Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: The Lightning Thief
Chapter Eight: We Go Off the Highdive
Thalia cleared her throat and continued.
They spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, and past amber waves of grain.
They weren't attacked once, but the group didn't relax. Who knew where an attack could come from?
Percy had to keep a low profile since his picture was tagged at the greyhound incident and was in the paper for it. Andi had been snagged in the photo too, but only her hand could be seen, looking like she was holding a racquet while he was holding something that vaguely seemed like a bat.
"Don't worry," Annabeth told him. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
The rest of the day Percy spent alternately pacing the length of the train or looking out the windows. Andi was flipping through a Sports Illustrated and would shoot glances out the windows; for the scenery, maybe? Who knew what was going through his cousin's head?
"Man, I hope the Patriots get to the super bowl this year."
"Oh golly, that guy has a nice butt."
"Meh, I could hit the ball farther if I had a stick that big."
"Wow, those uniforms are so much lamer than our Quidditch gear."
"Must you really?" Artemis asked Apollo and Hermes dryly.
"Yes." They nodded firmly.
Since she had spare clothes, Andi had commandeered one of the toilets to change out of her dirty outfit. She was now clad in a white form fitting tee-shirt with fluffy baby blue clouds circling around the front and a pair of denim shorts. She had kept her blue trimmed white hoodie though, apparently she thought it was cool and she was seriously considering making it her trademark or something.. Of course, she had also taken the time to do a good deed and proceeded to clean everyone's clothes with magic, something Annabeth was thankful for. Percy too, though he wasn't as vocal about it.
At one point, while looking out the windows, Percy spotted a family of centaurs travelling, one was a kid who looked like a second grader on a pony, he waved and got one back. The other people didn't even notice them as they looked at their laptops or magazines.
"Ah, the beauty of mortal stupidity." Dionysus sighed happily.
Another time, both black haired children saw a lion.
Thalia and Percy grimaced.
Percy had been the one to spot it before turning to Andi who confirmed it with her budding archer eyes. It was running around the woods, looking just shy of the size of a pickup truck. Its fur shimmered like gold in the evening light for the few seconds it was visible before it disappeared into the foliage. The ocean child heard Andi mutter that no way was she going to wrestle that thing, much to his confusion.
"...Yeah, Thalia should've at least tried-"
"Percy, my aim is still better than yours, don't test me."
Their reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so they dozed in their seats. Percy's neck got stiff and he tried his best not to drool in his sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to him, with limited success.
"Should probably get used to that."
"Shut up, Piper!"
"She's already used to that." Frank drawled.
"Zhang!" Both Percy and Annabeth turned bright red while the other demigods snickered.
Not that Percy did manage to get much sleep, because Grover's snoring and bleating kept waking him up. Once, the goat shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and Andi had to yank it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.
"So," Annabeth asked him, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"
"What do you mean?" Percy asked, feeling defensive as Andi stiffened in her seat, her electric blue eyes darting about the cabin, doing her best not to meet the blonde's gaze.
"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"
"Well, she has honey blonde hair, beautiful grey eyes..."
"Percy, let me go. I just wanna kill her." Annabeth grumbled as she tried to leap over her boyfriend at the laughing daughter of love. She'd had it up to here with all the snide comments.
"Annabeth, if you kill her, then Jason or worse Aphrodite will kill you and then I'll have to kill him and try to get mad at her and it'll just all keep getting worse." Percy argued.
Aphrodite giggled. "This is quite entertaining."
"Not to me." Hestia huffed. "Thalia, dear, please keep reading."
"You got it, Lady Hestia." Thalia nodded, a smirk on her face at her friends' predicament.
Percy heard Andi quietly cursing his big sleep talking mouth under her breathe.
Percy was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time he'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered him so much that he told her. After he spoke Andi chimed in with her own dream to add another point of view.
Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."
"Usually I have nothing to laugh about." Hades drawled when everyone looked at him questionably.
"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"
"It even said it would give my mother back her life," Andi spoke, clearly uncomfortable with speaking about this, if that slight quivering in her tone was anything to go by.
"I guess...if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you two to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"
"I'll say it again, maybe it isn't him." Andi stated, her eyes unreadable as she gazed out the window. "Like you said, if he already had it, why ask for it in a deal? And this thing was in a pit…" She trailed off, clearly thinking of who else the voice could have been.
"Since he's not here to talk about it," Poseidon began lowly. "I'm surprised she retained some intellect from her father."
"Whose to say its from him?" Hades asked, smirking. "Perhaps she earned it from her mother."
"Ah, true."
"He said he would give your mom back Andi, who other than the Lord of the Dead can go against death?"
"There are other death deities, aren't there?"
"As we learned with Hades' daughter," Frank said with a nod.
Annabeth conceded to that one.
Maybe Grover sensed their emotions. He suddenly snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.
Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "You guys, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy.
"...Well, she's two-thirds right." Hades mused dryly.
I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"
"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"
Annabeth's hand crept up to her necklace. She idly fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens, lost in her memories. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."
Andi nodded to this, Percy knew she too held little love for the god of the dead. She was probably in fact reminded of the reason for that as she looked at the pine tree bead with sad blue eyes. "What would you do if it was your dad?"
"That's easy," the blonde replied. "I'd leave him to rot."
"...Harsh."
"I wouldn't now..." Annabeth mumbled as her friends scrutinized her. Things got better the more she and her dad spent time together.
"You're not serious?"
"I'd do the same for those things," Andi spat, the child of Athena nodded in thanks for the support.
Her gray eyes fixed on him, as stern as when she was in the woods during Capture the Flag. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she stated lightly, as if commenting on the weather. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."
"Remind me to give him a good slap one of these days," Rhea said to her granddaughter.
"He's gotten better, Rhea." Athena hedged. She knew that Fredrick wasn't an ideal mortal parent, but he could be worse. Rhea's slap would be akin to being hit by a semi.
"Humph, still!"
"But how...I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..." Percy dumbly trailed off.
"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." The blonde spat out, a lingering bitterness in her tone.
Andi gave her own bitter chuckle, "Let me guess, step-mum didn't take too kindly to you?"
"Bingo."
"Treated you like a freak, am I right?"
"Plus two to you."
"Then the monsters came."
"Three for three. And when those monsters came around they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."
"And its times like these I like my father's busy single life." Piper mumbled.
Aphrodite smirked. Like she'd let Tristan be with another woman. She was so going to go back for seconds someday.
"How old were you?" Percy asked after watching the ping pong conversation.
"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."
"But...you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."
Andi frowned sadly at that and turned to the window to watch the buildings zoom by.
Annabeth looked ready to join the other girl in her brooding, but instead finished the story, "Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."
Her story finished, Annabeth seemed to get lost in sad memories while fingering the gold college ring after that and the group fell into silence.
"Says a lot though that you played with your dad's college ring." Hazel pointed out.
"...Yeah, I know." Annabeth mumbled quietly as she began to do the same.
It was only a few minutes later that Andi felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She groaned, rubbing it tenderly.
"...Oh no, again?" Hazel asked, her face red.
Leo and Nico began to snicker.
"This isn't...It's not funny!" Piper tried to scold the two while failing to look serious.
"What isn't funny?" Rhea asked.
"Just watch mother." Hera sighed into her hand while the other Olympians began to either snicker and smirk or blush and/or scowl at those laughing.
"You okay?" Annabeth asked, face filled with concern.
"I-I think I just need to go to the loo." The girl said and limped gingerly to the bathroom, clutching the side of the cabin for support.
Not even a minute later there was a scream and curses in Ancient Greek.
Percy grabbed Riptide, "Monster?" He asked Annabeth, who got up, her dagger already gleaming in her hand.
"In the ladies room?" She shot back incredulously.
"It's happened before." Apollo pointed out with a chuckle.
"Ah, now that was a monster fight." Ares grinned. "Good times. Good times."
"…I bet it's happened before." He retorted with a frown.
The blonde didn't answer him as she went up to the door and knocked on it, "Andi?" she asked in a whisper.
The door opened and a hand snapped out and snagged Annabeth by the collar of her shirt before yanking her into the stall.
"Hey!" the child of wisdom exclaimed as she was roughly pulled into the stall.
It was a few somewhat loud Greek words and laughs and then a smack later,
"That's what you get for laughing at her, Wise Girl." Percy chuckled.
Annabeth snickered openly. "It's funny. Like that time Thalia got hers."
"...Okay, too much information." Jason drawled.
"You swore never to...Oh, remind me to kick your butt later Annie." Thalia grumbled with red cheeks.
that Annabeth left the stall with mirth filled eyes as she walked past Percy into the next car. She came back a few minutes later with something in her hand as she knocked on the door. "Delivery." She snickered as once more, she was pulled in.
"You're horrible!" Piper laughed.
"Oh like you wouldn't do the same thing?" Annabeth asked between her snickers.
"No..."
"You're a terrible liar, McLean."
A few minutes later, both girls exited the stall, Andi's face a burning red while Annabeth snickered into her hand.
"I will maul your face Bethy. Stop." The shorter girl ordered with a stern gaze.
Annabeth couldn't take her seriously at all.
Andi just punched her in the arm.
"What the heck was that all about?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Andi growled at him. "None of your damn business Jackson," she snapped, cheeks a rosy red and her hair swaying in an unnatural breeze.
"Andi got a special gift," The other girl snickered and dodged another jab to the arm.
"Oh, Annabeth Chase, that's a terrible thing to say!" Rhea chided her great-great granddaughter.
"I'll kill you, Annabeth. I swear to you, they won't find the body if you don't. Shut. Up."
Annabeth ignored the tiny raging tiger, this was just too good not to hold over her head.
"I mean, first quest, and now this too? It's just a time full of firsts for you isn't it?" She smirked
Percy just gave her a clueless look. Girls, he'd never understand them.
"At least it didn't have to be explained." Piper mused.
"That's true though." Percy nodded. "I'll never understand girls. Ever. I hope that I have a boy later in life, so much easier to understand."
"...Oh god, there'll be floods in the streets." Leo groaned. "Annabeth, you cannot have boys."
"Leo!" the couple glared at the now snickering boy and their friends.
Toward the end of their second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, they passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. As they approached the city, Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch.
"I want to do that," she sighed wistfully.
"What?" Percy asked as he stared at the giant bag handle stabbed into the ground.
"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"
"Only in pictures."
"Same here," Andi added, though she was still mildly miffed at Annabeth for whatever had happened yesterday which still escaped the son of the sea.
"That's a good thing." Percy told his other, who unfortunately couldn't hear him.
"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."
"You have no idea how right you are." Athena mused to her daughter with a smirk on her face.
"Prophecy is...was my shtick, Chase!" Apollo pouted at the demigoddess. He grinned. "You could make it up to me with a simple gift...statues in my honor!"
"...And here I thought you were going to ask for a kiss." Artemis drawled.
"Wha...No way, Percy's a bro, and you never ask a bro's girlfriend for a kiss, Arte. That's against the Bro Code." Apollo nodded firmly.
Percy smiled and nudged Annabeth. "Hear that? I'm a bro."
"Yeah, I hear it. Don't let it go to your head, Seaweed Brain."
"Too late."
Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"
"I can see it, Brainy Bethy…tee-shirt that one." Andi winked to the blonde.
Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."
"You know, I bet I could destroy some stuff too." The storm child muttered, preoccupied with her devious pixie thoughts. Percy really didn't want to know.
"If anything needs to be on a t-shirt, it's that. Devious Pixie Thoughts In Progress. Run." Leo suggested. "And for guys, Impish Thoughts."
"This is good. I like this. Keep giving me good things," Hermes said as he wrote the ideas down to have turned into reality.
Annabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation at her fellow demigods, which upset Percy who adopted a broody look and turned to watch the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.
"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."
"Can't we work together a little?" He pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"
"I've been telling her that since before the bus incident."
"…Why are you a stickler for 'I told you so's?"
"I never get to do it that much, I always end up on the receiving end of them. Plus, it's fun!"
"…True." Annabeth answered as she begun to think and turned to Percy. "I guess...the chariot," she began tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."
"And the credit for who did what caused an argument that lasted for eons," Hades said with a groan. "Persephone tells me she can still hear it come up from time to time."
"Is that true, Poseidon?" Rhea asked. "Athena?"
Poseidon shifted in his throne. "...Er, well..."
"There's a simple explanation for this, Grandmother, really." Athena tried to keep a cool appearance. "Poseidon's too stubborn to admit that I did all the hard labor."
"You!?" Poseidon sputtered. "You wouldn't know labor if it came up and hit you while you were giving birth!"
"She's never…Oh, I see what he did there." Percy nodded and then winced when his girlfriend gave him a smack upside the head. "Ow."
"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth mumbled while their parents began to spiral into another debate, forcing them out of the circle of story time that Rhea had developed.
"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"
They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.
"I suppose," she said at last.
They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told them that they'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.
It was only then did Grover, who had slept through the bulk of the train ride, stir before getting up with a stretch. "Food." He said, his voice still weighed down by sleep.
"Ah, now that's a way to wake up." Leo nodded.
"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth ordered, grabbing his arm and dragging him off the train. "Sightseeing."
"Sightseeing?"
"The Gateway Arch," she stated. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"
The three exchanged significant looks.
"You promise not to bring up that which shall not be spoken of and I'm in."
"Deal."
"That's a bad deal." Hermes shamed Annabeth. "Think of the blackmail you could've used!"
"She said bring up, she didn't say ever again."
"...Oh, she's quick, that one." Hermes grinned at Percy. "She's a keeper!"
"Onwards and upwards companions!" Andi declared with a dramatic finger in the air while standing next to Annabeth.
Percy caved, seeing it was best to stick together.
Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."
The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. The questers threaded through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other stuff from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling to the boys, but Andi seemed actually interested as Annabeth kept telling them interesting facts about how the Arch was built. Grover, though, saved Percy from being the first demigod to die of boredom as he kept passing the sea child jelly beans, thus making things bearable; he could just ignore the boring info dump and focus on binging on candy.
"...Boring?" Annabeth frowned.
"It still sunk in." Percy tired.
Annabeth frowned further.
"Er, I was twelve?"
Annabeth looked away.
"I was younger and stupider?"
Annabeth continued to avoid her boyfriend's gaze.
"And...no love for Percy. Boyfriend fail." Piper mumbled to Leo, who snickered in agreement.
Percy kept vigilant though and made it a point to keep looking around the room and at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" He murmured to Grover.
The satyr took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
"And jinxed." The demigods, save for Percy and Annabeth, chorused.
But something felt wrong to the hydrokinetic demigod. He was getting a bad feeling, like they really shouldn't be here.
"Guys," Percy said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"
Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"
"Well, Hade-"
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place, Percy...You mean, our friend downstairs?"
"Or uncle to be less long winded, dear cousin."
"Says the child of the Sky Lord."
"Hurtful," Andi gasped with a mock grasp of her chest while Annabeth just smirked playfully.
"Um, right," Percy agreed. "Our uncle." Agreeing with the less wordy title. "Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"
"Tch, my Helm is far superior than a simple Yankee's cap." Hades scoffed.
Annabeth frowned. She missed her awesome Yankee's cap.
"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth corrected. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."
"He was there?" Andi asked curiously.
She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus; the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, or Andi's cloak, if what I've heard is true..."
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"
"But then...how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked.
Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.
"We don't," Grover stated.
"And that is why you're usually the villain in mortal's eyes, Hades." Hera explained simply.
"Humph, and you aren't?"
"...Yes, about that..." Hera turned to Apollo with a hard gaze.
Apollo poked his fingers together sheepishly. "Er...Uh...I think you're pretty?"
"...Ugh, you're such an idiot..." Artemis palmed her face at her twin's stupid attempt at getting out of trouble.
"Hera, be nice." Rhea chided. "I'm trying to listen to a story."
"...Yes, mother." Hera grit out and glared at Apollo once more.
"I doubt he would waste time stalking demigods, seriously, you'd think he has dead things to deal with." Andi countered with a roll of her eyes at what she clearly considered to their constant paranoia that had prompted them to conjure up the silly idea of a god creeping on them like some boogieman.
"Boo." Hades drawled.
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy replied dryly at Grover, before asking for more blue jellybeans to ease his claustrophobia-induced nerves.
For the ride up to the viewing deck, they got shoehorned into the car with this massively rotund lady and her diminutive dog: a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Percy figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it as the elevator went up its curved slope. Andi was on her knees in her seat, looking out the window excitedly, eager to see the alien view.
"No parents?" The fat lady asked them, her tone dripping concern.
"Orphans. From the circus."
"Shut up, Frank."
She had black beady eyes, pointy, coffee-stained teeth, a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.
"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."
"Ah, so some of my fellow Cabin Niners." Leo nodded.
"Oh, the poor darlings."
The Chihuahua growled, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The woman chastised; the dog had beady eyes like its owner: intelligent and vicious.
"Sonny. Is that his name?" Percy asked, peering at the dog; those eyes...
"No," the lady told him flatly, she smiled, as if that cleared everything up. This seemed to set Andi off for some reason though. She suddenly stiffened, and glared at the old lady, even going so far as to make faces at the dog, getting it to growl at her and continued even when Annabeth told her to knock it off. She even hissed like a snake at it, getting the dog to growl even more.
"Well, gee, I wonder if she knows what's up?" Jason mused.
At the top of the Arch, Percy heard the sky child comment that the observation deck reminded her of some long tube with decent carpeting. Percy agreed. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was great to the black haired girl it seemed as she kept peering out the windows to see it, but Percy just seemed jumpy about being cooped up this high.
Annabeth kept babbling on about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for Percy, the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.
Percy literally dragged Andi, Grover, and Annabeth toward the exit; after loading the latter two into the elevator, he and Andi were about to get in but two other tourists were already in there, so there was no more room.
"Next car, kids." The park ranger announced, seeing the issue.
"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."
But that would just mess things up for everybody and take even more time, so Percy replied with, "Naw, it's okay. We'll see you guys at the bottom."
"How would it mess things up for everyone?" Annabeth asked.
"...Uh, I don't know."
"...You were twelve and stupid?"
"I was twelve and stupid."
"Thought so." Annabeth nodded.
"Call it bonding time," Andi joked, stuffing her hands in her hoodie's pockets, before glaring at the tiny dog once more.
Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut.
Their car disappeared down the ramp. Now the only people left on the observation deck were the two demigods, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.
Percy smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.
Wait a minute.
She had a forked tongue?
"Wow, you really have to think about it, don't you?" Nico asked.
"Shut up," Percy mumbled.
"It's sad. To think, the fate of the world was in his hands..." Leo shuddered.
"That's like saying the fate of the world was in your hands, Leo." Piper pointed out.
"Hey, I'm almost seventeen. Percy was barely sixteen."
"Damn it, I knew it," moaned Andi, in a tired tone as she drew her sword. Immediately, the mortals began screaming about the little girl with a shotgun…okay yeah, that would be scary to see if he was honest. Before Percy could finish processing this though, the fat lady's Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping incessantly at the son of the sea.
"Now, now, sonny," the lady scolded. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."
"Percy get your writing utensil out, now." Andi said sternly to him as he did just that. It was monster time. Joy. "This is why I never trust Chihuahuas, they're always evil."
"Doggie!" Said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"
"And that doggie then ate the poor little boy." Ares chuckled.
His parents pulled him back and began dragging him towards the elevator.
The Chihuahua bared his teeth at the godlings, foam dripping from his black lips.
"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."
"...I'm now curious and disgusted by the life that woman has lived," Rhea said.
"...Mother, you're not. Trust me." Demeter sighed with a hand on her head.
"Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"
"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected the boy not unkindly. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."
"Ohh..." Rhea blinked. "Now it makes sense."
"So the hurricane humper herself comes to see us." Andi sneered. "How flattering." The woman hissed like a snake, her forked tongue flicking out from behind her teeth in anger.
"Silence you little brat."
"Bite me."
"Well if you insist."
"…Eww, are you a pedophile or something? I mean, Medusa was all over Baywatch here, but that is just sick and wrong tubby."
"Oh yeah. Ralph city." Leo nodded.
"I'll enjoy popping your pretty little head, godling!"
"You never did answer my question, tubby…also, I thought you'd be taller."
The fat lady started hissing and screaming, going red in the face as she raged at the daughter of the sky.
If there was one thing that Percy had learned about his cousin, it was that Andi just had that chaotic little talent to piss people off.
The monster woman rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, they could see her fangs glisten in the light. The pupils of her eyes had thinned to mere vertical slits, like a reptile's.
The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. At which point, the bark became a roar.
The little boy screamed. His father grabbed him and bodily slung him over his shoulder as they ran for the exit; straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.
"I really want to know what the Mortals see," Apollo said with a sigh. "It's gotta be hilarious."
The Chimera bared its gaping maw at the demigods, showing yellowed teeth the size of Andi's hand and bathing them with the stench of rotting flesh. Its lionesque head had old blood caked around its lips and staining its mane an uneven crimson; small patches of vivid orange glared at them from where the blood failed to coat. Lowering its head, a vicious diamondback around ten feet long writhed and hissed at them as its hulking goatlike body tensed. The room groaned and shook and the glass panes rattled ominously as the Chimera roared. Taking an unconscious step back, Percy's eyes darted around, analyzing the monster; a quick flash caught her attention: it was the dog collar, still desperately hanging onto its neck. The plate read: CHIMERA — RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS — IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS – EXT. 954
"Hello? Is this Ms. Knuckles? I think I found your son, Chimera...oh he's not? ...Ah, I see. ...Well, good-bye." Hermes hung up his phone and pursed his lips. "I think she's still a little sore over the whole Tartarus thing..."
The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been strangled laughter. "Be honored, Perseus Jackson, Andromeda Evans. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"
Percy stared at the monstrous woman long and hard, but all he could come up with was "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"
She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Perseus Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"
"You can't blame him for the Aussies." Andi chided to the mother of monsters, disapproval in her eyes.
"Yeah, that's mostly England's fault." Apollo grinned.
"Sonny, kill them. Now!"
"I think someone's just a sourpuss~!"
"Start with the girl! Strip her flesh and pulverize her bones!"
"Joy, a right ray of sunshine, you are." Andi rolled her eyes. "Percy, it breathes fire and has poison in its fangs; also, watch out for the tail, poison, too." She told him as he brought up his sword defensively.
"Right."
"And since I'm the best cousin in the world, here." She said pointing her free hand to the floor, "Aguamenti." A jet of pure, clean water shot out the tip of her index finger and doused the floor, giving Percy some ammo.
"Thank you," he said, feeling that tug in his gut as he pulled the water over to him.
"Anytime."
The Chimera charged, its fangs poised to skewer them. They leaped in opposite directions to avoid the bite.
"And it flew right over the edge...right?" Percy asked hopefully, praying he didn't accidentally blow up the Arch again.
"Nope. Still in the game in this one." Thalia smirked, obviously aware of his worries.
Percy ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.
He couldn't let them get hurt. Sword raised and the small amount of water he had coiling around his sword arm, Percy ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than he would've thought possible.
It opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him.
"Do a barrel roll!" Leo shouted.
"Don't dodge, bitch!" Ares cheered. "Take it like a hero!"
"Ares, that'd kill him." Hephaestus explained dryly.
"...Exactly."
Percy dove through the explosion, using the water as a shield. The carpet burst into flames and all the water he had evaporated; the heat was so intense.
Where he had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.
Great, Percy thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.
"Again!" Annabeth glared at her boyfriend. "Why do you have to destroy the things I like?"
"...Percy, I am your friend and I care about you. Don't destroy yourself."
"Screw you, Jason. Seriously," Percy said with a small frown on his face.
It wasn't his fault he was a magnet for monumental destruction...Mostly.
Andi drew her wand and focused,"Air Hammer!"
A baseball sized sphere of condensed air fired and nailed the Chimera square in its right eye, blinding it. The beast let out a cry of agony at the blow.
"Sonny!" its mother cried out in worry.
The beast turned and fired a wide gout of flames at the child of Zeus.
"Hey!" The girl shouted out indignantly as she leapt to the side while using her wind powers to cover her dodge, by redirecting the air and causing the fire blast to curve off course a few feet from her. Sadly she dropped her wand in the process.
The girl summoned her bow and made an air arrow and fired. The shot curved like it was homing in on the Chimera and sliced the base of the tail off.
"I think you pissed it off more." Percy told her as she maneuvered to his right, switching to her sword once more.
"It can't be that bad."
Percy pulled her down with him to avoid another spout of fire from the Chimera's mouth.
"I think it is."
"…Oh who asked you?"
"In a way, she did. But at the same time, she didn't." Apollo shrugged.
They got up and their swords touched, and an unexpected rush of something filled them. It was like they were supercharged, it felt intoxicating. Andi raised her hand and let out a violent gale, sending the beast into the far window, bending the metal and breaking the glass. The Chimera fell to the ground after peeling itself off the damaged window.
"Oh yeah," said the girl while embracing the euphoric feeling of power. She took a step closer to the monster. "You want some more?"
"Dumb." Percy groaned. "So Thalia."
"Excuse me!?" Thalia asked, outraged.
"You get cocky."
"I get cocky!?"
"Thalia, don't let him egg you on." Annabeth sighed. Percy was just trying to make her forget that he was going to ruin the Arch. Again.
It wasn't going to work.
Only to feel that rush of power leave the second their swords disconnected if her stumbling in her steps was any indication. Meanwhile, the Chimera got up evidently encouraged by his mommy's chanting from the sidelines like some soccer mom. Percy felt the rush fly out of him too, but he stood by Andi as an idea struck.
"Spilt, I'll distract it while you go for the kill from its blind side," he told her and was about to do as such, before she stopped him.
"No, I have powers to stop it from getting me, you take the kill," she told him, once more choosing to play the distraction.
"Andi-"
"No buts! We still have mommy to deal with even if we get him," she said as the Chimera shook itself and growled at them. "Break!" She shoved him to the blind side of the beast as she ran right. As per the modified plan, the monster targeted her and fired another gout of flames.
"Burn, Prissy burn!" Ares chuckled lowly.
Rhea shook her head. She'd never understand what happened to her grandson. Honestly, she blamed Zeus for being too lenient and Hera being so adamantly distant.
Andi made a wall of wind, blocking the flames as she took on all of its attention. This allowed Percy to strike from behind.
"Sonny, watch out!"
Too late.
With a stab into its back via Riptide, the Chimera let out a roar of pain as it fell to dust, leaving behind a white horn with a tuft of bloody crimson fur.
"Burn."
"Shut up, Thalia."
"Suck it, Kelp Head."
Percy and Andi both breathed out in relief only to hear the hissing of the mother of monsters. They turned to see her with the lower body of a snake with the top half of a woman, all her skin had turned green as she stood about ten feet tall and that was when she was coiled.
"You dare!" she shouted at them, her fangs and clawed hands shining in the sun.
Percy tensed up readying himself for the new fight when he suddenly saw, a menacing smile streak across Andi's face.
She started to walk slowly as she hissed at Echidna.
The monster woman turned to Andi, her face shocked before it turned brown in rage.
"How-! You... Urg!" she shouted, clearly so angry at what Andi was telling her in the snake tongue that she was at a loss for words.
Percy just wondered what she was saying.
Hiss, hiss.
"My mother was a saint!"
"Debatable." Rhea drawled.
She'd lost a lot of respect for her mother over the past millennia.
Hissss.
"Insolent, little, repugnant-!"
Hiss.
Andi smirked as she stood before the damaged window she had sent the Chimera into that looked over the ground under the arch.
Hiss!
"DIE!" Echidna snarled, springing at Andi using her tail like a springboard.
"Go-go gadget spring-shoes!" Apollo declared with a nasally voice.
Andi crouched down and slid under the flying monster with her wind powers. The mother of monsters went through the broken window, falling to the concrete below and exploded into gold dust on impact.
All was silent as the family and park ranger had left during the fight.
Percy just stared at her, "…Did you just…?"
"Get a monster to commit suicide, yes." Andi smirked with crossed arms and tapped the side of her head. "A sword is all well and good, but why bother if you can trick the morons with just a few words?"
It was official, his cousin was insane. Some way, somehow, she just was.
They heard sirens screaming towards the Arch as the adrenaline faded from them. Percy put Riptide away and grabbed the fallen horn as Andi put her weapon away and picked up her dropped wand. They looked over the hole that was made towards the Mississippi and stared over the edge.
"Hey Percy, think you could make that-?"
"No," the son of the sea said, "You'd have to be pretty stupid to jump from here."
Percy groaned. He totally just insulted himself.
"True," Andi mused from behind him, a devious smile dawning upon her face that Percy didn't see.
"Think you could fly us down from here?" Percy asked, not liking the idea of going down the regular way with all the cops around.
"I could…"
Percy turned his head to see police cars pull up along the side of the river, when he suddenly felt the sole of a shoe on the small of his back.
"Andi."
"Yes?"
"Please don't."
"Oops." Despite that, Andi didn't sound very sorry at all. Percy let out a girlish scream while he was waving his arms in the air, clutching his Chimera horn tightly.
He noticed that he wasn't feeling any wind in his face and opened one eye as his scream slowly died and found that he was floating in the air. "Oh," he breathed. "Oh you demented little psychopath." He breathed out once more, as said psychopath giggled like a pixie, "Okay, you had your giggles, now bring me in."
"That little-Oh, she needs a spanking." Rhea frowned. Funny it might be later on, at the moment it was very inappropriate and as the Titaness of Motherhood, Rhea did not approve.
Andi let go of him. "Oops for real!"
"You suck!" Percy shouted at her on his way down to the Mississippi.
"...Brat." Poseidon grumbled.
Andi took a few steps back and ran out the window, whooping in glee as she fell alongside the screaming and arm-waving Percy.
"This is awesome!"
"Andi! Catch me!"
"Don't wanna!"
"Do it!"
"Nope~!"
Andi was doing 360's in the air while spinning forward as Percy over exaggerated the fall. Bah, pansy.
"Well, it's not like I can fly!" Percy grumbled.
As they neared the Mississippi, Andi slowed down as Percy hit the water, sinking in.
"Oh man that was fun, right?!" She whooped and turned around as she floated a foot above the murky water.
"Percy?" She called, kicking the water a bit, "Hello~? Percy? Oh come on, I'm pretty sure you survived that…are you ignoring me?" she asked with a pretty pout at the water and slapped it with wind. "Fine!" She huffed and crossed her legs and arms while turning her head to the side with puffed cheeks.
"I'd ground her." Rhea huffed. She was extremely displeased with the girl. This was not adorable in any way, shape or form.
After a few minutes she got tired of floating there and moved back to the riverbank, finding Annabeth and Grover waiting for them.
"What did you do?" Annabeth asked, her face ashen with horror at seeing the two holes in the monument, but still relieved to see her alive.
"…Percy did it."
"Oh! Great. Just...Awesome." Percy threw his arms in the air. "She's worse than the last one!"
"I like her." Ares grinned cruelly.
Annabeth seemed to be considering that statement, it was certainly possible. Grover on the other hand, appeared to be half and half on the excuse, thinking it could have been either of them.
"G-Man!"
"Well, to be fair..."
"This is such a load of..." Percy trailed off when he felt Rhea's ire-filled glare fall on him.
He settled for brooding.
Meanwhile Percy broke the water surface near a floating McDonald's and kicked to the bank. As he got out he saw a news lady talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of two individuals falling from the Arch."
He tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.
"-an adolescent boy," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras showed an adolescent boy and girl going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities..."
Percy ducked away as fast as possible and heard a familiar goat calling his name. And before he could so much as turn to face the direction of the voice, he got goat tackled by a relieved Grover. "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"
Annabeth stood behind him with an innocently whistling Andi, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see him. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"I sort of fell, by force."
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"
Behind them, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. The black haired kids recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"
"A fire breathing Chihuahua?" Dionysus scoffed. "What a nut."
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic soothed. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy! These kids killed it with a shotgun and a lacrosse stick." Then she saw them. "There they are! That's them!"
The questers disappeared into the crowd, fast.
"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
They told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, their high-dive act; and then Percy's underwater message as delivered by a suffering ocean nymph. This included a warning from his father to Andi in his own words as relayed by the nymph who had demanded Percy in turn pass on word for word to Andi, "Push my son into a potentially dangerous fall again or risk his life in any such foolishness a second time and you'll not live to regret it, Daughter of Zeus."
"...Good boy, Poseidon."
Poseidon beamed at his mother's praise.
Hades rolled his eyes. Oh, sure. He gets praised.
Typical.
"Whoa," said Grover. "Andi, umm, you better take that warning to heart. Poseidon sounds really upset with you."
Andi just shrugged. "I'll consider it."
This nonchalant dismissal of such a dire warning from Poseidon had Annabeth ready to lecture the girl.
Percy was seriously about to lose his cool with his cousin too. The son of Poseidon was really upset with the daughter of the sky lord, right now. First she punts him off a national monument, and if he wasn't Poseidon's kid, he would've died. Second, while he was plummeting to his apparent not-doom, she refused to help him at all, like it was some big joke! Then when he passes on a message to her from his dad, what does she do? She brushes it off. Even though the sea nymph who passed it on had risked coming far up river to deliver it! Doing that could've killed her, but not only had she delivered it, she'd taken the time to make sure he memorised it so he could pass it along. To just dismiss something that someone had gone to such effort to deliver...
It made him really wanted to strangle her.
"...Okay, yeah, not feeling the love for Andi right now." Leo grimaced. Dissing gods was cool and all, but Percy had a point.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "He is the son of Poseidon, though."
"There have been a few sons of Poseidon who did not do well with water, Thalia." Jason pointed out.
"Name one."
"The Wrestler."
Thalia winced. "Ah...point."
Poseidon grimaced when Rhea gave him a frown.
Fortunately, Grover could read the mood and quickly changed the topic. " And now, we've got to get to Santa Monica! Percy can't ignore a summons from his dad."
Before anyone could respond, they passed another reporter doing a newsbreak, and Percy froze when he said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west with some unknown young girl, possibly a hostage. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."
The group ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"
Somehow, they made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted and got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.
"Well, that was fun."
"Shut up Andi."
Andi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You guys are so cranky."
"She obviously doesn't see how deep of shit she's in." Ares chuckled. He let his arms rest behind his head. "I can dig that."
"I'll read next," Piper said, taking the book from her boyfriend's sister.