Disclaimer- Refer to Chapter 1

This is the 3rd chapter, showing the events of Gateway Arch in St. Louis, with some major changes in the story. Review if you want to give your inputs, or any ideas for the storyline. I hope you like it.

Chapter 3

The three demigods woke up the next day, refreshed from their adventures the day before. Percy gave them the general idea of their journey, "This train will take us up to Denver, from where we have find an alternate means of transport. I believe that we will at least manage to avoid the troubles and monsters on the train." The other two demigods nodded, before Thalia said, "Well guys, I saw a weird dream today. I was in a dark tunnel, where the spirits were also present. I walked up to a pit and I tell you, it was horrifying. I heard a deep chant and felt as if a presence in the pit was trying to pull me in. I woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat." Percy looked surprised and said, "I had almost the exact dream, but I woke up before I could go much near the pit. This indeed is alarming. If this is only coming to us, the children of Big Three, then it will surely cause problems, and may even be related to the great prophecy, though the presence of the spirits points towards Hades' involvement, but it is too early to be sure."

The children looked worried, but soon over started feeling restless. Luke suggested a game of Truth or Dare, and the two readily agreed. The bottle was spun, and it came to rest opposite Luke, who groaned, before opting for truth as soon as he had one look at the grin on Percy's face. Percy asked, "Ok Luke, now tell me, is there any one girl in the camp whom you find the most beautiful? Answer truthfully now; I am the champion of the God of Truth." Luke's face immediately became extremely red, and he stuttered out a reply, but Percy said, "Luke, you have to be louder, otherwise how I will hear your reply?" Luke blurted out, "I believe its Thalia." And he immediately closed his mouth, not daring to meet Percy or Thalia's eyes. Percy smiled knowingly, but it was for the first colored with a feeling Percy could not identify, which basically made him feel irritated with Luke. Thalia cooed and said, "I am really flattered Luke. Thank you very much for the compliment."

Next it was Thalia's turn for rotating the bottle, and it came to rest on Percy, who looked a bit apprehensive. Thalia smiled evilly and said, "Mr. Jackson, what do you choose? Would you choose truth or dare?" Percy signed up for truth, knowing that Thalia would give some impossible to complete dare, which would make him humiliated. Thalia asked him, "Ok, so tell me Percy, do you have any crushes or like that in camp?" Percy swallowed hard, before saying, "Yes." Thalia jumped on her chance and asked, "Won't you tell your best friend about her?" Percy said, "I would have loved to tell you, but this time I will let it pass." Thalia looked dejected, before brightening again, passing the bottle to Luke. Luke spun it, and it fell on Thalia. Luke asked for truth or dare, and Thalia chose truth, saying, "It would be against the spirit of the round if I chose a dare." Luke internally smiled, before asking, "Since both of us boys have answered some pretty personal questions, I think it's your time. When you have a boyfriend in future, whom would you like as one from among the boys at camp?"

Thalia kept quiet for a few minutes, before saying, "Well I would prefer Percy really. According to Aphrodite cabin, he is currently the hottest boy in the camp, closely followed by Luke and then Will. But Luke would be almost as good." Percy blushed red, while Thalia had a carefully constructed air of nonchalance about her, whereas Luke tried to smile, but was having a contest inside him, whether to be sad that Thalia prefers Percy over him, or Thalia considers him also a potential boyfriend candidate. But he spoke, "Well if you like Percy, why don't you take him as your boyfriend Thalia? After all he is the most sought after boy in camp." This time Thalia blushed faintly, before saying, "I didn't tell I liked Percy. I only told what Aphrodite cabin said. Besides, Percy is one of my best friends, so keep you imaginations under control Luke." She then stood up, and abruptly left the carriage, leaving the two boys alone. Percy glanced uneasily at Luke before saying, "That went well, don't you think." Luke shook his head and got up and left the carriage, leaving Percy to ponder on Luke's actions.

Both his friends came in from opposite directions after about an hour, and they sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few hours, till the train stopped at St. Louis, and it was announced that the train would stop there for three hours. Thalia got up and said, "Who's going to see the St. Louis Gateway Arch? Because I am going out of here, may hell come or high water." The boys jumped at this chance of moving out of the restrictive compartment, and accompanied Thalia to the Gateway Arch. Thalia might have had been afraid of heights, but with Percy's help, she was able to go up as long as she did not look down. They moved up the lift with a fat woman who was carrying her dog with her. The dog was a Chihuahua. Percy was surprised seeing that pets were allowed up the monument, but paid no heed to it, interested in seeing the famous Arch from the top.

When they reached the top, the crowd was already thinning. They enjoyed a relatively unrestricted view of St. Louis skyline from the top, though Thalia was careful to not look down directly, and looked at far away landmarks. Soon after, they caretakers announced that the monument was going to close, and people rushed out, Luke got in, but the lift door shut before Thalia and Percy could get in. Now the only people left were the caretaker, Thalia, Percy, a young man, the lady and her dog, which as growling faintly towards the two demigods, and made Percy wary of it. The lady asked them, "Are you alone dearies?" Thalia shook her head, before saying, "Our parents are already on the ground. They do not like heights." The lady nodded understandingly, before her dog started yapping at Percy and Thalia. She said, "Don't be a bad boy sonny." But the dog continued barking, and she said, "Well if you insist son, then so be it."

Percy caught on to this, and asked her, "Did you call the Chihuahua your son?" The lady smiled, and said, "Chimera, not Chihuahua dear. It's an easy mistake to make." The dog's leash unfastened and the dog started growing, till it was the size of giant lion, with a body of a goat and a serpent for its tail. Percy immediately took out his swords, and said, "Thalia, I will try to cut the head. Can you keep the mortals safe from the monster?" Thalia nodded, before getting behind Percy and between the mortals and the monsters. The lady, now with fanged teeth a forked tongue, said, "Be honoured Perseus Jackson, Thalia Grace, Lord Hades rarely asks me to hunt a demigod with my sons. He employs his furies. You should be really honored, for I am the Mother of Monsters, the most terrible Echidna."

Percy had guesses it, but it never the less made her wary. He saw that the Lion head was getting to blow fire, and remembering his fire immunity, he also got ready to strike at the head. As soon as the chimera blew fire, Percy ran through the torrent and struck at the lion head. But his sword was stopped by the thick nameplate that the Chimera was wearing. His sword was wrenched from his hand, and he also saw Echidna attacking Thalia. The moment of distraction cost him dearly, as the snake head bit him in the thigh, injecting poison and causing a rapid burning sensation to spread throughout his body. Percy knew that Chimera poison would kill in a few minutes if left untreated, but he also knew that if he retreated, then Thalia would be overwhelmed and killed. So he held his ground, and sidestepped cleanly when he saw the monster charge at him. The monster blew out flames at the Arch and a hole was formed in the national monument. Percy saw that he was standing to the back of the monster, and with a single strike chopped off the snake head from the chimera's tail

The monster howled in pain, and turned again to face the son of Poseidon. By this time, Percy had recognized his mistake of using the sword, and instead unclipped his spear, holding it in one hand and his sword in the other. The Chimera, now injured, again tried to charge at Percy and blow fire, but as soon as it opened its mouth, he thrust the spear into, causing the monster to gag on it for a moment before dissolving in golden sands. By now Percy's head was swimming, and he started preparing to heal himself.

But his attention was immediately drawn to cry of help, and with a mental face palm, he remembered Thalia was fighting Echidna. He looked around at the last moment and saw that Thalia was dangling out of the hole blown by the Chimera. It was a tenuous hold, and he ran to help her, but he was sluggish at best as the chimera venom was already poisoning him. He was pretty beat up, but when he saw Thalia fall through, he ran after her, a new energy coursing through him and when he saw a cackling Echidna, he threw his sword with all his remaining energy at her, which pierced her flank, and caused her to dissolve her into golden sand. He saw that Thalia was screaming in terror at falling from the arch, and immediately jumped after her, throwing caution to winds. He caught up with Thalia, before he subconsciously caused the river below them to rise and help their descent, while he tried to control the water in their bodies and around them in atmosphere to slow them down. But he saw that they were still going to hit water very fast, and immediately covered Thalia with himself, hugging her completely, and splashing down, which did not hurt him in the least, a perk of him being a son of Poseidon.

As soon as he entered the water, the burning in his body severely lessened, but he immediately got to the surface, so that Thalia could breathe. He saw that Thalia had a no. of cuts on her, and being energized and healed as soon as he hit the water, he immediately started healing Thalia. Thalia, who was whimpering all the while, opened her eyes when she felt the water, and seeing Percy, hugged him fiercely, crying freely clutching her best friend. Percy hugged her back, soothingly saying, "It's alright Thals. You are ok now. Don't worry, I am here." Thalia finally calmed down, and said, "You are so stupid Percy. What possessed you to jump after me from the Arch? What would have happened if there had been no river or water underneath?" Percy hugged Thalia again, and whispered in her ear, "I would have protected you with my life. Remember Thals, I will follow you even to Tartarus." Thalia again started crying, and said "Why Percy, why? Why do you care for me so much?" Percy wanted to tell the truth, but his courage failed, and he lied, "Because you are my bestest friend in the world Thals." Thalia disentangled herself from Percy, and stood up, and soon after Luke reached them too.

He said, "Well I leave you two alone for a few minutes, and you blow torch a national monument before jumping out from more than 600 feet height. I really should never leave you alone. Now tell me what happened." Percy and Thalia told them about the Chimera and Echidna, and while Percy stopped after killing the chimera, Thalia went on to say how her feet slipped on the edge of the hole, and how Percy jumped out of the arch after her, and how he saved her from becoming 'Demigod Chutney'. Luke had a new light of admiration for Percy in his eyes. Thalia finished her narration by saying, "I was so afraid Luke, that I would not be able to see any of you again, that I was resigned to my fate that I was going to die, but this idiot jumped out of the Arch and went after me, and I am sure he didn't remember there was a river below the Arch before jumping out."

Percy blushed, before saying, "We should start moving before the media comes here." They then started moving out as soon as they saw media and police vans arriving, but Thalia remembered that her spear was inside water. Percy struck out his chest, and jumped into the river, and started searching for the spear. He saw a glint of bronze, and swam towards it, retrieving the spear, he was about to get up, when he saw a watery figure beckoning him, when he advanced towards it he heard, "Come forward, son of Poseidon. I am Thetis, the mother Achilles, a Nereid, a nymph of the sea and a courtier of your father. I have a message from your father."

Percy was excited, and he said, "What message does dad have?" The Nereid smiled and said, "Come to the Santa Monica beach before you go to the underworld. And also, don't trust the gifts." Percy was confused, and said, "What gifts are you talking about?" The Nereid smiled and dissolved into the water, saying just "Good Luck Hero" before vanishing. Percy was puzzled, before rising out of water and narrating the happenings to his friends. Thalia and Luke looked thoughtful, before replying, "We should first go to the Santa Monica beach. It's not wise to ignore the summons of a god. But I believe that we should beware any gifts that we get during our journey. Now let's get to the station, or we will miss the train." The three demigods started running towards the station, arriving, laughing, just on time for the train to leave.

Huh, the 3rd chapter is now over, and really, it took way too long to complete a 2400 word chapter. Like it, love it, hate it, review and give your views guys and gals. Signing off for the fortnight.

Yours Truly,

TheMythWriter