Beginning Notes

So... It's been a while. Let's not talk about that okay? I just got stuck, was unmotivated, and school you know? I hope this is a good enough excuse. Also, from here the story is going to be unbetaed (is that how you spell it? Wow, everything is going wrong already) because my beta lovelylittlelion has a lot on their mind so I didn't want to bother them.

OC's belong to sketchywolf, the rest to Rick Riordan.

Cassandra

'Max, you okay?' Cassandra asks her brother. They were able to catch a train west thanks to Gladiola's prize money. 'You look a bit pale,' she explains.

'Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine,' Max answers. It's silent for a little, but then he sighs. 'No, actually I'm not.'

'What's wrong?'

'Mum. I... She- Last night, I was dreaming, but I think it might have been real. Mum sent me a message.'

Cassandra stared at him in awe. 'Are you serious?'

'No, I'm Remus.'

She leans over to slap his arm. 'Stop it with the Harry Potter jokes.'

Max lets out a short laugh. 'Sorry.'

Just as Max is about to explain what had happened in his dream, Percy mutters: 'Oh, no...'

'What?' Grover asks.

'Nothing, it's nothing, really.' He tries to close the newspaper he was reading, but Annabeth snatches it from him.

'What does it say?' Cassandra asks, curious.

'Basically, that Percy's step father has set a reward for anyone who finds him, and where he was last seen, that was when we exploded the bus. But don't worry, the mortal police won't find us,' Annabeth turns to Percy at the last part.

Percy nods, though he doesn't look entirely sure about what Annabeth said.

Cassandra looks at Max again. 'You were saying?'

'Oh right! My dream.'

'Dream? Max, did you have it too?' Percy asks.

'What do you mean?'

'The- the dream, about the evil voice in the pit?'

Max shakes his head. 'My mum sent me a message in my dream.'

'What did she say?' Annabeth asks.

'She told me about our hairclips, and how they're special Hunter bows, but then we got in an argument, and she was about to tell me something, but then Cassie shook me awake.'

'You got in an argument?' Annabeth asks.

'Yeah, about Dad.'

'Wait, wait, wait!' Cassandra says. 'Hunter bows?'

'Yeah, supposedly our clips are supposed to turn into bows.'

Cassandra reaches for the silver clip in her hair, but Grover gets up immediately and grabs her wrist before she could do so.

'Not here,' he hisses.

'Sorry.'

'But what was the argument about?' Annabeth asks.

'I told you, it was about my dad. But it doesn't matter.'

The rest of the trip was pretty quiet.

...

After almost two days on the train, they pulled into the station at Amtrak.

'Cassie, Cassie get up.' It was Percy.

'Hmm?'

'We have to wait three hours before the train leaves again, and Annabeth wants to see the Gateway Arch,' he explains.

Cassandra rubs her eyes, sleepily. 'Mmm... okay...'

She gets up and follows Percy out of the train and onto the platform, where Max, Annabeth and Grover are waiting for them.

'C'mon,' Annabeth says, practically bouncing with excitement.

'You look like a little kid on Christmas,' Cassandra remarks.

'Well, duh. It's the Gateway Arch. And I really want to see it.'

'Come on Cassie, it'll be fun,' Max says. 'We've barely ever seen anything besides the woods we lived in.'

'You're right,' Cassandra says grinning. Now was her chance to see something of the world besides trees.

On their way to the Arch, Grover buys some jelly beans, and Annabeth tells them all there is to know about the Arch.

'Percy, are you alright?' Max asks.

Cassandra sees what he means; Percy is very jumpy and looks a bit nervous.

'Yeah, I'm just a little claustrophobic.'

Cassandra looks at the small elevator they're supposed to take up the Arch. 'Oh...'

'No, it's fine.'

Grover lifts an eyebrow at him. 'You sure?'

'Yeah, I'm sure, you got any blue jelly beans left?'

Grover nods, and hands him some.

There was only room for four people in a car, so Cassandra decides to go in a separate one with Max.

The ride is pleasant and quite nice, since it was just the two of them in a car. She'd seen some lady step into the one where Percy, Grover and Annabeth were, and is secretly glad that she doesn't have to share a car with some strangers.

When they get to the top, Annabeth is telling Percy and Grover about what she'd have done if she had built the Arch.

'Just image how much cooler it would have been if the floor was see-through! Oh, and I would have made the windows a bit bigger, and-'

'Ladies and gentlemen, the observation deck will be closing in a few minutes,' a park ranger announces.

'Bummer, it's so nice up here,' Max sighs.

Cassandra smiles at him. 'Don't worry, now that we're not stuck in the woods anymore, we can go visit places, and see more things, yeah?'

'I just wish Dad was here...'

Then Percy calls: 'Guys come on, we're leaving!'

Cassandra grabs Max's wrist and drags him back to the elevator car. Before she gets in, she takes a quick look around, just to keep the memory as fresh as possible. Then she feels Max tapping her shoulder.

'Um, Cassie.'

She looks at him, and his eyes are as big as saucepans.

'What?'

'That,' Percy says, nudging his head to something that definitely wasn't there before: It's a huge beast, so big, that its back is against the ceiling. Cassandra has no clue what the beast could be, because it has the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a serpent for a tail.

'What is that?' Cassandra whimpers.

'I- I don't know...'

The beast is foaming at its mouth, and has its gaze tightly fixed on the three of them. The few people who were still on the observation deck are all crowded in a corner, screaming.

'Be honoured, demigods, for I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!' a woman says. Except it's not just a woman. Cassandra recognises her as the lady that was in the car with Percy, Grover and Annabeth, but now her pupils are slit, like a reptile, and her rolled up sleeves reveal scaly, green arms. She grins at them, showing off her white fangs.

'S-sorry, you don't re-really look like an echidna to me,' Max stutters, to which Cassandra snorts. Even in the strangest situations, Max can speak his mind.

'Damn those Australians! I'm not an echidna, I am The Echidna, Mother of Monsters! I can't believe they named that stupid little creature after me. Now, where were we? Right, destroying little heroes. Let's see how funny everything still is for you after my Chimera kills you.'

The beast- or, well, Chimera, Cassandra now knows, growls, and she can see it's ready to pounce.

When it attacks, they all dodge. Cassandra and Percy jump to the left, and Max to the right. The beast turns, focusing on Percy and Cassandra. She can see Max, helping the other people escape through the emergency exit, but that way she isn't focusing on the main problem that is the Chimera.

It opens its mouth, flames bursting from it. Percy is already out of the way, and Cassandra only just notices on time, sliding past the flames. She's barely able to get up before the beast is about to attack again.

'Oi! Over here ugly!' she hears Max yell.

The Chimera turns, to where Max is standing. He's suddenly holding a shining silver bow, a quiver full of deadly looking arrows slung over his back. The clip! Cassandra reaches for her hairclip, and takes it out. She wipes her bleached bangs out of her eyes, and indeed, she too is now holding a silver bow.

'Wow,' she mutters.

Max shoots an arrow, and it lands in the Chimera's eye, making it roar, sending out another wave of flames. Cassandra hadn't even noticed that the flames were toxic until now, because half the building is melted.

Percy jumps, swinging his sword at the Chimera, but it bounces off its armor. Echidna is in the background, laughing evilly, as she watches her monster destroy everything.

While Max and Percy are trying to fight off the Chimera, Cassandra grabs an arrow and send it flying towards Echidna. Cassandra expects it to sink deep into the snake lady's throat, but then she catches it out of midair.

'You half-bloods, always thinking you're so smart. She starts walking over towards Cassandra, not looking at what's going on with her monster anymore. 'You think that just because your parents rule, you have incredible power too, but that's now true. You're weak, little half-blood!' Echidna snarls.

Cassandra is starting to panic. Echidna may not seem as intimidating compared to the Chimera, but Cassandra is sure she wouldn't be able to defeat her in a hand to hand combat. Yet, Echidna is taking her time walking over to her, grinning evilly.

Cassandra looks around her, hoping to find something to defeat the evil snake lady with. Everything seems hopeless, until she spots a pile of melted, toxic goo near her feet.

She hears Echidna laugh. 'There's absolutely nothing you can do demigod, just accept your defeat!'

'Never.'

She then shoots three arrows at once in a high arch. Echidna follows them with her eyes, and snatches them out of the air with ease, first both of her hands and her mouth, all at the same time. But, while Echidna is distracted, catching the arrows, Cassandra bends down, dipping another arrow in the goo, before shooting it as quickly as she can.

Echidna chuckles and slaps the arrow away, making the goo splatter all over her face. Her grins disappears, followed by a screech as her face slowly melts, before she completely turns to dust.

Cassandra stares in shock of what she just did.

'Cassie!' Max's voice shakes her back to reality. 'Cassandra!'

She looks over to where he's standing, panting, and covered in monster dust. 'Max!' She runs over to him, embracing him in a hug. 'Max, you were amazing, the way you shot the beast in its eye, and- wait... where's Percy?' The other boy is nowhere to be seen.

'He- I- um... t-the monster.' Cassandra can feel how badly he's shaking.

'Hey, Max, look at me. Take a deep breath, okay?'

They sit down on the floor as Max takes a moment to breathe. Then he explains what had happened: 'I blinded the monster, and then Percy told me to distract it, so he could safely run under it's stomach and stab it from there. But we'd totally forgotten about the snake tail, and it bit him, and then he fell into the Mississippi, and-'

'Wait,' Cassandra cuts him off, 'he fell into the Mississippi?'

Max nods, and points to where the flames had first melted a hole in the building. 'There.'

'What do we do now?' she asks him.

'I don't know. We should go back and tell Annabeth and Grover, they're probably wondering where we are.'

Cassandra gasps. She'd almost forgotten about them, the shock of having fought a monster still fresh in her mind. She tries to get up, but her legs give way to exhaustion. 'Max, I don't think-'

Before she can finish her sentence, he wraps his arms around her again, helping her up. 'C'mon, let's go find the others.'

End Notes

I'm so sorry for being away for like forever, but here's a longer chapter than usual to make up for that. I hope to see you guys soon with another chapter, have a great day! Byeee :)