Chapter 14
Authors note:
Thanks to all my followers and reviewers. You guys really help me through writing this. Now, here's chapter 14.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson nor any of its characters, I just own my own character Antheia/Alyssa.
They spent two days on the Amtrack train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.
They weren't attacked once, but they were all on end. Alyssa felt like they were being watched from above and maybe below,that something was waiting for the right opportunity.
Per and Alyssa tried to keep a low profile, their faces both plastered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register News showed a photo taken by a tourist as they got off the Greyhound bus. There was also a warning written about these two dangerous kids on the run.
"Don't worry." Annabeth told them. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
The rest of the day Percy spent alternately pacing back and forward or looking out of the windows.
Their reward money from Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get berths in the sleeping cars so they dozed in their seats.
Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking Annabeth up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. She and Percy had to stick it back on before any of the passengers noticed.
"So," Annabeth asked Percy. "Who wants your help?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you were asleep awhile ago, you mumbled, 'I wont help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"
Percy looked down, thinking about how it was the second time he'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered him so much that he finally told her.
"That doesn't sound like Hades," Annabeth said after a long silence. "He always appears on a black throne."
"He offered my mother in trade. Who else would have her?"
"I guess.. If he said help me rise to Mount Olympus.. But why would he ask you to bring the bolt if he already had it?"
He shook his head, wishing he knew the answer. His thoughts kept drifting back to when Grover had told him that the Furies were looking for an object.
"Percy," Annabeth said. "You can't barter with Hades. He's deceitful and greedy. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."
"What would you do if it was your dad?"
"That's easy. I'd leave him to rot."
"You can't be serious?"
Annabeth's gray eyes found his. "My dads resented me from the day I was born. He never wanted a baby. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about me. He got a regular mortal wife, and had two regular mortal kids and tried to pretend I didn't exist."
Percy stared out the window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by.
"How old were you?" He asked.
She looked up confused, "How old was I?"
"When you ran away?"
She reached up and touched the gold college ring that hung on her necklace with the beads. It occurred to Percy that the ring must have been her father.
"Same age as when I started camp," she finally said. "Seven."
"But, you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."
"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me towards help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."
He wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So he listened to the sound of Grover and Alyssa snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by.
Towards 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.
Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch.
"I want to do that-build something like that. Something that'll last a thousand years."
Percy didn't say anything, but he thought that it was a little funny that Annabeth wanted to be an architect.
They pulled into the Amtrack station downtown. The intercom told them they had a three hour layover before departing for Denver.
Alyssa stretched, waking up from her restless sleep.
"Come on, plant girl." Annabeth said. "Sightseeing?"
"Plant girl?" Alyssa inquired.
Annabeth shrugged. "Ya, cause you can control plants and freaky things like that."
Alyssa looked down, clearly hurt and she walked away sadly.
Percy came up beside Annabeth. "What did you say to my sister?"
"I just called her plant girl.."
Percy's eyes darkened. "Don't call her names." He said before running off after her.
Annabeth quickly got Grover up and followed.
The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day, the lines weren't that long. They threaded their way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept on telling them interesting facts about the Arch.
Percy kept looking around. "You smell anything?" He murmured to Grover.
He took his nose out of a jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
But something felt wrong to Percy. He had a feeling they shouldn't be there.
"Guys," he said. "You know that gods' symbols of power?"
Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"
"Well, Hade-"
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"
"Umm, right," Percy said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"
"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadows or pass through walls. He can't be touched, seen, or heard."
"But then... How do we know that he's not here right now, watching us?"
Annabeth and Grover exchanged a look.
"We don't," Grover said.
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," he said.
He'd almost mastered his jumpy nerves when he saw the tiny elevator car they were going up in to the top.
They got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Alyssa figured that maybe the dog was a seeing eye dog because none of the guards said a word about it.
The elevator started going up.
"No parents?" The fat lady asked them.
She had beady eyes; pointed coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.
"There below," Alyssa told her. "Scared of heights."
"Oh, the poor darlings."
The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner.
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded Percy of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other side.
Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger. She probably would've stayed up there for hourse, but luckily the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.
Percy steered Grover and Annabeth towards the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and he and Alyssa were about to get on when they realized there was no more room.
The park ranger said, "Next car, folks."
"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you two."
"Nah, that's okay. Well see you guys at the bottom."
Grover and Annabeth looked nervous, but they allowed the elevator door to shut.
Now the only people left on the observation deck were him and Alyssa, a little boy and his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.
Alyssa smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth. Alyssa eyes widened.
Before she could decide if she'd really seen that, the Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping.
"Doggie!" The little boy yelled as him parents pulled him back.
The Chihuahua bared his teeth at Percy and Alyssa, foam dripping from its black lips.
"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."
Ice starting forming in Percy's stomach. "Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"
"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected.
She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin if her arms were green and scaly. When she smiled, Alyssa saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were slit, like a reptiles.
The chihuahua barker louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.
The little boy screamed. His parents pulling him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.
The Chimera was now so tall it's back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion, the body of a giant goat, and a serpent tail growing right out of its shaggy behind.
Percy realized he hadn't uncapped his sword. His hands were numb. He was ten feet away from the Chimera and he knew as soon as he moved, the creature would lunge.
The snake lady hissed, "Be honored, Percy Jackson. It's rare that Lord Zeus allows me to test my brood on a hero. As for you deary, I must say I'm surprised to see you hear, but this only adds to my reward. I am the might Echidna."
Alyssa pulled out her knife from her back pocket, holding it out defensively out in front of her.
The chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. Percy managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.
He ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.
Percy uncapped his sword and ran to the other side, calling for the beast.
The Chimera turned faster than Percy could have thought possible.
Before he could swing his sword, it opened its mouth and shot a column of flame straight at him.
"No!" Alyssa shouted as she stepped in front of Percy, her body engulfed in flames.
Percy's eyes widened in shock, where his sister stood a second before... She was still standing there, completely unharmed, her hands each have a pit of fire still burning in them.
There was a ragged hole where the blast had been around Percy, with the metal steaming around the edges.
Alyssa then started launching the fire in her hands, her face stern and determined, as Percy slashed at its neck.
The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar and the serpent tail came whipping around and sank into fangs into Percy's calf.
His whole leg was on fire. He tried to jab Riptide into the chimeras mouth, but the serpents tail wrapped around him ankle and pulled him off balance, sending Riptide out of his hand, out the hole, and down toward the Mississippi River.
He managed to get to his feet, but he knew he had lost. He was weaponless. Alyssa was standing five feet away from him, now throwing fire balls at the fat lady.
Percy could feel the deadly poison racing up to his chest. He remembered what Chiron said about the pen returning to his pocket, but there was no pen. Maybe it was too far away.
He backed up to the hole. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips.
There was no place to go as he stepped to the edge of the hole, looking down at the river.
"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear the water. Jump, Percy Jackson.
Yeah right, he thought. The impact would splatter him.
The Chimeras moth glowed red, heating up for another blast.
"You have no faith," Echidna told him," you do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."
She was right, he could feel his breath slowing down. Nobody could save him, not even the gods.
He backed up and looked down at the water. He remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above his head the night if capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed him.
"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimer sent a column if flame toward his face.
"Father help me." He prayed.
He turned and jumped. His clothes on fire, poison coursing through his veins. He plummeted toward the river as a single thought went through his mind, he had left his sister up there alone...
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