Chapter 11
Annabeth Chase

The gods were officially off their rockers. In the past two hours, two different gods had confronted us. Well, at least one had the gusto to send goons in his place at least...

" Lord Ares? Aren't you stretching it a bit?" The zombie shrugged, " The master requests that we address him in this way, yes... But as to the matter you are involved in, Ms. Chase, I think you will have to turn around and head back to your Yankee home."

Since that one dead soldier had politely talked to me with some respect, I figured I'd dispatch of him last, " That's out of the question." I quickly acted, putting on my invisibility cap and tried to run for it since the motorcycle was too loud, but apparently, dead people have a strangely acute sense of smell.

Before I took five steps a big, buff soldier knocked my cap off and knocked me flat on the ground with a decaying fist wrapped around my neck, " Do as our colonel says, and turn back Wise Girl." That one thing he said made me furious. I didn't allow anyone but Percy to call me Wise Girl only because of the nickname I gave him, Seaweed Brain. It was a boyfriend-girlfriend thing I guess.

I swept his feet out from under him, tripping him into falling on the pavement. My body sprang forward off the ground, quickly swiping my celestial bronze knife out of its carrier. In a quick maneuver, I swept the weapon across the zombies neck and poof! it was gone.

As I turned around, I heard the war-god himself speaking to me with a superior under-tone, " Feisty aren't we? I figured, seeing how you are a daughter of Athena, you would show some self-control and patience, but apparently, this apple fell far from the tree." As usual, Ares's presence made me seethe with confidence and pride. I felt as if I could walk up to Arachne herself and say to her, " What is a spider anyway? Is it classified as an insect or scum? Oh sorry, they give scum a bad name." Would I do that if I had the chance? Suicide, my friend, suicide.

The full view of Ares was much like the last time. His bulky appearance didn't take away the size of his head, though. He didn't wear any sunglasses this time, showing off his fireballs-for-eyes. The raging inferno didn't waver as the wind picked up around us, " Percy may not be here, but I'm sure I can kick your butt as well as he did!" There went the cockiness again.

Ares only snickered, " Don't go and follow that misfit boyfriend of yours, Jackson! That little weakling caught me at a bad time; I had gramps breathing down my neck the whole time, and I'm sure pressure to impress even falls on divine beings such as I!" He flexed his ungodly muscles as if to prove something out of nothing, " But seeing how you want a fight, how about we talk first, you know? Get softened up before the big fight, shall we?"

This was a very unlikely statement that I figured I would hear from Ares, but that confusion didn't last long, " I suppose you are wondering as to why I'm here? Well, the thing is, the big guy up stairs wants this little ruckus you demigods are trying to start to stop before it becomes a problem. I was sent here and given orders to stop you, kill you if need be, " He studied me up and down, " I'd say I feeling pretty needy right about now!" Multiple soldiers attacked me with their rusty swords, the first sword I deflected, but the rest of the soldiers weren't so lucky. I quickly( and purposefully) went straight for the wielders of the weapons. Striking like a viper, I danced through the crowds of zombies hacking at them with my knife until I couldn't go on. All the death and decay in the air was clouding the oxygen supply like a poison that was slowly beginning to fill my lungs. I had to stop for a breath, but there was no way the zombies would allow me a breather.

In the midst of the fighting, I screamed out in frustration, " Where are all of these soldiers coming from!?" Ares shouted back in reply somewhere outside of the fighting, " History lesson, class! The Civil War resulted in roughly 620,000 casualties of Americans. There were a total of 299,524 Confederate deaths. Their souls belong to me." His declaration of superiority was followed by a booming, condescending laugh.

" Well then..." I didn't bother about the soldiers any more, I just wanted to get out of the fighting and into some cleaner air!

I could barely make out an opening were I could escape through so I ran for it. Pushing, shoving, dodging, all so I could breathe once more! I exploded into the opening where rain was falling on me soaking my clothes, but I didn't care; I could breathe!

" Now, Ares, why are you trying to stop us? You are the god of war! Wouldn't you just love to see us suffer? To bleed and to feel agony? You do hate us, don't you?! Let me go, then!"

He kept a serious face with a slight smirk, " You got one thing right, I'm the god of war not the god of suffering. I do take some joy from your pain, but that is just hatred, not because I have to: it's because I want to. Just face it, Annabeth, you won't be getting out of here. You can persuade any god but me, and as I see it, your passage to those "children" is already leaving you behind, "I glanced down the road and realized he was right, the only thing I saw was a very faint glow red and blue from the police cars.

That's when I had the bright idea to give him something to occupy his time. The only thing that big-headed jerks hate more than losers is people that are cooler than them, " I bet you there is someone who knows more about wars than you!" I blurted that out. It was a bad move, but it got his attention. The lights in his eyes dimmed to a darker shade of red, " What did you say?" His speech became slurred with a Southern drawl as if the atmosphere of being in the South was getting to him.

I gave him a smirk, " I said, I know someone who knows way more about any war than you ever could!" Ares's eyes lit back up to a bright glow as he bellowed out with laughter, " You're speaking nonsense! I am the god of WAR! I been in every war! I've caused almost every war! Besides, who could know more about wars than me? Hypnos? Zeus? Cratos? ...Athena? She is only a mere strategist! Spin me a good one, girl; who could possibly know more about wars than me?!"

I answered almost immediately, " My dad."

...

After that moment of silence, the ground began to tremor as if it was going to break apart in its entirety, and as I looked at Ares, I knew why. He was trying his hardest to hold back his laughter! His face was almost a darker red than his eyes when he's mad! He looked like a giant overgrown school kid! After holding it in for so long, he finally let it go in a symphony of cries of anguish and torment. What was supposed to be a laugh sounded like a cry for help!
He only made that short outburst, but that was all he needed to get himself completely composed, " Dr. Chase!? How do you suppose that he has the vast amount of knowledge to surpass mine?!"

" He has studied every ancient war from A-Z. I bet he could tell you exactly what was going through the minds of the Japanese before they were bombed at Hiroshima!" Ares scoffed, " The thoughts that were going through their minds were worries about the fact that they would spend their whole death being in servitude to me!"

" Oh really? How about you tell that to my dad!...Or are you afraid he'll tell you different?" I stared him down as his face turned stoney and he grimaced, " We're not done here Annabeth Chase, not by a long shot..." He erupted into a fiery column and disappeared.

The only thing left was the soldiers. The colonel that I was talking to bowed to me, " It's been nice doing business with you, Ms. Chase. " And he( with the rest of the undead Confederate soldiers) blew away into the wind as dust particles leaving behind only his old rapier. I was stunned for a second, I had actually outsmarted Ares! I wanted to relish in that fact forever, but just as I started I heard gunshots over the roar of the rain in my ears resound from the direction the cops had left to.

My invisibility cap laid on the ground, soaking the water as it pelted down. I quickly grabbed it and sprinted towards the motorcycle and followed the sounds of gunshots towards our future campers at Camp Half-Blood. I had just defeated a god with only my brain.

Nothingwas going to stop me now.

A.N. I took simple pleasures into typing this chapter. 'Nough said. I understand that someone might have some questions about this chapter, and well, ask. All I got to say.

Please read my sequel to Who Are You?, Death Rides on a Storm. You may like it, maybe not! As I listed on my profile, I am a very persistent person: once I start something, I'm going to finish it until the end!

So...

Kawind OUT!