Disclaimer:
I DO NOT own this series. That goes to the wonderful Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. I am just borrowing the story and characters. I will say that the story lines will be written down because it makes it much easier to follow along and know the current placement, especially if it has been a while since reading the book. Also, this is not beta'd so there will most likely be a few mistakes, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!
Oh, this is also only my second story ever so please be gentle. I've been really enjoying getting to share how I would imagine characters would react to their tales and I hope to continue to do so.
Book
'thoughts'
"speech"
Sorry this is so much later than I planned! I finished up my semester and have been getting used to summer again and preparing for my new job. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and thanks for waiting!
A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers
Nico let out a long sigh.
"These things only happen around you I swear." He mumbled and read out the title.
The campers seemed to all breakout with giggles, some of the gods joining in. Sally was using her hand to cover up her smile.
Even Chiron had chuckled a bit, he believed it was nice to be able to hear what happened these past few years first-hand. He obviously wasn't happy for all the danger his campers were tending to be in, but these small moments were making up for it. It was always a joy to see the children get to be children, something that had become so rare.
Of course, the joyful feeling had to be broken.
"Hmph, what god is stupid enough to buy a couple of useless demigods anything?" Ares sneered.
Now, if looks could kill a god, this god would be long gone just from the glare that Sally Jackson was aiming his way. A look that he was clearly oblivious to.
Percy was quick to snatch up his mother's hand and whisper "Don't worry, he'll regret how he phrased that."
Sally could only give her son a look of confusion.
Nico decided to start reading, he remembered hearing stories of his cousin's interactions with a certain god of war.
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We
hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river
spirit."
"Ah yes, once again I am not told how things work in the demigod world." Percy sighs causing Chiron to wince.
"If there had been more time after you were claimed I would have taught you, but then Annabeth was going on this quest so I assumed she would show you how." The centaur explained.
"I understand sir, it's just something for me to add to the list since my introduction to this world was so sporadic. Although, you still never taught me how to use the Mist."
"Your powers seemed to show more negative impacts to the Mist so it seemed like a moot point to teach you. For example, how whenever caught during a fight you are shown in a less than savory light."
"Fair enough, my chances with the Mist are like 80/20 odds against me." The son of the sea shrugged.
"We can't use phones, right?"
"I'm not talking about phones."
We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from
the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"
"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."
I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left me two nickels and
one drachma from Medusa's place.
"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection
isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."
"Ooh do you think Perce could summon water to use for an IM?" Will questioned.
"Now? Yes, but when I was just discovering and learning how my powers worked? Definitely not." Said camper answered.
"You also need something that has some type of connection to water for that to work son." Poseidon added.
"Eh, not really…" the boy shrugged, remembering the volcano. That had been him after all.
The Sea God could only stare at his son in confusion, what was that supposed to mean?
The other gods had similar looks upon their faces. Just how strong was this demigod?
"What are you talking about?"
He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."
"Instant messaging?"
"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the
gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"
"From an outside perspective, that does sound pretty ridiculous." Rachel giggled.
"You're telling me. I was so confused."
Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you
know an easier way to make a rainbow."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.
Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."
I handed it over.
She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.
"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the
distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the
railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.
"Luke!" I called.
He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.
"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you
guys okay?"
"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt,
trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean—"
"Oh gods, damn your observational skills" Annabeth groaned hiding her face in Percy's shoulder.
"Can't help it, Wise Girl."
"Just shut up Seaweed Brain."
"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers.
Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"
"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's
line of vision. "What kind of issues?"
Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to
maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.
"Chiron had to—what's that noise?" Luke yelled.
"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out
of sight. "Grover, come on!
"What?" Grover said. "But—"
"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi,
then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.
I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.
"Oh! Um, right… some things get said here that insinuate bad ideas about certain people so just, be aware that's going to happened." Percy grimaced, Thalia would not be happy about Luke's commentary.
Percy received looks of confusion from the gods and understanding from the campers. The children began to prepare themselves for another example of Luke's betrayal.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense
here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus—Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how—
probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."
I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything. In the
next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume
decreased drastically.
"You still haven't told me what happened with those guys."
"Trust me Perce, I was there and I still don't wanna remember what happened." Grover shuddered at the memory.
Annabeth only had a sharp grin on her face.
"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."
I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him, to feel
like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until
the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off.
"Man, he really was one of the few friends you had, huh?" Chris asked.
"Yeah…" Percy exhaled. 'It made the betrayal that much harder to accept.'
Hermes could only look between the campers, still confused about how his son's name alone could bring such looks of melancholy among the group.
"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen
... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."
"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."
"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How
could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be
invisible."
"I'm sorry? He said what?" Thalia growled, sparked flickering on her hands.
"Oh, I honestly forgot about that, he says something much worse in a bit."
"It gets worse!?"
"But why?" the messenger god whispered. What was happening with his boy?
Percy motioned for Nico to continue, keeping a close eye on his other cousin.
We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."
I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped
completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.
"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll
feel better if I know they've done you some good."
"Oh ... uh, yeah!" I tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."
"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"
"Stupid shoes." Grover muttered, thankfully nobody heard him.
The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.
"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And
tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—"
"He didn't… he did. Ahhh!" Thalia screamed releasing a hard bolt into a wall. Luckily Olympus was built for situations like this.
Meanwhile Annabeth was being held tight by Percy who was whispering in her ear, struggling to keep her from lashing out. Grover on the other hand was being smothered in a hug by Sally, it was clear the satyr was hurt by the comment.
Even the gods were shocked at the boy's accusation. They knew he was a part of that incident; how could he just say something like that so casually?
Apollo could see his friend struggling with the accumulating clues about his son. For the god of prophecies, it was clear this Luke had a part in the Oracle's divination. The question was if his friend would be ready for such a shock Apollo knew would happen.
Nico looked around worried but could see the girl's fight waning. The other campers had similar looks of anger, but the Ghost King really had no choice but to continue reading.
But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. I was alone in a wet, empty car
wash stall.
Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face.
Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin. "Come on, let's find
some dinner."
A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.
Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"
I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the
linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.
I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building;
a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.
"Oh gods, this is gonna be so fun." The sarcasm was strong in Percy's voice.
"Don't forget to apologize to a certain goddess in a bit." His girlfriend whispered in his ear.
Percy shivered. Yes, he would need to do that ahead of the story, who knows how the love goddess would react.
All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had
flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather—but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.
Clarisse let out a heavy sigh, here was the start of the feud between her father and Prissy. She just knew it was going to be frustrating to listen to.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red
muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen— handsome, I guess, but wicked—with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.
"Why are you there, Ares?" Zeus squinted at his son.
"How am I supposed to know?!"
As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if
they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again.
Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just
pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and
crowded Annabeth against the window.
The daughter of Athena growled at the memory; Ares never ceased to frustrate her.
"Why are you being helpful? You must want something." Aphrodite says.
This causes the trio to grimace. How was the goddess going to react to the date venue?
He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"
He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched
back toward the kitchen.
The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started
boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?
"And you're flaring your aura? You definitely want something."
"Annoying part is, he focused entirely on Percy so be warned there may be some less than desired insults and assumptions." Annabeth interjected.
He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
"'Old Seaweed'? Really nephew?" The Sea God sneered causing the War God to gulp hard. If there was one god you didn't want to anger, it was Poseidon.
I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad,
Gabe. I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"
"Oh boy, here we go."
Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is—"
The biker raised his hand.
"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the
kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.
"You're Clarisse's dad," I said. "Ares, god of war."
"Why do you always first name a kid of theirs?" Grover asked.
"I know their kids first from camp. And they have similar features, more often than not, so I automatically think of the familial relation."
"Huh. Makes sense."
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire,
empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."
"She was asking for it."
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for—I heard
you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."
"And there it is. I knew you wanted something." Hephaestus muttered, his wife nodding in agreement.
The god was honestly surprised to find that his wife was sitting next to him. It wasn't like they had been close throughout their marriage, but maybe these books and kids were showing her somethings about her big-headed war lover.
The blacksmith had always loved his wife, he wasn't the best at showing it, but who could blame him after such a lack of interaction with other immortals? But his wife was beautiful and she had an inner beauty that he always saw, past her masks, that others did not. She wasn't a ditzy love-obsessed woman. Well, she was love-obsessed, but she was intelligent, caring, and kind; when she wasn't fighting her want to meddle with relationships, but really it is her domain so he couldn't fully blame her.
He just wished she wouldn't go off with his idiotic brother. If he had the chance to show her how much he cared, maybe she would stop. Seems like these readings really could help in multiple ways.
As Hephaestus began mentally planning, he was oblivious to the side glances Aphrodite had been taking. She had been so focused on watching him tinker that she had struggled to properly listen to the book. This was a side she rarely, if ever, got to see from her husband and it was fascinating. All Ares ever did was show off how strong and violent he was, which yes bad boys have their own appeal, but this intense focus on something so delicate was amazing to see. Although, the love goddess couldn't help but notice her husband did have stunning musculature, an intriguing side effect of his smithing work.
The waitress came back with heaping trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and
chocolate shakes.
Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.
She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."
Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"
The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."
"For once I agree with the boy." Hera shocked the group.
"What?" that was Ares.
"There's no reason for you to even be interacting with the boy, but even with that there's no reason to deal with the mortal like that. Just use the Mist and then go."
"Wow. I can't tell if I should be grateful or mad that she's sorta on my side." Percy whispers to Annabeth.
"Me either."
Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry
a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor could I do for a god?"
"Excellent question." Zeus growls, "The boy should be focusing on getting my bolt back."
The group just ignore the Thunderer and continue.
"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an
abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little ... date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
"Why do I already have a bad feeling?" Will muttered.
"Because it's me." Percy sighed.
Aphrodite seemed semi-interested, it was a date for her after all, but lately Ares hadn't been very good at coming up with date ideas. He was always focused on other activities.
Hephaestus let out a quiet exhale. The pieces were slowly coming together; most likely he set up a trap for the two and Ares is too lazy to deal with it.
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"
The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.
"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't
feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove
yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive
into, so your daddy can protect you."
"You harm a hair on my son's head nephew, and you will wish for your own father's protection." The Sea God snarls causing said god to shudder at the thought.
I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was
causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"Good self-control, son." Poseidon murmurs in his ear, pride evident in his voice.
"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see—blood and smoke and corpses on
the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a
weapon that powerful ..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my
suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
"Did you now?" The Lord of the Underworld drawled anger boiling.
Ares gulped, having both uncles glare at his as they were was probably the most terrifying thing he had ever been the focus of and he could easily say he never wanted to be again.
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately.
In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."
"Thanks," I grumbled.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a
ride west for you and your friends."
"We're doing fine on our own."
Grover let out a bleat. "Kudos to you for trying man, but we were definitely running on fumes already."
"Yeah, yeah." Percy waved him off.
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe
I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
"My mom?"
"Now that's just cruel." The Love Goddess pouted. Percy's love for his mother was blaringly apparent; to have that used against him was heartbreaking to hear about, especially from her lover who was supposed to be aware of how much matters of love affect her.
Hephaestus could only give his wife a little comfort, a squeeze of her hand. After all, he had an almost nonexistent relationship with his own mother, so he couldn't understand the feeling, but he would try for her.
He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't
miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"Oh gods, I just remembered…" Percy groaned.
"Thankfully we're not reliving it." Annabeth shuddered, recalling the enormous amount of those animatronic spiders.
Aphrodite couldn't help but be a tad bit intrigued at the idea. A Tunnel of Love? Very cliché, but can be enjoyable.
"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"
Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was
something false about it, almost like he was nervous.
At that, the Blacksmith had to hide his smug grin. It was always nice to one-up his brother.
"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as
forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."
After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again,
Ares was gone. I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expressions told me otherwise.
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me? Now that
he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power—cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.
Athena had to give the boy credit, that was a very well-done deduction. She was warming up to him, slowly but surely, whether she was aware of it or not.
Many of the other Olympians were having similar thoughts. From their experience, Ares was just really good at irritating and angering people that they never seemed to notice his aura.
"It's probably some kind of trick," I said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."
"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the
gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."
"Girlies right." The War God mutters trying to stifle his volume.
"And you all shamed me for my idea of spontaneous combustion. At least with mine he wouldn't feel anything." Dionysus surprises everyone. He had seemed to be asleep whenever they looked.
I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he
need us?"
"Please tell me you at least finished eating, even if you didn't feel like it anymore." Thalia prayed.
"Of course! I may not have had an appetite, but I wasn't going to waste a free cheeseburger!" Percy cried.
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he
has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."
"Very true, daughter." Athena gave Annabeth a small pleased smile.
"But this water park ... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like
that?"
Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.
Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."
The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.
"This already sounds horrendous." Aphrodite whined. Why would she ever go somewhere like that for a date?
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and
tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements
fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to
see what she looks like."
"I sincerely apologize for what I'm about to say Lady Aphrodite. I wasn't very well versed in history yet." Percy cringed.
"I wouldn't blame you either after seeing what you've described here, dear." The goddess agrees.
"Not to mention Ares' aura was still lingering on you." Annabeth added.
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"Why? I thought you hated Ares."
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.
"Who is she? Echidna?"
"Sorry." The boy mumbled.
"Oh honey, I've definitely been called worse."
"Why would I ever get with Echidna?!" the War God scowled.
"Oh, like you haven't just slept with somebody because you could?" Hermes rolled his eyes hard. After all the weird places he's had to deliver stuff to the god, even finding him much less clothed than preferred, that wouldn't be a surprise if the self-centered idiot had.
"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."
"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."
"Yes, she is." Hera said, irritation clear.
At that, Aphrodite did have to wince, she hadn't been fair to Hephaestus at all has she? He was always so sweet with her, and yeah maybe he wasn't the best-looking man, but that wasn't all there was to a person.
"What's your point?" he asked.
"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.
Everyone looked to the Messenger God expecting to see him struggling like last time. Instead, Hermes sat there smug, wiggling his toes, "Oh I didn't even put them on today."
"Dammit Wings! I brought a camera and everything!" Apollo smacked his chair upset.
"Tough luck, Sunshine."
He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"
"I doubt it looked that way though…" Nico paused in his reading.
"He did try to seem like it, but no it definitely did not." Percy nodded.
"Perce! You're supposed to be on my side!" the satyr cried.
"He has a point Goat Boy." Annabeth snickered.
"Annabeth!"
Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each
other as we crawled over the top.
The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
"What kind of theme park is this?"
"A stupid one."
"Why would I ever go there?" a certain love goddess whines.
"I forgot about those names."
No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.
We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow
globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of—
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just—"
"Watch me."
"She can be taught!" The Stoll brothers cheer.
"Shut it you two!"
"Annabeth!" the Wisdom Goddess chides her daughter.
"We were desperate mother. Not to mention the park was already abandoned, nobody was going to care." Annabeth explains.
The only thing her mother could do was nod begrudgingly, there really wasn't much she could say about it.
She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A
few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking
advertisements for the defunct theme park.
"Oh, I bet if they were still an active park you would've fit perfectly on a billboard." Will grinned.
"Hey, they would've had to pay us to show the billboard, so I could've at least gotten something out of it!" Percy laughed.
We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was
holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a
baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"
"That was mother dearest actually, but yes that is essentially what happened." Said god huffs.
"How many times can I say sorry for that!" Hera yells.
The rest of the group were smart enough to not join in the argument, even though they all agreed with the God of Fire.
The god just huffed once again and turned away choosing to focus on the comfort his wife was giving him. Gifting her with a small smile, Aphrodite is stunned by how much it brightens his face. It definitely made her realize how little she's seen him smile or even happy.
"She likes bikers."
"Whatever."
"Hephaestus knows?"
The Goddess of Beauty grimaces at the question. It was true, she had never felt the need to hide her affair. She never even thought about how it would feel from her husband's point of view.
"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a
golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ..."
She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."
In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at
least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows
ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!
"I can already picture it and I hate it." Clarisse scrunches her face tight.
"Why would I ever go somewhere on a date that have statues of my own son?!" Aphrodite asked, sounding disgusted.
Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"Too easy." Clarisse says.
"Honestly sounds like a set-up." Chris added.
"Looking back, it probably was, but if we didn't go, we'd probably be dead." Percy agreed.
Tyson frowned, "But brother is doing important stuff."
"Ty, sometimes people will not think about what else others are already dealing with. It can be rude, but for us we had to do what Ares said because it would end up bad for us if we didn't." Percy tried to explain.
"But still mean to ask."
"Yes, it was."
"Then why?"
"Sometimes the gods forget how hard life is for demigods and ask for too much. All we can really do is accept and try to do as asked."
Tyson wasn't happy at that explanation but decided to snuggle in closer to his father. After all, Poseidon had never done anything bad to him or Percy.
Some of the gods couldn't help but cringe at the rudimentary report but couldn't fault the boy. The rest, well, they didn't really care.
"This is too easy," I said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"
Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.
"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."
"Gods, I was so slow then." Annabeth covered her face.
"Hey, it all worked out in the end, Wise Girl."
"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"
He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."
"Nothing—like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"
"Rude." Thalia drawls.
"I was new and traumatized!"
"Fine. But you need to be nicer to Goat Boy."
Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."
"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to
make up for what had happened in St. Louis.
"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a
flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."
"Yes! We finally learn about the nickname!" Travis cheered.
"It is my favorite of the ones I have." The satyr beamed.
"It is the coolest one." Connor agreed.
Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me—"
"Ah yes, Percy's feelings. Damn things always are right." Annabeth growled.
"Ah yes, your awkward flirting with Perce continues." Grover snickers.
"Shut up Goat Boy."
"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were
bright red.
"What's the problem now?" I demanded.
"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if
somebody saw me?"
"Who's gonna see you?" Travis asks.
Nico snorts and reads the next line.
"Who's going to see you?"
"Yay! I think like Percy!"
"You wanna be like Kelp Head?" Thalia muttered.
"Maybe a little." The Stoll holds his fingers up inches apart.
"I wouldn't, but you do you." said Sea son shrugs.
But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.
We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk
scarf. I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out
amusement-park ride. Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which
direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.
Aphrodite let out a groan, shocking some. "Why would I go there? It sounds awful?!"
"I wouldn't know, ma'am."
I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable—rose, or
mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
"Aw, that couldn't be helped deary. It has my a tad of my aura on it, that would entrap anyone attracted to females."
"Yeah… I didn't learn that until I gave it to Silena." The daughter of Athena rubbed her arm. That had been an awkward conversation.
Hearing the name of the girl brought about looks of longing and sadness, that the gods seemed to not notice. However, Sally knew the story and clutched her son's hand, melancholy smile shown.
Clarisse could only let out a shaky exhale and sigh. She still struggled with what her friend had done during the war.
"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."
The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. My hand broke through
something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.
"Wait," Annabeth said.
"Too late."
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."
A heavy sigh is released by the Craftsman; of course his stupid brother chooses to endanger children with one of his traps. No doubt in the children's time he had been blamed for jeopardizing the kid's lives.
Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning
into one giant machine.
Grover yelled, "Guys!"
Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could
suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.
"I wonder if it was fate that you talked to Chiron about the net thing or just a coincidence." Will pondered.
"Good question."
"Well, was the knowledge useful? That's the real question." Said centaur asks startling the group.
"Was it your turn to be silent? I swear you haven't talk since this morning." Nico jumped.
"Well, I never get to hear the full story of any quests; I was taking the chance to hear an entirely accurate telling."
"Fair enough."
"How much you wanna bet he's already come up with a couple of ideas for training." Percy said.
"That's a sucker's bet, Prissy."
"We have to get out," I said.
"Duh!" Annabeth said.
I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going
down.
"Come on!" Grover shouted.
He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden
threads started to wrap around his hands.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the
pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one
minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."
"Oh! We get to see this too!" Apollo cheered.
"It wasn't fun to experience you know!" Annabeth snarled.
"Oh, right… sorry."
"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his
wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"
We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.
Annabeth screamed.
"Oh dear. It was spiders wasn't it?" Chiron rubbed his chin.
"Unfortunately." The girl shivered, tucking herself closer to her boyfriend.
"I got you, Wise Girl."
It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer
mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp—sp—aaaah!"
I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.
The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward
the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't
programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods.
Poseidon clutched his son to his chest, unintentionally bringing Annabeth in as well, but she didn't seem to care. Fatherly affection was always nice after not growing up with much of it.
Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed
aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.
"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.
The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands
were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept
coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe.
"Jesus, that was close."
"I forgot it was that bad." Percy mumbled; his face stuck against his father's chest as Poseidon's arms tightened.
Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it
wouldn't budge.
Think, I told myself. Think.
The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was
blocked by a million robot spiders.
"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.
Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?
"Yes, there you go son." The Earthshaker whispered in his son's ear.
Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from.
And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the
controller's station.
"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"
"Doubt the stupid thing works." Clarisse mutters.
"It sure didn't." Grover shook his head.
"But—"
"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow
of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there.
Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.
"Five, four—"
Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd
pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.
"Figures. Everything goes wrong on quests." Chris muttered.
I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a
familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.
"Great idea, but too much power." Poseidon laughed.
"Two, one, zero!"
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled
Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.
"Woohoo!"
"Yeah, Perce!"
"Go Water Boy!"
The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's
concrete wall with such force they burst.
Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.
But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I willed it to ride the current, to keep
away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness.
"Dude, are you able to do like everything with water?" Connor asks.
"Well, there are a few things I can't do, but boats are easy." The boy shrugged.
"It definitely came in handy." Annabeth smiled at her boyfriend who blushed at the memory.
Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.
Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled
straight toward the exit.
If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden
Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade—one submerged, the other cracked in half.
"Of course, it gets worse."
"When doesn't it?"
"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.
"Are you crazy?"
"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going
to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane. As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool.
"Excellent idea."
"I do have good plans sometimes."
"That is actually rather true, just they mainly tend to work when made on the fly." Grover nodded.
"I'll take it." Percy grinned.
Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer.
"On my mark," I said.
"No! On my mark!"
"What?"
"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle—"
"And you're rambling again sweetie." Thalia chuckles.
"It happens when I'm nervous!"
"Fine.'" I shouted. "On your mark!"
She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"
Crack!
Annabeth was right. If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into
the gates. She got us maximum lift.
"Why do I have a feeling that wasn't the best idea?"
Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and
we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.
"Big oof."
Something grabbed me from behind.
Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"
Grover!
In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us
out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum.
"Yay Goat Boy!"
"Grover!"
"My Red Baron!" Percy ruffled Grovers curls.
"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"
We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.
We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists
would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on my arm.
Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked
him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our
boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.
"You guys' luck is insane." Nico chuffed.
"I don't even question it anymore, man." Percy groaned.
A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had
swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.
"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"
"Keep making those A+ quips of yours, please Percy!" Apollo howled.
The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet
and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I
wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good.
I hated being teased. I hated being tricked. And I had plenty of experience handling bullies
who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We
need to have a little talk with Ares."
Nico snapped the book shut, "Well, that was eventful."
"Oh, I bet that talk will be so much fun." Travis grinned at the thought.
"Oh just wait, you might not like what we went through." Annabeth sighed in remembrance.
Nico coughed, "So who's next?" He shook the book.
"Toss it over, kid." Clarisse motioned.
Catching the book, she opened and read the next chapter title with a soft laugh.
AN: Thanks for reading! Again, I apologize for such a long wait, but I needed to settle in my new schedule and make sure this chapter was how I wanted it to be. Hopefully life settles and I can write more freely.
As always reviews are loved and if you prefer to PM then go ahead. See y'all next time!