(Long Chapter)

When we returned Gladiola to her family and got our reward, we hopped on a train towards Los Angeles and began relaxing. Grover was asleep, Percy and Annbeth were silent, and Logan and I were playing rock, paper, scissors. We were tied right now, 2-2. We tried to get Annabeth to play, but she refused.

Then, Annabeth suddenly spoke. "Who wants your help?"

Percy turned towards her. "Huh?"

"You don't just drool in your sleep," Annabeth told him. "Why are you here?"

Percy looked at us and immediately told us everything. I could feel Annabeth's eyes on me but said nothing.

"He offered my mother in trade," Percy continued. "Who else would do that?"

I thought it was now finally time to pay attention, which is what I half-did. "That doesn't sound like Hades," I spoke. "Yeah, he kidnapped Persephone, but even then he gave her back to Demeter with no strings attached. He wouldn't just kidnap anyone randomly if it wasn't to get anything back in return."

"I thought Demeter had to give Persephone back to Hades during the last six months of the year because she ate six pomegranate seeds," Logan asked.

"She did," I answered. "But Persephone ate them on her own accord, not because of Hades." I then turned to face Percy. "What I'm saying is, Hades wants something from you, Percy. If he didn't he wouldn't have taken her."

"But what does he want?" Percy asked. "He already has the lightning bolt, what else does he want?"

I shrugged. "Don't know, but I guess we're gonna find out when we get there."

Percy gave me a look but said nothing.

"But when the furies attacked us, they said where is 'it' not 'he'," Annabeth told us. "I assume he's talking about the bolt, but why would he be looking for something he already has?"

"Maybe he's on the 'Percy took the bolt' train just like everyone else," Logan assumed.

I hummed. "Maybe," I said.

"I don't know what the truth is," Annabeth admitted. "But if Hades has your mom, Percy, you have to wager something big to get her back."

"Like what? You can't outsmart a god."

"No," I said. "But if your suspicions are right and Hades does have the bolt, he would want something extra powerful in its place."

"No matter what it is," Annabeth spoke again. "You can't barter with Hades. He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if the kindly ones weren't as vicious this time-"

I wasn't about to talk about this anymore so I just went back to playing with Logan, who wasn't listening at all, I could tell.

"This time?" Percy asked. "You've encountered them before?"

Annabeth changed the subject. "Let's just say I have no love for the god of the dead."

I felt Percy's eyes on me. "But you're friends with his daughter."

"Yeah," Annabeth admitted. "But she's not like Hades. She actually has a heart. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."

Percy looked at me again. "What would you do if he took your mom?" he asked Logan and me.

I looked at my brother and was surprised to see him looking back at me with a mischievous grin. I swear we must be also related to Hermes from how much alike he and the Stolls look when they make a face like that.

"Don't you dare," I said to him.

"Come on! It's funny!" he begged.

"No. Don't say it!"

"Don't say what?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," we both said in unison.

I gave him a deadpan look before turning to Percy. "You started this."

Percy gave me a look back before turning back to Annabeth. "You can't be serious."

"My dad resented me the day I was born," Annabeth said. "He never wanted children, so when I showed up on my father's doorstep one day with Athena claiming that I was his daughter, all hell broke loose."

"I'm guessing you weren't born in a hospital..."

Annabeth shifted in her seat. "As you might know, I was a thought child, made from the mind of Athena. Once I was born she put me in a golden cradle and I was carried by the western wind god Zephyr. If you were my father, you would count that as some sort of miracle, right? Well, my dad didn't think of it that way. He argued with Athena, telling her that he was too busy to raise a child. Athena refused the offer to send me to Olympus, saying that demigods needed to be raised by their mortal parents. My father didn't like that and because of that, he started to resent and ignore me. After a while, he married. Married a mortal wife and had mortal children. And even then he ignored me in favor of them.

My step-mom wasn't any better either. Once when they realized what I was and monsters started showing up, she accused me of sending them, of putting her children in danger. I thought it was too much for me so one night I snuck out of the house and I ran away. I met a couple of friends along the way and we traveled to camp together. Though you might already know the outcome of that."

Percy nodded. "How old were you when you ran away?" he asked.

"The same age I was when I started camp, seven."

"Oh," Percy said. He then looked at us. We told him our story so I didn't think he was gonna ask questions, but he did. "How did you guys make it into the orphanage?"

I heard Logan let out a deep breath. "We didn't stay there until we were five. We had an uncle in Italy that we stayed with for a while. And then he died."

"And then we had a grandmother in good ole SC that we moved in with when we turned three. Then she died." I concluded. "All in all people we love tend to die on us from time to time."

"You didn't have any other relatives you could stay with?" Percy asked.

I shook my head. "My uncle's wife thought we were cursed since he died when we were with him, so that was out of the question, and our grandfather was obviously Apollo, and as Annabeth told you we could only be raised by our mortal parents. My mom didn't have any other relatives so we flew to Delaware at the age of five and stayed in Perry's Cottage for eight years. There we met Nelly and Grover and the rest is history."

Percy continued to look at us. The look he gave us was almost sympathetic. I didn't like that look at all.

"Stop looking at me like that," I said. "There are a hundred kids at Perry's Cottage. We're not special."

"Why did they send you to Delaware of all places?"

"That's where our mom had us," Logan said. "She moved from Italy to Delaware when she was twenty and stayed there until she had us. Any more questions?"

Percy went silent. He then looked back at us. "Does that mean you're part Italian?"

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I didn't even think about that. Neither did Logan.

"I guess," Logan told him. "Don't know for sure, we've never spoken Italian before."

"Never?" Percy asked. I shook my head. "Not even accidentally?"

"Nope," Logan and I said in unison.

"Wow," he said. "Have you ever wanted to learn it?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Kind of," we said.

"But I've never got around to actually learning it," I told him.

"Me either," Logan said. "Too busy with school stuff."

After that question Percy was silent. I guess he didn't have any more questions left in his system. But after a moment he did speak again.

"My mom married this man," he started. "Gabe Ugliano. He had the worst smell ever and had an even smellier attitude to go with it. Grover said that it was to protect me from the monsters that were trying to sniff me out. I guess he was right, but still. For years my mom suffered because of him. Because of me."

"Your mom sounds like a superhero," Logan chuckled. "She sacrificed so much to save her world-you. I don't know what I would've done if I was in her shoes."

"Probably kick that Gabe boy to the curb for even trying to be lazy around me," I said, causing Logan and Percy to laugh.

"Even if I could do that," Percy continued. "I can't. He's stronger than me and my mom says she can handle him, though I don't know if that's true or not. I'm just scared for her."

"It's good to be scared," I said. "It gives you the adrenaline to survive, even if you don't believe it. When the furies attacked us the first time, I was scared, though I knew I had to live, no matter what."

We were all silent for a moment. I was drifting off to sleep and I could already hear the sound of Logan's snoring next to me. I finally closed my eyes to go to sleep when I heard Percy's voice once again.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. He probably thought I was still awake, which I was.

I sighed. "And why is that?"

Percy was silent. "It feels nice to bond with someone my age. And I guess we can use someone with your seriousness for this quest. And Annabeth could use a break from Logan, Grover, and I for a bit."

I chuckled. "I appreciate your...honesty," I tell him. I then huffed. "I'm sorry for not giving you the benefit of the doubt. I was angry at first-I still am- but now I feel like Chiron was right about something. This is your quest, and I should stop trying to decide otherwise."

Percy and I were silent once again. I let out a sigh as I heard the sound of Percy snoring. It took me a while before I finally went to sleep myself.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

After about three hours we hopped off the train and decided to walk the rest of the way. We noticed the St. Louis Arch and decided to go there for a break.

Once we were inside Annabeth started rambling about the artifacts we encountered as well as how it was built. Grover started giving Percy some blue jelly beans and Logan was just playing with the water in the fountain.

"Hey, G-man," Percy said to Grover. "What do you smell?"

Grover paused and sniffed the air. "Underground," he answered. "Too many people here to tell."

Percy then walked over to the statue next to ours. "Hey, guys, doesn't Had-"

"Don't say his name out loud, Percy," Annabeth told him.

"Just say Mr. Emo," Logan said, looking up from the fountain.

Percy smirked before talking again. "Okay, doesn't 'Mr. Emo, have a magical item as well?"

"Mh-hm," I said. "Aside from his bident, he does."

"The helm of darkness," Annabeth answered. "It's kind of like my cap, but if what I heard was true-"

"It allows him to become one with the shadows," Grover said. "He can melt into shadows and blend into walls. He can't be touched, seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can make you insane or stop your heart. It's why most rational people are scared of the dark."

"I think I saw it with him during the council meeting during the Winter Solstice," I told them.

"He was there?"

"He doesn't have to be," Annabeth said. "He's only allowed on Olympus during the coldest day of the year, which is the Winter Solstice. He is banned on any other day."

"That's unfair," I muttered.

Percy looked around. "How...how do we know he's not watching us right now?"

Logan and I looked at each other and so did Grover and Annabeth. Everyone turned to me for some reason and I just shrugged.

"We don't," Annabeth answered.

"And that is creepy in itself," Logan shuddered.

"The 'blending into shadows' thing is cool though," I said. Logan pushed me, which caused me to push him back. "What? I'm not wrong. It is cool."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

We then get to the elevators and we all get shoved in with Percy, Grover, and Annabeth sitting on one side and Logan and I sitting on the other. A woman was sitting beside us and she had a dog cage with her. The animal in question was growling and barking loudly, though the woman was doing nothing about it.

I zoned out after a while and noticed a shade in the elevator with a guitar. He was playing elevator music and didn't know that I was the only one that could hear him. That annoyed me.

"I hate elevators," I groaned. "Some of them take too long and play the most annoying songs."

The shade heard me and gasped dramatically, putting his hand on his chest. "How dare you?"

I didn't talk physically, but I gave him a look that said, 'You better be lucky you're dead'. The shade huffed before turning his back towards me. At least he's not playing music anymore.

We were in the elevator for three minutes (long ass ride) when the woman finally spoke.

"What are you children doing up here by yourselves?" she asked.

Logan and I looked at each other. "Uh," he muttered. "Our parents are afraid of heights."

"All of them?"

"It's a very irrational fear," Percy joined in.

The woman nodded and turned away from us, though I could feel her eyes on me every now and then. I shuddered as I felt a cold chill run down my spine. I was never happier than I was when the elevator finally stopped and Annabeth, Grover, Percy, Logan, and I rushed out of the elevator and reached the balcony overlooking the top of the arch. We walked to one side of the railing while the woman walked to the other side.

Once we stopped walking and took a deep breath. "That elevator felt so suffocating," I groaned.

Logan nodded. "I didn't like how that lady looked at us," he then looked over to where she was. "And she's still looking at us."

I refused to look over at her and instead looked at Percy.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked. "That looks like a regular old woman to me."

Annabeth and Grover said nothing and continued to look down the arch. I looked down there as well and somehow my intrusive thoughts took over me.

"What would happen if I jumped off of this arch?" I asked out loud. Annabeth looked at me like I was crazy while Logan just shrugged.

"Don't know," he admitted.

"Why are you thinking about jumping off the arch?" Annabeth asked us.

We shrugged. "Don't know," we said.

I relaxed as the wind blew in my face like the wind god himself was blessing me with his presence. It felt nice.

However, that nice moment was cut short when a kid started laughing.

"Hey, mama!" he shouted happily. "Can I pet that puppy?"

I looked over to where the kid was pointing and noticed a chihuahua near the woman, barking at the kid. It then noticed us and started barking at us.

The woman pulled the kid away. "No," she said. "He'll bite you."

My vision then started to get blurry the longer I stared at the chihuahua. It was getting bigger and bigger the longer I looked at it.

Logan leaned closer to me. "That doesn't look like a regular dog," he whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah, I noticed," I whispered back.

What I didn't notice, however, was that Annabeth put on her cap and walked towards the fire alarm, and pulled it when no one was looking. The people started running away from the balcony and down the elevator in front of us. Grover, Annabeth, and I got in, though there wasn't enough space for Percy and Logan. I looked behind them and finally noticed that the chihuahua wasn't a chihuahua, but a big ass Chimera, and the woman behind him, Echidna.

Logan looked at the woman before looking back at us.

"Go without us," he said.

"What? No," I told him. "You are not fighting her by yourselves."

"There isn't any space for us," Percy joined in. "We'll be fine, we promise."

Logan nodded. I still didn't trust this, but I didn't have any choice.

"Be careful," I told Logan. I then tossed off my quiver and gave it to him. "You're gonna need extra ammo."

Logan nodded one more time before the elevator door closed and we were sent down to the bottom with the other people.

Grover put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I just never been this worried before," I told him. "Except for the time when we first fought the fury."

Annabeth sighed. "This is Percy and Logan we're talking about," she said. "They'll be fine...I hope."

Just her saying that made me more worried. I hope they can make it out alive.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

[LOGAN'S POV]

I am going to die!

I am really going to fight this Chimera. With ZERO fighting ability whatsoever and the only thing I did previously was kill a fury and that was nothing compared to this! Why didn't I just scooch in with them when I had the chance?

Luckily Heather gave me some extra arrows which I hope I don't lose. And Percy has Riptide. At least we have something.

Speaking of Percy, he backed up beside me as the Chimera and Echidna got closer to us. The Chimera was ready to swallow us whole but Echidna was holding him back.

"Not now, boy," she said. "We'll deal with the sons of Poseidon properly."

My hands were shaking as I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and notched my arrow. Percy uncapped Riptide and let it grow into a large bronze sword. I'm not all that great with swords so an arrow will definitely and hopefully do the trick.

Echidna laughed. "You really think a tiny sword and arrow is gonna stop me?" she asked. "Me, Echidna, mother of monsters daughter of Typhon, and-"

"This is getting boring, lady," I interrupted. "Now can we get to the fighting part? I'd like to get out of here alive, not die of boredom."

Echidna growled at me. "You are a smart-mouthed boy, son of Poseidon," she looked down at the Chimera and grinned. "Luckily for you, he loves that."

"You're talking big for the person who let people think that giant thing was a chihuahua and not a freaking rhino."

I could tell she didn't like my response, but at this point I didn't care, I just wanted her to stop monologuing. Villains always monologue, it's boring.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk since Echidna launched the Chimera straight at us. Percy and I rolled out of the way as he took a left and I dove right. I notched my arrow and let it fly, hitting the Chimera on his left cheek. The Chimera, who was originally going for Percy. Turned towards me. He opened his mouth and blasted freaking fire at me. I had to duck and roll so I wouldn't get hit by the flames.

Percy tried stabbing the Chimera, but that proved to be ineffective as he was almost blasted with fire as well. I was now behind the Chimera while Percy was still in front of him. It was a stupid plan, but I picked up three arrows and tried to fire them all at once. The first and second one hit the Chimera, but it turned to me so fast that the third one flew inches above his ear and stuck to the wall behind it and Percy.

Percy looked at me. "What is the plan?" he yelled.

"Don't die!" I yelled back. That wasn't entirely a lie. I don't know how to kill this thing, and not dying sounds like a better plan than anything else, so that was my mindset and it seemed to be working right now.

I dodged another one of the Chimera's fireballs and landed next to Echidna, who pushed me right toward the Chimera. I looked at her.

"What the hell?" I shouted before yelling as the Chimera jumped at me again. I jumped towards the balcony railing.

"Oh, sorry," she said mockingly. "I just want you to have a quick and easy death."

"Well, why aren't you helping the Chimera?" I asked as I notched another one of my arrows.

"I don't like getting my hands dirty," she grinned as I moved in next to Percy.

I scoffed but didn't say anything as I just focused on the Chimera. We were right in front of him and before we knew it the Chimera let out a huge blast of fire on the ground. Percy and I backed up quickly as the fire created a large hole that was getting bigger. The Chimera and Echidna backed away as well but just to make the hole bigger. It took him a while before he stopped. Once he did I looked back up at the monster duo.

"What was that for?" I asked.

Echidna grinned. "This," was all she said before snapping her hands.

The Chimera jumped at us and over the hole. Percy and I jumped back and since he was in front of me he bumped into me, causing my foot to almost slip down the hole. The Chimera inched closer to us as we just kept backing away.

I then looked down at the hole. I was fortunate enough to listen to Annabeth's talk about the arch and she told me that it was 630 feet. That meant if we fell, we would most certainly be either a pancake or Kool-aid, or both. I looked up at Percy to see that he was looking back at me. We were both thinking the same thing.

"So," Echidna grinned. "You have two choices, sons of Poseidon. Jump down, or let the Chimera have you for lunch. Your choice."

I winced. There is some water in front of us, but would it? We have to try.

Uh, Poseidon? I mentally prayed. Please help us. If you help us, I will never call you Dolphin Beard again, I promise. And uh, I would give you all my offering for the rest of my life. Please!

I looked back down at the hole before looking back at Echidna.

She smirked. "Well then," she said. "Any last words?"

I let out a deep breath. I looked at Percy and he was looking back at me. We both nodded at each other before looking at Echidna.

"Yeet."

We both saluted her as we grabbed onto each other and dived down the hole.

We were going about twenty miles per second to the ground. This is it, this is our end.

Please, please, please!

The wind whistled in my ears as we got closer and closer to the ground. Then, before I knew it, I saw a huge blast of water come towards us like a snake swallowing us whole. I didn't know what happened next cause I immediately blacked out and so did Percy as I realized we were in the water for a few minutes as I came to.

Once I woke up I noticed Percy holding his breath beside me. He only had a few burned spots on his shirt and pants while the entire bottom of my shirt was burned to a crisp so much so that it now looked like a tank top. Do not laugh at that.

Though I relaxed a bit. Poseidon actually answered our prayers. I guess I have to uphold my end of the bargain, but I didn't care as long as Percy was okay.

We were just floating in the water for a moment, just doing nothing until we heard a voice.

"It's nice to finally meet you, sons of Poseidon."

I looked around only to find a bunch of seaweed.

"Don't worry," the person, a woman by the sound of it, spoke again. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

I find that very hard to believe, but as the woman comes out from behind the seaweed, she just gives us a small smile.

Wait, this woman lives underwater? Wait, I heard about those, it's one of those Mythomagic cards.

She's either a nereid or naiad. But she's in the ocean, so a nereid. This is so confusing.

The nereid looked at us for a moment, still giving us her signature smile.

I finally tried to talk, almost forgetting that I can't breathe underwater, until when I actually tried to say something, I realized I could breathe underwater. This is so weird. I took a deep breath before turning to Percy, who was still holding his breath.

"Uh, you can stop holding your breath now, I think," I said. "We can breathe."

Percy didn't trust me, I could see it, but after a moment he finally gave in took a small breath, and was surprised when he saw that he could breathe. I chuckled at him.

"Okay," Percy muttered. "This is weird."

I nodded. "I know," I said before doing a double take and looking back at the Nereid. "Wait, what are we still doing here?"

The nereid grabbed my hand. "Wait, stay here for a moment," she told us.

I carefully pulled my hand back. "Okay," I dragged. "Percy, get behind me, she might curse you."

I didn't believe that, and I don't think Percy did either but he still moved to my side either way. The nereid chuckled at us.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "I come with a message from your father."

Percy and I looked at each other.

"Really?" he asked. The nereid nodded.

I know I shouldn't trust her, like at all, but if she was sent by our father then this should be somewhat interesting, right?

I sighed. "Okay," I said. "Tell us what you got."