Always Protect

The three demigods strolled through downtown. Annabeth led the way, determined to see the Gateway Arch, to ride to the top. It was no secret she was interested in architecture and apparently the arch was a masterpiece. Percy and Castor agreed to go because she was their friend but also because she may have bribed them with food.

Percy was relying on Castor's hand on his arm to avoid walking into people or traffic as he attempted to read a map of the city.

"Annabeth, could you help me out? I grew up in Surrey and geography was never my strong suit, I don't understand American cities."

"And you assume I do?"

"Well you grew up over here and even your accent is slightly American. You probably know more than me."

"Well I spent all my time hiding in forests and parks from monsters and living at Camp. That didn't exactly give me time to try riding the subway."

"Hang on," Castor interjected, looking at the girl in the group quizzically. "If you grew up here in America, how did you end up going to Hogwarts instead of Ilvermorny?"

The three of them arrived at the monument's base and paused to let Percy put his map into the bag that Annabeth had on her back.

"Maybe I'll tell you later. For now, we're gonna ride to the top." She said, sounding a bit dazed.

Sure there was nothing magical about it like Hogwarts or MACUSA Headquarters but it still amazed her what could be accomplished. That something so permanent could be built. That was her dream. In a way, she was more amazed by certain muggle constructions than wizarding ones as they had to be built without the help of magic. With magic one could cut corners, fix any mistakes with a flick of their wand. In the muggle world, the mortal world, there was a concentrated effort required in the creation of buildings, monuments.

Seeing as it was later in the day, the lines to get in weren't too long. They had to go through the underground museum and while the boys weren't super interested in the covered wagons and other objects from the 1800s, Annabeth was very enthusiastic and kept a running commentary of facts about how the arch was constructed so they humored her by keeping their boredom to themselves.

Percy's skin itched and he felt out of place, much like he had deep within the caverns of Gringotts. It felt like they shouldn't be here. He supposed it must be due to his parentage. Either way, he watched their surroundings carefully, it wouldn't be the first attack on this quest in front of mortals.

The Son of Poseidon found himself twirling Riptide (in pen form) in his hands as they approached the tiny little elevator car they were to ride to the top. They were wedged in with a larger woman that reminded Percy of Marge Dursley, and her Chihuahua, the tiny dog wearing a rhinestone collar. He'd had bad experiences with fat ladies and dogs.

The elevator started going up, it probably would've upset Percy's stomach with the weird curved nature of the ride if he'd never been to the Wizarding bank where you had to ride the weird rickety roller coasters to get to your vault.

"No parents?" the woman asked, her beady eyes locked on them as she smiled with pointy, coffee-stained teeth.

"They're below," Annabeth said, confident in her ability to lie. "Scared of heights."

Percy refrained from scoffing. With Zeus currently wanting his head on a platter, he was feeling pretty uncomfortable with heights as it was now.

"Oh, the poor darlings."

Castor smiled tightly but started as the dog growled.

"Now, now, sonny. Behave." the woman crooned.

"Sonny. Is that his name?" Castor asked, a bit shaky as he eyed the dog, unwilling to risk it attacking when he looks away.

"No." she said simply, not supplying any further explanation.

At the top of the arch they were let out onto the observation deck where there were windows overlooking the city on one side and the river on the other. Percy tried his best to stay closer to the center of the room while Annabeth wandered around, taking note of what she would have done differently had she been the one designing it.

Castor joined him after a little while, making sure his shades were in place.

"You alright, Perce?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just not a huge fan of being so high up with the man upstairs so upset."

The violet eyed boy's brows furrowed as he thought about it.

"You've got a point, I think I'll just stay here with you."

Eventually the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes. The three of them made their way towards the exit, Annabeth rolling her eyes at the antics of the boys.

"Hey, we're not crazy, we're literally on a quest to essentially calm down the man upstairs!" Castor hissed at her.

"Yeah but he's not about to blow up an important mortal monument just to get rid of some kids. Besides, why would he stop us from trying to bring his property back?"

"Well maybe because we don't actually have it?"

"Guys," Percy interrupted, "public place, remember?"

The blonde demigods huffed but entered the elevator. Percy was about to follow but there were two other tourists inside. His friends offered to get off and wait up there with him but looking back at the fat woman, the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. Not wanting his friends in danger, Percy waved them off.

As the elevator closed, the only ones left on the observation deck were the park ranger, a young boy with his parents, Percy, and the lady with her pet. Percy looked down at his pen which he continued to fiddle with when he saw the lady's forked tongue flicker between her teeth out of the corner of his eye. Forked tongue.

Before he could really process that, her Chihuahua started yapping at him and jumping up and down.

"Now, now, sonny," she said sweetly. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" the little boy said. "Look, a doggie!"

His parents pulled him back.

Zeus may not be willing to destroy a monument in clear view of the public just to kill one demigod, but monsters didn't care about that.

"Well son, if you insist."

"Did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" Percy said quietly, eyes fitting over to the mortals in the room.

"Chimera, dear," she corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

She rolled up the sleeves of her lumpy denim dress revealing scaly, green skin. Her teeth were fangs and her pupils were sideways slits like a reptile's.

Percy silently thanked whoever was listening that Castor and Annabeth were safe below as the Chimera grew in size, its bark getting louder, turning to a roar.

The little boy screamed and was pulled by his parents to the exit. The creature had the head of a lion, its mane caked with blood, its body was that of a goat and a snake took the place of a tail. The sparkly collar still hung around its neck but the tag was now big enough to read. 'CHIMERA - RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS - EXT. 954'

Percy was frozen in front of it, knowing that it was ready to attack at the slightest movement. His thumb rested near his sword's cap, ready to flick it off.

The woman hissed a laugh.

"Be honoured, Perseus Potter. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

Scratch what they had said about the King of the Gods not doing something to kill him around mortals. He was so not letting Annabeth live this one down.

"Hang on," Percy said, unable to help himself. "Isn't that a type of anteater?"

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green much like Percy's Uncle had turned red when he got angry.

"I hate it when people say that!" She hissed. "I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Perseus Potter, my son shall destroy you!"

All too aware of the mortals struggling to pry open the emergency exit, Percy dodged away from them, uncapping his sword as the Chimera charged at him. Then, to ensure that it wouldn't try to turn on them, Percy did something stupid.

"Hey, Chihuahua!"

Considering it took up much of the room, it turned much faster than he thought it would and he didn't have time to even swing Riptide before a column of flames was coming at him. Rolling just in time, a hole was blasted into the side of the arch.

Percy lunged forward, swinging his sword but it simply sparked off the rhinestone collar. He swung again and managed to cut the monster but he was so busy focusing on the lion head that he forgot about the snake tail. With one bite his leg felt like it was burning and he was quickly overpowered, his sword falling out of the arch and down to the river below.

The snake wrapped around his ankles, tripping him and leaving him to crawl back.

"They just don't make heroes like they used to." Echidna chuckled.

Stumbling to his feet, Percy backed into the hole. He could feel the serpent's poison being pumped through his veins up towards his chest. His head ached but that was not a new feeling. Looking past his opponents, Percy saw the little family and the park ranger, all of them terrified. He silently wondered if they would be left alone if he died. Harry would stay in the underworld if he died, though maybe the others would go save him anyway. Either way, Percy didn't have anywhere to go. 

"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump Perseus Potter. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."

If a person jumps from high enough they would hit water like they would asphalt. They'd be crushed on impact.

"You have no faith," Echidna said, stating it like a fact. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."

And she was right, he was dying. His breath slowing. No one could save him. He backed up farther and looked over his shoulder, down at the river, the afternoon sunlight bouncing off the water.

"Die, faithless one." Echidna rasped.

Before the Chimera shot another column of flame at him, Percy silently prayed to his father for help, said a verbal 'bugger this' and as the heat rushed towards him, he turned and jumped.

Poison in his veins, fire on his clothes, Percy plummeted down to the river.