Daughter Of Lightning - Book 1(Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)

CHAPTER 18

(Percy's POV)

We pull into the Amtrak station. The intercom told us we had a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. I woke Nora up.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "We're going sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This maybe my only chance to ride to the top. Are you guys coming or not?"

Grover, Nora & I exchanged looks. I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn’t very well let her go alone.

Grover shrugged. "As long as there’s a snack bar without monsters." Nora agreed with him.

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren’t that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons & other junk from the 1800's.

It wasn’t that thrilling, Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about the Arch, & Nora passed me blue jelly beans, so I was okay.

I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover. He stuck his nose up.

"Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air smells like monsters. Probably doesn’t mean anything."

But something felt wrong to me. I felt like we shouldn’t be here. I held Nora's hand. She gave my hand a squeeze & I relaxed.

"Guys," I said. "You know the gods’ symbols of power?" Annabeth was in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, she looked over.

"Yeah?"

"Well, Hade-"

Nora cleared her throat. "We’re in a public place...You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," I said. "Our friend downstairs. Doesn’t he have a hat like Annabeth?"

"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Nora said. "Yeah, that’s his symbol of power. We saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" I asked.

She 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 her invisibility hat, if what I’ve heard.."

"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can’t be touched, or seen, or heard. And he radiates fear so intense it drives you insane or stops your heart. Why'd you think all creatures fear the dark?"

"But then...how do we know he’s not here now, watching us?" I asked. Nora looks at me.

"We don’t," She said.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"

I’d almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, & I knew I was in trouble.

I hate confined places. They make me nuts. We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.

I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said anything. We started going up, inside the Arch.

I’d never been in an elevator in a curve, & my stomach wasn’t happy about it. Nora rubbed a soothing thumb over my knuckles in reassurance. I gave her a grateful smile in return.

"No parents?" the fat lady asked us. She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; floppy denim hat, a denim dress that bulged so much, just like a blue-jean blimp.

"They’re below," Annabeth told. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growls. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave."

The dog had beady eyes like its owner. I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told me.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me 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 I like less than a confined space, a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, & how she would’ve made bigger windows, & see-through floors.

She probably could’ve stayed there for hours, but luckily the park ranger said, the observation deck was closing in few minutes.

I steered Grover, Nora & Annabeth toward the the elevator, & was about to get in, when I realize there were already two tourists inside. No room for me.

The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."

"I’ll get out," Nora said. "I can wait with you."

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said.

"Naw, it’s okay. I’ll see you at the bottom."

"Promise, you'll come back to me?"

"I promise, Nora."

She was reluctant, but let the elevator door slide shut. The car then went down the ramp.

The only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy & his parents, the park ranger, & the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

I smile uneasily at the fat lady. She smiles back, her forked tongue flickered between her teeth. Wait a minute. Forked tongue?

Ooh a cliffhanger ;) don't worry though I will update soon.

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Take care my lovely readers.❤
Alice signing off.
XOXO.