Always Protect

Chapter 30

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 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.