*10*

I Steal a God's Motorcycle

We ran to the car and rushed off to West Bend. Everyone strapped their selves in and I speeded down the highway. All of a sudden, sirens blared behind us, and flashing lights showed up on my rearview mirror.

"Oh, man," I moaned. "Mom's gonna kill me."

"Ha, sucks for you," teased Nico.

I slowed down and pulled over to the shoulder of the road. A cop riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle was following our tail. He kicked down the stand and approached the car.

I rolled down the window and awaited my ticket. The cop wore big aviator glasses and a usual black and white uniform. His badge glittered in the sunlight.

"Hello," he paused. "…Perseus." A pair of red dots glowed under those shades.

Suddenly, it hit me. "Ares," I scowled.

He sneered. "How'd you guess?" He went up in flames, but it quickly extinguished. He was now wearing a black leather jacket, black jeans, and combat boots. The aviators changed to red tinted wrap-around sunglasses.

"What do you want?" I shouted. I had a rage build up inside me. Ares always made people real jumpy.

"Ares is here?" Nico said. Annabeth had a suspicious look on her face.

"Something's up," she muttered.

Ares looked at his police motorcycle and snapped his fingers. The bike lit up in flames and extinguished too. It changed to his usual black Harley Davidson with a flame paint job, shotgun holsters mounted on the side, and a seat made of human skin. "Oh, I just came by to make your life a little harder," he said.

"Well you already have," I said.

"Ok, good. I'll make it worse." He waved his hand and my car died, the keys floated out of the ignition and into his hand.

"Hey, give it back!" I demanded.

Ares tightened his grip on my keys. "Yeah, sure." He stuffed them in his pocket. "I'm officially impounding your car," he said.

"WHAT?" I screamed.

"Yep. It's 'cause you were speeding," he said. Out of nowhere, loud rumbling came from the distance. Then, a large motorcycle gang appeared in the distance.

I turned to Annabeth. "I want you to contact me through an IM," I told her.

"Wait, you're gonna do something stupid, aren't you?"

"Maybe," I said. The sound of the motorcycles grew louder. "Look, I've got no time, gotta go!" I threw the door open and pushed Ares aside.

"Hey, punk, where do you think you're going?" he shouted angrily. I ignored him and ran toward his bike. I jumped on and brought it to life. "Hey, that's my motorcycle!" His eyes burned a brighter red. I could see flames from the top of his sunglasses.

The motorcycle gang was here now, and I didn't have much time. I twisted the throttle, and I was off. Ares pointed his hands at me and flames erupted from his palms. I narrowly dodged the shooting flames and chased the motorcycle gang. I knew Matthew was in there somewhere, and I was gonna track him down.

I hoped Annabeth and Nico were doing fine. What the Hades am I talking about, no one is ever fine with Ares. Up ahead, the motorcycle rumble faded in the night. I rode up a little further searching for the gang. I stopped at a red light and still tried to look for Mathew. Then a guy pulled up next to me in another motorcycle.

It was definitely Matthew. He was skinny with dark brown messy hair, and wore a black leather jacket and jeans.

"Hey I see you got a Harley Davidson," he said. He eyed the shotgun holsters.

"Yeah. What do you have there?" I asked him.

"A custom Harley. I built it myself. It'll smoke you anytime."

"You wanna prove it?"

"Are you challenging me?" he scoffed, as he revved the engine. I tightened my grip on the handlebars. This is gonna get a little rough.

I watched the street light. In a blink of an eye, the light turned green, and I pulled the throttle. I popped a wheelie and my tires squealed. Flames shot from my tires, like those Hot Wheels cars.

Matthew yelled and I heard a large explosion. I hit the brakes and turned around. What I saw were blazing fires and broken motorcycle parts, some of them in bits. I set Ares' motorcycle on the ground and ran towards Matthew.

He was scrambling out of the wreck and was slowly getting up. I helped him up and said, "Dude, are you okay?"

He pushed me away. "Yeah I'm fine. Flames from your exhaust blew up my gas tank. I worked on her for years man!"

"Look man, I'm sorry but I need to talk to you."

"Talk to me? You just blew me up!" He waved his hand at the burning motorcycle. He groaned and he held his right arm in pain.

I dug in my pocket for a bag of ambrosia. I offered a piece to him. "Here eat this, it'll make you feel better."

He looked at me, and ate the piece of ambrosia reluctantly. He chewed for a while and suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Wow, the pain is gone," he said, astonished. "What was that? A pain-killer?"

"No. It's ambrosia, food of the Greek gods."

"It's happening," he said. "It's really happening."

"What's happening?"

"I've had dreams, uh, nightmares. I was in a race with this guy, and my bike blew up. In another one, this man spoke to me. He said, The time is near…" Then he paused and looked me in the eye,"…my son.

Suddenly, a silver glow enveloped his body. He looked around frantically. Above him, appeared a caduceus.

Matthew looked at me with a straight face. "That's it. I'm the son of Hermes."

"Matthew," I said, "We need to go…now."

"What why?" he asked. I looked back. Ares would be here any minute now.

"Just c'mon!" Then, Annabeth drove up in my car and hit the brakes.

"Percy! Hurry up, Ares is getting fired up!" She got out the car and went around to the passenger side.

I turned around. Matthew was standing there, unaware of the danger. "Matthew!" I called. He looked up. "C'mon, get in!" He ran to the car, and I lowered the seat for him. He climbed in, and I got in myself.

I slammed the gas and we were off. I don't know where I was going, just that I need to get away.

I heard something like a flutter of birds' wings over the roar of my car. Suddenly, flock of birds pecked and scratched at my car. Good thing it can't get damaged, but I was still wondering what they were.

"Annabeth, what are those things?"

"I think they're the birds of Ares, Ornithes Areos."

"Well, we've gotta take 'em out!" I willed water to hit the birds. Water burst from fire hydrants and hit the birds with the speed of a train. Behind me, Nico yelled, "Percy, I'll pay you back one day!" I heard glass break and howling wind. I turned around and saw Nico get out the back window. He raised his arms, and jagged rocks popped up from the ground.

It definitely slowed them down, but more came. Then, arrows rained on the car.

"Where are the arrows coming from?" I yelled.

"Did I mention they can shoot arrows?" Annabeth said.

"Just great."

From my rearview mirror, I saw Nico draw his sword and deflect oncoming arrows.

"Nico, get in the car!" I ordered. I was nearing a sharp corner, and if Nico didn't get in the car, he would surely get badly injured, not just from the impact, but from the birds.

"Just a little longer!" he persisted.

"There's no time, get in now!" I couldn't keep it up any longer. I slammed the brakes, and Nico fell backward into the car. Immediately, I hit the accelerator and we were off again. I swerved right, just barely scraping the wall.

I tried hitting the birds again with water, but there were too many. Then, I had another crazy idea. But, it might just work.

There was a bridge not far from here. If I could make it there, than we could escape the birds.

Finally, the bridge came into view. I hoped this worked.

"Everyone put your seatbelts on!" Everyone did if they hadn't already. Color drained from Mathew's face.

I drove off the bridge and broke through the barriers.

"Percy, what are you doing?" screamed Annabeth.

"Brace yourselves!" I yelled. I stared making an air bubble around the car, and it formed just in time to hit the water.

We floated there underwater. Strength from my body slowly seeped away the longer we were underwater. Above us, the birds hovered, and they gave up and went away.

I commanded the water to lift us back to the bridge. A large spout of water raised us to the bridge and set us gently on the ground.

I opened the door and fell to the ground. I was too tired to think. I was passing out, and the last I saw was Annabeth's face over me. Then, I blacked out.

I woke up inside the car, in the passenger seat. Annabeth was driving, and Nico and Matthew were in the back. I struggled to sit straight and was completely exhausted.

"Wake up sleepy head, we're getting close to Camp," Annabeth said.

"How long have I been out?"

"8 hours," she said. "What you did last night really drained you of all your energy."

"Yeah that was awesome Percy!" complemented Nico.

"Thanks Nico." I felt a lump in my pocket. I pulled out the kippah I found, now crinkled and worn.

I handed it to Mathew. "I believe this belongs to you."

He stared at it for a while. "No thanks. You can keep it." He looked to the ground.

"But you're a Jew right?"

"Yes I am. But living with a gang, I was always made fun of for being Jew." He looked at me. "Since, I'm the son of Hermes, I guess I should become pagan."

I didn't really think about that. To me, the Greek gods weren't a religion anymore, they were a way of life now.

By now, I could see the Empire State Building tower over the city. We took the regular route to Camp Half-Blood and parked outside the Big House.

Chiron was standing on the porch, watching us get out the car.

"I see you have been traveling in style," he said.

I chuckled. "Yeah, it was a gift from my dad." I looked at the others, and turned back to Chiron. "Why don't we go inside? We need to talk."

We walked inside the house and took a seat.

"So, I presume this is Matthew?" he said, motioning his hand to Matthew.

"Yes, he is. Matthew this is Chiron." Matthew tried not to stare at Chiron's legs.

"Do not worry Matthew, I appreciate your politeness. I am a centaur, and this is how I am."

Matthew swallowed. "I'm sorry. Greek mythology is something I'm gonna have to get used to."

"Indeed, child," said Chiron. He looked at me. "Do you have the prophecy?"

"Um, yeah," I said. "Annabeth has it." She quickly opened her bag and took out a piece of paper. Chiron took it and read it out loud:

"Two shall return, a friend and a foe,

To find a demigod, you must go.

A deadly deal gone indeed awry,

And in the end, a death to die."

Chiron folded the paper and put it in a desk drawer.

"The prophecy does sound grave. It is something we must look into and pay attention to carefully," he said.

"Well, we will find out soon," I said. "But, I guess you should talk to Matthew."

"Ah yes," Chiron said, "we must discuss about being a demigod."

We left the Big House and stepped outside. Annabeth hugged me and ran off to her cabin. Nico went back to his cabin and rocked out with Hunter.

I saw Mary hanging out with some guys, having a nice chat. The guys were all crowded around her, about 3 or 4 of them. Man, Mary must be a "dude" magnet.

Mary saw me and stood up. Awkwardly, all the guys stood up, all at the same time. She said something to them, and she ran towards me. All of them looked straight at me, with a deadly glare.

"Hey Percy, how was the quest?" Mary said.

"It was…" I thought about the Thespian lion, the wreck, and the encounter with Ares. "…fantastic." I said.

"Great!"

"I see those guys have an eye on you," I joked.

Mary gasped. "Aw, come on Percy!" At that moment, the door of the Big House opened, and out came Matthew.

Matthew saw Mary and froze. So did Mary. Mary managed a small, "Hi."

"Hey," Matthew replied. Matthew walked past Mary and jogged to the Hermes cabin. Before he walked inside, he took another look at Mary.

"Who's he?" asked Mary.

"Oh he's Matthew. He didn't tell me his last name though."

Mary smiled. "He's cute."

"And you're telling me this why?"

Mary blushed. "I don't know, I just... Nevermind." Then a girl's voice called Mary's name.

"Mary! Mary, where are you?"

"I'm over here!" A girl about our age walked up beside Mary. She had brown curly hair and light skin.

"Oh, who's this?" she asked.

"This is Percy Jackson," Mary said. "Percy, this is Ani from the Artemis cabin." Mary said it funny, like Ahh-nee.

"Wait, you mean, Annie? Right?" I said.

"No, it's Ani, like short o, you dimwit!" said the girl.

"Oh, sorry," I said.

"It's ok," said Mary. "She hates it when people call her Annie."

"Well, it's been nice meeting you, I guess."

"Don't worry, I'm not always mean. I'm actually a very happy person!"

"Oh ok. Well, catch ya later!" I walked to the cabin area, and I found Mike standing by the Apollo cabin.

"Hey Mike, what's up?"

"It's the fire, look." He was looking at what looked like a golden barbeque grill. It was a fire pit on a stand, about 3 feet tall. The fire burned weakly, but still had a flare.

"What is it?" I asked Mike.

"It's the fire of Apollo. The Apollo guys made it up, with a little help from Apollo himself. The fire predicts the future. The brighter it burns, the better the future. The weaker it is, the future becomes worse. Right now, it's not looking too good."

It wasn't looking good at all. Something's going to happen. Something real bad. Then, a bright golden light shined from behind us. We turned around, and standing there was Apollo.

"Hello, boys," he said.

"Hey there Apollo. What brings you here?" I asked.

"Well, I came to give you a message…from Ares." Oh this can't be good. Apollo took out a piece of paper and cleared his throat.

"I'll try and not sound so brutal," he said. "Dear, Percy Jackson. I am going to kill you and your loved ones because of what you've done to my bike. I'm gonna send the hellhounds on you and drive a spear through your heart, and feed it to the harpies."

Apollo held out the piece of paper and it lit on fire. It was now, ashes and had disintegrated.

"Well, on that happy note, I also came to do something else."

"What's that?" Mike asked.

"I want to give you something," said Apollo. He snapped his fingers and what appeared were a golden compound bow and a brown leather quiver. "These are yours now."

"Wow! This is amazing! But, why me?"

"Because, you …are my son." Then, a golden glow began to wrap around Mike. An image began to appear above Mike. When it became clear, what I saw was a lyre.

When it was all over, Mike's breath was taken away.

"So, I'm your son. I'm the son of Apollo!"

"That's right kiddo! Now, let me tell you a little more about the bow. It has been magically altered so that the gold doesn't weigh a ton, but instead, just a few pounds. That quiver you're holding is also magical. It can create any type of arrow you want. Fire arrows, a water arrow, even a heat-seeking arrow!"

"Wow, that's awesome!" Mike exclaimed.

"Wait," I said. "How is Mike pure Asian, but you're white?"

"Well, I'm a god. I thought a pure Asian would be an interesting addition to the family!" Apollo patted Mike on the back.

"Well, I must go, duty calls!"

"Cover your eyes!" I quickly told Mike. In a flash of light, Apollo was gone. He had turned into his divine form, and if any non-immortal saw him, they would have been incinerated.

After the flash faded, Mike became really excited.

"Can you believe it?" Mike said. "I'm the son of Apollo!"

"Yes you are Mike, yes you are." Mike ran to the Big House to tell Chiron the news and was immediately moved to the Apollo cabin.

Annabeth ran towards me and asked, "What just happened? What was Apollo talking about?"

"Apollo just claimed Mike as his son," I said mildly.

"Wow, that's great!" said Annabeth. "Man, two demigods were claimed today, first Matthew, now Mike."

"But that just makes it harder for them to fend against monsters."

Annabeth now became serious. "Oh yeah you're right."

BOOM! An explosion sounded over by Thalia's Pine Tree. Annabeth and I looked to see what the problem. What we saw, was a very big problem.

On top of the hill, Peleus and another monster were fighting. I squinted and saw the Chimera spitting flames and clawing at Peleus. Standing in the back was Echidna in her true form.