Disclaimer: Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan. I own nothing except for my OCs some of which are originally Shadow Priesstess'.

A/N: I know what all of you are thinking. It's been a month since I updated any of my stories and I went back on my promise of more frequent updates. Those of you who were eager for an update for my ABJ story I'm sorry. I'm gonna stop making any promises because I always end up failing to deliver and disappointing all of you. In terms of updates, yes they will be coming. I have recently started reading a lot of GoT fanfics, and I have 2-3 coming down the line. Also, a very important reminder, if you haven't already go over to my profile and click on the link to my Ao3 account. Once you're there please subscribe to my profile so you'll get notified on future stories. The reason for this is that I have a few fanfics that feature very explicit content. I won't be able to post them on FFN with them getting taken down. I have a few other stories over on Ao3 too, that I haven't posted on FFN because there isn't a story category for it. So, you can go check them out.


XX. A nice day for a beach fight

Camp Half-Blood, Long Island – Present

Everything was a flurry of excitement between the campers of CHB, not that it was not always this lively, but that almost increased tenfold when it was time for the Tournament Week. Demigods and legacies of different ages were running around the cabins to clean everything, the remains of the last great paint-ball war were proving to be rather stubborn, so the Hecate cabin needed to take it into their hands after those from cabin six failed. No one wanted to let the Ares cabin take care about it when they suddenly appeared with double headed axes on their shoulders.

This year had Camp Jupiter arrived a bit earlier due to the requested attendance on Olymphos for the Senate members Jason and Reyna Grace as well as Frank and Hazel Zhang so the Greeks and Romans started the work together, well after Chiron and Lupa were done with the usual scolding that is.

Banners were put out, flowers made to bloom and plants to grow, many run around with cleaning utensils like brooms and feather dusters to help the cleaning harpies out in their job, satyrs played their songs for the nature magic to spread, calling on a swarm of butterflies, laughter and happiness filled the air. The nymphs were busy making food for the hard working children while discussing plans regards what to make when their mortal and godly guests arrive at camp.

"Great, we are soon done with this part of camp." come it from a partly Asian looking girl with long raven black hair, decorated with sky-blue highlights. She had been just putting up the last pair of ribbons on one of the several cabins assigned to her when her blue eyes fell on three nearing people whom she had not expected to see for another two months. "Tori? Xander? Ray? "she asked in confusion while climbing down on the ladder, gaining the attention of the trio.

"Hey, Kelly seems as if you guys are coming along rather well with the work." Victoria or Tori as most tended to call her said, but Kelly was not without a ground a legacy of Aphrodite and could note that something was off with the demigod; the feeling of protectiveness towards loved ones was almost like a barrier of granite around her, not that her twin Alexander was doing any better.

"Did something happen that you two seem so agitated?" she asked the twins while Rayen, their cousin only sighed as he looked at her with a pained expression on his face.

"You could say that, but if you think these two spread of the feeling of murderousness you should see my uncle, he is ready to commit the act!" he said while throwing his hands up in the air "Meaning, uncle Amos will be quiet busy to get him to calm down, they will come here after the danger has passed." Rayen groaned while hoping that his dad was not at Brooklyn House at the given moment or there would be blood. Rayen was a tall teen with finely toned muscles muscles, slightly tanned skin and tussled black hair, his blue eyes and stance always held a type of confidence in them which Kelly really liked.

"That does not exactly tell me much about the ground." Kelly replied back, but did take a step back when Tori let out a canine like growl, it was kind of scary seeing that when it come to the twins was Victoria always the calmer one and the person who stopped her brother and cousin from constantly fighting. The later thing had much to do with the fact that Alexander was in nature much like his mother and Rayen was like his own father, meaning leave those two alone unsupervised and a disaster is bound to happen.

No matter her confusion and slight fear, the head of the Aphrodite cabin kept her gaze on the other girl as she tried to figure out what could be wrong. As said was Victoria much calmer, probably due to her coming more after her magician father, the twins seemed to also favour the parent in their looks to whose personality they stood the closest to. Alexander the slightly older of the two had pale skin with shoulder length black hair and sharp features, his brown eyes which he had interestingly inherited from his father always seemed to shine with a tinge of crimson when he was angry, like at the given time. Tori on the other hand had unlike her brother a darker skin complexion which Kelly always associated with the colour of milk chocolate, slightly softer features then her brother and amber eyes like the desert, but just like by Xander they also held a crimson glow if angry, her long raven black hair was usually braided with small jewels, this time gold like the Camp Khepry T-shirt, - with the Camp name in orange-red letters and a large Scarab in the middle -, the trio wore, her to the jewels matching glasses and had were never missing. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the twins sighed in defeat, but that fact did not make Kelly feel all to much reassured seeing how there was another thing to the twins beside the red in their eyes when they were angry or really frustrated, namely the fact that currently both sported their shaa like ears and tail, Xander's crimson like his animal form and Tori's black with the tips of their tail and ears by both siblings being gold. Since they were not toddlers anymore had the two a better grip on their transformations and if it should still happen then the feeling making them do the partial change may give ground for worry.

"Sorry, it is just that before we got here had dad a conference regards Ancient Priest-hood in Egypt during the twelfth dynasty in the Brooklyn Museum with mom accompanying him there." Alexander started explaining, his tail swinging beside his folded arms angrily while Kelly nodded, due to his brother being kind of preoccupied with ruling their Underworld and people thinking him dead after a terrorist attack was it often the Chief Lector who gave symposiums and made some studies known. "There it seems that dad meet up by accident with his ex " Kelly noted how both of them seemed to scowl and something told her that Alexander would have liked to use a much different and preferably unkinder word then the one he did, but did not interrupt. "So yes, dad being the understanding and caring person he is agreed to talk with her in the Egyptian section and that ugh… woman seriously…" here Victoria interrupted in a venomous tone.

"She technically attempted seducing our dad to give her a new chance so that they could start over, mom noted the distress coming from dad and went looking for him and stepped between them before she could throw herself at him. Would have really loved to see her dumbfoulted face when mom informed her that she was married to dad, and to make things more fun that person was even there with another guy, an ex-classmate whose uncle was her psychiater. Really the nerve of her, there are things that can be forgiven, but that she thought that she could recoil with dad as more then maybe friends after what she had dared to do against him…" Victoria finished in an agitated tone while Kelly hoped that she would elaborate, sure love dramas were interesting, but she also knew the relationship between the twins parents and well, it is not healthy to try stepping between them, but she needed to ask seeing that this might be the ground for the anger in the first place, damn she was spending way to much time with Sally and Ben.

"What had she done against your dad?" she asked in the most diplomatic tone she could muster, to bad that Charmspeak did not work with the Egyptian demigods, so they will either answer or not. Luckily it looked as if having been assigned to work with the Tyche cabin may have rubbed some luck on her.

"Technically, when she and dad dated, this was shortly before uncle Julius and aunt Ruby married, as it happens she got pregnant," Kelly had a few guesses where this would be leading and due to neither twin having ever mentioned having another half-sibling beside Anubis was she not liking the end results in her mind. "When she found out she pulled something similar like aunt Nephthys and hid it till dad needed to get back to Brooklyn for he was made the new head of the Twenty-First and she worked in England. So after our half-brother was born she gave him just like that over to her cousin and did as if noting ever happened." here Kelly shook her head while from the corner of her eyes she saw Rayen look confused, indicating that he did not know the story and that he was also confused why this happened seeing how the father of the twins was wonderful with children. "This went well for three years when things turned bad seeing how the cousin's husband who had our brother did a good deal of bad investments and they ended up in a financial catastrophe which he hid from his wife till things become so much out of hand that he saw no other way out then one" Kelly felt cold dread run up her spine while Rayen stiffened and stared at his cousins. "He took a shotgun and killed both his wife and our brother and then pointed the barrel at himself end of story. Dad being considerate went to the funeral where not only was he asked to spend some time going different ways, meaning breaking up, but was also so lovingly informed that the child which's casket was just lowered into the ground had been his. Also guess what pathetic ground she gave for not saying a thing about the pregnancy and giving our brother away? The incredible idiocy that dad seemed like a person who does not want to burden himself with children so soon!" this last sentence of reasoning made both Kelly and Rayen forget for a few seconds about the depressing end of two innocent lives.

"Which is the biggest gryphon crap I had ever heard! If anything I find it a wonder that your dad still only has you two as kids." Rayen spoke up, he may be often and odds with Alexander, but if one was clear then that his cousin's dad was practicularly born for the role of a father-figure.

"I agree, if she could not see that your dad loves children then she should really have never gotten involved with him in the first place. Beside that I doubt that your parents would ever let someone separate them." Kelly told the twins reassuringly when suddenly something other occurred to her. "By the way, not that I mind having you here, but how come that you have come today?" she asked the trio who gave her a small grin, their previous bad mood lessening a small bit.

"We got an invite to join in the Tournament Week, the other godly parents, gods and a few magicians from the House will come later on to make things more interesting for the visiting mortals." Tori said before something dark blue, black and gold rushed at her only to reveal a small girl around five with shoulder length black hair and warm brown eyes.

"Tori, Sherry and Kevin are looking for you three." the little girl said grinning before she noticed that there was a person she did not know. "Hi" she said smiling while still clinging to Victoria.

"Hi, my name is Kelly and who might you be?" she asked the small child, they were so adorable at this age.

"This is…", but Alexander was interrupted when the small girl looked at him pouting.

"I can introduce myself uncle Xander" she said while Kelly looked intrigued at the term she used for the older demigod who held his hands up in defeat. "My name is Nina Jones, Daughter of Anubis." she said proudly while Kelly turned to the siblings.

"Your certainly have a lively niece." she told the pair with a grin on her lips, she had not known that Anubis had found a mortal lover, till now she only knew of Sobek, Sekhmet, Heka, Seshat and Ahy.

"You don't even know half of it Kell, so Nina where are those two?" Alexander asked his niece.

"They were close to the beach." she replied back at which the older demigods and one legacy exchanged confused glances seeing how Sherry was a daughter of Sekhmet and with whom she went there.

"Ok, by Kevin I don't wonder that he went to help out down there regards who his father is, but that Sherry headed there and not to where the Apollo kids are is a bit unusual, she tends to avoid large bodies of water when Kevin is near." Rayen added in when Kelly remembered something.

"If I remember right were the Apollo, Iris and Hebe cabins the ones tasked with the work on the beach, well the residual work after Luke and Sally finished." she told them.

"That reminds me, where are the two anyway? We had passed the Poseidon cabin and it looked fairly deserted." Rayen said when there was suddenly a male voice from behind them.

"I was asking myself the same question." turning around they spotted a man standing behind them with shoulder length honey blonde hair and thin framed glasses before his gray eyes.

"They may be plotting something for the Tournament Week Uncle Malcolm." Kelly said smiling, but on the inside was she not sure, but now that the missing of the Jackson siblings was mentioned, she also missed Ace, Lance, Misty, En and Mitch seeing how since a while she only saw their seconds-in-command direct their cabins around and Lily seemed to act strangely, well according to Monica who was to become the new Oracle of Delphi.

"May be it, though if you see them inform me please, I will be by the Big House, Pollux asked me this morning to help Chiron and Lupa keep an eye on you kids till he is back from Olymphos with the others." Malcolm said while looking up at the blue sky wistfully.

"Do you think that they will accept it?" Kelly asked her uncle while the Egyptian demigods decided to depart seeing how they did not wish to intrigue on this conversation and to make sure that there is not fight breaking out on the beach.

"I don't know to be honest, on one side it would probably be a beneficial decision to make, but on the other the price would be painful to bear. This is not a light decision to make and one must consider their answer well if both the gain and loss seem to weight the same as the other, but whatever the decision will be, it will be the right one for them." Malcolm answered back to his niece with a small smile on his lips when a warm breeze passed them carrying the sweet scent of flowers in it.


Mount Olymphos, Greece – Past

Everyone in the throne room was patiently waiting for Apollo to finally stop laughing and to just start reading already which he managed after three more minutes and a few deep breaths.

"Sorry everyone, it is just that Percy really has a way with titles." Apollo said while whipping a tear from the corner of his eyes. "The next title is, "I Battle my Jerk Relative," at which everyone stared gapping at the book, not sure if they had heard right and they were certainly not meaning the option part regards what type of relative Percy thinks that Ares is.

"You mean to tell me that Percy will…?" Poseidon could not even finish the sentence, he felt extremely close to become a puddle again while Theseus let out again a pitiful sound.

"Yep, now it is really clear why it is good that Theseus is sleeping through these two chapters." Orion told Bellerophon who nodded his head in agreement, their brother would be unbearable if he would be awake if his reactions so far were any indication, and he also feared that Orpheus may take retribution on them for setting him up with the blackhead.

"Great, now he is also taking it up with a god." Hercules mumbled under his breath when he had suddenly a strange feeling as if being watched, turning carefully to his side he spotted the Dark Princess, he would certainly stick to this name for her, looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes. Ugh…she really made his feel uncomfortable.

"Just read Apollo, it would be good to start the next book before it is time for lunch." Artemis told her brother who nodded his head, but then looked over at Hades apologetically.

"You really work to much uncle, which is not exactly healthy." he told the older god while contemplating if he should maybe suggest to help out somewhat, without the others figuring out, it would mean that he is at least both in the presence of the other while also helping lessen the stress on him. He had been not lying when he said that this was not good for the health, for both the god and his surroundings.

A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us for long, or to wonder how three kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

Hades groaned while the others flinched, they agreed with Apollo about the other being too much under stress and with their moods tending to influence their surroundings.

They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Our clothes were sopping wet, even mine. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, I'd silently prayed they wouldn't pick me out of the water and find me perfectly dry, which might've raised some eyebrows.

Everyone nodded that it would have been more then strange.

So I'd willed myself to get soaked.

"Well, that would certainly explain why he is wet unlike by the other times." Jay said, he had been curious when it was read that Percy was wet, now he got it.

Sure enough, my usual waterproof magic had abandoned me. I was also barefoot, because I'd given my shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves.

A few people nodded their heads while the others laughed about Percy's logic.

"That would have raelly been harder to explain then the no shoes thing." Katie said.

After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise.

"What a nice sentence." Silena said as she shook her head, sunrises were pretty, but really, combined with the picture of a burning city?

Apollo meanwhile tried not to grin; it always amused him how people called the sunrise beautiful, well sure one can understand his amusement because those people rarely see how this phenomenon looks behind the mist, meaning either Helios driving along the sky in a chariot or him when the other asks him to jump in. He is kind of the substitute Sun God.

I felt as if I'd just come back from the dead—

A good deal of people raised their eyebrows, wondering if Percy had forgotten about which realm the uncle he had just visited was residing or not.

which I had.

"Good, for a few minutes I thought that he may have gotten amnesia or something." Connor whispered to his brother, he doubted one would so fast forget their visit to the Underworld.

My back pack was heavy with Zeus's master bolt.

Zeus felt pleased that his Master Bolt was still there, but he would feel better if he would already have it in the book.

My heart was even heavier from seeing my mother.

Many bowed their heads at hearing this.

"I know that this had been a test issued by the Fates, but this was also kind of cruel." Gwen said while En leaned back against her uncle's chest, her eyes closed.

"Fate is a force which is always cruel, only the extent of it changes in strength so that sometimes one does not even notice it when on other times it almost crushes a person." Enysswe said in a light tone, she knew that people often seemed to confuse fate and destiny even thought they are not the same. Your destiny is yours to have, you may shape and bend it at your will through your decisions and actions, but fate is something unyielding, you can't change it no matter how much you struggle. She knew that one of the parts from the slowly surfacing Third Great Prophecy had fated her birth, but she did not know if those lines would declare her fate or her destiny.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way—"

"At least you found out a part of the truth." Lee pointed out, this was better then nothing, but he was worried about Percy who according to the title will be fighting against Lord Ares.

"It was a trick," I said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"I need to agree about that." Athena said with a slightly disgusted look on her face when she noticed Ares scowling at her so she leaned closer to him. "There is a chance that it was grandfather who suggested and forced you to follow that plan and I don't wish to have something in common with him." she whispered to him at which the god relaxed, but his face also took up a disgusted look.

"Ugh…I also dread that is was his idea." he whispered back, he was not pleased to be used as a chess piece, their grandfather can make himself ready that he will demand bloody retribution for this insult.

"Hey," she warned.

Annabeth bowed her head when she noticed both her mother and Ares look at her with raised eyebrows so she guessed that this was not meant as an insult no matter how her mother's expression looked a few seconds ago, she guessed that it had more to do with whom could have been making the plan as an at that time more likely option then the fact what Percy implied.

"You get it, don't you?"

She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained.

A few people snickered at Grover's comment.

"Would somebody—"

"Sorry Goat Boy, but I fear that you will need to figure that one out yourself." Apollo said with a small laugh before his expression become sombre again due to the next lines.

"Percy ..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

More people bowed their heads, but forced themselves to remember that she was fine and having a good life with her family and a job she loves to do, so there was no ground for them to feel this way.

I pretended not to hear her. If I talked about my mother, I was going to start crying like a little kid.

"And as it had been mentioned, there is nothing bad about crying, it shows that you are human or better put, have feelings." Mitchell said.

"That is true; I doubt that father would ever shed even a single tear for someone else." Poseidon said with a nod while on his guest throne Hades also nodded his head, it seemed that most people saw crying as a weakness even thought it was just like laughing one of the ways to unburden your soul.

"The prophecy was right," I said. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.'

Everyone nodded while looking uneasily over at Ares who did his best to not show that in truth he was frightened about the knowledge that his grandfather will somehow manage to invade his mind and make him do his bidding…somehow he was feeling violated by the thought. Sensing his discomfort both Athena and Aphrodite each placed their hand on the War God's arms.

But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three.

Said god nodded his head while holding his wife's hand, his two brothers meanwhile did not dare looking at him.

Someone else pulled off the theft.

Those who have already known or figured it out who had truly taken the two items did their best to avoid looking at Hermes.

Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid.

Poseidon bowed his head, he had been the one who had dragged Percy into this mess, it may have been unintentional, but now reading this book, somehow the knowledge about the oath he and Zeus issued and broke, the appearance of the Fates in the second chapter and the test they had issued. All of this forced him to see that no matter if unintentional or not, he was the one to be blamed. For each wound Percy receives, for each tear and blood drop spilled, for each danger his son had faced and will face was he to blame. For he had been the one going back on his oath and birthing this young hero whom will be burdened to bear a hard fate on his shoulders.

Poseidon will get blamed by both sides.

Athena nodded her head, now that they knew the truth some things were a bit clearer, but for them in the book, if from three powerful items two go missing and if added to that the breaking of an oath on the Styx gets revealed is it easy to draw a false conclusion if one does not know what they know now.

By sundown today, there will be a three-way war.

Everyone shuddered, no matter that it got stopped; it was hard not to imagine the chaos, despair, destruction and death that would have been caused.

"Ugh…we can be happy that you three will manage to stop that from happening." Beckendorf told Annabeth who nodded her head.

"Me to." she said, but knew that there would be more wars to come and no matter that she knew that they will win in the end, what they had read so far showed her that she was still not good enough. She dreaded now that she may fail in one of her strategies and someone she cares about would get hurt or worse, but she forced those fears away from her mind and tried listening to the book.

And I'll have caused it."

Several people scowled at this while Ares leaned closer to Athena, his face tinged with green.

"I fear that this was grandfather." he whispered to her while she tightened her hold on his hand, at this moment she also needed a bit of support from the touch of her counterpart for she meant it as she told him that she dreaded to have anything to her which was similar to the one all Olympians despise.

Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky?

"A cruel bastard." come it from the gods and legacies.

Who would want war that bad?"

"A cruel, heartless bastard who wants to use the diversion to raise." the gods corrected themselves while the legacies held back bitter smiles, seems that the term 'like mother, like son' could be nicely applied, for Queen Dirt Face had also wanted to use the Second World War as a diversion to raise, but she did not think that the daughter of her eldest grandson would sacrifice her own life in order to thwart her plans.

I stopped in my tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think."

"Let me guess, I'm there." Ares said while looking over at Apollo who nodded his head carefully when Ares let out a growl. "That ass, even if a fight should ensue the scenery is not in my favour due to the ocean and who knows what else he will throw in if he wants to have the boy on his side." the god spat in anger while the others could not even exactly blame him, being mind controlled was not something one takes lightly, mostly not if it did not happen out of content and also Ares was right, they could not know what Kronos would do further with him.

There he was, waiting for us, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminium baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its head light turning the sand red.

The demigods shuddered at the last line.

"Ugh…I really don't like the implication of that last line at all." Katie said shivering.

"I agree, it is almost as if it would imply death." Lee said nervously while the legacies exchanged fleeting, uncomfortable glances with each other because it had been the beach on which the councillor had lost his life by the invasion.

Hey, kid," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see me. "You were supposed to die."

"Luckily he didn't." Poseidon said in a relieved tone while looking thankfully at his older brother, he will be on it to help the other out in his work from now on and hopefully manage to mend at least a bit of the rift which had been standing between them since they had been freed from their prison.

"I wonder if the fact that you are happy to see him is because a part of you tried to fight of the mind control and was glad that the plan had not gone as Kronos had planned it." Aphrodite whispered to Ares from his other side.

"I don't fully know how my future self truly felt at that time regards him, but you can bet on it that I would not just sit there and let myself be controlled by that asshole without a fight." he whispered back to her.

"You tricked me," I said.

"Technically is he also a victim like you as surreal it sounds to say this." Hermes said while he glanced over at Ares, he meant his words then since he knew his half-brother had he never thought to one day see him in the role of a victim, it did not sound right.

Meanwhile the others also nodded while Clarisse glared at her lap, she would make hell to Kronos's plans for what he dared to do with her father.

"You stole the helm and the master bolt."

"We are not able to take the symbol of another as Chiron had explained it, but given what he went through since some chapters we can let that pass." Apollo said before continuing with reading the book.

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally.

"True and you didn't steal them at all." Hephaestus said as he tired to control his fire from breaking out, as they had said before he and Ares tended to clash often with both harsh words and on occasions also deeds, but they were brothers who shared the same parents and as hard it is to see had a type of love for each other so he was furious with their grandfather.

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."

The demigods and legacies nodded their heads though did not exactly like to be implied to be errand boys and girls now.

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

"I didn't steal it!" Clarisse shouted. "I would never do that." she added in while Lee gave her a small smile.

"Even without the book here we would not believe that it was you, it is just not in your character." he told her which earned him a small grin from the girl while the others nodded, well Michael kicked himself for not coming up with anything to say sooner.

"Thanks Fletcher." she said while the legacies gave them a small smile.

"Try seeing this as his payback comment for the Hellhound think." Frank told the other who rolled her eyes at this.

"At least does he not give this comment in front of the whole camp or I would need to make a schedule whom to beat up on which day of the week and at what time, it would be a bother getting done." she said while the others laughed, knowing that Clarisse was over the accusation now.

The idea seemed to amuse him.

"My kids don't steal, but take if they want to." Ares said while Hermes grinned at him.

"That is my department, Ares is not the type who likes sneaking up on things, people on the other hand in a surprise attack are more his thing." he said while some of the others tried not to flinch.

"Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort.

"The first of many times." Ace whispered to Lance.

See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed

Poseidon rolled his eyes at the nickname, he would be happy if people would give up with the names.

will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath

"Isnt this not how aunt Thalia tends to call uncle Nico? Or at least eerily similar." Nathan whispered to Misty as by the thrones Hades rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Well, seeing how he is her half-brother I would not be surprised." she whispered back to him.

will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him.

Said god did his best to not look at his oldest brother.

And Hades is still looking for this …"

"At least will Percy not need to go looking for it." Hades mumbled under his breath.

From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear—

"Now I wonder why it had taken up a form like that?" Katie asked in confusion while Malcolm was explaining what a bank robber was.

"Nice, but again, that is my department and not that of Ares." Hermes said after his nephew finished with his explanation.

"Great, in a way the Helm of Darkness was giving them a clue about the identity of the thief." Luke groaned softly so that the others don't hear.

and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"Cool, it can change forms?" Trickster asked while Hades took out the Helm and while holding back its power showed it to the demigods who looked on in awe as it become a wreath of silver and golden laurels, a golden crown, a wreath of bones and so on before he put it away.

"That is really great that it does not have a constant form, but can change its forms and size." Jay said in amazement which made Zeus gap at his son.

"It is also rather convient that it can do that regards the size." Reyna added in with the others nodding while Hades felt kind of pleased that the children liked this ability of his Symbol of Power.

"The Helm of Darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I?

"Ah, is old age creeping up on you Ares?" Dionysus asked his brother with a smirk on his lips while the god looked at him for a few seconds and then started grinning as he realized why the other had commented this.

"Nah, only a relative who does not know what it means to suck up that he was beaten." he replied back grinning.

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 little three-way slugfest going."

There were several threats against Kronos going on in and outside of the palace.

"And this is certainly proof that something is not right with Ares." Enyo snapped in anger, with her being the goddess of destructive war was she mostly in battle times on the same side as her blood brother and knew him well and this was not like the Ares she knew.

"True, father loves war, but this would be a slaughter which could easily end with no one staying who can fight, he would never wish for such destruction." Adrestia bit out while holding Harmonia close to herself.

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

"He knows that, he does not mind bickering and fights, but he would never want a full blown war which could end up destroying all creation." Hecate said sighing; she was glad that this war will not happen for she feared that if a three-way war would truly break out then it may also force the other pantheons to set their foot down to stop it spreading to their jurisdiction and that would end terribly.

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

The deities nodded that this was like Ares, but they knew that he must be controlled for he had mentioned this sentence a few times, but he always choose the word battle or fight anstead of war, he knew the limits even if it was hard to believe with him.

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," I said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"This might not be the full truth, they would have noticed it right away if it would have been the case." Alke pointed out while everyone hoped that it would finally be explained how the Bolt got into the backpack.

"Yes and no," Ares said.

"Eh?" come the several confused sounds from all those gathered.

"It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow,

"And this taunting is again an indication that someone had messed with his mind." Hecate said while Enyo and most of the others nodded their heads, Ares loved taunting people, but this sounded noting like the start of one of those he uses.

"That Titan is truly a bad looser, using one of his own grandchildren…" Aidos growled, one of her spectres of power was respect after all beside modesty and reverence, but Kronos was throwing all of this under the rug.

"Aidos, it is of no use, you know how your uncle is a deceitful monster." Nemesis told her friend who nodded her head bitterly; the older goddess knew that she was partially still annoyed for having her father and his punishment mentioned by yesterday's reading, but for those whom were birthed from one of the twelve Titans, but them having been born as gods or goddesses or one of their offspring's and not have been banned somewhere after the Titanomachia would this go on like this, mostly that it seems that a new war against their family is approaching.

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?"

"So, this is how it was done." Arete said while clapping her hands together.

"No wonder then that the backpack started to feel different after only they nearly got dragged into Tartaros, no matter how Athena may complain, but this was a well made strategy." Kratos spoke up as several of the others also nodded their heads, this way the bolt would have been unintentionally delivered to Kronos without even the one delivering it noticing that they had it on them.

I wasn't sure how Ares knew about that, but I guess a god of war had to make it his business to know about weapons.

"It is essentional for us to be in clear about them." called all deities who had some aspect of war in their nature no matter how small or insignificant it may be.

"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit,

"Can he do that?" asked a confused looking Horme while almost everyone sitting outside turned curiously to Hecate who looked up when feeling the gazes on her.

"Technically he would be able, of course not a large change on the magical barriers in and around the Bolt, but due to it being mostly a weapon and only secondly a magical item his main spectre as a War God would make it possible." she explained to the others.

"Meaning if he would not have that side to him then he would have not been able to manipulate on it?" Nomos asked the goddess who gave a shrug.

"In that case we would have got a repeat how his father looked when Ares was a baby and got his hands on the Bolt and I doubt that anyone would have missed that explosion." she told them as the others nodded their heads in understanding, well except those who were laughing as they remembered how Zeus looked after being blasted through a wall by his own Symbol of Power.

so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... Bingo, you got mail.

Everyone shook their heads at the last sentence, this sounded more like a comment from Hermes when he played the question game when bringing you a message.

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?"

At this several deities narrowed their eyes, this was the last confirmation that it had been not Ares who had done all of this due to his free will. Even if they would have not heard the first part of the book, the fact that Ares would freely give out a dangerous weapon from his hands, a weapon he certainly was interested as a child would tip everyone of that something was definitely not right.

Though this was before they heard Apollo read the next unsettling part which made the siblings and children of the god tense and sent their blood boiling.

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 ..."

It was as if someone would have set the air on fire as everyone glared at the palace, this sentence just told them that Kronos had been listening in and given instructions to his grandson and it was Percy 's question which caused that hidden connection to falter and for the other to continue struggling.

The throne room was deadly silent while everyone did their best to not glare at the book, during the past sentences had Ace moved closer to his mother to give her comfort seeing the extremely undecided look on his father's face as well on that of En's uncle while Hera also stood up and joined the two other goddesses on her son's side who grit his teeth in both annoyance and anger. He would give a first row demonstration to his grandfather about his weapon collection the next time he sees him.

After a good ten minutes Apollo continued reading, but everyone could feel the suffocating tension in the air.

He held the trance for one second ... two seconds...

"Good, you are fighting him." Hephaestus said in a tight tone as he tried to control the flames which wanted to erupt all over his body, he was also doing this due to the fact that he also felt some of the vulcans stir in the mortal world and after hearing all the work his uncle needed to endure he did not wish to make more work for him unnecessarily.

I exchanged nervous looks with Annabeth.

The legacies, beside Ace and Enysswe who were farther apart from them, exchanged knowing glances, so this was when he started figuring out that something had been not right with Ares.

Ares's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."

Ares wanted to curse, he had been pushed back for he could not hear himself say such bullshit, it would have been easy if he would have been found with the Bolt to say that he had managed to find it and designated the thief.

"You're lying," I said. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"He has figured it out that something is not right, but I'm not sure if this is at the moment a good thing or not." Jay said feeling worried and nervous, Kronos had still control over the war god and even thought Percy had the Bolt he could not use it without his father allowing it while Ares can. The situation did not look good, but at least the presence of the ocean would make sure that there wouldn't be causalities, now he only feared the injuries.

"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sun glasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

"Good, you are still trying to sever the connection." Ares heard his mother mumble as her hand tightened on his shoulder, he felt glad for her support, in the past had he sometimes the feeling as if she would feel uncomfortable around him. Maybe when they talk he will finally know what had been wrong, but first he wanted this disgusting bond between his future self and grandfather gone.

"You didn't order the theft," I guessed. "

Athena nodded her head approvingly, he had figured it out now if only Ares could free himself fully from Kronos then this madness would end.

Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief.

Everyone narrowed their eyes, so this had been the time it had happened.

But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go.

"More like someone." many thought angrily, the thief if they knew it or not had been not alone a fiver of Kronos's essence had been on them as an aid if they should be caught. This thought was unsettling because it could have happened to any of them who had been sent out on that day to find the thief.

You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

Cue growls and threats in different languages which made Sue cring, she had once wanted to teach the twins to be multilingual, seems she may get her wish…multilingual in the case of swear words.

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one!

Zeus wanted to speak up that his son certainly takes orders from him, but shut up when Poseidon glared at him.

"And this would explain how he directed your actions." Apollo spoke up in a dark tone as he read the last part of the sentence.

I don't have dreams!"

"When were dreams mentioned?" asked a confused Frank.

"This may have been Ares attempting to give a tip, but it not coming out how he fully wanted to." Athena said before turning to the demigods to explain. "You see, divine beings have no dreams when they sleep, or hallucinations for that matter, if we wish to experience one of those there are usually two ways, either we as a divinity with dreams in their attribute or the more unsettling occurrence if a divinity is close to fading." she told the demigods who nodded their head reluctantly while progressing the new information they had got.

"But how come then that Lord Ares is talking about dreams?" Annabeth asked her mother who looked at her uncomfortably before turning to Hades because she was not sure how to answer this.

"This has much to do with the generations, you know how Lord Chaos was the start of everything his children and grandchildren are called primordial's or in other words first generation gods, this means that their powers are more stronger then those of later generations seeing how some of them inherited those powers over to the divinities which were born later or they altered a bit through the inheritance. Like how Artemis inherited the aspect of 'childbirth' from her mother Leto the Titanes of Motherhood while Athena's own mother Metis had inherited a number of her own aspects to her, mostly wisdom, planning and craftiness." Hades explained while the two goddesses nodded their heads though Athena also bit on her under lip, she did not know that these parts of her nature had come from her mother. "I used the example with titans in the same sense with the primordial's due to the fact that they are close to that category regards in an aspect of their power namely they can induct dream messages and manipulations without the aide of a god with dream aspect, though as you know due to Hypnos" here both Zeus and Hercules scowled neither of them having forgotten how the god had aided Hera in her revenges towards the demigod " the God of Sleep being En's grandfather and three of the Oneiros or Dream Gods being his younger siblings while the fourth his son, this power is understandable. If one of us third and fourth generation gods, the titans may not be gods, but they are also part of the second generation deities, wish to do one of those they will need to ask either Hypnos or one of the four Oneiro for help except if it is not a specific message seeing how general things are automatically carried over due to your demigod dreams being designed like that by your own bodies because of you being a mix of mortal and divinity." Hades finished explaining while the demigods wished to groan at the knowledge that their demigod dreams were due to them being demigods and not because a dream god decided to give them a creative ability.

I hesitated. "Who said anything about dreams?"

No one commented seeing that they had just been cleared up about all of this.

Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.

"Good, now try solving this with as little bloodshed as possible." Poseidon pleaded.

"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.

"It takes one to know another father and as a reminder the people you are making your grandson talking about are your children and grandchildren and you are refusing to accept defeat, so what does that imply to you?" Hera asked while most of the others smirked.

"Meaning the pot is calling the cattle." Trickster whispered to Felix.

So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."

"Well…getting killed is kind of personal for the one who is being killed…"

"Apollo, read the book it is already enough for our nerves."

"Sorry."

He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar,

The legacies did their best to not snicker, their poor dad /uncle was the option that he may have developed a small allergy regards boars and pigs in general.

"Good, they are beside the ocean and you sent one of your sacred animals at him, good I can perfectly live with that." Poseidon said in a relieved tone.

"Did father forget the title of this chapter and that it kind of implied a different type of battle?" Triton whispered to his mother who shook her head.

"Let your father enjoy his little denial till he can." she told her son while glancing at her still smiling husband.

even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin five at Camp Half-Blood.

"Of course it would be larger then that one." Annabeth said while putting her worry to the side to do a bit of a calculation how a larger head would work out on the structure of the cabin which were not nice results, after being done she went back to worrying.

The beast pawed the sand, glaring at me with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill.

Suddenly Apollo looked up apologetically at Poseidon who let out a groan while both Amphitrite and Triton sighed, the denial did not last long.

I stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

"Chiron, you told him about what heroes can do in boldness…" Poseidon whined while looking over at his half-brother who gave him as sheepish smile while holding up his hands.

"I did not know that he would face such a situation and challenge a god." Chiron told the Sea God while he was busy groaning on the inside.

He laughed, but I heard a little edge to his laughter ... an uneasiness.

Athena wondered from whom that feeling may have come from, but she was still to busy to try figuring out how the situation could be resolved.

"You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Under world. You don't have what it takes."

"Why can I see Percy commenting something which will result in him fighting a god one-on-one?" Malcolm asked groaning while Apollo shook his head before continuing to read.

"Scared?"

Cue groans.

"In your adolescent dreams." But his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes.

The demigods and mortal family shuddered as they imagined this.

"In a way possessed or not, I doubt that it is healthy to provocate him." Dakota whispered to the others.

"And you did not hear his worst provocations regards divinities yet." Ace told them from beside his mother, he decided to stay here till the chapter is done.

"So reassuring to know." Katie said while shaking her head, at least was Travis only pulling pranks and not making gods want to attack him, she was really starting to get those bets.

"No direct involvement.

This wanting to stick to the laws kind of bothered some of the others.

Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."

And this relaxed them, this sounded a bit more like the Ares they knew.

Annabeth said, "Percy, run!"

"Please do." Orion said, it was not fun to be trampled over by a boar, he had experience with that and learned that they could be pretty fast when charging at you.

The giant boar charged.

But I was done running from monsters. Or Hades, or Ares, or anybody.

"Great, I don't know if this anger of his is a good or bad thing." Poseidon said while covering his eyes with his hand.

"I think it kind of depends on the situation and how you look at it." Luke told his grandfather while inwardly cringing, his mother would hear about the betrayal of the original Luke in the chapter after this.

"Then allow me till he is safe from trouble from angry boars and relatives on the beach to see it as a bad thing." Poseidon replied back while gesturing with his free hand to Apollo so that he should continue.

As the boar rushed me, I uncapped my pen and side stepped.

"Seems as if that what his mom told him during the fight with the Minotaur can also be applied to boars." Travis said grinning.

Riptide appeared in my hands. I slashed upward. The boar's severed right tusk fell at my feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea.

There were a few cheers at this from the demigods while the others smirked, this part of the fight would be over soon.

I shouted, "Wave!"

Immediately, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around it like a blanket. The beast squealed once in terror. Then it was gone, swallowed by the sea.

"AWESOME," Was shouted from many in the throne room before it felt silent again due to people realizing that now Percy will be facing Ares who as they got proven was still directed in most of his actions by Kronos, not a good combo.

I turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight me now?" I asked. "Or are you going to hide behind another pet?"

Ares's face was purple with rage. "

Now this time even some of the gods flinched, this did not look good and Ares was even when he was fully himself not famous due to him managing to keep his temper in check.

Watch it, kid. I could turn you into—"

"That kid is imaginative, but I would still ask D to have a look at him when you get back to camp, just to be on the save side." Apollo said before continuing with his reading.

"A cockroach," I said. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"

"Hades, the wine." was the only thing coming from Poseidon as his older brother complied.

Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

"I really hope that he does not." Poseidon said while filling the drinking horn with wine.

"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."

"It is nice that he is taking that promise so serious to get back my Helm and Zeus's toy, but he is not taking into account into what kind of danger he is putting himself into." Hades whispered to Persephone who nodded her head in agreement.

Ares sneered.

He swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

"Classic would be better in that situation due to the environment they are in, in a city I would say modern, but not on a beach." Clarisse spoke up finally, she was feeling slightly better now that she could think about something other then her father being played as a marionette.

I showed him my sword.

Ares nodded his head, if it comes to fight types were most of the time no words needed to convey a decision.

"That's cool, dead boy," he said.

"And just like by aunt Clarisse he got the wrong kid of the wrong uncle." Lance whispered while Henry glared at him.

"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.

No matter the situation Ares allowed himself a small grin and pulled out said sword, after getting his hand released for a short time by Aphrodite, for a few seconds for the curious looking demigods to see before putting it away again.

"Percy," Annabeth said. "Don't do this. He's a god."

"He isn't going to listen." come the many replies followed by heavy sighs, some groans and a whimper from Theseus.

"He's a coward," I told her.

Ares though about commenting but said nothing.

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 my neck.

Aphrodite beamed at a blushing Annabeth.

"That's adorable." she said with her children agreeing with their mother and this time even some of the other females also nodded their heads.

"Reconciliation," she said. "Athena and Poseidon together."

Athena and Poseidon eyed each other but said nothing, they would wait and see if something should change in their rivalry in these books or if not then they will try to act a bit more civil towards the other for the shake of their children, but Athena was also wishing to see that proof why she may accept Percy near her daughter. She wished to see things clearly before falling judgement.

My face felt a little warm, but I managed a smile. "Thanks."

Annabeth blushed even more when the Love Goddess and her two daughters started cooing.

"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."

Pan smiled at this as did most of the others, but only the legacies knew that this sentence will in a few years time hold a much deeper meaning to it then either of them would have guessed at that time.

"Grover ... I don't know what to say."

"Neither do we," the Stolls laughed before they were hit over the head by Katie.

"Be quiet, this is adorable." she told them.

He patted me on the shoulder. I stuffed the tin can in my back pocket.

"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?"

Before anyone could comment Apollo snorted, that sentence could be applied against almost all of the gods, but he would not say that out loud as fun as some of the expressions would look.

"Sorry, only read Percy's inner answer." he said before reading it out loud.

A smaller ego, I thought, but I said nothing.

Ares stared spluttering at the book as some of the others started snickering, well beside Poseidon who took a new gulp from the wine.

"Don't worry dear, you can always blame your father for the ego part." Hera whispered to Ares, but she was heard by both Aphrodite and Athena who bit on their tongues to not laugh at the comment.

I kept my feet in the surf, backing into the water up to my ankles. I thought back to what Annabeth had said at the Denver diner, so long ago: Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to how to wisdom sometimes.

"So he does listen to me and not only when he is bored." Annabeth whispered to herself before looking up and giving a what she hoped to be an apologetic smile to Lord Ares.

He cleaved downward at my head, but I wasn't there.

"Damned bastard of a good for nothing grandfather." Ares grumbled under his breath, he knew that the ocean would make trouble, not that he wanted Kronos to win, but he was the God of War and fighting in such an undesirable place due to the water not only helping out Percy and putting him on a disadvantage, but his uncle could easily send out some water monster to stop him.

My body thought for me. The water seemed to push me into the air and I catapulted over him, slashing as I came down. But Ares was just as quick.

Ares allowed himself again a small smirk of course he had said that he fought since millennia, the others mostly the demigods meanwhile listened with anticipation to the battle.

He twisted, and the strike that should've caught him directly in the spine was deflected off the end of his sword hilt.

Clarisse grinned, that was an excellent move which she would definitely note how to do.

"Not bad cousin." Apollo spoke up again before continuing.

He grinned. "Not bad, not bad."

The others nodded their heads, that praise no matter from whom it come had a meaning to it.

He slashed again and I was forced to jump onto dry land.

"Not good," Will said worriedly while the others nodded, Percy had just been forced to leave the place which gave him protection and an advantage to avoid being sliced into ribbons.

I tried to sidestep, to get back to the water, but Ares seemed to know what I wanted.

There were several groans at this while Hades wondered when Poseidon would ask for the third bottle to be opened.

He outmaneuvered me, pressing so hard I had to put all my concentration on not getting sliced into pieces.

The tension was increasing again as everyone waited for what will happen next.

I kept backing away from the surf. I couldn't find any openings to attack. His sword had a reach several feet longer than Anaklusmos.

Annabeth and everyone else who preferred to fight with a knife nodded their heads, this was a disadvantage for their weapon or any type of sharp blade if there was a difference in length between your blade and the one which your opponent uses. Simply put, if you wanted to get a hit in you need to take a risk.

Get in close, Luke had told me once, back in our sword class. When you've got the shorter blade, get in close.

"At least he taught him something," Luke grumbled under his breath, he forgot that this was also in there. Sally only patted her brother on the back, knowing how hard this was on him while the others noted that some of the others looked kind of conflicted indicating that they had figured out who the thief had been.

I stepped inside with a thrust, but Ares was waiting for that.

"Ouch…I fear he forgot that Ares is also good in weaponless combat and knows all fighting tricks." Apollo said flinching.

"Seeing that most of them were made by the two of us." Athena spoke up while the Romans flinched again at the new information, they really would have liked to know what had gotten into their ancestors for their actions in the past.

He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me in the chest.

Everyone flinched at this while Theseus started in his sleep to work on a new set of holes in their couch.

I went airborne—twenty, maybe thirty feet.

Cue more flinching.

I would've broken my back if I hadn't crashed into the soft sand of a dune.

Several people let out sighs of relief at this, it was better then the other option that could have happened.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "Cops!"

"What?" most asked, a part because they had no clue what those were while the others wondered who had called them.

"Is that a type of new battle strategy?" asked a confused Jason.

"No, cops also called police are people who are holding up the law, like if someone does a crime and the police catches them they are brought in front of a mortal court where a judge decides about their faith. It is not a bad system, but sadly is it not foul proof and sometimes get cases cold due to the investigators not having clues, things having been done wrong or someone buying themselves out of the trouble. Some also have a political protection till a certain time and also there is for some crimes a time frist after which they can't be sentenced." Sally tried to explain as easily as she could.

"It should never be too late to punish someone for a crime they had done." Artemis pointed out.

"This is for what the Judgement Pavilion in the Underworld is for." Hades said while his niece smiled at him.

"Ok, that is great to know, but would this be not dangerous for those mortals?" asked Perseus at which the others groaned, things really could not go easy for Percy.

I was seeing double. My chest felt like it had just been hit with a battering ram,

"Nah, that was only your cousin partially possessed by your grandfather." Hermes said in a chatting tone.

"Hermes!"

but I managed to get to my feet.

Everyone nodded, if he can still stand then it is fine.

I couldn't look away from Ares for fear he'd slice me in half,

"Wise choice, in a battle you never should avert your eyes from your opponent." Ares said with a nod of his head, that was one of the main rules of a battle.

but out of the corner of my eye I saw red lights flashing on the shoreline boulevard. Car doors were slamming.

"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"

A gruff cop voice: "Looks like that kid on TV ... what the heck ..."

Cue more groans and incredulous looks at the book, they doubted that things could get even more complicated after this.

"That guy's armed," another cop said. "Call for backup."

I rolled to one side as Ares's blade slashed the sand.

Sighs of relief.

I ran for my sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at Ares's face, only to find my blade deflected again.

"At least he has a weapon again." Tyche said in relief, she really wanted this fight to end, preferably with the young demigod not getting hurt more badly then he already is.

Ares seemed to know exactly what I was going to do the moment before I did it.

"He is a war type god, of course this makes him know all battle moves and the usage of anything that counts or could be used as a weapon." Enyo said with a sigh, wondering how Percy would get out of this one then no matter how good that child already is, she could not see him beating a god.

I stepped back toward the surf, forcing him to follow.

"Admit it, kid," Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."

My senses were working overtime. I now understood what Annabeth had said about ADHD keeping you alive in battle. I was wide awake, noticing every little detail.

There were several nods at this mostly inside the palace from the demigods and legacies, it were such times when they really appreciated the whole not being able to keep still thing.

I could see where Ares was tensing. I could tell which way he would strike.

"Good, keep an eye on his movements to determine his next move." Enyo said approvingly, even the smallest twitch of a muscle could carry much information in it if you are in a fight with someone.

At the same time, I was aware of Annabeth and Grover, thirty feet to my left. I saw a second cop car pulling up, siren wailing. Spectators, people who had been wandering the streets because of the earthquake, were starting to gather.

There were several groans at this.

"Just what are those idiotic mortals thinking they are doing?" asked Dike in frustration.

"One would think that they would have a better sense for self-preservation then to go ogling on a dangerous fight." Eris said while not far from her both Soter and Soteria were mumbling about people not listening to them and getting into trouble.

Among the crowd, I thought I saw a few who were walking with the strange, trotting gait of disguised satyrs.

"Seeing how the air there must be filled with the smell of demigods and a god they probably went to investigate what is happening." one of the present satyrs said, he was sure that he would just do that in such a situation.

There were shimmering forms of spirits, too, as if the dead had risen from Hades to watch the battle.

"I would say that father may have sent them as witnesses for what Percy does after he had left his realm." Macaria said while behind her was Zagreus still stuck on the fact that his sister may fancy someone while said sister was making plans how to get to her mother before her brother gets to their father.

I heard the flap of leathery wings circling somewhere above.

"And those must have been called due to the battle." Nemesis pointed out, the Erinyes were close to them with both Alecto and her elder brother Thanatos being both the lieutenants of Hades as well as the fact that they had been born just like their youngest sister Lyssa, from the blood of Ouranos the sky so their mother kind of treated them like her adoptive daughters.

More sirens.

I stepped farther into the water, but Ares was fast. The tip of his blade ripped my sleeve and grazed my forearm.

Cue flinches, mostly from those responsible for health.

A police voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns.' Set them on the ground. Now!"

"Guns?" come several confused voices, they really had no clue what those were.

"They may be a type of weapon they had invented in the future." Hecate spoke up seeing how neither of them had a clue what those things could be, beside getting the gist that it is probably some sort of a weapon.

Guns?

I looked at Ares's weapon, and it seemed to be flickering; sometimes it looked like a shotgun, sometimes a two-handed sword. I didn't know what the humans were seeing in my hands, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't make them like me.

"At the given moment, please concentrate more on surviving then what people think about you." Tyche pleaded.

"This is exactly why I dislike violence." Iris said while looking nervously at the palace.

Ares turned to glare at our spectators, which gave me a moment to breathe.

Enyo frowned, her brother was ignoring one of the rules regards battle which gave her an indication that their grandfather might have sensed those sent by uncle Hades and was not pleased about the fact that he could be found out.

There were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on us.

"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone.'"

He swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the patrol cars.

Several deities and spirits flinched, but sadly had those mortals brought this on themselves for not staying out of this.

The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming.

"At least got no one killed." Iris said sighing in relief as did several others, this attack could have easily killed at least forty people in an instant.

Ares roared with laughter. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."

He slashed. I deflected his blade. I got close enough to strike, tried to fake him out with a feint, but my blow was knocked aside. The waves were hitting me in the back now. Ares was up to his thighs, wading in after me.

Everyone held their breaths, wanting to know what will happen. Of course they knew that Percy could not win this battle with an actual defeat, but being in the water would ensure his safety much better then him fighting on land.

I felt the rhythm of the sea, the waves growing larger as the tide rolled in, and suddenly I had an idea. Little waves, I thought. And the water behind me seemed to recede. I was holding back the tide by force of will, but tension was building, like carbonation behind a cork.

The water deities and spirits who had figured out the plan started grinning, this was not a bad idea and could even work.

Ares came toward, grinning confidently. I lowered my blade, as if I were too exhausted to go on. Wait for it, I told the sea. The pressure now was almost lifting me off my feet.

Slowly the others were also grasping what the plan was.

"Not a bad idea." Ponos said nodding.

Ares raised his sword. I released the tide and jumped, rocketing straight over Ares on a wave.

A six-foot wall of water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of sea weed.

There was some scattered laughter at this seeing how they could not forget that Ares was not in full control of his own actions at the moment, but the picture was really not easy to be ignored.

I landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head, as I'd done before. He turned in time to raise his sword, but this time he was disoriented, he didn't anticipate the trick.

"Well having a wave which pressure had been increased crash on you probably feels as if you had run head first against a wall so him being disoriented is possible." Kratos pointed out.

I changed direction, lunged to the side, and stabbed Riptide straight down into the water, sending the point through the god's heel.

A few divinities flinched as they remembered poor Achilles and his fate.

The roar that followed made Hades's earthquake look like a minor event.

"Father had been frustrated and tired when you meet him while this was a cry of pain and anger, big difference." Zagreus said with a shrug.

The very sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

"I think his reaction is more then understandable, not many mortals had managed till now to give father as much as a scratch and I fear that having managed this while he is not fully himself will be not exactly the best thing." Adrestia pointed out with many of the others nodding, while it was not unheard of a demigod wounding a god it rarely ended well for the demigod in the end.

He limped toward me, muttering ancient Greek curses.

Something stopped him.

Everyone tensed at hearing this.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse.

"If it is whom I think it is then it is way worse then a cloud." Aether said while pulling Hemera closer, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the palace.

Light faded. Sound and color drained away.

Everyone swallowed hard at hearing this, such a display of divine presence could not come from someone who was securely trapped, he was slowly raising from his prison.

A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

Several growls filled the air outside of the palace and those who were gathered were sure that those inside the palace were having the same reaction as them.

A few minutes needed to pass till Apollo's voice could be heard again.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

At this let several deities out relieved sighs, but no one looked more pleased outside then the children of the war god.

"Good, grandfather's presence had left him." Enyo said sighing in relief when she suddenly felt a warm body pressing against her's, looking to her right she spotted the source in her younger sister Hebe. Giving the other a soft smile she pulled the Goddess of Youth closer.

Police cars were burning behind us. The crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, in shock, watching the water flood back around Ares's feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

Ares lowered his sword.

At this come more relieved sighs, the fight was over, but they were still worried what Ares would do then even thought he was not influenced anymore in his actions by Kronos, his pride was still wounded.

"You have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "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."

"That is actually one of the milder curses and can actually be played around." stated one of the Arae sisters who were responsible for curses, well mostly for those placed by the dead on the guilty, but they also regained over other ones also.

"Really, how can one play out this one?" Selene asked the sisters.

"This is a curse of the suggestive, believe type ones meaning if in a fight he does not call it to mind it will stay dormant in effect, also even if he remembers it and it activates the strength of it depends on how much he is concentrating on it." another one explained.

"Meaning even if he remembers it during a fight, but is busy to concentrate more on fighting then the curse then he may still have a chance to win it, but foremost he has a chance to survive the fight." Tyche guessed.

"Correct." come it from the Arae sisters at which many relaxed.

"Seems as if Ares certainly gave that demigod a much tamer burden to bear then his father." stated Horkos the one responsible for oaths and of course the curse their carry, he had not long ago arrived due to a message sent by his mother Eris and got informed by Helios about the oath Zeus and Poseidon took on the Styx and broke. He could really only shake his head at the idiocy of that action and what they had brought upon the two unfortunate demigods.

His body began to glow.

"And now is it a good time for them to turn away and close their eyes." Iris said worriedly while inside the palace gave Hera an apologetic look to Dionysus while Zeus looked uncomfortable.

Thyone who was sitting in the shades of another olive tree flinched, remembering her own foolish curiosity, sure Hera may have talked to her, but it had still been her persistent begging. From the corner of her eyes she caught the eyes of her mother Harmonia, the only one beside her son Dionysus, daughter-in-law, Lord Hades and Lady Hestia who knew who she had once been. She managed to give a small smile back to her mother to reassure her that she was fine.

'''Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"

"Good advice." Eros said.

I turned away as the god Ares revealed his true immortal form. I somehow knew that if I looked, I would disintegrate into ashes.

"Instinct." one of the Keres whispered.

The light died.

I looked back. Ares was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades's bronze helm of darkness. I picked it up and walked toward my friends.

The three children of Hades let out a sigh of relief that their father's Symbol of Power was safe and not lost.

But before I got there, I heard the flapping of leathery wings. Three evil-looking grandmothers

Some snickered at this.

with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of me.

The middle Fury, the one who had been Mrs. Dodds, stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but for once she didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed, as if she'd been planning to have me for supper, but had decided I might give her indigestion.

The snickers turned into full out laughs as everyone imagined Alecto's expression.

"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So ... it truly was not you?"

I tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise.

"Return that to Lord Hades," I said. "Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."

"Father will certainly do that the moment they arrive in the Underworld, you can be sure about that young hero that he will know the truth." Macaria said smiling, glad that at least this will be over, she started to like this young demigod.

She hesitated,

"She had not expected you so freely giving the Helm back and only these two request, the truth and the halting of a war." Melinoe said, she was also starting to get interested in this hero and wondered what he would do in the future.

then ran a 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 …"

"That is quiet an achievement, he got Alecto's respect, she usually never gives advice to demigods." Zagreus said in a stunned tone while those who knew her nodded their heads in agreement with him.

She cackled, savouring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.

I joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at me in amazement.

"And he is stunned about that." Bia laughed in amusement with some of the others also joining in or just grinning.

"Percy ..." Grover said. "That was so incredibly ..."

"Terrifying," said Annabeth.

"Cool!" Grover corrected.

This caused even more laughter.

I didn't feel terrified. I certainly didn't feel cool. I was tired and sore and completely drained of energy.

"Understandable, he just fought a god and was lucky that he had gotten out of that fight alive, not severely maimed and could even land a hit, which is enough battling for him regards the upcoming weeks, he should return with the Bold fast and then rest and get treated for his wounds." Aceso said in a motherly, but still firm tone.

"Did you guys feel that... whatever it was?" I asked.

"That was unfortunately something you are related to and if you would have a normal family relationship with him you would call him grandpa." Boreas stated sarcastically while a few divinities needed to snicker at the way ha had phrased it.

They both nodded uneasily.

"Must've been the Furies overhead," Grover said.

"We wish." come several replies.

But I wasn't so sure. Something had stopped Ares from killing me, and whatever could do that was a lot stronger than the Furies.

Everyone nodded darkly, he certainly got that right.

I looked at Annabeth, and an understanding passed between us. I knew now what was in that pit, what had spoken from the entrance of Tartarus.

The mood darkened even more as all gazes slowly shifted over to the white palace, wondering what price will be needed to be paid for Zeus to acknowledge the idea that his father was slowly raising from his prison.

I reclaimed my backpack from Grover and looked inside. The master bolt was still there. Such a small thing to almost cause World War III.

"Well, father just loves his toy." Enyo said testily while still having her sister lean against her.

"We have to get back to New York," I said. "By tonight."

"That's impossible," Annabeth said, "unless we—"

"Fly," I agreed.

"This is the only way." Iris said sighing.

"At least will Percy not need to fear that father will blast him out of the sky due to the fact that his beloved plaything is with him." Enyo told the goddess reassuringly.

She stared at me.

There were some stray snickers going through the group, they could certainly understand why Athena's daughter would react like this.

" 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?"

"And as pointed out, he loves that thing too much he would never dare too even risk it getting a scratch." Enyo stated again, her father was sometimes really too predictable.

"Yeah," I said. "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on."

After this sentence there was a small silence for a few minutes when a voice drifted outside again, but this time it was Artemis who spoke so everyone guessed that the they were not by a new chapter.

"I Settle My Tab," come the voice of the huntress at which a good deal of divinities exchanged confused glances with each other.

To be continued…