A/N: Well, since I got a review question about this, I'd better answer it here for those who were wondering the same thing. The celestial bronze grenades are gone, you won't see them again. I just needed something to kill the Hydra with, so I came up with that. And for the source of my inspiration for using grenades, read Pulse by Jeremy Robinson. Also, Alex and Annabeth are going to be translating the first three lines of Phoebe's prophecy, so here's the transliteration in italics as they would read itso you can follow along.

Delpiratsongaramhitriyd

Vaarabaratsonamarrek

Mystery Boy:

The Alexander Chronicles

Part X: Trouble in the Mile-High City

"You say that like you don't like me boy. Why?"

"Let's just say that Athena and I have something in common. We hate stupid brutality. And worthless old soldiers."

"WHAT! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

"He didn't mean it lord Ares." Annabeth then turned and whispered to me, "Listen, you really don't want to get the gods mad at you, especially him. And no matter how much I agree with you, I can't let you insult him to his face. Now, why are you here?"

"I need you to do me a favor. I took my girlfriend on a date to a waterpark in Denver, and I left my shield there. I'd like you four to get it for me."

Percy seemed to like him almost as much as I did. "We're not interested. We've already got a quest."

"I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"Really?"

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. Recognized it immediately. In a way, you've got me to thank for your quest." Hmm, it sounded to me like a trick he might use. I wondered if Ares had something to do with the theft. Like he said, he should have been able to sniff out the Bolt. "Listen, just do my little job and I'll arrange for you guys to get a free ride west. I'll even tell you about your mom, cousin."

"Wait, my mom?"

"That got your attention. The water park is a mile west of the city on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride." After that, he just disappeared. After a bit of deliberation, we eventually decided to go after the shield, especially considering we didn't have enough money to get from St. Louis to Vegas to LA, but getting to Denver and then Vegas to LA we could almost certainly do.

While on the ride to Denver, I opened up Phoebe's scroll and started to work on translating it. "Need any help?"

"Hey, Annabeth. And no, not unless you can read Hebrew. Unfortunately I don't think that our parents thought we'd need to read it."

"What are you reading that's in Hebrew?" So I told her about how I'd followed Percy to the Oracle and how she'd handed me the prophecy. "Well, you're right about one thing, I can't read Hebrew, but could you teach me some basic words so I could help out?"

"That might help, but there are two problems. One, Hebrew uses a different alphabet. Two, it's written in the style of the ancients, which means there are no spaces between the words, so I don't see how you'd be able to help much." Luckily for her, I'm an easy target for a good pout and I gave in. To help her out, I transliterated the lines into Greek so she'd be able to read it better. "Alright, now for your first Hebrew lesson, I'll teach you two basic words, ha and va. Ha is and, va is the. And watch for -im, that usually indicates a plural."

Well, she found ha and -im fairly quickly, but in context, it made no sense. "Alex, what does haelohim mean?"

"Haelohim? It would usually translate to 'the God' but I've never run across something being put in front of the name of God before. Are you sure that's what it reads?" She nodded yes, but I had to be sure. Well, she was right. "Hmm, why would the Oracle put something in front of the name of God?"

"Is it really that big of a deal?"

"Actually, yes. I'll give you an example. In Deuteronomy, you find Israel's declaration of monotheism. Shma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. It literally translates to 'Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One.' Did you ever hear me say ha?"

"No, but wait, I thought you said that -im is a plural. Why did you translate it 'God?'?"

"That's a long story, but El or Elohim can translate as God. Wait a minute! The Oracle wouldn't be talking about God; it would be talking about the gods, the Olympians!"

"And what about this -im near the beginning?"

"Hmm, looks like that could be 'seven seals.' And kashar is bind, huratson, no; it's hu ratson, who shall. Okay, that's an interesting beginning, Seven seals bind he who shall . . . who shall end the gods."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately. Any luck on the second line?"

"No, but the first few letters look like it might be Delphi."

"Hmm, Delpi. Yeah, that's probably how it would have been written. Garam hitriyd. Okay, the second line reads Delphi shall cause worry."

"What's vaarabah?"

"And four. Hmm, Amar rek. Okay, the first three lines read: Seven seals bind he who shall end the gods, Delphi shall cause worry, And four shall stand empty. Sounds like trouble's coming for the Oracle."

"I wonder why the first line doesn't rhyme with anything."

"I don't know, but there's probably a reason. I just hope we can figure out what these seals are before they're broken.

We stopped work until Denver, and we actually found the waterpark fairly easily, thanks to an eagle. Soon after we got to Denver, a golden eagle landed in front of me and asked me, Do you need help, my lord? "Hey, did you guys hear that?" Percy and Annabeth just looked at me like I was crazy. The son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena cannot hear me, my lord. Ookay, well in that case, "Can you lead us to Waterland Park?" Easily, my lord. "And please stop calling me that." Whatever you say, my lord. Great, I never knew eagles to have a sense of humor.

The first thing they did when we got to the park was get some fresh, clean clothes. I would've joined them, except for two things: one, I hated their clothes, and two, I still had the bag I brought with me from camp, so I still had two spare changes of clothes. We found the shield inside the boat for the Thrill Ride o' Love, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Alex, what's wrong?" "Hmm? Nothing's wrong, I'm just relieved that the park is dry. I've always been afraid of being in the water or underground." The ride actually looked like it had been dry for a long time, but I stayed out just in case. Percy and Annabeth had just gotten the shield, when the cupid statues turned, and aimed at them; then their heads flipped back and revealed cameras. Over the loudspeaker, we could hear a voice saying, "Live to Olympus in one minute. . ." That's when Annabeth and I realized it was a trap by Hephaestus, meant for Ares and Aphrodite, that was why Ares didn't want to come here himself! They were really in trouble now, but then I heard Annabeth scream "AHH! SP-SP-SPIDERS!" Spiders? OH, that's right, Arachne! I was desperate to help them, and that's when I felt a tug in my chest, nearly identical to the one Percy described when he used his hydrokinetic abilities. "Thirty . . . twenty-nine . . ." As I watched, a wind picked up, inside the ride, and blew away the spiders, smashing them into the walls. After the spiders were gone, the wind died, and Percy filled the cavern with water. "Fifteen . . . fourteen. . ." The boat floated down the river towards a closed gate, and at the last second, Percy and Annabeth jumped out of the boat and safely into the pool below, with a little help from a waterspout I made. "Thanks for getting rid of the spiders, Percy."

"Umm, you're welcome, but that wasn't me."

"It was me Annabeth. Apparently I can control air as easily as Percy controls water." We eventually found Ares at a road-side diner, and he was actually disappointed; apparently we'd made it out just before the cameras started rolling. He took his shield and pointed us towards "our ride," an animal transport truck, then tossed us a backpack with clothes, money, and some Oreo's. But I could have sworn I "felt" something else in there, something powerful. Ares then told Percy that his mom was a captive, and still alive, then he left. With nothing better to do, and the truck drivers heading out, we got into the truck and I promptly fell asleep on top of the lion cage.

A/N: Well, that's it for Ares, for now. And what did you think of the translation part? Do you want more, or just give you the translation without the work? Also prepare for something that will sound very familiar next time Alex works on the translation. As for the waterspout, Alex is able to make it because it's technically not made of water, but wind (considering it's a twister over water). And I know that you probably know who Alex's dad is but they don't. Up next: VEGAS and two surprise guests that I'm sure Nico would kill me for adding in, especially if Asilda is right about how he and his dad feel about their feature film. And I'm planning on three more chapters before Part II of The Alexander Chronicles, so please, send some Story Name suggestions!