13. I FALL TO MY (SECOND) DEATH

We spent two days on the train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

We weren't attacked even once, so I figured I might as well relax.

I kept a low profile, what with the fact that my name and picture were splattered on the front pages of several newspapers.

"It's so unfair" I sighed " A bunch of crazy fire whip hags attack us and I'm the criminal"

"You should be fine" Annabeth assured me "Mortal police could never find us"

The first day was mostly spent looking out the windows and sleeping.

I had a bunch of dreams: some of them memories of my past life and others making no sense to me: some sort of a baseball cap, a weird marble and a scorpion.

I got up and walked around a bunch of times since my ADHD not letting me stay still for more than 15 minutes when I was awake.

During one of these walks, I caught my reflection at the edge of my vision, and looked at my eyes for a second.

In the bus… Annabeth had said my eyes changed, and I remembered the way my vision got sharper and how the furies looked like they were moving slower.

I paused, before heading to the bathroom.

I stood in front of the tiny mirror, staring intently at it as I squinted and focused my vision.

As I thought, my green iris morphed to a bright light blue with two black Tomoe slowly orbiting around the pupil.

'This shade of blue, it's the exact shade my eyes used to be….'

"How.." I mumbled, not really shocked but still numbed.

The room around me dissolved into black as I stood (once again) at the edge of a cliff, looking out into nothing but black.

"Chaos" I called out "How did you-"

"How did I give you your friend's eyes?"

"Yeah, and how am I even powering them? The Sharingan needs chakra to function"

"When I summoned you here, some of my…essence entered you and remained dormant till Kronos's eldest child put some of her essence inside you, which also mixed with your father's blood, and is also why you can interact with me more clearly than before"

That was true, before his voice sounded like it was behind a screen of static, but it was clear now. Loud even.

"So….all three of your essence's mixed into something like chakra"

"How do you people say it…ah yes, 'In a nutshell'. This is a situation that has never happened since even I have existed, so I suppose you might as well call it chakra as you are used to that"

"Well, that's honestly very helpful. WAIT DOES THAT MEAN I CAN USE ALL MY PREVIOUS JUTSU!?"

"No. You might be able to create new techniques but it will only be from either….Hestia's domains or your Father's domains. From me, I suppose you could say your body has been enhanced to be able to contain and use the energies of 2 Olympians and me."

"Well…thanks"

"You have the tools, but you must learn to use them. Now go, I sense the satyr approach your physical body"

"Wait!" I cried "How do I contact you without you calling me?"

I could've sworn he smiled, even though he didn't have a face.

"You don't."

I returned to my body with a gasp, and I realised I was sprawled on the ground, and Grover was knocking on the door.

"Percy, you okay?"

"Y-yeah. Stubbed my toes though."

"Ouch. Well, I was just checking up on ya, and to ask what you're gonna eat from the food cart."

"I'll be right out G-man"

After some egg rolls, I fell back into the routine of sleeping and looking out the window.

Grover kept snoring and bleating. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.

"So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"Eh?"

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"

It was the second time I'd dreamed about the spooky voice from the pit, so I figured I might as well tell her.

Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"He offered my mother in trade though?"

"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"

I shook my head, as confused as her. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something.

'Where is it? Where?'

"Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time—"

"This time?" I asked. "You've run into them before?"

Her hand jumped up to her necklace and fingered a white bead painted with the image of a pine tree. "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."

"It's easy to say, and I know that is the most logical decision for the world and all that, but…it's my mom. What would you do if it was your dad?"

"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."

Say what now?

"….To each their own I guess. I won't pry, but I am a bit surprised"

Annabeth's Gray eyes fixed on me. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "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."

"Oh damn…"

"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."

I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how.

Alright then, time to use the one Jutsu I can still use.

"My mom married a really awful(and smelly) guy," I told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."

Annabeth kept nudging at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much.

"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife—my stepmom—treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened—you know, something with monsters—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."

"At what age?"

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

"You couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."

"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."

I was going to ask what happened, but Annabeth was lost in her memories, so I shut up and looked out on to the dark fields of Ohio.

Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we 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," she sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"

"In pictures, but it looks amazing"

"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."

I would laugh, but I could tell that she genuinely could do that

"You wanna be an architect?"

"Yes. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

"Well, that was uncalled for"

"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" I asked. "Did Athena and Poseidon not cooperate like, ever?"

Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said 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."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.

"I suppose," she said at last.

Talk-no Jutsu, successful as usual.

We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

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

"What?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

Grover and I exchanged looks.

I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn't very well let her go alone.

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, and Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was good.

I kept looking around, though, at the people in line. "You smell anything?" I asked Grover.

He 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."

But I could sense that something was…off, and a sudden thought dawned on me.

"Guys," I 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... You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," I 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."

"Wait, he was there?" I asked.

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, 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 ... couldn't he be here right now, watching us?" I asked.

Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.

"Yeah" Grover said.

"Well, that's unnerving." I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"

We got stuffed into the car with a big fat lady (she took up like 90% of it) and her Chihuahua. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.

We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, so it Kinda freaked me out.

"No parents?" the big lady asked us.

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

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave."

I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told me.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick.

Annabeth kept talking 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 me the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me.

The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."

Considering the fact that I wasn't a 5-year-old kid, I said "Nah, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

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 me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

I smiled awkwardly at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

Damn, I think she's like triple of Choji- FORKED TONGUE!?

Before I could pull Riptide out, the Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at me.

"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"

His parents pulled him back.

The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips.

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

Definitely not normal.

"Did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways 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. The bark became a roar.

Time for me to fight a weird green lizard thing and her chihuahua-lion son I guess.

Yay me!

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

AH CRAP I FORGOT THERE'S OTHER PEOPLE HERE.

The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS—IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954.

The snake lady made a hissing laughing noise. "Be honoured, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

I stared at her. All I could think to say 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, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"

The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I jumped aside and dodged the bite.

I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.

Step one: Get the non-magic people to safety.

I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, furball!"

It turned in an instant and opened its mouth, shooting a column of flame straight at me.

My Sharingan flared as I channelled technically-not-chakra through my hands and into the water vapour in the air in front of me, creating a vortex of water which absorbed it.

I jumped through the resulting steam, Riptide now a shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck.

That was a mistake.

The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar, and the next thing I knew, I was tail-flicked through the air towards a window. I flipped mid-air, and landed on my left foot, my right leg feeling like it was on fire.

Okay, tail has weird poison. Good to know.

I wrapped my right leg in water, creating a sort of brace. (Fighting with just one leg is just plain stupid, and the water actually made me feel more energetic than before.

I rushed at it, ducking under a swipe from it's right claw and flipping over another swipe from its tail.

I threw Riptide, aiming for its open -flame breath charging- mouth.

The sword hit right into the center of the ball of fire, and the Chimera howled before exploding in a ball of crimson fire.

Welp. I just torched a national monument.

"MY SON! I WILL TEAR OFF YOUR LIMBS AND BURN YOUR BODY YOU MISERABLE BRAT!"

"I seriously doubt that scaly lady"

She rushed at me, and I spun, dodging the attack like a matador.

She stopped just before one of the shattered windows, turning slowly.

I had a sudden crazy idea.

"Dad, help me out here" I muttered as I ran straight at her, scooping up Riptide and leaped at her.

"What do you think you're-HSSSSSSSSS" she hissed in pain as Riptide penetrated her left lung, and we plummeted.