We took the Amtrak to St. Louis. It was smoother than the bus, mostly because I didn't rip any seats out.
I spent the ride explaining to Annabeth why we were wasting our time stopping at the Gateway Arch.
"Trust me," I said, kicking my feet up on the empty seat. "I know the script. The next boss fight is the Hydra. And that's in Nashville, at the Parthenon replica. We're safe here. This is just a tourism filler episode."
Annabeth looked at me over her architecture book. "Valerius, life isn't a movie. The monsters don't follow a script."
"They follow patterns," I insisted. "The Arch is safe. I bet we just go up, look at the view, eat a soft pretzel, and leave."
Narrator Voice: I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.
The AscentThe Gateway Arch was huge. A massive silver curve slicing into the sky. As a son of Zeus, looking at it made me feel weirdly possessive. That's my dad's domain up there.
We waited in line for the elevators. It was a tight squeeze. The pods were like space capsules designed for sardines.
"I hate this," I muttered, my shoulders wedged against the curved wall. "If the cable snaps, I'm punching through the floor."
"Relax, Hercules," Percy said. He looked nervous. He was holding his backpack tight.
We reached the top. The observation deck was a narrow corridor with tiny windows. The view was incredible—the Mississippi River winding below, the city looking like a circuit board.
But my stomach had other plans.
"I need food," I announced after three minutes of looking at clouds. "My metabolism is crashing. Who wants to go down to the food court with me?"
"I'll come," Annabeth said. "I want to see the structural supports at the base."
"I'm hungry too," Grover agreed.
"Percy?" I asked.
Percy was looking at a fat lady with a rhinestone collar Chihuahua who had just squeezed out of the elevator.
"I'll catch the next car," Percy said. "It's full anyway. I want to check out the view for a minute longer."
I looked at the lady. I looked at the dog.
In the movie, there was no Chihuahua. Therefore, my brain classified them as "NPCs" (Non-Player Characters). Harmless.
"Suit yourself," I said, stepping into the elevator with Annabeth and Grover. "Don't fall off."
The doors slid shut. We began the descent.
The MistakeWe were halfway down—about three hundred feet in the air—when the elevator shook.
It wasn't a mechanical shudder. It was a boom.
A vibration traveled down the steel arch so violent that it rattled my teeth.
"What was that?" Grover bleated.
"Thunder?" Annabeth guessed.
"No," I said, my blood turning cold. I felt the static in the air. That wasn't a storm. That was a roar. "That came from above."
The Chihuahua.
The realization hit me like a physical slap. The book. I hadn't read the book, but I remembered people talking about it online. The Chimera.
"Turn it around!" I yelled at the confused tourists in the pod with us. I slammed my fist against the control panel. "Go back up!"
"We can't!" a dad in a Cardinals hat yelled. "It's automated!"
The elevator reached the bottom. The doors opened.
"Out of my way!" I roared.
I didn't wait for people to exit. I grabbed Grover and Annabeth and shoved them onto the lobby floor.
"Stay here!" I ordered.
"Valerius, where are you going?" Annabeth screamed.
"I left the Healer alone with the Boss Monster!" I shouted back.
I looked at the elevator. It was too slow.
I looked at the door marked STAIRS - EMERGENCY USE ONLY.
I kicked it. The lock shattered.
"630 feet," I muttered, staring up into the spiraling concrete darkness. "Okay, legs. Don't fail me now."
The SprintI ran.
I didn't jog. I sprinted.
Running up stairs is hard. Running up one thousand and seventy-six stairs in full bronze armor with a war hammer on your back is impossible.
Unless you're a demigod.
I took the steps four at a time. My lungs burned, but my legs felt like pistons.
Floor 10. Floor 20.
I heard another explosion from the top. The metal of the Arch groaned.
"PERCY!" I bellowed, my voice echoing up the shaft.
No answer. Just a deep, reptilian hiss that vibrated through the soles of my boots.
I pushed harder. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. This was the "Push Back" the universe promised. I tried to skip the plot, so the plot separated me from the action.
Floor 40.
My thighs were screaming. Sweat stung my eyes. I was moving so fast I was practically flying, pushing off the railings, hauling myself up.
Floor 50.
I saw the light of the observation deck door ahead. It was dented outward. Smoke was seeping under the frame.
I didn't slow down. I lowered my shoulder.
BAM.
I hit the door at full speed. It flew off its hinges, clattering onto the metal floor of the deck.
The Observation DeckThe scene was a disaster.
The narrow corridor was filled with smoke and fire. The carpet was melted.
And standing in the middle of it was the Chimera.
It was grotesque. The head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body of a goat (complete with hooves that clattered on the metal), and a tail that was a ten-foot-long diamondback rattlesnake.
It was huge—so big its back brushed the ceiling of the arch.
"Hey!" I screamed, unshipping my hammer.
The lion head turned. The snake tail hissed.
And then I saw Percy.
He was cornered. He was backed up against a shattered window. The hole was jagged, the wind from 600 feet up howling into the room.
Percy looked bad. His clothes were smoking. He was holding Riptide, but his arm was shaking. He looked poisoned.
"Val!" Percy croaked. "The tail! Watch the—"
The Chimera lunged at Percy.
"NO!" I roared.
I threw my hammer.
It was a desperation throw. Mjolnir-Lite spun through the smoke. It slammed into the Chimera's goat-flank.
CRACK.
The monster roared in pain, stumbling sideways.
But I was too far away. The hallway was too long.
The Chimera recovered instantly, snapping its jaws at Percy.
Percy stumbled back. His heel caught the edge of the broken window.
He looked at me. His eyes were wide, green, and terrified.
"Jump!" I yelled. It was the only way. "Percy, hit the water!"
Percy didn't have a choice. The Chimera breathed a column of fire. Percy let go.
He fell backward, out of the Arch.
"PERCY!"
I reached the window a second too late. I leaned out, rain and wind whipping my face.
I saw a tiny figure plummeting toward the dark, churning water of the Mississippi River.
It seemed to take forever.
Splash.
A small white plume of water. Then, nothing.
The StandoffI stood at the broken window, gripping the frame so hard the metal warped under my fingers.
He was gone. If the fall didn't kill him, the pollution probably would.
But he's Poseidon's kid, I reminded myself. Water is his safe zone. He's fine. He has to be fine.
A low growl behind me brought me back to the room.
I turned slowly.
The Chimera was blocking the exit. The lion head was drooling lava. The snake tail was rattling, dripping venom that dissolved the floor.
Echidna, the Fat Lady, stood behind it. Her rhinestone collar was gone. She looked like a nightmare.
"You interrupted my son's meal," she hissed. "That was rude."
I looked at my hammer, which was lying on the floor near the monster's hooves. I was unarmed.
I looked at the monster.
"You threw my cousin out a window," I said. My voice was very quiet.
The static in the room began to rise. The lights in the observation deck flickered and popped. The smell of ozone overpowered the smell of smoke.
"He was a snack," Echidna sneered. "You look like a main course."
I cracked my knuckles.
"Lady," I said, electricity arcing blue and angry between my hands. "I'm not a snack. I'm the indigestion."
The Chimera roared and charged.
I didn't have a weapon. I didn't have a plan.
I just had rage.
I didn't run. I stepped forward to meet it.