𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃

11

'The oceans will love her, regardless of her powers.'

***

Bridget's eyes snapped open and she sat up with difficulty.

'Had a nice sleep, sleeping beauty?' Percy sassed.

Bridget looked at him with a week glare. 'Don't you dare go that way unless you want me to barbecue you.'

A little girl said, 'Mama! That boy walked out of the river.'

'That's nice, dear,' her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.

'But he's dry!'

'That's nice, dear.' 

A news lady was talking for the camera: '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 someone falling from the Arch.'

Bridget looked up at Percy who looked relieved. A small smile on her face, she got up slowly and brushed off her clothes. But the next time she looked up, she scowled when he wasn't there and was actually pushing through the crowd. 'That idiot, Eo uri.'

She and Percy tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.'... an adolescent boy,' another reporter was saying. 

'Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, some how setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities...'

Bridget side-glanced at Percy as she backed away, and saw he was doing the same. They had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere. 

Just then, a familiar voice called them; well, more like called Percy. 'Perrr-cy!'

They turned and Percy got tackled by Grover's bear hug - or goat hug. He said, 'We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!'

Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me. 'We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?'

'I sort of fell.'

'Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?'

'Thanks for asking guys, I'm just fine,' Bridget muttered, rolling her eyes with a hurt look. Percy glanced at her and noticed that.

Behind, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" 

The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, 'And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua - '

'Okay, ma'am,' the paramedic said. 'Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in.'

"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole - taking a girl with him - and the monster disappeared." Then she saw Percy. 

"There he is! That's the boy!" Percy and Bridget turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd.

"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"

Percy told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message. Bridget, meanwhile, was still thinking about Echidna's words.

'Whoa,' said Grover. 'We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad.'

Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracks when he said, 'Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to betraveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson.'

The group ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley. 

'First things first,' Percy told Grover. 'We've got to get out of town!'

Meanwhile, Bridget looked at the news channel as they showed the photo and frowned when she realized they hadn't even mentioned a girl.

'Bridget?' She turned and saw Annabeth, who frowning. 'C'mon.'

'Yeah, right,' Bridget nodded abruptly. Following Annabeth, she looked back at the news channel before back in front of her.

Just what am I?

Somehow, the quartet made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind.