"What was that about?" Annabeth asks as Percy sits next to her. She noticed that Will was once again on her boyfriend's other side and Apollo was closer than before.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Percy says kissing her forehead."

"Who's reading?" Zeus asks.

"Might as well get it over with." Clarisse says. "Hand it over.

I PLUNGE TO MY DEATH

"Percy?" Annabeth and Grover ask.

"The arch." Percy says.

They both nod. Percy tried not too look guilty.

"I have a feeling I won't like this chapter very much." Poseidon says.

"I think I will." Ares sneers, still sore about losing.

We spent two … the right opportunity.

"Pessimistic." Nico says.

"Yeah maybe a bit." Percy nods.

"He admits it!"

I tried to keep … or a lacrosse stick.

"That's not good." Athena frowns.

"It actually ended up working out." Annabeth says.

"Somehow I doubt that." Leo says.

The picture's … fled the scene.

"They got that so wrong." Clarisse snorted.

"Mortals will do that." Hera sniffs.

Based on … to his capture.

"Capture?" Poseidon asks.

"Yup." Percy says.

"If he wasn't already dead." Thalia mutters to herself.

"Don't worry," … eye and waved.

"You didn't show me?" Annabeth asked.

"You were sleeping." Percy says. "Didn't want to wake you up."

"Not many child centaurs." Artemis says. "That face you saw one is amazing."

I looked around … trees and was gone.

"I wonder if I was around." Artemis says.

"Well considering we met it a year and a half later I want to go with no." Percy says.

"You met it?" Artemis asks.

"Unfortunate coincidence." Thalia says.

Our reward money … right next to me.

"You did anyway."

Percy blushed as his friends laughed.

Grover kept snoring … other passengers noticed.

"The mist would have hidden it." Dionysus says.

"So," Annabeth … were you dreaming about?"

"Only if we knew what was actually happening." Annabeth says.

"Now the gods do know." Percy tells her. "Things might change."

I was reluctant … he never laughs."

"I laugh!" Hades says.

"You don't." The gods tell him.

"The audacity." Hades mutters sinking into his seat.

"He offered … if he already has it?"

"How did we not figure out what was wrong." Grover groans. "It was so obvious."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty." Athena says.

I shook my head, … aggressive this time- "

"They have to be looking for something." Hades says. "They're usually plenty aggressive."

"We're well aware." Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia say.

Hades winces and Clarisse starts reading to avoid a fight.

"This time…"I'd leave him to rot."

"Annabeth!" Athena exclaims surprised.

"This was in the past mother." Annabeth says. "Things have changed."

"You're not serious?" … their mortal parent."

"That's horrible." Hazel whispers to herself.

"But how ... I mean… pretend I didn't exist."

Percy pulled Annabeth to his side. It may be in the past but doesn't mean that it didn't hurt.

Annabeth just smiled and cuddled into her boyfriend's side.

I stared out the … dad was thinking."

"You tried." Annabeth said. "Wasn't the best but I appreciate that you tried."

Annabeth …hated him so much.

"I don't think you hated him." Thalia says kindly. "I think you were more frustrated and confused. And he was too probably."

Annabeth nodded. "We came to the same conclusion."

"I'm glad you did work that out though." Thalia says. Ever since she came back from being a tree its just been war after war. Wasn't much down time to catch up.

"He doesn't … I started camp. Seven."

"When I got there I was shocked to find a baby had the same amount of years as most older campers." Clarisse says.

"We all were." Katie laughs.

Annabeth just shrugged with a smile.

"But ... you couldn't … short time, anyway."

"It was actually fun." Thalia says.

"Other than the being chased by monsters." Grover says.

"Well." Thalia thinks. "Some were fun.

"You're insane."

I wanted to ask … fields of Ohio raced by.

"Thanks for that." Annabeth whispered to Percy.

Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer

"This is going too well." Travis says.

"When do you mess up?" Connor asks.

"Think about the chapter title." Percy points out.

"Ah."

solstice, we passed … stuck on the city.

"You're not wrong." Thalia says.

"It's a great architectural landmark!" Annabeth says.

"This is why I didn't say it out loud." Percy laughs.

Annabeth huffs and smacks his arm with a smile.

"I want to … a thousand years."

"You did Wise Girl." Percy says. "Olympus looks amazing."

Annabeth smiled wide.

I laughed. "You? An architect?"

I don't know why, but I found it funny.

"Why are you laughing?" Piper asks.

"Hold on." Percy says.

Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.

"Ahh that's why you laughed." Annabeth says.

"Yes, it was." Percy says.

"Makes sense."

"Y'all are disgusting." Thalia says.

Her cheeks flushed. … "That was mean."

"How did we live for four years like this." Katie groans.

"You!?" Grover exclaims. "I had to go on their quests!"

"At least they're not arguing this time." Clarisse points out.

"Can't we work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"

"No." the two mentioned gods said.

Annabeth had … make it complete."

The room was silent.

"No." Athena says refusing to accept that piece of information.

Poseidon just sat in his seat smirking.

"Then we can … departing for Denver.

"This will be interesting." Jason says.

"For you maybe." Percy says.

"Sorry bro."

Grover stretched. … Are you coming or not?"

"You really should stay at the train station." Athena says.

"Well we didn't." Percy says.

Athena gapes at him and Clarisse quickly starts reading.

Grover and I exchanged … without monsters."

"A dam snack bar?" Thalia asks.

Grover and Percy snorted before cracking up.

"At least this one didn't have monsters." Percy chokes out.

"Dam monsters." Grover wheezes.

"What is going on?" Leo asks confused.

"An inside joke that has been running between those three for years now." Annabeth explains. "Percy won't even tell me."

"It's a dam secret." Percy manages to get out. It just sent the three further into hysterics.

It took a minute, but Clarisse eventually continued to read.

The Arch was …so I was okay.

"Note to self, blue jellybeans." Annabeth says.

Percy gasped, mock offended.

I kept looking around… we shouldn't be here.

"We should have left." Percy mutters to himself.

"You never told us what happened." Annabeth says. "I just realized."

"Well… You're about to find out." Percy says.

"Guys," I said…our friend downstairs?"

Poseidon snorted before starting to laugh.

"It's not that funny." Hades scowls.

"Percy sounds just like him." Hermes notes. "They have the same laugh."

"He's right." Will says. "They did sound the same."

"So, they look and sound alike." Apollo says. "Neat."

"Um, right," I said. … darkest day of the year.

Hades sighs. He wished he could come up more. It was his family too but he was forced away for all but one day a year.

But his helm is … fear the dark?"

"Except monsters." Connor says.

"Emphasis on the word rational." Grover says.

"You right."

"But then … Grover said.

Hades snorted. "As if you kids are worth my time."

"At least he doesn't call us brats." Jason says.

"You are brats." Dionysus deadpans.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," I said. "Got any blue jellybeans left?"

"You really are unconcerned." Hermes says.

"First quest." Percy says. "Didn't do that again."

I'd almost …make me nuts.

There was a round of agreements from the demigods. Confined spaces were not fun.

Percy's leg started bouncing again. "Here we go." He mutters to Will.

Will nods and prepares himself for whatever was about to happen.

We got … a word about it.

"First hint." Thalia announces.

"Are we keeping track now?" Percy asks.

"Yes."

We … too happy about it.

Percy's face paled slightly, and he clenched his teeth. Annabeth rubbed his back soothingly.

"No parents?" … "Scared of heights."

"Much better than the caravan lie." Hermes nods.

"Believable too." Travis and Connor agree.

"Oh, the poor …the lady told me.

"Hint two!" Thalia announces.

"No three." Nico argues. "The dog didn't seem normal."

"Two and a half." Thalia proposes.

"Two and a half." Nico nods.

She smiled, … can with carpeting.

"Really Percy?" Annabeth says.

"Yup." Percy nods.

Annabeth shakes her head with a smile.

Rows of tiny … to go pretty quick.

"Oh I hate this." Percy says, leg bouncing still.

"Just till the end of the chapter." Annabeth says.

"Yeah." Percy says, worried about the rest of the chapter.

Annabeth kept talking … No room for me.

"Oh no." Poseidon says.

"Oh no indeed." Was the general consensus.

The park ranger … guys at the bottom."

"Oh Percy." Thalia says. "What did you get yourself into."

Percy chuckled nervously. "y'Know, the usual danger."

Will snorted quietly. Near death was unfortunately common for Percy.

Grover and Annabeth … with her Chihuahua.

"That's not good." Thalia frowns. She'd never heard this story before. She decided to say something. "Does anyone actually know what happened here?"

Only Percy raised his hand.

"What happened?" Nico asked, starting to get concerned.

"It ends fine." Percy waves his hand.

I smiled uneasily …Forked tongue?

"You got that one." Nico says. "That's good."

"I would hope I caught that one." Percy says. "It was pretty obvious."

Before I could … "Look, a doggie!"

"I hope he's okay." Hazel says.

"The family was fine." Annabeth says. "Everyone got down."

"That's good."

His parents … his black lips.

"This doesn't sound good." Hephaestus says.

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

"Oh no." Zeus mutters. He was screwed if he thinks who that is, is right."

Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

Percy takes a sharp breath, the same anxiety filling him. His fingers started tapping against his knees.

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

"Chimera?" Annabeth asks, face paling.

Percy nods, not saying anything.

"Zeus." Poseidon growls.

Zeus refuses to meet his brother's eyes.

She rolled up her … bark became a roar.

"That's terrifying." Travis says.

The little … gaping at the monster.

"I hope they're not clear sighted." Aphrodite says. "That might be too much."

The Chimera was … TARTARUS-EXT. 954.

Annabeth tensed. She really hoped they didn't meet this particular monster when they were sent back.

I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were numb.

Percy shook his hands lightly, trying to get rid of the numb feeling. Annabeth grabbed one and squeezed it gently. He tried to give her a smile, but it probably came out a nervous grimace.

I was ten …creature would lunge.

"How did you get out of this?" Frank asks.

Percy just shrugged. Feeling like he might throw up if he tried to talk. He could have sworn he wasn't this nervous when it actually happened.

The snake …the terrible Echidna!"

"Isn't that an anteater?" Leo asks.

"Don't tell me you said that?" Annabeth says.

"About that…"

I stared at her. All I could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

"Oh my gods you did."

She howled, … dodge the bite.

The room was tense listening to the fight. Will and Apollo were getting ready to spring into action. They had a feeling of where this was going and it wasn't going to be fun.

I ended up … thought possible.

"Oh Percy." Annabeth whispers.

"I couldn't let them get hurt." Percy says. "I couldn't."

"I know." Annabeth sooths. "I know. It's okay."

Before I could …off my eyebrows.

Percy leaned back. "Oh, that's hot. That's really hot." His skin was pinking slightly.

Where I … around the edges.

"So that's what that was." Grover says weakly.

"This doesn't seem promising." Ares says.

"Well he's obviously alive." Artemis says pointing to the demigod in question.

Great, I thought… my fatal mistake.

The room was silent as this line was read. Annabeth gripped Percy's hand tighter.

The blade sparked … sank its fangs into my calf.

Percy let out a strangled cry as the burning pain flared through his leg. He doubled forward in his seat nearly falling to the floor if it wasn't for Will and Annabeth holding him up.

Apollo jumped up and ran over. He pushed on Percy's shoulders to try and look at him. "Hey. Hey Percy. Which leg is it?"

"Right." Percy grits out through waves of pain.

Apollo rolled up the pantleg to find a steaming wound on the boy's calf.

"Keep reading." He orders.

My whole leg was on fire.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth whispers as Percy obviously tries not to cry out. It didn't quite work.

Most everyone was pale or silent as they watched what was happening.

I tried to jab …poison racing up to my chest.

Percy wheezed, chest tightening up.

"Ground." Apollo says. Will helps him lower Percy in hopes he would be able to breath better.

Percy's eyes started glazing over. Without the usual adrenaline it seemed to be worse than the first time.

"Percy look at me." Apollo says tapping his cheek.

Percy tried but closed his eyes when another wave of pain came over him.

"Open your eyes Perce." Will says lightly.

Apollo was working on trying to see if he could stop the poison. "It shouldn't get worse than what the book describes." He says to himself.

I remembered Chiron … now that I was beaten.

No one dared interrupt lest Percy suffer longer.

His friends were horrified at what they were watching. No wonder he'd never told anyone what had happened here.

How does he get out? Was everyone's thought.

I glanced at … And I was scared.

Percy's eyes shut again trying to fight against the dizziness.

"Drink." Will says, holding nectar to Percy's lips.

Percy tried to drink some but almost choked as his chest seized again. The little bit he managed to get down reduced the pain for a second before it came back.

There was no … Prove your bloodline."

"He doesn't have to prove anything." Poseidon mutters. "Jump I'll save you."

Yeah, right, I thought. … my breath slowing down.

"Percy." Apollo says holding his face. "Percy focus on me."

Percy's head lolled in the god's hands, eyed half-lidded. His breath indeed was slowing down, shallow and wheezing. His face was turning grey, lips blue.

Will took his pulse and frowned. "Too slow."

Nico was almost the same color as Percy. Even though he knew his friend wouldn't die he could feel him dying. He never wanted to feel his friend's life force drain away. From Hazel's face she could feel the same thing.

"Finish Clarisse." Apollo says, trying to drip nectar into Percy's mouth. "Keep reading."

Nobody could save me… I plummeted toward the river.

Percy coughed and gagged, chest spasming at the air that could now enter his lungs. Will and Apollo rolled him to his side, facing away from the rest of the group for some sense of privacy.

Percy took in deep breaths, occasionally coughing. His face gained some color and his lips turned pink again.

Will was monitoring his pulse nodding as it got steadier.

"Eat this." Apollo says holding a small ambrosia square. "The effect may have worn off, but it did some actual damage."

Percy just nodded and ate what he was given, relaxing as the last aftershocks of pain left his body.

"Percy. Oh my gods." Thalia whispered horrified.

Percy looked up at his friends through bleary eyes. They all looked horrified and pale.

"Hey guys." He says with a small grin.

Annabeth sinks to the floor next to him. "You're not allowed to do that again."

"Don't plan on it." Percy whispers.

"You've been through it haven't you." Jason says.

"Yeah probably." Percy says.

Apollo and Annabeth help him sit up.

"You need to take it easy." Apollo says.

Percy shrugs. "I'll try but the books don't guarantee anything. So who's next?"