Alaster POV
"You tricked me,"Percy said. "You stole the helm and the master bolt."
Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of
power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."
"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the win-ter solstice."
The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad athim. And Hades is still looking for this..."
From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear—and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.
"The Helm of Darkness"I said
Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice lit-tle three-way slugfest going."
"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.
Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the blood-iest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."
"You have me the backpack in Denver,"Percy said. The master bolt was in there the whole time."
Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"
"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon."
"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?"I said. "Why send it to Hades?"
Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I... yeah...with that kind of fire-power..."
Ares's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."
"You're lying,"Percy said. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"
"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sun-glasses, as if they were about to catch fire.
"You didn't order the theft,"Percy guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."
"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"
Percy hesitated."Who said anything about dreams?"
Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.
"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."
He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood. The beast pawed the sand, glaring at Percy with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill.
Percy stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Ares."
He laughed, but there was a little edge to his laughter, an uneasiness. "You've got talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes."
"Scared?"Percy said
"In your adolescent dreams."But his sunglasses began to melt from the heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."
"Percy, run!"Annabeth said
The giant boat charged.
Percy's sword appeared in his hands and he slashed upwards and severed the right tusk of the boar.
Percy shouted, "Wave!"
A wave surged from nowhere and engulfed the boar.
Percy turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight me now? Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?"
Ares' face turned purple with rage. "Watch it, kid. I could turn you into—"
"A cockroach. Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"
Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."
"If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helm and the bolt are mine and you have to go away"
"How you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"
Percy showed him his sword.
"That's cool, dead boy," he said. "Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.
"Percy," Annabeth said. "Don't do this. He's a god."
"He's a coward,"Percy told her.
She swallowed. "Wear this, at least. For luck."
She took off her necklace, with her five years' worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around Percy's neck.
"Reconciliation," she said. "Athena and Poseidon together."
"And take this," Grover said. He handed me a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for a thousand miles. "The satyrs stand behind you."
"Grover ... I don't know what to say."
He patted Percy on the shoulder. Percy stuffed the tin can in his back pocket.
"Take this, too"I said, taking off my leather jacket and throwing it on him. "Imagine it as a token of respect. Zeus and Poseidon are with you...well probably not Zeus but you get the idea."
"You all done saying good-bye?" Ares came toward me, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"
Percy kept his feet in the surf, backing up into the water up to his ankles. Ares cleaved down at Percy's head. One second, Percy was there, and then the next second he wasn't. Percy pushed him into the air and he catapulted over him and slashed at Ares as he came down.
But Ares was the God of War for a reason. He twisted and Percy's strike was deflected off the end of his sword hilt.
Ares grinned. "Not bad, not bad"
He slashed again and Percy jumped onto dry land. Percy sidestepped, trying to get back into the water but Ares pressed him so hard to prevent this.
Percy stepped inside with a thrust, but Ares anticipated it. He knocked Percy's blade out of his hands and kicked him in the chest. He went airborne—perhaps twenty, maybe even thirty feet. Percy crashed into a soft dune.
Before I knew it, red lights flashing on the shoreline drew my attention away from the fight.
"Percy!"Annabeth yelled
"Cops!"I yelled
"There, officer!"somebody yelled. "See?"
"Looks like that kid on TV...what the heck..."
"That guy's armed. Call for backup"
Ares blade slashed against the sand but Percy rolled to once side. Percy ran for his sword, grabbed it, and he swiped at Ares' face but it was deflected again.
Percy stepped back towards the surf, and Ares followed.
"Admit it, kid,"Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."
A second cop car pulled up, siren wailing. Among the crowd was a gait of disguised satyrs. There were also the shimmering forms of spirits as well.
Percy stepped farther into the water. Ares slashed again, and the tip of his blade sliced Percy's arm.
"Drop the guns! Set them on the ground. Now!"A cop on a megaphone said.
They must've been seeing guns instead of swords as Ares' sword flickered in between a shotgun and a two-handed sword. Percy's sword flickered in between a pistol and his leaf-shaped blade.
"This is a private matter!"Ares bellowed. "Be gone!"
He swept his hand and a wall of red fire rolled across the patrol cars. The police just barely dove for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered while screaming.
Ares laughed. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."
He slashed, and Percy deflected the blade. Percy got close enough to strike, but his blow was knocked aside.
The waves were hitting Percy in the back and Ares was up to his thighs, wading after him.
Ares raised his sword. Percy jumped, rocketing straight over Ares while on a wave. It was a six-foot-tall wall of water that smashed him straight in the face. Percy landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head.
Ares turned in time to raise his sword, but he was disoriented. Percy changed direction, lunging to the side, and stabbed his sword straight down into the water.
I assumed he stabbed Ares somewhere because he roared in pain. The sea blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.
Ares bled golden ichor through his boot. He looked beyond angry that he had been wounded. He limped toward Percy, muttering a curse in ancient Greek.
But he stopped.
The light faded around him. Sound and color drained away. A cold and heavy presence passed over the beach, time slowed, the temperature dropped to freezing.
But the darkness lifted and Ares looked to be stunned.
The police cars were burning. The spectators had fled, Annabeth, Grover, and I looked in shock.
Ares lowered his sword. "You have made an enemy, godling. You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."
His body began to glow.
I averted my eyes so I wouldn't see Ares turn into his true form. Then the light died. When I looked back, Ares was gone. The tide road out to reveal Hades' bronze Helm of Darkness.
Percy picked up the Helm and walked toward us. Leathery wings flapped. The three Kindly Ones drifted down from the sky and landed in front of Percy.
The middle Fury, who I expected to have been Percy's teacher stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but for she didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed as if she'd been planning to have Percy for dinner, but had decided against it.
"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So ... it truly was not you?"
Percy tossed her the Helm which she caught in surprise. "Return that to Lord Hades. Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."
She hesitated, but then ran her forked tongue over her green leathery lips. "Live well, Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again..."
She cackled, savoring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings. The one I killed on the bus barred her teeth at me before flying away into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.
Percy joined us.
"Percy..."Grover said. "That was so incredibly..."
"Terrifying,"said Annabeth said
"Cool!"Grover corrected
"Unbelievable"I said
"Did you guys feel that...whatever it was?"Percy asked
We all nodded uneasily.
"Must've been the Furies"Grover said
But I was sure it wasn't the Furies. Everything's been lining up...I'm sure it wasn't just Ares. The way time slowed down.
Everything all of a sudden made so much sense. I know it has to be him...Kronos.
Percy looked at Annabeth and me and an understanding passed between the three of us. Percy reclaimed his backpack from Grover and looked inside. The master bolt was still there. Such a small thing that would've caused World War III.
"Can I just...hold it?"I asked, I went to grab it but Percy yanked the pack away.
"No way,"Percy said. "We have to get back to New York. By tonight"
"That's impossible,"Annabeth said, "unless we—"
"Fly,"Percy agreed
"Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"
"Yeah,"Percy said. "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on."
"If it helps. I don't think my dad will strike the plane down if the bolt or I am on it"I said
By the time we got back to New York the entire story had come to a conclusion. According to the news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.
This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted Percy and three other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.
So yes, everything was covered up and now Ares is a wanted criminal. We were given three tickets for the next plane to New York.
We eventually got down safely at La Guardia after a very tense flight. The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them because of Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then rejoined us at baggage claim.
We split up at the taxi stand. Percy told Annabeth, Grover, and I to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what happened while he went to the Empire State Building to return the bolt.
We did just that, but before we left Percy returned my jacket and I quickly put it on before leaving in the taxi.
We had been the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so everyone treated us as if we achieved the highest honor imaginable.
According to the camp tradition, we wore Laurel wreaths to a big feat prepared in our honor. Well...Percy, Annabeth, and Grover wore Laurel wreaths. I sneaked off to accompany them on their quest so instead of a Laurel wreath I got two weeks of dish and bathroom duty.
Percy got his own leather necklace along with his first bead, which like everybody else's, had an illustration of a sea-green trident.
I didn't know how Zeus would feel about me wearing a bead with a trident on it.
"The choice was unanimous,"Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"
I spent my days staring into the sea, although I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't approve. I was reflecting, on everything I've been through on this quest. I've become more sociable around camp, I've taken up offers to train and hang out with more of the campers.
It's like I'm an entirely new person now.
"Hey"
I turned to see Percy. "Oh, hey"
Percy sat down next to me. "So, what'cha doing?"
I sighed. "Thinking. You know...she used to wear clothes like this"I tugged on my clothes. "I wear them to honor her. But now after this quest...I don't know. I feel like I'm a new person, I feel like there needs to be a change. Since she died I've tried to be like her..."
"Well, if you feel like you need to change. Then you probably do. Maybe it's time that you start acting like yourself rather than your sister"Percy said
I bit my cheek. Percy was right, although I've built this wall around myself, I always felt so alone. I know I did this to myself...but it's time. It's time that I become who I need to be. I need to truly be myself.
"Yeah...you're right"I said
It was time to mend my bonds. I should try to reconnect with Luke sometime.
Then only a day later I got the news...Luke had tried to kill Percy. He had left Camp Half-Blood.
OKAY! We have finished TLT! Next up is Sea of Monsters. But we're going to have a little bit of time with Alaster before hand. Maybe a one-shot that will involve his new look, perhaps.
