A/N: What is this?! Another chapter?! So soon?!

Why yes, yes it is :) I'm actually quite shocked myself :D

Anyway, on with the chapter and happy reading.

I PLUNGE TO MY DEATH

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

"Got my ticket for the long way 'round, Two bottle 'a whiskey for the way, And I sure would like some sweet company, And I'm leaving tomorrow, wha-do-ya say?" Sally started to sing quietly to herself. "When I'm gone, When I'm gone, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone, You're gonna miss me by my hair, You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone"

"I've got my ticket for the long way 'round, The one with the prettiest of views, It's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shivers, But it sure would be prettier with you." Percy sang the second verse.

"When I'm gone, When I'm gone, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone, You're gonna miss me by my walk, You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone." Sally and percy finished together.

It was quit for a while until the throne room was filled with applause.

Both Sally and Percy started to blush but thanked them for there applause.

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

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Nico screamed out of nowhere making everyone jump.

Then the time travelers started to laugh.

"Mad-Eye was probably one of my favorite characters in the book." Grover confessed.

"Yeah he was cool but I prefer Luna." Annabeth smiled.

"What are you guys talking about?" Hermes asked.

"One of the most epic of book series ever created." Nico said.

"It's not that great." Percy shrugged.

"You blasphemer!" Grover grasped his chest like Percy had done something unbelievable.

"What!? Its just basically Star Wars with sucky lightsabers." Percy smirked with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Persephone started to read before Grover could get up and beat his friend to death with his reedpipes.

I tried to keep a low profile because my name and picture 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 was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.

The picture's caption read:

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

Percy, Annabeth and Grover started to laugh evilly.

"What did you do?" Thalia asked eagerly.

"Spoilers." The three said together eerily.

"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 field, 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.

"Pfff mortals." Artemis snorted. "They are so blind."

Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

"You saw the Namean Lion?" Amphitrite asked shocked.

"Eh….no?" Percy answered/asked.

Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough 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.

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 your help?"

"What do you mean?"

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

I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered me so much I finally told 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."

"I do to laugh!" Hades said offended.

"I am so sorry Lord Hades but the stuff we are thought at camp are degrading and cruel towards you and that is the only thing I knew." Annabeth looked at him sadly.

"Sadly, it is always the victor who writes the history." Percy looked at the most of the gods in disappointment which made many of them shift uncofertably.

"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"

"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, 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, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.

Persephone was interrupted by a flash and when it cleared on of the fates stood there.

"Lady Clotho, how can we be of service?" Poseidon asked respectfully.

"There has been a bit of a mix-up that we needed to put right." Clotho explained.

"If the sea spawn has offended you in anyway, we apologize." Athena declared to the Fate while she sneered at Percy.

"You shall be quiet, young one, and stop…what does the mortals call it…oh right, being sush a kiss ass." Clotho looked Athena in the eye.

"What is this mix-up that you need to correct?" Apollo asked.

"Sally Jackson was never meant to come back to this time." Clotho smiled kindly at Apollo.

"I wasn't?" Sally asked.

"No, we meant to send Tyson but somehow, him being so close to you at that time, you where transported instead." Clotho explained patiently.

"Brother!" A young cyclops called out and ran up to Percy and grabbed him in an almost bone crushing hug.

"Tyson, little brother, I've missed you to buddy." Percy returned the hug with equal force.

"I shall leave Tyson here and bring Miss. Jackson home." Clotho declared.

"Bye Percy and try to keep out of trouble." Sally hugged Percy then she hugged the rest of the time travelers. Then with a flash both Sally and Clotho where gone.

"Okay everyone, may I introduce my baby brother Tyson." Percy said proudly.

After everyone had said hello and Tyson had been caught up with what they've already read Persephone started to read again.

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"

"What in the name of everything chaotic are they teaching at that Camp?!" Apollo looked very annoyed and he wasn't the only one.

"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 pine 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 your mom."

"What would you do if it was your dad?"

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

"You're not serious?"

"I wasn't." Annabeth had a small fragile smile on her face.

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 heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"Athena!" Hestia sounded appalled. "You could have just brought her straight to camp when her mortal father indicated that he couldn't raise her."

"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 some-thing. 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.

"Aww that's so sweet, seaweed brain." Annabeth teased him.

"Shut up." Percy blushed.

"My mom married a really awful 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."

"But Mr. BlowFish is very nice." Tyson sounded confused. "He gives me nice cookies."

"This was before him." Percy told him with an awkward smile. "And it's Blofis."

Annabeth kept worrying 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."

"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."

"Sweetie not to ruin your perception or anything, but that wasn't Athena." Hestia explained kindly. "That was Hermes."

"What? Why?" Annabeth looked shocked.

"Well I am the God of Travels." Hermes shrugged.

"Thank you." Annabeth marveled.

I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover snoring 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 River 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.

"Stick a handbag in the ground?" Percy laughed.

"Idiot." Annabeth smiled fondly.

"Your humor is so hard to understand." Nico groaned.

What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"It's just that I never seem to be able to grasp your sense of humor!" Nico exclaimed. "To a boring layman such as myself, your sense of humor is like cosmic horror I do not now what it is, where it came from or how old it is. It is incomprehensible and when I try to understand it, it is just a void. A void that indulges me with these ideas and images. I do not know what they mean and slowly but surly this void lures me to the brink of its madness, tempting me to fall to find the answer to all my questions." (1)

Everyone just sat and stared at Nico in shock for a while.

"That was very poetic Nico." Grover said after a few minutes of silence.

"I agree with the goat." Apollo smiled brightly. "You have a way with words young one."

"Eh…thanks?" Nico rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"What?" I asked.

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

"Only in pictures."

"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?"

Before anyone could react, Percy screamed and then he was nailed to the ground by a spear through his shoulder. Athena was about to throw another spear at him when she had a trident and a dark sword at her neck curtesy of Hades and Poseidon.

Behind them Apollo, Artemis and Hermes had run over to Percy, trying to get the spear out without hurting Percy too much.

"This does not look good." Apollo said while inspecting Percy's shoulder. "It went through the bone of his shoulder blade."

"Anything we can do to help?" Hermes asked.

"Yeah but I'm going to need more help. Artemis can you get Poseidon and Hades?" Apollo asked his sister who nodded and went over to the two gods trying to kill Athena.

"Percy, hey Percy focus on me." Apollo demanded. "The only way I think of to get the spear out of your shoulder is very painful, sadly I can't knock you out because I need you conscious to be able to check in with you."

"I trust you." Percy grinded out behind clenched teeth.

"Artemis said you needed help?" Poseidon demanded as they came over.

"Yes, we need to pull the spear out but the way it's designed we can't just pull it back out." Apollo started to explain. "And because it's nailed into the floor, we need to lift him of it and we need to do that without harming Percy more."

"And how shal we do that?" Hades asked.

"You and Poseidon will have to stand on either side of him, Poseidon by the right shoulder and Poseidon by the left hip and lift in the direction that the spear handle is pointing. I will lift by the left shoulder and keep pressure on the wound." Apollo directed them to their places. "Annabeth try and keep him conscious and focused on you. Artemis keep his head steady and Hermes lift his legs."

Everyone took their positions and got ready to do their part while the rest of the room looked on.

"Everyone ready on three?" Apollo asked to make sure and at the nods he said. "one…two…three!"

The scream that left Percy was heart breaking but they got him of the spear and onto the floor where Apollo started to put more pressure on the wound.

"Poseidon can you carry him to the healer's wards?" Apollo asked after he got Percy stabilized. "I'll be there in a minute."

As Poseidon picked up his son Apollo was working to calm down everyone else and after he was down, he ran out of the room.

"Athena, daughter of Zeus you have broken one of the conditions set by The Fates and atyced one of our chosen favorites." A resonating voice sounded through the throne room.

At the entrance to the room stood Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. And they did not look happy.

"You broke one…" Clotho said

"Of the very few…" Lachesis continued.

"Rules we placed for this reading." Atropos finished.

"You acted without Wisdom and as a punishment we shall take your title and powers from you until you have repented." They said together.

"You can't do that!" Athena denied looking frightened.

"We who giveth can taketh away." The Fates resonating voices sounded eerie.

"Θα χάσετε τους τίτλους και τις εξουσίες σας." Clotho commanded.

"Θα πρέπει να τα κερδίσεις πίσω," Lachesis told her.

"Και θα επιστρέψουν όταν έχετε μετανοήσει και αισθανθείτε αληθινή μετάνοια." Atropos promised. (2)

When they had said that there was a feeling of pressure in the room, a bright flash and when the flash was gone so where the Fates.

Athena looked smaller and weaker. She was still a goddess and immortal but her powers where gone.

Everyone sat quietly around the room contemplating what had just happened.

Most where worried about Percy and if he was going to be okay and Amphitrite was gnawing on her tub in worry.

What no one knew was that Ares was neither worried about or contemplating what happened to Athena. No, he was trying to figure out how to get Percy in his bed. Here was a demigod that was strong, powerful and very handsome and Ares wanted him.

Around an hour later Poseidon, Apollo and Percy returned to the throne room. Percy was leaning on his father and looking exhausted.

"Percy will be fine but I dare not give him more nectar or ambrosia so he is nor completely healed so be careful with not jostling him to much." Apollo told the time travelers as he and Poseidon helped Percy sit down beside Annabeth.

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

"Sorry." Annabeth said quietly to Poseidon.

I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.

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

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

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."

"Horses are way cooler than chariots. At least horses can talk." Percy huffed out sounding tired.

"I have a question if you don't mind Percy?" Amphitrite asked.

"Ask away." Percy smiled at her.

"As you've already said you want to become a marine biologist but what made you want to do that?" Amphitrite wondered.

"It started when I was a kid when I saw Finding Nemo for the first time, then it just grew over the years and then when I was around fifteen and we had to like work for three weeks at a real job I choose to work at SeaWorld and that just made me more sure." Percy explained.

"Wait is this with the time the thing started?" Annabeth smirked.

"Yes, now shush." Percy hissed at her.

"Oh come on, you can't just not tell us now." Apollo groaned.

"Yeah Percy, please tell us." Nico brought out his most fearsome weapon, the puppy eyes.

"Oh fine." Percy blushed. "So, on the third day of me working in SeaWorld one of the mermaid actors where sick and they asked around if anyone was good at swimming and holding their breath and somehow my boss had found out that I was good at both so he nominated me for the job. So, I spent the rest of the three weeks working there as a mermaid actor and they still call me in from time to time."

"He is very good at it though." Annabeth smiled.

"Okay this I need to see, when's your next show?" Thalia asked, smirking devilishly.

"Saturday." Annabeth informed them before Percy could deny it.

"Please Lady Persephone, just read." Percy begged.

"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.

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?"

"We should have said no." Grover groaned dramatically.

"WHAT?! WHY?!" Poseidon shrieked.

"I hate heights?" Percy tried to divert but it didn't really work.

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."

"You fucking jinxed it!" Nico threw his hands up in the air.

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 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 me jelly beans, so I was okay.

"Candy makes everything better." Apollo agreed and snapped a whole box of sour strings into existence.

"Can I have some?" Artemis asked.

"Sure." Apollo held out the box to her. "Anyone else want some?"

"Yes please." Come from several sources around the room.

"You do know most of you can just snap up your own candy, right?" Apollo raised an eyebrow as he snapped several different sorts of candy into existence.

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. "Under-ground air always smells like monsters. 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 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?"

"I'm not your friend." Hades mocked sneered. "I'm your uncle, there is a difference."

"I'm very sorry for making that mistake dear uncle." Percy bowed but the he hissed in pain. "Note to self: do not move to much!"

"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?" 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 ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked.

Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.

"We don't," Grover said.

"Boo!" Hades laughed out as everyone jumped.

"That was awesome timing." Apollo laughed along with Hermes.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," 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.

"That's not the confined spaces, that's just you." Thalia laughed while Percy stuck out his tongue at her.

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 Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Poseidon muttered to his wife who nodded in agreement.

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 below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."

"That was a good lie." Hermes nodded. "Tons better than a circus."

"Can we just let the circus thing go?" Percy groaned.

"Nope." Hermes popped the p as he answered with a smile.

"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.

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

"No," the lady told me.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.

"It does." Hades groaned.

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.

"Annabeth would have stayed if she could've." Grover laughed.

"Yeah, it was amazing." Annabeth agreed.

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."

"Your kindness does you credit." Hestia smiled from besides the hearth.

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, 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 uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?

"Why is it that everything happens to you?" Amphitrite sighed.

"And think, we're not even done with the first book yet." Annabeth chuckled quietly so only the time travelers could hear her.

Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her 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."

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

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

"Yeah, exactly like it's an easy mistake to make between a cucumber and a banana." Artemis sneered.

She rolled up her denim 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 side-ways 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 a bloodcaked 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.

"We are never letting Travis and Connor find out about the number to Tartarus." Annabeth declared to the other time travelers while they nodded in agreement.

"Who are Travis and Connor and why should you not let them find out?" Hestia asked.

Travis and Connor Stoll, sons of Hermes and if they found out the number, they would most definitively prank call Tartarus." Percy explained.

I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were numb. I was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, 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?"

"That's funny." Apollo and Hermes Laughed. "Stupid? Definitely, but funny."

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 man-aged to leap aside and dodge 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.

I couldn't let them get hurt. I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, 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, and shot a column of flame straight at me.

I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eye-brows.

"HA!" Nico burst out laughing. Then at the looks he was getting he calmed down and said. "Sorry I just pictured Percy without eyebrows."

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

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

Ares was sort of jumping/rocking in his throne in excitement. The others just thought that it was because of the fight and partly it was but it was also because he was getting turned on and more and more determent to have Percy in his bed.

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

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 sank its fangs into my calf.

"No brother." Tyson whimpered.

"Hey Tyson, I'm fine okay?" Percy patted Tysons arm in comfort. "Remember that this is in the past."

The words and Percy's presence seemed to help calm Tyson down.

My whole leg was on fire. I tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.

I managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost. I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen 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?"

"Hey! My son is ten times the hero than those in the past!" Amphitrite shouted at the book.

"Remember that your shouting at a book, my love." Poseidon smiled at her.

"Oh right, sorry." Amphitrite looked embarrassed.

The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish me off now that I was 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. I was 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 of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered.

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

"They usually do. They don't' find mortals important enough." Hestia reassured.

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

"Not for a son of the sea." Poseidon promised.

The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for an-other 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 did." The beaming smile Poseidon sent Percy was almost blinding.

I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had 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 one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face.

"Father, help me," I prayed.

I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted toward the river.

"That's the end of the chapter." Persephone closed the book.

"I HATE cliffhangers!" Apollo called out in frustrating.

"No you don't." Artemis raised an eyebrow at him. "You write them in most of the stories you write."

"That's not the same." Apollo insisted.

"It is so the same thing." Artemis attested.

"No it's not. When I write the cliffhangers, I already know what's going to happen so it doesn't bug me but now I don't know what's going to happen and that is very annoying." Apollo ranted.

"I have prepared dinner in the kitchen for everyone." Hestia called from the door. "We can keep reading after we've eaten."

"Before we go, we should decide who shall read the next chapter." Hera told them.

"I'll do it." Amphitrite decided and placed the book on the seat of her throne.

Everyone walked out of the throne room and towards the kitchen to enjoy the food Hestia had prepared.

A/N: End of the chapter!

This is actually something a friend of mine said to me the other day and I just thought it sounded very poetic and wanted to include it in this story.

The translation to what the fates are saying are:

You shall tile and powers – Clotho

You shall have to earn them back – Lachesis

And they shall return when you have repented and feel true remorse – Atropos.

Until next time,

Love Nyxi