Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXI: Annabeth Plays Doctor

I was completely disoriented for a few seconds after crashing through the glass. And then, my brain finally realized that I was falling. Any thoughts about my victory were instantly replaced with: AAAAAAAH!

My mind was running at a thousand miles an hour as I frantically tried to think of a way not to become a grease stain on the sidewalk once I hit the ground. Suddenly, I remembered the cable arrows. Luke had mentioned they could be used as rappelling lines. Maybe, just maybe, they could save my life.

I considered myself lucky that my body was still filled with adrenaline, otherwise my panicking might have gotten me killed. Relying purely on instinct, I reached into my backpack and felt around for the smooth white feathers rather than the slightly rougher spotted ones of my normal arrows. I pulled one out, slightly relieved to see the white fletching, and struggled to knock the arrow and hook the bronze wire onto my bow while the wind whistled all around me. I pulled back the string and fired, praying that the arrow would attach to the bottom of the Arch and that the wire would be long enough that I wouldn't be left hanging halfway.

Luckily, the arrow did attach and the wire was long enough. But I didn't get to enjoy my genius. Because I had forgotten one of the main laws of physics: velocity.
The celestial bronze wire was pulled taught while my body tried to continue its high speed descent. Needless to say, the result was painful.

"AAARGH!"

It felt like someone was trying to rip my arm off. The entire limb burned with pain. Honestly, I was surprised that it was still attached, and that I had somehow managed to keep hold of my bow.

With tears of pain stinging my eyes and blurring my vision, I reached up and unhooked the wire from the bow. I landed heavily, knocking the air out of my lungs. But I was alive. I had just been thrown out of the window of the observation deck of the Gateway Arch, and I was alive.

"Penny!"

I looked around typing to spot where the voice had come from. Lo and behold, Percy Jackson was climbing out of the Mississippi River, somehow completely dry.

"Percy!" I cried in relief, running over to him.

Our first instinct was to throw our arms around each other in a hug. But I quickly realized that wasn't a good idea.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." I said, pulling away as a renewed wave of pain surged my arm.

Percy looked at me worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I injured my arm when I fell." I explained.

His eyes widened, but he didn't have time to inquire about it.

"Peeeer-cy!" Grover cried, running out of the crowd and wrapping us in a bone crushing hug, Annabeth following close by.

I winced but tried not to make my pain too noticeable.

"We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"

Annabeth smiled upon seeing us. I think she might have been a bit miffed that we damaged one of her favorite monuments, but overall she was happy to see us

"We can't leave you two alone for five minutes! What happened?" she asked.

"We sort of fell?" Percy answered, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Annabeth's eyes widened in shock.

"Two hundred meters! How did you even survive?"

I pointed behind me to the celestial bronze wire dangling beneath the Arch.

"Cable arrow. I really owe Max one now."

Annabeth looked like she was going to ask Percy how he had survived, but she didn't get the chance. She was interrupted by the hysterical ramblings of the woman I had seen up on the Arch, who was being wheeled away on a stretcher.

"And then this huge dog, this huge fire breathing chihuahua..."

"Okay ma'am, just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in." one of the paramedics said.

"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and this girl had a bow and arrow and she killed the monster." she shrieked, sounding pretty crazy if I'm being honest.
"There they are! That's them!" she suddenly said, pointing towards Percy and I.

We quickly began pushing through the crowd, dragging Annabeth and Grover with us.

"What's going on? Was she talking about the chihuahua in the elevator?" Annabeth inquired, looking very confused.

Percy and I proceeded to tell them everything about Echidna and the Chimera. Our stories ended up branching off at the point where Percy jumped off the Arch. I told them about how I killed the Chimera, got thrown out the window as a result and barely managed to save myself, coming out with an injured left arm. Meanwhile, Percy explained how he had discovered he could breathe underwater and told us of an encounter he had with a nereid.

"Woah! We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't just ignore a summons from your dad." Grover decided.

I felt inclined to agree. If it had been my mom, I definitely would have wanted to go. But of course, she stayed silent. Not a word towards me.

Annabeth seemed like she was going to object, but she was cut off by a reporter.

"Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has just learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus incident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a picture of Percy Jackson." he informed.

"First things first. We've got to get out of town." Percy said.

We couldn't agree more. We quickly ducked out of sight and put as much distance between us and the Gateway Arch as we could. We only stopped running once we reached the train, breathing a sigh of relief when the train pulled out of the station towards Denver.

That was when Annabeth decided we should take a look at my arm.

"Feels like it's dislocated." I said as she examined it.

"Looks that way too." she agreed.

"Do we need to get her to a hospital?" Percy asked.

That wouldn't have been ideal. But fortunately, fixing a dislocated arm was one of the basic medical skills my siblings had taught me.

"No, we can put it back in place." I said before looking at Annabeth.
"You know what to do, right?"

"Yes, but it will hurt a bit." she informed.

I winced as she placed her hands on my shoulder and arm.

"On three?"

She nodded.

"Okay. On-aargh!"

I was taken by surprise as pain flared up my arm. There was a sickening crack as my arm snapped back into its socket.

"I thought we agreed on three?"

"It hurts more if you expect it. Plus, your reaction was pretty funny." Annabeth replied, a smile on her face.

I glanced at the other two to see they too were smiling.

"Well, I'm glad my pain amuses you."

The tense atmosphere that had settled over us dissipated as we all shared a laugh.