Running the Gauntlet

I get blood in the cut

Garden

What do I do? What do I do?

I was out of control, I felt like I was falling but I was a couple hundred feet above the Arch. I was terrified.

Percy jumped and probably died on impact. I don't know what happened to that family and that park ranger, I don't know what's happening with Grover and Annabeth or if there are any more monsters around and I don't have any control of what's happening.

I suddenly felt myself start to fall 'my' wings flapping their best to keep me in the air.

Am I going to die? I don't want to.

I'm scared.

"Hey. You need to relax." I heard a familiar voice say, it was what a thought sounded like.

"Look I didn't want to talk to you for a bit longer, but this is dire." The voice said.

"Okay. I'm listening."

"Look, you need to relax, panicking is the last thing you need to do right now."

I steadied my shaking breath as best as I could.

"Alright good now you need to position yourself so your feet are facing the ground and your arms are out by your side, like when you fall and try to get your balance." The voice explained carefully.

I did what he said.

"Okay now for the most important part."

"Hurry up, the ground is coming soon!" I yelled.

"Don't try to think about your wings, they are like extra arms. Just move them like you would your arms and legs." The voice examined calmly.

I stopped thinking about them and just felt them, and they began to stop flapping.

"Great, now put them out."

I spread my wings out and my descent basically stopped. I let out a breath of air I didn't know I was holding.

"Good job kiddo, now we won't talk again for some time."

"Uh thanks random voice in my head."

My adrenaline was wearing off. I felt like my heart was going a mile a minute. First the fight and then that, this quest can't get worse.

After a bit of finagling myself down to the ground I tried to land a bit off from the Arch which wasn't too hard and try to find the others and hopefully not Percy's corpse.

I felt a stinging on my face and touched the area where it hurt and when I touched it hurt a lot. I pulled my hand away and hissed, my fingers had blood on them.

Oh yeah the Chimera scratched me.

I looked around and noticed all the flower petals around me. I couldn't tell what type they were off the bat but I probably could. They were a mix of red, gray and dull yellow.

I looked at the Arch and saw police cars surrounding it and police helicopters surrounding the air around it. In fact it looked like a helicopter was flying towards the area I was at. I quickly left and went towards the Arch.

Somehow I evaded the helicopter. I'm not sure how it lost me.

I got close enough to hear a reporter.

"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 two someones falling from the Arch." I hope Percy is okay.