but otherwise the joke fell flat on its face and died.

("Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist.")

"And why, does she keep talking to it like it really is her son?" Katie burst out, it was starting to get to her, like she should know her based on that or something, but she could not think of a name.

Most of the room shrugged, not sure. While several others gasped and stared at Percy, having just finally figured it out and wondering how he got out of that one. Poseidon started eyeing his little brother, while the hand gripping his Trident turned white.

(Ice started forming in my stomach.)

"I already knew something was wrong with her, but when she kept talking to the dog like she was..." Percy shrugged. At this point, he was purposely ignoring the tension in the room and all of his attention was split between his mother and his girlfriend. He may have... glossed over the details about this incident to Annabeth and Grover. While he never told his mother about any of this at all.

"You have the most descriptive thoughts." Thalia muttered to herself, glancing at her cousin.

("Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear,")

"That's not good." Was the general consensus as everybody froze and stared at Percy, wondering how on earth he got out of this one. And protected the mortals from the monster. Because the Chimera was known for not caring who it went after. Mortal and demigod alike. Not to mention that with it's breath, collateral damage was next to impossible to avoid. At all. And they were in a very small space.

Percy grimaced, remembering the pain he was in, and thanking the Fates over and over again that he wasn't going to have to relive the pain because of these books.

The gods were staring at him, wondering how on earth he got her on his tail. That was actually quite the feat, right there. Poseidon was still eyeing Zeus suspiciously. He was the only one who had any measure of control over her... She was basically his personal attack dog.

Annabeth was crushing his hand at this point, he was going to have to soak it later on if he wanted to be able to use it in the coming weeks. Otherwise it was going to a bruised up, possibly deformed mess.

(the fat lady corrected... easy mistake to make.")

"Right, easy." Travis said faintly. A few of the younger kids actually looked like they might pass out just from the thought of facing the Chimera. Percy cocked his head and wondered if he could defeat it now. After the Titans, the Chimera shouldn't be too much trouble... if he played his cards right. Starting with fighting it somewhere away from enclosed spaced and tourists.

Especially the enclosed space. That was a must.

Of course, he was also still firmly of the opinion that if he never saw her and her Chimera again, it would be too soon.

Ares lit up. Finally, some action!

(She rolled up her denim... arms was scaly and green.)

Aphrodite made a disgusted face and turned a little green herself. Denim with that skin? Even worse than her just wearing denim.

(When she smiled, I saw... sideways slits, like a reptile's.)

"Yeah, she was definitely hiding herself with the Mist. It must have worked off and on with you. But everytime you could have seen her as she really is, you weren't paying attention to her until now." Athena speculated. She was interested in the fact that the Mist was so unreliable against Sea-spawn.

(The Chihuahua barked louder... a Doberman, then to a lion.)

"Whoa." Everyone said after a moment of silence.

"That thing might have been easier to deal with when it was Chihuahua sized." Thalia muttered, eyeing her cousin in concern. This would be one of those situations where she would be ordering a retreat and regroup. There wasn't enough space to really fight, and there were mortals nearby. While the monster should ignore them, that didn't mean they couldn't still get injured or caught in the cross-fire. Unknown to her, Zoe was thinking the same thing.

(Although, Thalia wouldn't have taken the Hunters there in the first place to be honest, too high up off the ground.)

(The bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed.)

"Oh." Everybody blinked.

"That's right, kids have an easier time seeing through the Mist than adults." Sally murmured in dread. She wanted to help that boy, but knew she couldn't. He was going to be traumatized for the rest of his life unless somebody made him forget it.

(His parents pulled him... gaping at the monster.)

"She's not even hiding herself in the Mist at all." Sally gasped. That was even worse. The parents and the park ranger weren't going to be able to handle this at all, they might end up needing psychiatric help for the rest of their lives. The boy, at least, would be brushed off as having an overactive imagination.

"Oh, boy." A few of the council murmured.

"This is going to require some clean up." Dionysus muttered into his wine glass, happy that it wouldn't be him in charge of that since he was technically still 'banished' to Camp Half-Blood. Apollo and Hermes glared at him, the three of them were usually the ones put in charge of clean-up for things like this. But with him unable to do it, it would be down to the two of them.

Oh, it wasn't hard. It wasn't difficult. But they did have to be careful with it, they didn't want to accidentally create new problems where none existed. The mortal mind could work in strange ways.

(The Chimera was now so... out of its shaggy behind.)

The demigods shuddered in horror at the description. "Is there any kind of monster that isn't made up of bits and pieces from normal animals?" Travis complained.

"Yeah, it seems like most monsters are a bunch of Frankenstein monsters." Connor agreed. All they got in answer were shrugs and head shakes.

"I never really thought about it, but they are right." Hermes said to his half-siblings, aunts and uncles. They nodded in agreement.

"That's just how they were all born. Many of them were born from Echidna, some of them are born that way because their mothers were cursed into conceiving with a certain animal... a few were born from different Titans and the like. Occasionally it was because two different monsters got together." Athena said after a moment.

The demigods all grimaced. Especially when she mentioned the monsters being born because the gods cursed the mother. Of course.

(The rhinestone dog collar... now easy to read:

CHIMERA-RABID,)

"See?" Connor said, with a smug look on his face. "Rabid." He nodded once, in emphasis. He got a few more chuckles, but everybody was mostly at the edge of their seats in anticipation and worry.

(FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954.)

Besides a shudder, Annabeth and Percy managed not to visibly react. It was only a brief mention of the places name this time, it wasn't a description of anything they saw down there. Like the pit, the color orange, and elevators... those brought back memories. They were fine with the name... as long as they didn't keep talking about it and just moved on.

"Hey, did you ever call the extension?" Leo tried to joke.

Percy shook his head, with a strange look on his face. "How would that place even have a phone line?" He asked the council.

Athena frowned. "I don't actually know..." She said thoughtfully. "I've never thought about it before." She admitted. She resolved to look into it later, when the Fates let time resume after the readings.

"Can we keep reading, please?" Jason called. Not wanting his cousin and his girlfriend to have a relapse or something. They'd been doing pretty good so far, but there was only so much they could take sometimes. He just knew the nightmares were going to be bad enough tonight, with all the mention of that place here in this reading. The two of them already had a hard enough time sleeping as it was, without hearing about it all the time.

Rachel glanced over and nodded, so she kept going. Percy and Annabeth shot him grateful looks.

(I realized I hadn't even... My hands were numb.)

Ares made a noise of disgust, earning himself glares from all around the room. The boy should not freeze up like that, it was so disgusting. And he called himself a fighter? Percy just ignored him, and watched Rachel, willing her to keep reading and get this chapter finished already.

Zoe made a noise, to indicate that his reaction was perfectly understandable. The new hunters always froze their first time seeing some monsters, depending on what they already had experience fighting as demigods, or the occasional mortal girl that joined them (if they were able to see through the Mist, that was.)

(I was ten feet away from... the creature would lunge.)

Sally whimpered, and Paul pulled her into his side and held her tightly. Everyone else sat on the edges of their seats in anticipation.

Everyone could feel the temperature and air pressure change, and one look at Poseidon showed he was barely holding it together and keeping himself from attacking his younger brother. He kept himself back because he didn't have proof that he sent her, this could be a random meet up, they happened.

(The snake lady made a... with one of my brood.)

Poseidon growled and would have attacked, except Percy appeared between the two before he could, absently playing with a pen in his hand. Of course, the only one to really notice the pen were those who were looking for it, and those were the ones who had actually made the connection with who they were.

He shot his father a warning look, reminding him of why he was there. He was there to enforce the rules of no fighting or attacking each other.

Poseidon stared balefully back, before sitting back with a huff after shooting one last venomous glare at Zeus. Nothing was said in the entire exchange. A part of him absently wondered if and where his son discovered his Mist-travel. Or if he was just simply that fast.

Everyone else watched the exchange with wide eyes. None of them had seen or heard him move. The air pressure didn't go back to normal, and neither did the temperature though.

"Oh, yeah. A real honor." Percy grumbled, and Annabeth gave a small grin before loosening up her grip on his hand and hugging him instead.

(For I am the Mother of... that a kind of anteater?")

"Oh, that's the worst thing you could have possibly said to her." Poseidon groaned, becoming distracted from wanting to kill his younger brother and covering his face with one hand, while he gripped his trident with white knuckles in the other.

"How many times has she asked you to flood and destroy Australia?" Apollo asked, chuckling nervously. He was trying to bring some humor into the room and disperse some of the tension that appeared. His efforts were not appreciated, judging by the scowls he received.

"Daily." Amphitrite informed the room with a scowl.

"Multiple times, a day." Triton added on with another scowl, holding his brother closer in an attempt to shield him from everything his older self had gone through.

(She howled, her reptilian... and green with rage.)

"Eew." Most of the girls complained. That did not sound pleasant to loo at.

("I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia!)

"Understatement." Poseidon and Triton both muttered absently. They were sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what happened to Percy during this confrontation.

Percy, sure that his fathers attention was effectively diverted from Zeus, went back to his seat in the corner with the rest of his group.

(Naming that ridiculous animal... shall destroy you!")

Percy sighed. "They all want to kill me for the strangest reasons. I mean, some of them I get, they just want to say that they were the ones to kill 'Perseus Jackson'," He said sarcastically. "Or the ones who come to kill me just because they want to kill a demigod. I get that, but then there are the ones like her, who want me dead just because of something I said." He pouted. He was honestly offended by that!

Everyone else was looking at him like he suddenly grew three more heads. Of all the things to be angry over, and he was angry because they only wanted to kill him because of something he said?

Thalia and Nico looked like they understood. They would much rather the monsters wanting them dead because they were considered a threat, or because of something they'd done in the past.

(The Chimera charged, its... aside and dodge the bite.)

Sighs of relief went around the room, after everybody held their breaths at the charge. Percy looked mildly offended at the lack of faith in his abilities. Dodging wasn't the difficult part. It was finding an opening to kill it before it killed him.

A part of this fight that he kind of failed at.

(I ended up next to the... the emergency exit doors.)

"Why couldn't they open it?" Sally asked, worried.

"Echidna might have blocked it or something." Hermes answered, concerned. That would keep Percy's attention divided as he tried to fight while also keeping it away from the mortals as best as he could in the confined space.

Percy grimaced. "I'm just glad they all made it out safely... somehow." He said, reassuring everyone that the family was alright. There were sighs of relief all around.

(I couldn't let them get hurt.)

"Spoken like a true hero." Somebody murmured, and the others nodded in agreement, but also concern. Only Percy would worry more about the family than himself, despite the fact that he was the one the monster was after. Meaning it should leave the family alone once he was gone. His concern for them over himself was also an attitude that, while good to have in small doses, would also get him killed pretty quick.

Zoe and Artemis studied Percy in interest. It was rare they saw males with that kind of attitude. Most males they met would save the family, sure, no problem. But their attitude while doing it...

(I uncapped my sword, ran... I would've thought possible.)

"Don't underestimate your opponent based on size, boy." Ares snarled. That was the number one rule of combat! To not underestimate your opponent. Percy winced, but didn't say anything.

(Before I could swing my... world's largest barbecue pit,)

"Change that to a BBQ pit where all the meat has been burnt, and that would actually be more accurate." Percy cut in, making everyone wince. They all loved BBQ, and for something to smell like that...

"No wonder you refused to eat BBQ for a month after this quest." Annabeth said, blinking in surprise. Percy grimaced, but nodded.

"Do you have to be so descriptive?" Thalia asked in disgust. Percy just smirked before reminding everyone that these may be his thoughts, but he was not the one to write them down. That was the Fates.

(and shot a column of flame straight at me.)

"Holy...!" Quite a few demigods exclaimed, not really expecting that.

"Oh, yeah. So, the Chimera is wicked fast, can breathe fire, and is poisonous." Percy said, as if he were speaking about the weather. He earned a few wide eyed looks.

(I dove through the explosion... seared off my eyebrows.)

Percy just sighed. He never could keep his eyebrows for long. He often went to school after a summer of camp and quests with kids asking what happened to them.

(Where I had been standing a... steaming around the edges.)

Athena and her daughters all groaned, almost in agony at the thought of the architectural marvel being damaged like that.

"Sorry, guys." Percy said, and he kind of honestly was. As much as he didn't care much for architecture, Annabeth did. One of her goals in life was to visit all the best architectural history sites. Like the St. Louis Arch. And then, the first one she visited, he kind of destroyed it.

Athena and Annabeth glared at him, but Annabeth sighed after a moment. "Not your fault. Zeus is the one who sent Echidna and the Chimera is the one who went breathing fire at it." She grumbled. Percy quirked a grin and kissed her temple.

(Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.)

"And fanned the flames of the manhunt that was already started by the mortal authorities." Hermes noted.

Percy just sighed. "I am the subject of way too many manhunts." He complained. Annabeth, Grover, Sally, and Paul all nodded in agreement. It was a sad fact.

(Riptide was now a shining...

That was my fatal mistake.)

Sally let out a half-screech before she managed to hold it in, and Paul held her tighter. It was clear to everybody that Percy had not shared this part of his quest with her. Or, if he did, he severely edited it.

"Oh, boy." Percy muttered, eyeing his mother and knowing he was going to get the lecture of a lifetime. Mrs. O'Leary whined and pushed her snout against his chest pleadingly, she didn't like hearing about her human being in danger like this, and she wasn't around to protect him. He obliged and started scratching her under the jaw soothingly.

(The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar.)

"Oh, not good." All the demigods muttered as one.

"He doesn't the experience or training to keep his balance right here. He only has a couple of weeks sword training with Luke, I don't think he really got around to doing much else much besides that and the climbing wall." Clarisse muttered to those around her. Worried about Prissy, even though she knew that he would be fine. He went on to fight against her dad during this same quest!

(I tried to regain my balance,)

"Tried being the key phrase." Percy muttered, reaching down to rub the bite marks on his legs. They'd healed up well enough in the water, the poison had been purged and all. But the scars remained, which was unusual for injuries healed in the water. Just like the scars remained from the pit scorpion.

A few people glanced at him, worried, while Triton and Percy disappeared in a bubble that nobody could see through, giving them privacy.

Annabeth was currently keeping herself relatively calm by cutting off circulation in his arm while burying her head in his shoulder. It was a bit difficult to keep reassuring Mrs. O'Leary and try to comfort her at the same time with one hand.

Just saying.

(but I was so worried about... and sank its fangs into my calf.)

Everyone sucked in a breath. "The Chimera is one of the most poisonous creatures outside of the Pit." Apollo breathed. Sally and Mrs. O'Leary both sucked in a breath and whimpered or whined. Poseidon looked like he was going to pass out from shock and worry.

Percy winced. He really had not wanted his mother to find out about any of this. Mentally, he started cursing the Fates while he glared at Apollo for opening his big mouth.

(My whole leg was on fire... the Chimera's mouth,)

"Good, that's a weak point for virtually anything and everything." Ares noted with satisfaction. Although he, too, was wondering how Percy would have gotten out of this alive, he'd already been poisoned.

(but the serpent tail wrapped... pulled me off balance,)

"Of course, you should also be more alert to your surroundings." He deadpanned with a small glare. This was the second time he forgot about that serpent. Percy glared back, getting tired of the commentary. Some of it was helpful, some of it wasn't.

(and my blade flew out of... toward the Mississippi River.)

"NO!" Everyone cried in horror. They didn't let themselves start panicking yet though, Riptide would come back. Riptide always came back. Poseidon was now sitting at the very edge of his seat, anxiously watching his son try to calm his girlfriend and dog down. Losing his weapon when fighting the Chimera, while poisoned...

How did his son survive this one?

And, Riptide may always return, but that would take a few seconds. Seconds that were critical for his survival.

And here he didn't have the room to play an evasion game to gain those few seconds.

(I managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost.)

Ares nodded in approval. It was always good to know when to admit defeat instead of constantly charging forward needlessly.

(I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest.)

Mrs. O'Leary whined again and Sally held onto Paul tighter at the reminder while Percy grimaced at the memory.

(I remembered Chiron saying... was no pen in my pocket.)

Poseidon sat up further, alarmed. That shouldn't happen, unless... unless he was withholding it for some reason, but why would he do that? And why now? Why when his son needed it the most?

Chiron was also alarmed. The magic of the sword shouldn't be wearing off, it was enchanted to always return by Poseidon himself. It contained the immortal life force of Zoe Nightshade, the magic should be working just fine...

Everyone else was now officially terrified for Percy. He was unarmed, against the Chimera. Arguably the most dangerous and deadliest monsters out there. There were few that they had knowledge of that were deadlier.

Annabeth herself was almost guaranteed to have broken Percy's hand by now, but he didn't make a sound, letting her grip as hard as she wanted. He'd felt worse pain than this, anyway.

(Maybe it had fallen too far away.)

"There is no distance limit." Poseidon immediately denied. He shook his head and started muttering to himself, trying to figure out why he would keep the sword from returning. Unless it was the river spirit? But why?

(Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form.)

"No, it will return to you, in your pocket no matter what form it was in when it was lost." Chiron also denied.

Leo whistled from the corner where he and his brother had been working in silence this whole chapter, except for the occasional comment. "That is one handy sword." He muttered, "Hey, could you enchant this to do something similar?" He asked, curiously.

Beckendorf looked at it thoughtfully. "That particular brand of weapons enchantment is Nyssa's area of expertise." He said slowly. "I could do it, but it wouldn't be as strong or powerful as what she could, and it would need to be cast as we make it. I would need to start weaving the enchantments now." He warned. "Or we could ask Father to do it." He finished.

Leo looked at his unfinished weapon and agreed to asking their father to enchant it. No sooner had he agreed, then Hephaestus joined them in their corner and began to assist with the enchantments. He just stuck with the ones to make it return to the holster strap Leo was fashioning for it, to attack to his belt loops, and let Beckendorf do the rest.

There was no point in letting them learn and grow if he did everything for them. According to the parenting books he'd read over the years, anyway. Besides, it wasn't like him to do his children's work... that would just take away from the pleasure of making something yourself.

(I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out.)

Sally groaned before she snapped at her son not to say stuff like that. A few people blinked at her in shock, they'd never heard Sally snap at anybody like that. Percy's face turned red, his mother only ever snapped like when he'd done something that scared her, or worried her enough to be terrified.

"Yes, mom." He muttered.

(I backed into the hole in the wall.)

"Jump." Poseidon said suddenly. When everyone looked at him like he was crazy, he looked at them like they were crazy. "There's a river down there. He needs to jump." He said pointedly. Percy turned a little red. He really shouldn't have waited so long...

(The Chimera advanced, growling... they used to, eh, son?")

The heroes in the room growled at the insult. Implying that they were substandard or something, who did she think she was?! The gods all glanced at each other and then looked away quickly to hide their chuckles.

Nothing could get a demigods hackles raised faster than implying they weren't skilled.

"Give the guy a break, he doesn't even have two weeks worth of training yet." Grover grumbled, offended for his friend. Percy quirked a grin at him.

(The monster growled. It... now that I was beaten.)

"Ugh. I hate it when they do that." The future Greeks whined.

"On the one hand, it's nice because it gives you a chance to find a way out, or think of something else to beat it." Thalia said, actually holding up one hand, palm up.

"But on the other, you just want them to get it over with." Clarisse scowled. Paul looked more than a little disturbed hearing the kids talking like that.

(I glanced at the park ranger... people. I couldn't just ... die.)

Zoe and Artemis narrowed their eyes at Percy. Dying, and still thinking about those around him? He was a very unusual male.

Sally looked at her son with some pride, despite her internal panic at the thought of her baby dying. Poseidon looked down at his lap and ran a hand through his hair. Sally raised him well.

The Greeks rolled their eyes, that was Percy alright.

(I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire.)

"Not pleasant feeling, I will tell you that, right now." Percy pointed, shaking his head.

"How do you know what it feels like to be on fire?" Sally whispered.

Percy flinched. "Ah... about that..." He chuckled nervously. "Remember when Mt. St. Helens erupted a few years ago...?" He asked his mother, half scared.

"Yes." She said slowly. "But you already told me about that... While leaving out the part where you were almost burned alive, I'm guessing." She said in horrified realization.

Percy winced, but nodded. "Yeah... good thing I'm naturally semi-fire-resistant!" He tried to be cheerful about it, it didn't work. Everyone else was staring at him in horror. Just what on earth did he get up to when he left camp?!

Chiron was wondering if tying him to his bed in Cabin 3 and wrapping him in bubble wrap for the rest of his life might not be the safest course of action.

Whether it was safest for Percy, the camp, the world, or his sanity was debatable.

(My head felt dizzy.)

Apollo winced. "The poison has reached his heart. It's already starting to stop." He said quietly.

"Jump already." Poseidon implored quietly, leaning forward in his seat again as if he could physically push Percy off the dumb arch and into the water.

Everyone could only listen in horrified silence.

(I had no sword. I was... monster and its mother.)

Hermes snorted. "I wouldn't worry about Echidna. She won't attack, she's too much of a coward to do anything herself, if she shows up, it's always with one of her monster children in tow to do all the fighting for her." He informed the demigods. Who just blinked in slight shock at the information, but moved on relatively quickly. Especially when the others nodded in agreement.

(And I was scared.)

The demigods froze as they realized just how terrified Percy must have really been to admit even that much. He was the type to say he was fine, it didn't hurt, even after his arm being shattered, or almost getting a leg torn off. If he said anything, no matter how mild, then you knew it was pretty bad.

Sally finally had enough and Percy found himself sitting on the couch between her and Paul faster than he could blink, while Annabeth blinked at where he had been for a moment, wondering what just happened and where Percy just went.

The others blinked at her in shock, trying to figure out how she moved that fast. Hermes mentally added it to his list of likely immortals she could be descended from. He still needed to get around to checking her ancestry. He'd already mentally run through all the family lines of his children (and their children and so on down the line), for both himself and his Roman side, and he was pretty sure it wasn't him.

(There was no place else... below, the river glittered.)

"Yes, just one more step..." Poseidon said, fiddling with his Trident as if he could blast Echidna and her Chimera apart with it from where he was sitting. Amphitrite put a hand on his arm again, to try and calm him down. Everyone else was silently making the same plea.

(If I died, would the... leave the humans alone?)

"Yes, they would. But it doesn't require you dying, so stop talking about it!" Annabeth scolded her boyfriend. Honestly, she loved him, but sometimes this thing he had really drove her nuts. He really needed to show some more self-preservation once in a while, and a little less concern for everyone else around him. Not that said concern was a bad thing, but a little less of it would be good for her sanity and chances of not suddenly becoming single.

Percy just sent her a sheepish smile.

("If you are the son of... would not fear water.)

Percy grumbled about everything he'd ever been told about falling into water, especially from a certain height... Not to mention the height itself.

(Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me... sword. Prove your bloodline.")

Poseidon grumbled about not needing to prove anything to anyone. The boy being claimed was enough proof as it was.

"I can't believe I'm saying this." Will suddenly grumbled. "Perce. Man, listen to the monster. In this case, she actually has your best interests at heart." He said, turning to Percy and stating this very seriously.

"Yes, after putting him in the position where he needs to jump in the first place." Reyna mumbled to the Romans around her. She was thankful that Camp Jupiter was still standing, even though Percy had only been there for the one night. The monsters he had attracted so far...

(Yeah, right, I thought... I'd splatter on impact.)

"Yes, you would." Poseidon said in agreement. "Were you not my son and immune to little annoyances like that." He said with a shrug. He ignored Sally's groan and instead just listened to his sons chuckling along with everyone else. The tension had been lessened, but it was still tense.

(The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.)

"Jump. Just jump already." People said, holding their breath.

Now, normally... telling somebody to jump from that height was highly frowned upon, even in the world of being a demigod. But Percy was a son of Poseidon, and that was water down there. It was the only chance he had of surviving.

Percy wasn't even visible anymore, crushed between his mom and step-dad like he was.

("You have no faith,"... "You do not trust the gods.)

The gods shifted, slightly offended. How could he not trust them? Percy noticed and narrowed his eyes.

"How could I trust somebody I'd never met, and only found out about two weeks before this?" Percy asked, frowning. The gods shifted some more and glanced at each other, before they admitted that he had a point.

As much as they didn't like it.

(I cannot blame you... The gods are faithless.)

A few of the older demigods nodded in agreement. Especially Luke. While Luke was stone faced.

These may be their parents, but that didn't mean the demigods weren't fully aware of their faults. The gods glanced around at each other again.

(The poison is in your heart.")

Sally shuddered at the books confirmation of Apollo's diagnosis.

(She was right: I was dying.)

The horrified silence was back.

(I could feel my breath... me, not even the gods.)

"If you would just jump already, you won't need saving." Apollo snapped. Poseidon nodded in agreement. Yes, the boy needed to jump already.

(I backed up and looked... me when I was in my cradle.)

"I did." Poseidon said softly. Zeus scowled, but didn't dare say anything while Percy just smiled against his mothers shoulder.

After all, it wouldn't be a good idea right now for Zeus to remind Poseidon that he was still furious with his little brother.

The other demigods all glanced at Percy in jealousy. Especially the younger ones.

(I remembered the swirling... had claimed me as his son.)

"Stop remembering things and just jump already." Jason deadpanned.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I was psyching myself up to actually jump by trying to keep in mind that he must care in some way because of everything I'd already listed." He said, mulish. Everybody blinked at him.

Oh, this memory-lane trip actually had a purpose behind it?

(But this wasn't the sea... There was no Sea God here.)

"Eh, dad may not be there, but rivers connect to the sea. All rivers flow into the ocean eventually." Triton said, helpfully, dropping the bubble he and Percy had been in. "Plus, water is water. Salt will always be better for us, but fresh can do just fine in a pinch." He shrugged. Percy quirked a grin.

("Die, faithless one," Echidna... of flame toward my face.)

Sally didn't make any noise, merely held her son tighter. Paul held onto the both of them.

("Father, help me," I prayed.)

"Always, as much as I can." Poseidon murmured. Zeus glared, but didn't say anything, not wanting to spark the sea gods temper towards himself again.

(I turned and jumped.)

Everyone cheered or let out relieved sighs. At this point, it was a race. Gravity versus Chimera poison and fire. Hopefully gravity would win and the water would heal him... considering he was sitting right here, they were pretty sure gravity won.

"That's what you meant." Hazel murmured to Percy. When he turned to her, confused, she elaborated. "In Alaska. After we asked how you survived the fall from the top of the glacier to the waters below, you said that the St. Louis Arch was twice that height. I thought you were joking." She said, honestly a little angry with herself for taking a comment like that lightly.

He quirked a grin. "Nope, no joke. Sorry." He shrugged, not looking sorry in the least. The others looked at them, slightly confused since they hadn't heard this story, while Annabeth looked exasperated.

"What is with you and jumping off of things? Honestly, if it weren't for Blackjack and water, you would be long dead by now." She said, scolding. He shrugged and she sighed.

(My clothes on fire, poison... I plummeted toward the river.)

Poseidon sighed in relief. If he could fall fast enough, he would be ok, the river would heal him. Despite being so polluted, it was still water. Although, he would need to jump in the ocean at the first opportunity to... cleanse- himself of all that pollution. No offense meant to the Mississippi river spirits, of course.

He should really look into better ways of cleaning those rivers... and getting the mortals to stop polluting them faster than they could be cleaned. That would help.

After all, rivers may not be under his authority directly, but they all flowed into the ocean. Meaning all that pollution that was in them, flowed into the ocean. And the ocean was under his direct rule.

After a few moments of silence, Hestia quietly spoke up. "How about we break for fifteen minutes?" She asked, eyeing the Percy and Paul trying to calm Sally down. It was just hitting her, at the end of the chapter, how close she had come to losing her son.

Everyone agreed and everyone moved out of the throne room except for Annabeth and Poseidon. The rest went out to stretch their legs, while the sons of Hephaestus and their father merely put up a barrier to block out sound, that way the family could have privacy. They couldn't leave now, the whip was in a delicate stage of the enchanting.

Triton even dragged Gabe out of the room by the back of the ropes he was still bound with.

Fifteen minutes, when everyone came back, they were relieved to see that Sally was calm and laughing quietly with her family.

"How about I read?" Katie volunteered once everyone was seated again, after a few of them got drinks from the cappuccino machine still in the corner. When everyone agreed, she retrieved the book from where Rachel left it and opened up to read. "I Become a Known Fugitive."

---

*I'm a girl, and I don't understand girls. Seriously, everything seems to be complicated when it really shouldn't be. Everything is always blown out of proportion.