Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the OC Damian Redgrave.

The next afternoon, on June 14, seven days before the solstice, the train rolled into Denver. They had 7 days left to retrieve the bolt and return it to Zeus by the Summer Solstice or World War Three was going to break out.

When the train arrived in Denver and the group got out, the first thing they wanted to do was to go and get something to eat. There was nothing wrong with eating food from the train but it was just the same thing over and over again and right now they could all go for some cheese burgers.

Not only were they hungry, but they also really needed a shower. None of them had showed since they left Camp Half Blood and although Damian and Grover would not say anything, everyone really was giving off a bad odour at the moment. So much so it was affecting their senses.

"We should contact the camp." Annabeth suddenly said, getting the others' attention. "Chiron will want an update from us and to make sure that we are all okay."

"Makes sense," Percy said. "We can't use a phone right?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Don't worry. We won't be using phones to contact him."

Both Damian and Percy looked at her a little oddly. They doubted she was going to write a letter to the camp since it could probably take the rest of their time to actually get to camp.

For the next half an hour they were walking through the down town area as Annabeth was scanning every building and side walk. They all were tugging on their collar of their shirts since the air here was hot and dry.

Eventually after some searching, Annabeth pointed towards found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They veered toward the stall farthest from the street since they didn't want to take any chance with mortals walking and driving around.

"Geez, I know we all reek a bit but isn't a car wash a bit much?" Damian asked, chuckling as Annabeth whacked him on the arm while Grover pulled out some sort of spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out. You Damian?"

"Let's see..." He said, digging into his pocket before handing over some change to Grover. "I don't have much change. Will this do?"

Grover looked it over and smiled. "Yep, perfect." He said before he fed the quarters and turned the knob of the spray gun to FINE MIST. IM-ing at its finest"

"Instant messaging?" Both Damian and Percy said, not really believing what they are hearing.

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Percy asked, since the idea sounded a little far fetched. Damian just shrugged. Who's to say you could not summon a goddess with a spray gun.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow, this is the only away and we don't really have time to wait for it to rain while the sun is out."

"Now the drachma," Annabeth said digging into her pocket before flicking the coin into the mist. They all watched as it disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

At first nothing happened until slowly an image began to appear in the mist made screen. Slowly Camp Half blood began to come into view. They knew it was the camp because they all recognised the strawberry field in the background along with the big house.

Slowly a figure began to come into view. They all squinted their eyes at first before they saw long black hair flowing from side to side. Walking past the screen was Silena.

"Silena!" Damian called, catching the girl's attention. Said girl whipped around to look around and saw Damian and the others through the iris message.

"Damian, everyone! Your all okay." She said happily as she came closer to the iris message. Damian smiled, happy to see the daughter of Aphrodite and tried to hide the small blush on his face, though the other three all saw it and smirked a little. No doubt planning on teasing him about it later.

"How are you all so far? You all look okay? No injuries I hope?"

"Well other than our smell we are all okay though it has not exactly been an easy trip so far. How is everything at camp?" Annabeth asked.

They all got a little worried when they saw Silena's downcast look. "It's not good. Word broke out about what's happening on Olympus and now everyone is taking sides. The Apollo and Aphrodite cabin have sided with Poseidon while the Athena and Ares cabin have sided with Zeus. The other cabins are slowly beginning to join sides too. It's not good right now."

"Is Chiron around at the moment? We need to speak with him." Percy asked but Silena shook her head.

"A fight broke out not too long ago between the Apollo cabin and the Ares cabin. There were some injuries and Chiron is trying to get control of the situation." She said.

They all frowned until they saw another figure appear from behind Silena. They saw the sandy blonde hair and a bronze sword swaying from his hip.

"Silena, Chiron needs you. Some of the Aphrodite girls are getting in an argument with some of the Athena kids. He needs you to help cool down the situation." He said, revealing himself to be Luke.

"Luke!" Annabeth and Grover said, getting wide eyes from the son of Hermes.

"Percy!" he called with his scarred face breaking into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? And Damian and Grover? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay? We have all been so worried."

"Tired but we're okay," Damian said to the older blonde.

"We're... u ... fine," Annabeth stammered trying to sort her hair and clothes out with a small tinge of red on her cheeks.

"I better go. I better stop my siblings from doing anything they will later regret," Silena said before giving them all a small wave. "Take care and stay safe guys. Bye Damian." She said with a small blush on her face before she disappeared from view.

Luke whistled. "Man you two must have a serious crush on each other. She has not shut up about hoping your okay ever since you left." Luke said causing Damian to stumble.

"She's worried about me?" he thought before he spoke up to Luke.

"S-Shut up L-Luke." He said, making them all laugh. As they did though a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"What's that noise?" Luke asked covering his ear a little.

Annabeth growled. "I'll take care of it."

"No." Damian said putting his hand out in front of her. "I'll do it. You talk to Luke." He said, getting a surprised look from Annabeth before she simply nodded.

Damian waved goodbye to Luke before he made is way over to the car.

The owner of the car was young guy who looked to be in his early twenties. In the passenger seat must have been a friend of his since they were the same age.

"Excuse me!" Damian said, walking up to the driver who was just stepping out of his car. "Could you turn it down a little? Your kind music is a bit loud."

The guy looked at Damian and sneered at him. "Get lost kid." He said, shoving Damian out of the way. As some of the other people getting their car washed looked over at the scene.

"I will ask again please turn the music down." Damian said as the driver stopped and turned around to look at Damian. When he did his friend got out of the car.

"Hey what's the holdup?" He asked.

"Some snot nose brat who doesn't know when to keep his nose out of other people's business. I said get lost you little punk."

"I'll leave when you turn that music down." Damian said again.

The driver just growled a little while his friend walked around the car and stood next to him. "You're playing with fire brat. I suggest you leave and stop bothering us." He said loudly voicing over himself over the music, pulling out a small swiss army knife from his pocket. Both young men smirked, thinking they had him scared but frowned when they saw Damianjust raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Damian said as he, as quick as lightning, snatched the knife from the man's hand. He looked it over before he sheathed the small knife away. "I have seen better."

"Little brat." The second guy said as he went to hit Damian but the son of Artemis just leaned sideways, letting the punch go past him before catching the man's arm and throwing him over his shoulder and onto the pavement.

Damian looked back and saw the driver went to punch him again, causing Damian to sigh before grinning. "I warned you."

The hit easily missed before Damian appeared behind the driver, grabbed the guy's underwear and pulled it and far as he could causing an ear piercing girly scream to cry out through the car wash and people winced.

Damian punched the guy in the gut before he pulled down the car window and threw the guy half in it with him being balanced on the car window. Damian pulled the window up a little causing the guy to be stuck.

"Try to be more polite to other around you." Damian said as he ripped the radio out of the car, completely stopping the music and chucked it on the seat.

"Have a nice day." Damian said as he walked away and headed back to the others, missing the amazed looks people were giving him.

He arrived back and saw the Iris message had just disappeared and saw the other waiting for him.

"How did it go?" Grover asked getting a shrug from Damian.

"It was fine. They happily complied." He said with a grin, which Annabeth accepted although Percy and Grover were a little put off by the grin. They had seen that smile before and it was the smile he wore after some kind of prank or beat down. They figured it was best not to ask what happened.

"Well now that we are done here we can go. I'm starving and I need food," Annabeth said with everyone nodding in agreement.

"Sure let's go. I think I saw a diner nearby," Grover said leading the way out of the car park.

As they left, Percy, Annabeth and Grover did not see a guy unconscious on the floor and another stuck in a window with his pants around his ankles as he struggled to get out while people laughed at him.

A few minutes later, the questers were sitting at a gleaming chrome booth in a diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

Percy said, "We, um, want to order dinner."

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

"Only a little you guys," Damian sighed out, it was tough trying to keep their budget manageable across the states.

Suddenly a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight cast a bloody pallor as it glared at nothing. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster was riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather - but leather that looked eerily like Caucasian human skin.

The biker cut the engine and swung off the bike, paying no heed to it's groaning screech or the engine's splutter. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face you'd ever seen - handsome, one could say, but wicked - with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. All in all, this guy looked like the kind of person to chew glass and beat bears into the ground when bored.

Arid gales rushed through the diner as he entered, bringing with it the stench of blood baked in the sun and the tang of hungry metal. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again and went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked them again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

"It's on me." The biker grunted, sliding into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth and Grover against the window.

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and frowned, "You still here?"

He pointed at her and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun, then marched back toward the kitchen.

The biker turned to looked at Percy and Damian. They couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but if Percy's tense body language was anything to go by, he was pumping out something that was making him feel like picking a fight.

Damian was no different; his fists were clenched, and his knuckles were white.

He shot them a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid and Arty's kid, huh?"

Percy's face twisted into a sneer. "What's it to you?"

Annabeth's eyes flashed him a warning. "Percy, Damian, this is-"

The biker raised his hand and the child of wisdom immediately fell silent, her mouth snapping shut with an audible click.

"S'okay," he shrugged. "I don't mind a little attitude. S'long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"

Both boys looked at him and frowned before their eyes widened in realisation. That grin he had on face was a carbon copy of the grin that Clarisse and her sibling wore.

"You're Ares." Percy said, getting a nod from the god.

Damian whistled. "So what do we owe the pleasure of meeting the God of War?" He asked. "I doubt you simply came here to say hi."

Ares grunted. "Nothing get past you does it, hunter boy? Have to admit, I was a little surprised to find out dear old Arty had a kid with some poor sap. Always thought she batted for the other team if you catch my drift."

Damian clenched his fists under the table, already disliking Ares. Not even one minute, and Damian felt like ripping this guy's head off.

"What do you want?" Damian asked, breathing through his nose to try and calm down.

"I need you to do me a favour." Ares said.

"What favor could we do for a god?" Percy asked.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself." Ares said. "It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little... date with my girlfriend." Damian snorted, he doubted it was a date to begin with considering who the girlfriend is. Ares gave him a look before continuing. "We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me. "

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Damian shot back. "Too lazy to get off your girl and do it?"

The fire in Ares' eye sockets glowed a little hotter.

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. When a god tell you to do something. You do it brat."

"Well get someone else to do it then. We're not some dogs you can order around. Besides we already have a quest," Percy said glaring at the God of War.

"A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson, Damian Redgrave. Will you prove to everyone that your just two cowards?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you or when your mother or Godmother is watching over you."

"We're not interested," Percy said. "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've 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."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Damian asked with clear skepticism in his tone, taking another sip of his milkshake.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

"Thanks," Percy grumbled.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll even arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own." Percy gritted out, obviously not wanting his help whatsoever.

"Yeah, right. Little money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

Percy's eyes flew to Ares'. "My mom?"

He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked. "Something scare you off? Not all high and might are you."

Ares bared his teeth as Grover and Annabeth were looking at Percy and Damian with both fear and amazement. They could not believe how fearless they both were at the moment daring to talk to the God of War like they were.

"I swear these two have balls of steel." Grover thought.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am." Ares said warningly. "I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me," He then looked at Damian. "You know, it's a damn shame your mother fell in love with your father. If she wanted to know what a real man felt like she should have come to me."

If Ares was trying to push Damian's buttons, he did it right.

"Mother-!" Damian stood from his seat and his fist went to punch Ares in the jaw before Percy, Annabeth and Grover literally jumped on him to stop him from doing so. Punching a god was not a smart thing to do. Even Percy knew that, despite wanting nothing better than to deck Ares himself as well.

"Let me go! I won't let him insult my parents like that!" Damian said, fighting against the three struggling to hold him back.

Ares chuckled before he clicked his finger. In the blink of an eye, Ares had disappeared and the group was now alone.

As soon as he did, the waitress walked back over and her eyebrow rose when she saw Annabeth, Grover and Percy had dog piled on Damian. They all guessed the mist was beginning to work since she didn't look so afraid as she did before.

"There a problem here?" She asked as they slowly got off Damian and sat back in their seats.

"No miss." Grover said as the waitress gave them their meals before she walked away.

As they began to eat, they looked outside to see the motor cycle had disappeared as well. Little weird since it was more like a tank then a bike.

"Not good." Grover said as he drank his shake. "Ares sought us out. This is really not good. Ares is one of the least friendly gods there is."

"I would have never guessed," Percy said since Ares was really pissing them off to the point where Damian was about to start a fight with the jerk.

"It's probably some kind of trick. Let's just forget Ares and continue with the quest. Let Ares get his damn shield back. If he didn't want to leave it behind then he should not have taken it with him in the first place." Percy said, eating his fries but Annabeth was shaking her head.

"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune."

"But this water park... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to find out," Annabeth said before it went silent and they continued with their meals.

Damian remained silent which worried the others, but they knew it was because of Ares' words.

The sun was sinking behind the Rocky Mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging from the sign, it had once been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

The main gate was rusted and rotting, but padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes slithered everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With the impending approach of night, the place felt...odd, sad, almost...

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy deadpanned, staring up at the barbed wire, he couldn't quite decide if that was rust or dried blood. "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."

"Why? I thought you hated Ares." The boy asked, surprised by Annabeth's apparent defense of Ares.

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental." Annabeth said, taking a side-glance at Damian who was still silent since Ares' departure and them stopping him from punching the god of war. Damian walked up to the padlock and slashed his sword through it, breaking the lock.

"You also really don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.

"Who is she? Echidna?" Percy joked.

"No, Aphrodite," Grover replied, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."

"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said, eager to steer the topic away from his brutish cousin. "Hephaestus."

"What's your point?" Grover asked with a raised eyebrow, rubbing his rear.

"Oh."

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was AnkleBiter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

No monsters came to get them. Nothing made the slightest noise.

Damian tensed as he felt eyes on him. They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-

"Clothes," Annabeth sighed in relief. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me." Annabeth smirked at him.

The blonde snatched an entire row of clothes off the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, Percy, Annabeth and Grover were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

Damian just hook his head at them. "Like hell am I wearing shit that like." he said, speaking for the first time since the diner.

They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. "So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy began, "they have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told him. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers. "

"Whatever. "

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like..."

She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that. "

In front of them was an empty pool, one could say it was perfect for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from them, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," Percy grimaced. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

"Thinks like this are never easy." Damian said, looking for any traps. "And I don't smell any monsters around."

Annabeth walked over and ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she mused. "Eta. I wonder..."

Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, maybe he wanted to try and make up for what had happened in St. Louis. That's what Percy assumed.

"No," Percy told him firmly. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. Damian stay with him, you can cover us with your bow and arrows. Annabeth and I will get the shield."

"WHAT?!" Annabeth shouted, looking at Percy with a blush in her cheeks. You want me to go with you on the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"

"Wow Percy, making your move already?" Damian asked, causing the green eyed boy to blush and Annabeth to glare at Damian while Grover snickered at the looks on their face.

"It's n-not like t-that!" Percy stammered out, trying to get his blush under control while Damian and Grover laughed at their friend's embarrassment. "Fine, I'll do it myself," he said as he began to walk down before Annabeth slowly followed after him.

"Not a word." She said glaring at the two who threw their hands up in defense.

The two reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, next to it was a hot pink lady's silk scarf. As Percy looked around, he wondered why they would want to meet out here when he figured it out - with all the mirrors that lined the pool, they could see every angle of themselves. Wow, talk about egotistical.

Percy picked up the scarf. It shimmered like a pink river, and the perfume was indescribable-rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. The water boy smiled, a little dreamily, and was about to rub the scarf against his cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."

Percy looked at her, a little confused as Damian and Grover rolled their eyes at how naïve he was. His hand went to pick it up before it touched something invisible and he heard a snapping sound.

Everyone's head and whipped their heads to look at Percy as Annabeth quickly moved to stand next to him figuring out what he just did.

"It's a trap. The eta symbol is a symbol for Hephaestus. How did I not see it sooner?" Annabeth said berating herself.

'No wonder Ares was scared to come here.' Damian thought as the others were beginning to think the same.

Noise erupted all around them, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.

"Guys!" Grover yelled, pointing to the edge of the pool.

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before Percy could say anything, they let fly, but not at the two kids. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"We have to get out here."

"No duh, seaweed brain!" Annabeth said to him.

Percy grabbed ahold of the shield and they ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.

"Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was trying to hold open a section of the net for them, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.

The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding them with light, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute...Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight..."

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid. 'Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

It was then that one of the dozen cameras met an arrow, utterly shattering it.

"Sorry Hephaestus, this show is gonna be cancelled." Damian said as he drew another arrow.

Suddenly, the mirrors opened up and from these new openings came out thousands of tiny metal-

"Spiders!" Annabeth screamed. "Sp-sp-aaaah!" She fell back in terror, overwhelmed. Grunting, Percy dragged her back up and back to the boat.

Damian was jumping from place to place, spinning and shooting arrows in mid-air before landing on his feet then jumping again to fire more.

The tiny spiders came in the millions, no doubt to help humiliate Ares and Aphrodite, seems they were going to get that hospitality instead.

Annabeth and Percy climbed back into the boat. He started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. The son of the sea yelled at Annabeth to help him, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.

The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie the captured kids down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. Percy kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of his new surf shoe.

Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.

Camera six was out. Damian paused in his shooting then, and then begun lining up his next shot deliberately slowly.

'Think,' Percy told himself. 'Think.'

The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. They could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.

"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.

Camera seven was blasted by a half dozen arrows that served to turn it into an, admittedly poor, imitation of a piece of swiss cheese, Damian was getting real creative with his Cupid killings.

'Water,' Percy thought. 'Where does the ride's water come from?'

Then he saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the destroyed Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Grover!" he yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"But-"

"Do it!" It was their only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. He had to get them out of there.

Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.

"Five, four-"

Grover looked up at Percy hopelessly, raising his hands. He pushed every button, nothing was happening.

Percy closed his eyes and focused on that all too familiar tug in his stomach from his training.

"Two, one,"

BOOM! With a loud explosion, the ground shook.

…Camera eight exploded as a arrow struck it. Damian jumped back to where he had been at first and shouldered his bow.

"And zero." Damian smirked.

Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Percy pulled Annabeth into the seat next to him and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into the boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing them completely, but not capsizing the kids. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.

Percy willed the boat to ride the currents, trying to stay away from the walls. Maybe it was his imagination, but the boat seemed to be listening. With one more spin, the water level was now almost high enough to shred them against the metal net. Responding to his will, the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and they rocketed through into the darkness.

Annabeth and Percy held tight, both screaming as the boat shot around curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.

Then they got out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through their hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.

If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before them were now piled against the barricade - one submerged, the other cracked in half.

"Unfasten your seat belt," Percy yelled to Annabeth.

"Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." he strapped Ares's shield to his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." His idea was simple and insane. As the boat struck, they would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. With luck, they would land in the pool.

Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped his hand as the gates got closer.

"On my mark," Percy announced.

"No! On my mark!"

"What?"

"Simple physics!" She yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"

"Fine." He shouted. "On your mark!"

She hesitated...hesitated...then yelled, "Now!"

Crack!

Annabeth was right. If they'd jumped when he thought, they would have been kissing the gate. She got them maximum lift.

Unfortunately, that was a little more than they needed. The boat smashed into the pileup and they were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.

"Well... show's over." Damian said as he helped Percy and Annabeth to their feet.

"Hephaestus will probably be upset you destroyed the cameras." Grover pointed out.

"Well if I didn't, then these two would've become the next laughing stock to the gods." Damian pointed out. "Now, I think it's time we have a little talk with Ares..."

And that's it for this chapter.