ATALANTA SAT UP GASPING for air. She was shaking and a thin layer of sweat coated her body.
Annabeth and Grover were both up and Percy was still asleep, drooling like nothing else.
"Good you're up. Here's breakfast" Annabeth said throwing a bag of Doritos toward the Raven haired girl.
"Um thanks" Atalanta replied, happily opening the bag of chips and crunching away.
She loves Doritos. They definitely weren't enough for breakfast but they were too good to complain.
Remembering her dream the daughter of Hecate grabbed her journal out of her bag and wrote her dream down. Nightmares were usually important.
About 10 minutes after she was done eating her 'breakfast', Percy awoke.
"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."
Atalanta glanced at the 'zombie' and noticed how pale he was and how his hands were trembling.
"Are you okay?" She asked the newly awakened boy.
"How long was I asleep?" He asked instead, avoiding the question.
"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth said as she tossed him a bag of the nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."
Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink animal.
It was a pink poodle. The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously.
"No, he's not." Grover told the dog.
"Are you ... talking to that thing?" Percy blinked looking between Grover and the pink poodle in confusion.
The poodle growled.
"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."
"You can talk to animals?" Percy asked, an amazed expression taking over his face.
Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."
Percy stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on him, but she looked deadly serious.
He the turned to look at Atalanta. She nodded towards the poodle and gave a mocking wave.
"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it."
"Percy," Atalanta said. "I said hello to the poodle. Annabeth said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."
The poodle growled and bared it's teeth at Percy.
He said hello to the poodle.
Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation.
The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.
"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy tilted his head with a confused look.
"He read the signs," Grover said as if were the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh."
"Of course," Percy said, his words filled with sarcasm. "Silly me."
"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."
Atalanta knew it would never be that simple. Quests never were, but she was trying to be optimistic for the groups sake so she put on a fake smile and nodded along.
"Not another bus," Percy said warily, eyeing behind us.
"No," Annabeth agreed. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."
The group spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.
There weren't any attacks, but nobody relaxed.
Atalanta tried to distract herself with conversations with Grover or playing slide with Percy, but there was something uneasy that made the golden eyed girl feel as if they were being watched from above and maybe from below.
It was like something was waiting for the right opportunity.
The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as Percy and Atalanta had gotten off the Greyhound bus.
Percy had a wild look in his eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick, it was hard to tell.
Atalanta looked scary. She had a determined look in her eyes and her sword looked like some sort of metal pipe that was swinging towards an old lady.
To put of frankly, it made the two demigods look very bad in the eyes of the public.
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 three teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.
The young Asian girl next to him is the long lost daughter of Jonathan Mun, Atalanta Mun. Young Atalanta has been missing for eight years. She is assumed to be helping the young Jackson boy and if there is information that will help capture these delinquents please report it to the nearest police station.
"Don't worry," Annabeth told Percy. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
The rest of the day Atalanta spent alternately talking with Grover and listening to him tell stories about other satyrs or looking out the windows.
Percy couldn't decide whether to sit down or pace until he wore the floor down enough to see the tracks.
It was slightly annoying but Atalanta distracted herself by looking out of the window.
Once, she 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 the raven haired girls eye and waved.
Atalanta looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.
Another time, toward evening, the golden eyed girl saw something huge moving through the woods.
It was ginormous and Atalanta thought it looked like a lion but couldn't see enough to be sure.
Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.
The money that the group of demigods and a satyr got from Gladiola's reward was enough to buy them tickets to Denver and then they'd have to make it on their own.
Atalanta offered to pay for a ticket further but the others refused and said it would be staying in one place too long.
And while the girl somewhat agreed, staying on the train was probably safer than walking.
Walking meant interacting with more people and more people likely meant more encounters with monsters. And everyone knows that monsters and demigods don't get along well.
Since the group couldn't get berths, they dozed in their seats.
Atalantas neck got stiff but she was tired so she tried to deal with it.
Percy rested his head on the raven haired girls shoulder and she could tell he was attempting to stop his drooling.
Although the girl could still feel a patch of wetness on her shoulder, she appreciated him trying.
Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking everyone up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and Atalanta had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.
"So," Annabeth asked Percy, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"
"What do you mean?" Percy asked confused.
"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?" Annabeth interrogated, staring at the boy in question intently.
Percy took a moment to begin speaking but when he explained about the voice in the pit, Atalanta paled and furrowed her brows in thought.
Why would the voice want both of them?
Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."
"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?" Percy leaned back in his seat looking exhausted.
"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?" Annabeth thought out loud.
Percy shook his head, contemplating the dream and it's meaning.
Atalanta thought back to the furies. They were looking for something. It definitely wasn't Percy.
But they did think they had stolen it. Of course Zeus' lightning bolt is missing but they couldn't actually believe he had stolen it, could they?
It just didn't make any sense. Why would the furies be sent to find something of Zeus'. Normally Hade-
Hades! So why would Hades send the furies? And what would Percy have stol-
His helm. Of course. Atalanta felt stupid for not putting it together before. That was one of the only things that Hades would be this upset over.
Now she just had to figure out who had actually stolen the things. At least they were headed to the underworld so that she could speak to Hades.
Yeah she would just go up and talk to him right after her friends had just accused him of stealing the master bolt.
The Asian girl face palmed internally. This was a total disaster.
Suddenly Grover snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.
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- "
"This time?" Percy 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." Annabeth told him solemnly.
Atalanta snorted. "You're making our friend downstairs seem like the devil. He's actually not that bad" she informed the two demigods.
"What would you do if it was your dad?" Percy completely ignoring the Asian girl.
"That's easy," Annabeth said. "I'd leave him to rot."
"You're not serious?" Percy exclaimed incredulously.
Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on the sea green eyed boy. 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."
"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital...." Percy stuttered as he struggled to piece together a sentence.
"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." Annabeth explained impatiently.
There was a silence that followed her statement. Atalanta put her hand on the blonde's knee as to comfort her but they both knew that it's didn't help much.
"My mom married a really awful guy," Percy said while looking out of the window. "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."
Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It was the ring her father gave her.
Atalanta didn't really understand why the blonde would keep it this long if she actually hated her dad, but maybe that was because the dark haired girl and her father's relationship was beyond fixing.
Either way the young girl sympathized with the other demigod and wished they didn't have to deal with all of this.
"He doesn't care about me," Annabeth spoke up. "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?" Percy asked thoughtfully.
"Same age as when I started camp. Seven." Annabeth answered still playing with her camp necklace.
"But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself." Percy leaned forward looking to the blonde for the answer.
"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." Annabeth stated, a far away look on her face.
There was a silence that filled the train and the three demigods were all lost in their own minds.
Toward the end of the second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, the quartet passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis.
Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch.
Atalanta glanced at it and sighed. She really just wanted this quest to end already.
"I want to do that," Annabeth sighed dreamily as she stared at the Gateway Arch.
"What?" Percy tilted his head in confusion as he looked at the grey eyed girl.
"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?" Annabeth asked passionately.
"Only in pictures." Percy replied as he stared at the arch.
"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." Annabeth declared.
"You? An architect?" Percy laughed as he looked between the arch and the blonde demigod.
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."
Atalanta gave the blonde a look but tried her best to ignore the conversation. She was developing a headache and their talking was really annoying her at the moment.
"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."
"Can't we work together a little?" Percy pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"
"The chariot" Atalanta muttered as she rubbed her temples trying to make her headache feel better.
"What?" Annabeth asked turning to look at the Asian girl.
"The chariot." Atalanta replied. "Your mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."
"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?" Percy asked Annabeth but not before sending Atalanta a grateful smile.
They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.
"I suppose," she said at last, pulling her gaze away from the Arch.
They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom said that there would be a three hour layover before they would depart to Denver.
Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."
"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."
"Sightseeing?" Percy asked curiously.
"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"
Grover and Percy exchanged looks while Atalanta begrudgingly nodded her head.
Percy looked hesitant and looked toward the raven haired girl.
Said girl nodded her head and sighed giving the sea green eyed boy a strained smile.
Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."
The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long.
The quartet threaded their 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 them interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing Atalanta and Percy jelly beans, so it was slightly more bearable.
Atalanta kept looking around at the other people in line.
"You smell anything?" Percy murmured to Grover from beside the daughter of Hecate.
He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
"Are you sure?" Atalanta pushed, having a bad feeling about this place.
"I think so." Grover said but he didn't sound sure.
"Guys," Percy 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-" Percy started only to be cut off.
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place.... You mean, our friend downstairs?"
"Um, right," Percy responded hesitantly. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"
"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?" Percy asked as if it was the most shocking thing in the world.
Annabeth 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 is." Atalanta stated. "Do not underestimate the helm's power. He's not one of the big three for no reason."
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed after nodding his head in agreement with Atalanta's statement. "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?" Percy asked.
Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.
"We don't," Grover said.
"Well if he was here I would probably feel it. Also he most likely isn't." Atalanta told the group.
"Why would you say that?" Percy turned to look at the girl standing next to him.
"Why would he not just send someone else? Plus you've already said you don't have it. I just don't think he would waste his time searching for you" the Asian girl shrugged.
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy muttered. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"
From the corner of her eye Atalanta saw the nervous look that flashed on Percy's face as they approached the elevator.
He did a good job of schooling his expression but Atalanta was good at reading people.
The dark haired girl slowed down to walk next to Percy.
"There's no need to worry. You'll be ok" the golden eyed girl nudged him with her shoulder.
"What are you talking about?" Percy said quickly.
"You don't have to be embarrassed. I'm not the hugest fan of confined spaces either. We can do it together?" The girl suggested making eye contact with the boy next to her.
That was a lie. She really didn't have a problem at all with confined spaces but he didn't need to know that.
"Fine." The boy exhaled. "We're doing this together then sweets"
"Sweets?" Atalanta asked with her eyebrows raised.
"Y-yeah. I just thought it was a good nickname for you. I can stop if you don't want me to call you that." Percy stumbled over his words.
"No. I like it." Atalanta smiled at the ground as the two stopped by the elevator.
Unfortunately, the group got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.
It was weird. The dog was just allowed inside and the guards didn't say anything about it.
At first Atalanta thought that the lady might be blind or have a service dog but she looked perfectly fine to the dark haired girl.
As they started going up, inside the Arch, the elevator went in a curve, and Percy looked sick to his stomach.
Atalanta grabbed his hand and rubbed circles on the back of it, hopefully distracting him enough not to puke up his guts.
"No parents?" the fat lady asked the group.
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."
"Oh, the poor darlings." The lady replied but it sounded anything but genuine.
The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.
"Sonny. Is that his name?" Percy asked glancing between the fat lady and the dog.
He was still holding onto Atalanta's hand, but his grip had loosened and Atalanta thought it felt kinda nice.
"No," the lady told Percy. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck looked like 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 Atalanta could see that Percy was extremely uncomfortable with the small space so high in the air.
She squeezed his hand and his shoulders untensed slightly.
The whole time 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 Percy the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.
Percy let go of the raven haired girl's hand and quickly steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and as him and Atalanta were about to get in, they realized there were already two other tourists inside.
No room for them.
The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."
"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."
"No, it's okay. We'll see you guys at the bottom." Percy replied stepping back with Atalanta.
"We'll be fine." Atalanta said giving the two in the elevator reassuring looks.
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 Atalanta, Percy, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.
Percy smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.
Wait a minute.
Forked tongue?
"We need to get out of here" Atalanta pulled Percy back and away from the lady and her dog.
Before the two could get out of range from them, 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!"
His parents pulled him back, most likely noticing that something was off about the situation.
The Chihuahua bared his teeth, foam dripping from his black lips.
"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."
"Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" Percy asked.
Atalanta rolled his eyes at the question. They needed to leave right now and he was asking about what the lady called her dog.
"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."
She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, 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 blood caked 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.
Atalanta was standing, sword in hand, ready for a fight. She glanced at Percy and realized he hadn't even uncapped his sword.
The chimaera was not even ten feet away from them and any sudden movement and it would attack.
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!"
"Isn't that a kind of anteater?" Percy stared at her in confusion.
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. Percy leaped out of the way and Atalanta had to side step to avoid being hit.
The family and park ranger were all screaming and were trying to escape through the emergency exit.
Percy glanced over his shoulder at the people and Atalanta got her sword ready, knowing he was bound to do something stupid.
The son of the sea quickly ran across that deck and yelled "hey chihuahua!"
The chimera turned faster than humanly possible and before Percy could swing his sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him.
Turning away from the boy and chimera, Atalanta faced the Echidna.
"Do you really think you can take me on little girl?" The Echidna taunted.
Instead of answering the golden eyed girl swung her sword quickly to one side and then changed directions and brought it down on the monster's arm.
It didn't go through but it was enough to injure the monster.
She howled in pain and turned angrily towards the girl.
"I'll get you for that one!" The echidna yelled.
The echidna stalked toward the young girl and before she attacked she looked at where Percy was fighting the chimaera.
Fighting isn't the right term. Percy Jackson was getting absolutely demolished by the chimera and by the looks of it, he was hurt.
Noticing the snake lady was still watching the 'fight' happen, Atlanta took the opportunity to cut part of her tail off.
She screamed in pain but approached Percy and the chimera.
Atalanta took the chance to approach the raven haired boy and stood to fight next to him.
He was without a weapon and he was poisoned in one of his legs. His skin had lost most of its color and he looked like it took a lot out of him to stand.
"Get behind me." Atalanta whispered to Percy.
He carefully moved so she stood in front, while she held her sword up ready for attack.
The two were basically 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?"
The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish them off now that they were cornered.
Not taking her eye off the monster, Atalanta could see from the corner of her eye the family and the park ranger huddled together in a corner.
They were terrified out of their mind. Atalanta hoped that she would be able to save them.
Behind her Percy was trembling, whether it was from the poison or from fear, Atalanta couldn't tell.
Putting more distance from the other demigod Percy stepped to the edge of the hole.
"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."
Percy seemed to be contemplating it but Atalanta had bigger things to focus on.
The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.
"You have no faith," Echidna told Percy. "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."
Percy backed up and looked down at the water. He looked lost in thought and it definitely wasn't the time.
"You need to jump Percy." Atalanta mumbled. "You're a son of the sea, the water will help."
"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward the two
Atalanta leapt out of the way and heard Percy pray "Father, help me," before he jumped off the edge
Atalanta faced the two monsters hoping Percy was alright.
She wasn't sure that she was able to take on both monsters but she was hoping so because it was either she fight both or she die.
"All alone now. What will you do now little girl?" the echidna taunted.
"Well I was planning on insulting you but then I'd be waiting here all day for you to figure it out" Atalanta smirked back.
The echidna snarled and snapped her fingers.
Atalanta was confused at the gesture until the chimera attacked.
Atalanta leaped away just missing the attack.
She thought about how she was supposed to defeat this thing.
The girl quickly stepped out of the way of the chimera's tail but was too slow and it's claws nicked her shirt.
Bellerophon. He defeated this thing.
Not having enough time to think, Atalanta quickly ran to her left to avoid the chimera's monster breath.
Suddenly it clicked.
She need to get above it. How she was gonna do that was still a mystery but at least she knew what to do.
The fight went on with Atalanta slashing at the monster and dodging its attacks.
After dodging it's fire breath once again she made a plan.
"I expected so much more from the anteater and her little dog but I must say I'm extremely disappointed" Atalanta shook her head mockingly.
The echidna roared in outrage.
"Get her!" She screamed at her chimera.
The monster swung its claws and like expected, breathed out fire.
Atalanta took that opportunity and jumped on its back while it was unsuspecting.
As soon as it realized what happened it thrashed trying to shake the girl off of it.
Atalanta swiftly grabbed her sword and shoved it in its throat.
Standing up all that was left of the monster was it's tail and gold dust.
Out of breath and exhausted Atalanta looked to the Echidna.
The look in the monster's eyes when she looked at the now dead monster's tail was terrifying and sent a chill down the girl's spine.
"You want a fight?" The monster started, heading towards the exhausted demigod. "Then I'll give you a fight."
Before anything else could happen, the elevator sounded indicating the police had arrived.
"We'll meet again young hero" the Echidna called before running away.
Not having time to think about where the monster possibly could've gone, Atalanta grabbed the chimera's tail and made the spoil of war and herself invisible.
She needed to hurry down because with her being so exhausted she wasn't going to keep it up for long.
Eventually the elevator doors opened and Atalanta booked it out of the elevator using the last of her energy.
Atalanta soon became visible. She had the chimera tail wrapped around her neck like a scarf and the rest was tucked in her shirt.
It wasn't the most believable but it would have to do.
A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch.
Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded thee girl of Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Scanning the people, The raven haired demigod looked around for her...... friends.
After minutes of searching she finally found Annabeth and Grover.
Percy wasn't with them yet and it made her worried.
Grover turned his head and spotted the golden eyed girl.
He went in for a hug but her exhausted state and the small amount of blood he could see bleeding through her shirt stopped him.
"Where have you been? We've been waiting forever. Where's Percy?" Grover spoke extremely fast.
Atalanta was about to answer him when she heard a news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."
Survivors. Atlanta felt a surge of relief. Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely.
Walking closer to the reporters Atalanta continues to listen to the stories.
"... an adolescent boy and girl," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy and girl going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. The witnesses say the boy jumped from the observation deck and the girl killed a dog and injured its owner. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities ..."
She slowly backed away, trying to keep her head down and headed back to Grover and Annabeth.
Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.
Just as she approached Grover bleated "Perrrcy!"
"We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!" Grover said, tackling the younger boy into a hug.
Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see him. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"I sort of fell." Percy muttered
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?" Annabeth asked incredulously.
Behind the group, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher.
Both Atlanta and Percy recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the girl fought the monster and killed it." Then she saw me. "There he is! That's the boy!"
She then turned to look at Atalanta. "And that's the girl!" She shouted.
Percy turned quickly and pulled Atalanta, Annabeth and Grover after him, making sure that they disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
Percy told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.
"Yeah but I don't know what Atalanta did while I was gone" Percy added looking to the dark haired girl.
So Atlanta told them what happened after Percy jumped.
"Whoa, We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad." Grover then rounded on the Asian girl, "and you can't go fighting all types of different monsters."
Before Annabeth could respond, they passed another reporter doing a news break.
"Percy Jackson and Atalanta Mun. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy and girl who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man and woman wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy and girl are believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of the two."
They all quickly ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley. "First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"
Somehow, the group made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted.
They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver.
The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.
A/N: this chapter is a little rushed so please feel free to point out any mistakes that were made.
Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy!