This is chapter 14 of The Titan's Curse-'We Have A Dam Problem' in Rachel's point of view. If you have read my profile you know I'm not Rachel's biggest fan and I hate Prachel (no offense to Prachel fans though) but I have always wondered what Rachel was thinking when she first met Percy. So here it is, review.

I wandered away from my parents as we walked along the road on top of the dam. They were talking to the Sandersons', who came to visit the dam with the Dares, and paid no attention to me or what I was doing. As I walked, lost in my own thoughts, I heard teenagers laughing and looked up.

There were four teens-two boys and two girls-standing there off to the side. One girl was just standing there looking confused and annoyed while the other three were cracking up. Curious, I moved closer to hear what the one curly haired boy was choking out.

"I want to use the dam water fountain." The other boy and girl slumped against each other laughing. The laughter wasn't really that happy nor was the joke that funny (yes I figured the joke out) if you thought about it, they seemed to be laughing more because they had just cracked under the pressure of some problem they must have.

Whoa, I thought. Where did those thoughts come from? How did I figure that out?

Maybe it was the state of the small group. The annoyed girl was the cleanest but the others had dirty clothes that looked as though they had been through a lot.

Just then I heard my father's voice, "Rachel, come along dear. We are going to go on the tour of the dam now." I cracked a smile thinking of the joke that made those teens laugh so hard. When my father said dam it wasn't that funny because you knew what he meant, but that will be the closest I'll ever come to hearing him swear and it was amusing.

I was, once again, bored out of my mind. I was down at the turbines with my parents, the rest of our group, and our tour guide who was droning on and on about something. I don't know, I zoned out hours ago. It didn't help I had a cold and kept sneezing into my seemingly endless supply of tissues, making the guide shoot me a ticked off glare.

Desperate to leave I made up some excuse about having to go the bathroom to my mother who muttered absently, "Of course, sweetheart, go ahead." She didn't even look at me.

I wandered around for a bit looking at the different doors. I had thought I knew where it was from passing it earlier but the door I had first tried turned out to be a closet. I'm looking a little closer now after that. When I finally found it it seemed that I really did have to go pee. I quickly went but stood letting the warm water in the sink run over my hands, not wanting to return to the tour.

My mind went off to some of my more horrible confusing memories as I reminisced. Like when that giant dog the size of a truck bounded past me when I was walking in central park with my father, when I was five. It was as black as night with red eyes glowing like the fires in Hell. I had screamed, tore away from my helplessly confused father (who for some weird reason didn't see the giant dog), and ran blindly into the woods, terror taking over my good senses. I huddled at the base of a maple crying when a girl just melted from the trees and placed her hand on the top of my head soothingly. It just made me panic more, I mean she came out of a tree!

That had been horrible but hallucinations like that (for they must be hallucinations) occurred throughout the rest of my life, and each one made my parents think I was just crazier. So I stopped telling them . . . anything.

I sighed and turned off the water. I turned around and slunk out the door, which just closed behind me when I felt another sneeze coming on. I pulled out a tissue and sneeze into it.

I heard the blade before I saw it swinging through the air. Swwiiishhh! It entered my body as I watched in horror, then left it. I didn't even have a scratch. Yay, just another hallucination. I cried out, dropping the Kleenex in my hand.

I looked up to see, to my surprise, the second boy from the road. He was around my age, fourteen, with messy black hair, panicked sea-green eyes, and a dirty streaked tan face. He was actually kind of cute if you looked past the crazy look on his face and the lethal weapon in his hands.

"Oh my god! Do you always kill people when they blow there nose?" I cried in a strangled voice.

He looked hopelessly confused as he cast a startled look around the empty hallway, finally he managed to yelp, "You're mortal!"

I blinked at him. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that sword past security?"

This kid was as insane as I am! He just called me mortal as though he isn't, and how in the world did he get that huge sword down here?

"I didn't—Wait, you can see it's a sword?" he spluttered staring at me like I was the freak.

I rolled my eyes to hide my anxiety. I'm not blind.

"Well, it's either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world. And why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining." Of course I wasn't, I didn't want to die by being run through be a weirdo with a big Greek-like sword. "Who are you? And whoa, what is that you're wearing? Is that made of lion fur?"

I had just noticed the jacket. Without a doubt it was lion fur. Gold, thick, and shining it was pulled around him almost like it was for protection. I gaped. Why would a teenage boy be wearing lion fur. Wacko.

That last thought was confirmed when he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. "You don't see a sword. It's just a ballpoint pen."

My mouth flopped open and I blinked again. "Um… no. It's a sword, weirdo." I said to him.

"Who are you?" he asked in a strained voice.

I just asked him a question he should answer that instead of asking his own! I thought like a little kid. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now, are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?" I would do it, too, this was getting freaky.

He looked desperate so he yelped, "No! I mean, I'm kind of in a hurry. I'm in trouble."

"In a hurry or in trouble?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, sort of both."

That clears it up. I glance past him for a moment and it's a good thing I did. Coming up behind us are a group of skeletons in guard clothes. I pale and immediately connect them to the boy standing in front of me unaware of the danger behind him.

"Bathroom!" I gasp.

"What?"

"Bathroom! Behind me! Now!"

For some reason he listens to me and I am relieved, until the skeletons reach me that is. I make up a story in my head and blurt it out to them.

"Oh my god! Did you see that kid? It's about time you got here. He tried to kill me! He had a sword, for god's sake. You security guys let a sword-swinging lunatic inside a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way toward those turbine thingies. I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."

I was very proud of my acting abilities when the skeletons chattered excitedly and hurry off to check if he really is dead. I think I know why he tried to slice my in half before, the chatter did sound like my sneezing. Strange.

Shaken I call to the boy, "All clear. But you'd better hurry." Because I know they'll be back soon. He comes out and looks around the corner. He turns back to me looking relieved.

"I owe you one, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

No duh, he does, that was horrifying. I would like to just run away now but I need to now if I was right.

"What are those things? They looked like—"

"Skeletons?" How'd he know, can he see them too? I nod.

"Do yourself a favor," he said. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw me."

"Forget you tried to kill me?" Yeah like that's gonna happen, Dad says I have the memory of an elephant.

"Yeah. That, too." He grins nervously.

"But who are you?" I need to know this desperately for some reason.

"Percy—" he begins to tell me, then his eyes widen in alarm. "Gotta go!"

"What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?"

But he already ran off.

That was by far the strangest meeting I've ever had. In a daze I pass the running skeletons and return to my group.

Later when we go up to eat at the snack bar we stop dead in the doorway. Burritos are splattered everywhere. On the floor, ceiling, walls, and windows. People crawl around the room, breathless from either yelling or laughing or both, covered head to toe in spicy flavored meat. This definitely has something to do with that Percy Gotta-go and for some reason, after I look out the window and see the angel statues gone, I start to crack up.

So we just stand there as the workers try to clean up Hoover Dam's snack bar and I laugh my head off. One more thing for them to add to the list of why I'm so crazy.