☽
                         

THEY were miserable that night. They camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers. They'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. The furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day, even for Pandora. They didn't want to attract anything else. They decided to sleep in shifts.

Pandora and Percy volunteered to take first watch. The others curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as their heads hit the ground. Sleeping close together for some kind of warmth. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," Percy told him. "We'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me, Percy, Dory."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy questioned, "Yes, it makes me sad and i didn't even sign up for this crap." They looked toward Daphne who was awake, moving to sit next to Percy and Pandora. "Sorry." The siblings both apologized with sheepish smiles.

The girl just patted their backs, "No. This makes me sad." Grover pointed to all the garbage on the ground, they glanced around as Grover continued. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr." Pandora glanced up at the sky, feeling some sort of tightness in her chest at the sight. "Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

Pandora huffed and rolls her eyes at her brother, "He's got a point, y'know?" Daphne spoke up, "Humans destroying the only home they've got." Grover nodded, glaring at Percy. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast..ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, i'll never find pan."

"Pam?" Pandora and Percy said in sync, "Like the cooking spray?" Daphne snorted, "Pan!" Grover cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god pan! What does you think i want a searcher's license for?"

"To search things?" Pandora pursed her lips, staring at the satyr, who looked at her, asking if she was serious, but he shook his head, knowing she was. A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly Pandora and Percy was feeling nostalgic for something they'd never known.

"Tell us about the search," Percy said, Daphne nodded, sitting up slightly, looking interested. Grover looked at them cautiously, as if he were afraid they were just making fun.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," He told them. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wild places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher?" Daphne questioned, He nodded. "It's my life dream," He said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand..the statue you saw back there —"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But i'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"I'm sorry," Pandora furrowed her brow, "The first?" She asked in disbelief, Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"None." Pandora stared at grover, lips parted, "But you still want to go," Percy said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?" He asked.

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened." Percy stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was He and Pandora any better?

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" Percy asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"And the lord of the Underworld at that. He scares me." Daphne mumbled with a shrug, "But hey, i'm sure he's not that bad. But bubble guppy's actually has a point. How are we getting there." Percy furrowed his brow at the nickname.

"I don't know," Grover admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you three were searching her office? Annabeth, Midas and Leah were telling me —"

"Oh, i forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." Percy said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me.." He voice faltered.

"Yeah, Percy, don't be so hard on her. Don't see you being hard on midas." Percy glared at Daphne who smiled innocently. "Because he's less bossy and annoying." Pandora sighed quietly, toying with her ring before she looked up at Grover.

"Forgave you? Forgave you for what?" Suddenly, The satyr seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes. "Wait a minute," Pandora said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth and Leah has been at camp five years. They wasn't..i mean, your first assignment that went wrong —"

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if Pandora pressed him. "But as i was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth, Leah, Midas and i agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that hades took."

"That's not what i mean," Grover said. "The fur— The kindly ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy..why did she wait so long to try and kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been." Pandora frowned.

"They seemed pretty aggressive to me." Percy nodded, Grover shaking his head at them. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?"

"Asking about us," Percy said. "Maybe.. But the others and i, we all got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object.p

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt.." He was looking at Pandora and Percy like he was hoping for answers but they didn't have any.

They both thought about what Medusa had said: They were being used by the gods. What lay ahead of them was worse than petrifaction. "We haven't been straight with you," Percy told. "We don't care about the master bolt. We agreed to go to the Underworld so we could bring back our mother..and our mama if she's there."

Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him." Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, i'm not as smart as Annabeth and the other two. I'm not brave as you three. But i'm pretty good at reading emotions.

"Aw. You think i'm brave, satyr boy? I don't know about the other two, but. Thank you." Pandora and Percy looked at each other, rolling their eyes as Grover continued. "You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."

"Huh. That would've been brilliant." Pandora muttered, sighing before she laid on her back as the others continued to talk. "Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."

Grover pulled his feet up into the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."

"Besides, i haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west." Grover looked up at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take the first watch, huh? You guys get some sleep."

"No, thanks, hoofster. Gotta make my mama proud. Just kidding, but i am going to practice spells somewhere over there, if i get kidnapped i'll holler." Daphne stood up with a stretch, and walked away just a few meters behind them where Grover could see her.

Percy wanted to protest, remembering what grover said about him taking the first watch but the satyr started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and Percy turned away, his eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, he and his sister were asleep.

In their dreams, they stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Gray mist creatures churned all around them, whispering rags of smoke that they somehow knew were the spirits of the dead. They tugged at Pandora and Percy's clothes, trying to pull me back, but i felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm. Looking down made them dizzy. The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, they knew it must be bottomless. Yet they had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.

The little heroes, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do. The voice felt ancient — cold and heavy. It wrapped around them like sheets of lead. They have misled you, boy, girl, it said. Barter with me. I will give you what you want:  shimmering images hovered over the void: their mothers, both frozen at the moment they'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Sally's face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at them, pleading: Go! Their mama's eyes were wide, as if she were caught by surprise, confirming she was taken by hades.

They tried to cry out, but their voices wouldn't work. Cold laughter echoed from the chasm. An invisible force pulled them forward. Air would drag them into the pit unless they stood firm. Help me rise, boy, girl. The voice became hungrier. Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!

The spirits of the dead whispered around them, No, Wake! The images of their mothers began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around them. They realized it wasn't interested in pulling them in. It was using them to pull itself out. Good, It murmured. Good.

Wake! The dead whispered around. Wake!

Someone was shaking them. Their eyes opened, and it was daylight. "Well," Annabeth said, "The zombies lives." They were still trembling from the dream. They could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around their chests. They glanced at each other, silently asking if they had the same dream again. "How long were we asleep."

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed them two bags of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar, "Not the breakfast i was expecting but, okay." Pandora muttered and sat up.

"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend." Their eyes had trouble focusing. Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal. No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle. The poodle yapped at them suspiciously. Grover said, "No, they're not."

Percy blinked and Pandora furrowed her brow. "Are you..talking to that thing."

"It's..scary-looking." Pandora muttered. The poodle growled. "This thing," Grover warned, "Is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, Dory, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy and Dory" The siblings turned to annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on them, but she looked deadly serious.

"I'm not saying hello to that thing," Pandora shook her head, placing a chip in her mouth. Percy nodded, agreeing with his sister. "Forget it."

"Percy, Pandora," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growled.

Percy said hello to the poodle but Pandora still refused, "No, it has a bad attitude." The poodle growled again. Annabeth sighed as 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 asked. "He read the signs." Grover said. "Duh."

"Of course he can read signs. Wonder what else this pink poodle can do." Leah, Midas and Daphne returned from what looked to be a walk, and sat on a blanket. "So we turn Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple." Pandora and Percy thought about their dream — the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in chasm, and their mothers faces, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.

"Not another bus," Percy said warily. "No," Annabeth agreed. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks they hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

☽

They spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through the hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. They weren't attacked once, but Pandora and Percy didn't relax. They felt that they were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.

Percy and Pandora tried to keep a low profile because their names and pictures were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as they got off the Greyhound bus. They had a wild look in their eyes. Their swords a metallic blue in their hands. It might've been a baseball or a lacrosse stick.

The picture's picture read: Twevle-year-old Percy and Pandora Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of their mother two weeks ago, is shown here feeling from the bus where they 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 and girl may be traveling with five teenage accomplices. Their stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to their capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told them. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the day they spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because they had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows. Once, they stopped 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 their eye and waved. Pandora and Percy 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 the evening, they saw something huge moving through the woods. They 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 in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Their reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so they dozed in their seats. Percy's neck got stiff. He tried not to drool in his sleep, since Midas was sitting next to him. His sister's head on his shoulder as she tried to sleep but Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking both of them up. Once he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. The four demigods had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed. Leah and Daphne were fast asleep, leaning against each other for support.

"So," Annabeth asked them, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?" Pandora furrowed her brow and looked at Percy who looked just as confused as her. "What do you mean?"

"When you were asleep just now, you both mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Which is kinda..creepy." Midas muttered, "Who were you two dreaming about?" He asked. Pandora and Percy were both reluctant to say anything. It was the second time they'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered them so much they finally told Midas and Annabeth.

They were both quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"He offered our mothers 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 always has it?" Pandora and Percy both shook their heads, wishing they knew the answer. They thought about what Grover had told them, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something.

Where is it? Where?

Maybe Grover sensed their emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head. Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns.

"Percy, Pandora, 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 ran into them before?"

Annabeth's 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 Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your moms."

"What would you do if it was your dad?" Pandora spoke up, staring at the blond. "That's easy," She said. "I'd leave him to rot." Pandora made a face and looked at the other two boys before looking back at Annabeth.

"You can't be serious." Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on Pandora. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhounds. "My dad's resented me since the day i was born, Pandora," 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 parents.

"But his..i mean, i guess you weren't born in a hospital.." Percy said, trailing off, "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 of something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it was the most inconvenient thing that ever happened to him. When i was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend i didn't exist."

Pandora frowned, staring out the window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. She wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but she didn't know how "Our mom married a really awful guy," Percy told her.

"Though, our mama didn't like him one bit. I think he hated her because she lived with him and would constantly bad talk him — he was happy she didn't come back home one day after she went out to an art museum." He looked down before shaking his head. "Grover said she did it to protect us, to hide me and dory 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 occurred to them that the ring must be her father's. They 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?" Pandora straightened herself, glancing down at her ring for a moment then looked back at Annabeth. "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."

They wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. They glanced at Midas, fully expecting him to share his story too. "Oh, thank you, but no." The siblings opted to just listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of ohio raced by.

☽

Towaed the end of their second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, they 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 Pandora, Daphne and Percy like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the dirt. "I want to do that." She sighed.

"What?"

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

"Only in pictures." Pandora shrugged, "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."

The siblings snickered. "You? An architect?" They don't know why, but they 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."

Pandora snickered again, Percy sighed and watched the churning brown water of Mississippi below. "Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" He 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 crest waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?" He asked. They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel. "I suppose," She said at last. They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told them they'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 spoke. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," She said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?" The others exchanged looks. Percy wanted to say no, but he figured if Annabeth was going, they couldn't very well let her go alone.

Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters." Daphne nodded, "Agreed,"

The arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. They 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 and Daphne kept passing them jellybeans, so they were okay.

Percy and Pandora kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" Percy murmured to Grover. The satyr took his nose out the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," He said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

But something felt wrong to them. They had a feeling they shouldn't be here. "Guys," Pandora spoke, "You know the gods' symbol 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, Hades —" Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place..You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," Pandora nodded, "Harold D..doesn't he have a hat like Annie Beth?" Daphne, Percy and Leah snickered at the nicknames and Annabeth glared at all of them.

"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Midas said. "Yeah, that's his symbol. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" Percy asked. 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 allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed, and Midas nodded once again. "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, The others exchanged looks. "Good question. We don't," Pandora furrowed her brow and sighed.

"Thanks, that makes us feel a lot better," She said then looked to Grover and Daphne. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"

Pandora and Percy almost managed their jumpy nerves when they saw the tiny elevator car they were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and they knew they were in trouble. they hate confined spaces. They make them nuts.

Grover, Leah, Midas and Annabeth went into another elevator car while Daphne, Pandora and Percy got shoehorned into the car with a lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. They figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.

They started going up, inside the Arch. They'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and their stomachs wasn't too happy about it.

"No parents?" The lady asked them. 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.

The trio shared a look, before Daphne glanced back at the woman. "They're below," She told her. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growled. Which made the trio move away from the dog. "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious. Percy said, "Sonny, is that his name?"

"No," The lady told them. The trio shared looks again as the woman smiled, as if that cleared anything up.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded Percy 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 he and Pandora like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet up in the air. They were 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 them the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes. They both steered the others toward the exit, loaded them into elevators, Daphne, Leah and Midas had already went down.

They were about to get in the elevator with Grover and Annabeth when they realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for them. The park ranger said, "Next car, Sir, Ma'am."

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you." But that was going to mess up everybody up and take even more time, so Percy 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 them, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger and the lady with her Chihuahua. Pandora pulled Percy away from the lady as they smiled uneasily at her. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?

Before they could decide if they'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started tapping 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. The Chihuahua bared his teeth at Percy and Pandora, foam dripping from his black lips. The siblings moved away again. "Well, son," The lady sighed. "If you insist."

Pandora and Percy shared a look, ice forming in their stomachs. "Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," The lady corrected. "Not 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, they saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways 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 lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of 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.

They realized they hadn't even took out their swords. Their hands were numb. They were ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and they knew that as soon as they moved, the creature would lunge. The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter.

"Be honored, Percy and Pandora Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test heroes with one of my brood. For i am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

The siblings stared at her. All they could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

"My dad sent you? surely he could've done better." Percy and Pandora snickered quietly, nudging each other as Echidna howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy and Pandora Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"

"Okay, not so funny anymore!" The chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. They managed to leap aside and dodge the bite. They ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. They couldn't let them get hurt. They took out their swords, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than they would've thought possible.

Before they could swing their swords, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue out, and shot a column flame straight at them. They dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off their eyebrows. Where they had been standing a moment before was ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

Great, Percy thought.They just blowtorched a national monument. Storm and Riptide were now shining bronze blades in their hands, and as the Chimera turned, they slashed at its neck. That was their fatal mistake. The blades sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. They tried to regain their balance, but they were so worried about defending themselves against the fiery lion's mouth, they completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its fangs into both of their calves.

Their whole legs were on fire. They tried to jam Riptide and Storm into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around their ankles and pulled them off balance, and their blades flew out of their hands, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.

They managed to get to their feet, but they knew they had lost. They were weaponless. They could feel deadly poison racing up to their chest. They remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos and Keraunos would always return to them, but there was no pen or ring in their pockets. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form and ring form. They didn't know, and they weren't going to live long enough to figure it out. They back 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 beaten. They glanced back at the parker ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. They had to protect these people. They couldn't just.. die. They tried to think, but their whole bodies were on fire. Their heads felt dizzy. They had no swords. They were facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And they were scared.

There was no place else to go, so they stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered. If they died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?

"If you are the son of Poseidon and Daughter of Zeus," Echidna hissed, "You would not fear water, or falling. Jump, Percy and Pandora Jackson. Show me that water or the sky will harm you. Jump and retrieve your swords. Prove your bloodline."

Yeah, right, They thought. They'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple stories up was like jumping into solid asphalt. From here, they'd splatter on impact. The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.

"You have no faith," Echidna told them. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little cowards. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart.

She was right, they were dying. They could feel their breath slowing down. Nobody could save them, not even the gods. They backed up and Percy looked down at the water. He remembered the warm glow of his father's smile when he was a baby. He must have seen him. He must have visited him when he was in his cradle. He remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above his head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed him 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, fatherless ones," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward their faces.

"Percy —" Pandora started, "Father, help us," Percy prayed before he grabbed his sister's hand, turning and jumping. Their clothes on fire, poison coursing through their veins, they plummeted toward the river.

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