I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON RICK RIORDAN DOES! I only have rights to Atlanta and, just Atlanta. The stories are still in Percy's POV.

Chapter Thirteen: I Plunge to My Death and take Atlanta and Ermis with Me

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

We weren't attack once, but I didn't relax. I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.

I tried to keep a low profile because our names and pictures were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes. My sword and Atlanta's trident were a metallic blue in my hands. It might've been two baseball bats or two lacrosse sticks.

The picture's caption read:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of their mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. His sister was also spotted and reported aiding her brother in the assault. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after the Jacksons fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy and girl may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. Their stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, had offered a cash reward for information leading to their capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. " Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the day I spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows.

Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat fields, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.

Another time, toward evening, Atlanta nudged me and pointed at something huge moving through the woods. Atlanta swears it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. It's fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Our reward money for returning Gladiola the puddle had only been enough money to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I tried not to drool in my sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to me.

Atlanta and Ermis had fallen asleep, their heads on each other, as Atlanta was clutching onto her backpack. Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up. 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 yours and Atlanta's help?"

"What do you mean?"

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

I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time Atlanta and I dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered me so much I finally told her, leaving out the parts where whoever it was, calling Atlanta his child.

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

"Well who else could it be?"

"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 had it?"

I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. 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?

Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttering something about vegetables, and turned his head.

Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "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 mean you've run into them before?"

Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a one tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "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 peace."

"He tried to kill our mother, for a bargaining chip. What would you do if it was your dad?"

"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."
"You're not serious?"

Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "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, she couldn't and it would be safer for him to raise me."

"But how…I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital…"

"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' mortals 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.

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

Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that 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."

"How old were you?"

"Same age as when I started camp. 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 toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time anyway."

I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover's snoring, Ermis and Atlanta's soft breathing and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by.

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 Rover into St. Louis.

Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.

"I want to do that," she sighed.

"What?" Ermis asked.

Annabeth looked annoyed but answered. "Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Ermis?"

"Only in picture's I snuck past Aunty Em."

"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 laughed. "You? An Architect?"

"How are you going to sit at a desk for hours on end? You get restless after five minutes," Atlanta laughed.

I'm glad Atlanta shared my humor. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.

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."

I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below. Atlanta glared at Annabeth.

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

"Can't we work together without you taking cheep shots at Percy's dad?" Atlanta asked. "For crying out loud, Athena and Poseidon manage to work together, right?"

"Yeah the chariot," Ermis said. "Athena invented it, but Poseidon created horsed out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together in the end, in order to complete it."

"Then surely you can work together with Percy and I," Atlanta said.

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

"I suppose," Annabeth said at last.

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."
"Sightseeing?"

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

Grover, Atlanta, Ermis, and I exchange looks.

I wanted to say no, but I figured 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. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at the covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing Atlanta, Ermis, and me jelly beans so we were okay. I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to 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. It doesn't help Ermis is one, no offence-Ermis shrugged it off, saying no worries. Probably doesn't mean anything."

But something felt wrong to me. I had a feeling we shouldn't be here.

"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 cleated 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."
"He was there too?" Atlanta 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 shadows or pass through walls. He can't be touch, 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?" I asked.

Annabeth, Grover, Ermis, and Atlanta exchanged looks.

"We don't," Ermis said.

"And I'm suddenly afraid of the dark now," Atlanta shivered. "Thanks Percy."

"Sorry," I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"

I'd almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and I knew I was in trouble. I hate confined places. They make me nuts. Atlanta grabbed my hand tightly, not once let go of it.

We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye or an emotional-support 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, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it.

"No parents?" the fat lady asked us.

She had 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 blow," Annabeth 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, intelligent and vicious.

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

"No," the lady told her.

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 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. Atlanta tightened her grip on my hand.

Annabeth kept talking about the structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-though 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.

Ermis had to help Grover steer Annabeth toward the exit, while Atlanta guided me there. Grover and Annabeth loaded into the elevator, and Ermis, Atlanta, and I get too when I realized there was ready three other tourists inside. No room for us.

The park ranger said, "Next car, sirs and ma'am."

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

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said. "Naw, it's okay. We'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, Atlanta, Ermis, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

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

Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?

Before I could decided if I'd really seen that her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at Atlanta, Ermis, and 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 us, foam dripping from his black lip.

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

Ice started forming in my stomach. Atlanta shivered beside me.

"Did, you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

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

She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms were 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.

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

The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a teen-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, FIREBREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT.954.

I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were numb, and not just because Atlanta now had a death grip on one of them. We were ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that soon as we moved, the creature would lunge.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored Percy and Atlanta Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood, let alone two of them. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

I staired 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. Atlanta raised her hand and to block the sight and time seemed to slow down again like it did when we fought the Minotaur. The Chimera seemed to move at a snail's pace and I leaped aside, pushing Ermis and, pulling Atlanta with me and then time speed back up and bit into air.

"What!" Echidna yelled. "How could you possible dodge my son?"

Atlanta and I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. Atlanta was breathing heavy and she looked like she wanted to be sick. Her blue-green eyes seemed to be gold now.

I couldn't let them get hurt. Atlanta took her trident off its Mist form and I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, with Ermis close beside us, and yelled. "Hey, Chihuahua!"

The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible.

Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, Atlanta raised her hand again, and time once again slowed down. Fire begun to rise out of the Chimera's mouth like lava in a volcano. It slowly built up and came out like a slow-motion part in an action movie. Ermis, Atlanta, and I dove down, as time went back to normal. Atlanta breathing heavier and looked ready to pass out. The carpet burst into flames; the heat so intense, it nearly scared off my eyebrows.

Where we had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.

Riptide was now shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck.

But that was my fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. I tried to regain my balance, but I was so worried about defending myself against the fiery lion's mouth, I completely forgot about the serpent tail, until it whipped around and sunk its fangs into my calf. Atlanta managed to stab her trident down on it, pinning it to the ground. She pulled her trident free, and it wiggled around in pain, before it hit Ermis in the face, knocking his sunglasses off his face and into the hole in the floor. Ermis kept his eyes closed tightly.

My whole leg was on fire. Atlanta and I tried to jab our weapons in the Chimera's mouth, but the Serpent tail, getting over its pain, wrapped around our ankles and pulled us off balance, and my blade and Atlanta's trident flew out of our hands, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.

Atlanta and I managed to get to our feet, but I knew we had lost. We were weaponless. Ermis' sunglasses were gone down the hole with our weapons. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmo and Atlanta's trident would always return to us, but there was no pen in my pocket and Atlanta didn't have a fork charm on her necklace. Maybe they had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen and fork charm form. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out.

I backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"

The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish us off now that we were beaten.

I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just….die. I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head felt dizzy. I had no sword, Atlanta had no trident and Ermis couldn't open his eyes. We were facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared.

There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge if the hole, pulling Atlanta and Ermis with me. Far, far below, the river glittered.

If Atlanta and I died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?

"If you are the son and daughter of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump Percy and Atlanta Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your weapons. Prove your bloodline."

Yeah, right, I thought. I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple of stories up was like jumping onto solid asphalt. From here, I'd splatter on impact.

The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.

"You have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."

She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not even the gods.

I backed up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. He must have visited me when I was in my cradle.

I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon claimed me as his son.

But this wasn't the sea. This was the Mississippi, dead center of the USA. There was no Sea God here.

"Die, faithless ones," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward our faces.

"Father, help us," I prayed.

I turned and took Atlanta's and Ermis' hands and jumped. Our clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, we plummeted toward the asphalt.