𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 (Annabeth X Malereader)

[13] I take a dive into the Mississippi

You think jumping from the Arch would be exhilarating. The wind ripping through your hair as you dive down to the river, the teal waters racing towards you. The truth? I was terrified. Time seemed to slow down as I jumped from the jagged hole, fire blasting me out. My mind raced as I thought of any idea to escape my death. Almost involuntarily, the fire from the Chimira's blast curved down to me. Time sped up as I fell further and further towards the river, the winds whipping though my hair. I closed my eyes, accepting my fate. But it never came.

A warm sensation rippled through my stomach, and I felt my descent beginning to level out. I opened my eyes slightly, and immediately gasped in shock. I was flying! Or rather, I was gliding. Underneath me, was a bed of flames, twisting and turning and churning. The flames seemed to lower me down closer to the water, while I levelled out, almost travelling at sprinting speed. I spread out my arms slightly smiling gleefully.

It was a shame when the fire disappeared. As soon as they had saved me, the flames died out, evaporating. So, there I was, 10 metres above the murky waters of the Mississippi. The only thought going through my mind: Aaaaggghhhhh! And then: Flaaa-boooom! A whiteout of bubbles. I sank through the murk. My face grimaced at the smell of the sludge as the water spilled around me, wetting my clothes. I managed to break the surface of the water, paddling lightly.

Looking over to my right, I could see the riverbank littered with McDonald wrappers and cups. As I trudged up the bank, a block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. A sudden warm sensation spread up my wrist. I looked down, seeing my mother's bracelet glowing brightly. The warm sensation spread all over my body, evaporating the water covering me. I smiled faintly, before I heard footsteps behind me.

There was Percy, completely dry, his pen in his hand.

"How did you . . . ?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a son of Poseidon, bud." He smirked. "I could say the same thing about you."

"I kinda . . . rode on a bed of flames . . . or something." I mumbled. Percy's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, a reporter next to us began talking loudly.

". . . two adolescent boys," the reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show two adolescent boys going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities . . ." We backed away, trying to keep our heads down. I had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.

As me and Percy, twisted and turned through the crowd, I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Perrr-cy!" Percy turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug—or goat hug. "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"

Next to me, I got tackled by another bear hug, this one from Annabeth. She tried her best not to look happy, but it was not working.

"Y/N, what on earth?! What happened?!" She exclaimed.

"We sort of fell." Percy muttered.

"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?" Behind us, 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.

"And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua —" She was saying.

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