𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

Bungee Jumping Without the Bungee

"No parents?" the fat lady asked them. She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth and a floppy denim hat with the matching dress.

Fashion statement, Lydia thought.

"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."

"I should've stayed with them." Lydia grunted, a hand wrapped around her belly.

"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.

Percy asked, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady answered. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck basically a tin can with carpeting in simple terms. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but Lydia was ready to go pretty quick.

Percy felt a little better knowing he wasn't alone, but Lydia looked seriously terrible. She looked cartoonishly green and walked a little hunched over like she was going to hurl any second.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor—Lydia hated that idea.

She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for everyone else the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

Percy steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit—Lydia didn't need any convincing at all to follow along—and loaded them into the elevator. He was about to get in himself when he realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for him.

The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."

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

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so he said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

Annabeth and Grover looked really nervous but they didn't say anything.

Lydia felt like she owed it to Percy after everything he'd done for her, so she stepped out like a hot rod was pushing her out of the elevator. She sounded queasy.

"I'll wait with Percy, don't worry." She said, her voice wobbly.

"Uh— Lydia, it's really fine." Percy grimaced, shooing her back into the elevator.

She looked like she was about to pass out, and it really was fine, he only had to wait a few minutes for the elevator to come back up.

Lydia shook her head and with that their only way down disappeared down the ramp.

Now the only people left on the observation deck were Percy and Lydia, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

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

Wait a minute. Forked tongue?

Lydia grabbed Percy's forearm, confirming that whatever they just saw wasn't just a side effect of their lightheadedness.

The Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at them.

"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!"