The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

The Fates are tired of watching it. There is a storm coming, and if they want to survive... so they force them to read what they're actions are doing to themselves and their children. And they pull Percy and a few others along for the ride.

19. A god Buys us Cheeseburgers

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Unfortunately, I had more than a slight case of writers block about halfway through this chapter, on all my stories, actually. That, combined with college... I'm busy, and can't always update or work on writing when I want to.

For those who have forgotten, younger demigods who have an older counterpart, older demigods, MS- the Seven who traveled to Rome and Greece

---

Hestia looked at the time. "How long is the next chapter?" She asked Katie.

"Umm... it's fairly long." She frowned at the chapter title. "A god buys us cheeseburgers, what kind of chapter is that?"

"Um, the kind that Ares is going to read." Percy immediately said.

"Wha- I'm not reading that thing!" Ares insisted. "How is there any action in buying cheeseburgers?"

"Well, those were pretty good burgers..." Percy said fondly. Despite where the burgers came from... Next thing Ares knew, the book was in his hand and Percy was glaring at him from underneath his hood, silently making it clear that he was reading.

"This should be an interesting chapter..." Dionysus drawled, finding himself interested despite himself.

Ares glared around the room one more time before starting to read after Hestia announced lunch and some free time after this chapter. Chapter fifteen: A God Buys us Cheeseburgers

(The next afternoon,... days before the solstice,)

Everyone winced when they heard the date, and how much time they had left. Well, at least they were out west now...? That was the longest part, although they still had to find a way to get the rest of the way to California.

(our train rolled into Denver... car, somewhere in Kansas.)

A few demigods winced. "Out of money?" Katie asked, ignoring Ares glare for interrupting a chapter that he didn't want to read in the first place. Percy and Annabeth just nodded. That was a fairly common problem for demigods. Especially considering that sometimes all their supplies get destroyed in a fight.

"We went as cheap as we could with the food, while still getting a decent amount, but..." Percy shrugged. Sally frowned in concern.

(We hadn't taken... sure that was obvious.)

"At least you got to clean off in the Mississippi." Annabeth grumbled.

"Clea- Did you not hear the description of how dirty the Mississippi was?" Percy asked, surprised and shocked.

"Yes, I did. Fact remains, you are a son of Poseidon and you took a swim. That always cleans you off, no matter how dirty you or the water seem to be. I'm just surprised that nobody ever commented on the state of your clothes. As burnt up as they were." She answered. He blinked at her before deciding to sit back and shut up.

("Let's try to contact... talk with the river spirit.")

Percy and Annabeth shared a glance before Percy glared briefly at Luke, who winced. He had, maybe, kind of... held back most of the information Percy gave him to pass on to Chiron. Chiron had been under the impression that things were going well, and they were doing better than they actually were.

Of course, it wasn't until he had already left before Percy and Chiron themselves realized that, but...

("We can't use... talking about phones.")

"I really wish you would be explaining things a bit more, instead of just expecting him to know what you're talking about." Sally sighed. Annabeth turned a little pink.

(We wandered through... Annabeth was looking for.)

Grover huffed out a laugh. "Neither did I, and I actually knew what we were doing." He informed the room, which laughed. Annabeth scowled playfully at him, and he stuck out his tongue.

(The air was dry and... do-it-yourself car wash.)

"What?" Reyna asked, very confused. A few others were as well, while most of the Greeks now understood.

She was looking for somewhere to make a mist, so she could create a rainbow. A car wash would be perfect, the only problem would be if somebody came in to use it while they were trying to talk to Chiron.

"I was looking for somewhere to send a message. That car wash was perfect." Annabeth explained, giving Reyna and the other confused Romans a strange look. The other Greeks were giving the same look, as a matter of fact. Chiron chuckled, but didn't say anything.

(We veered toward the... were up to no good.)

"Especially if one of them happens to recognize Percy from the newspapers." Leo pointed out, Percy shot him a mild glare for reminding them all of that, since Sally looked at him in worry again. He just shrugged, unrepentant. It needed to be said, and he would keep pointing it out until the authorities stopped looking for him.

("What exactly are... the spray gun.)

"That's a good question." Even Jason was confused. He couldn't think why they needed to be there.

("It's seventy-five... from Medusa's place.)

"What would you have done if you didn't have that last Drachma?" Piper asked, curious.

Annabeth made a face. "I would have figured something out. Probably tried to call collect or something." She said quietly. She hadn't even thought of that until they were right there fishing in their pockets for quarters.

"Does she even do collect calls?" Clarisse wondered out loud.

"Yes." Nico and Percy said immediately, they looked at each other before quickly looking away. Annabeth looked at them sadly, were they ever going to clear the air between them?

Sure, they were better than they were right after Bianca died and Nico ran, but still...

Everyone else blinked, slightly confused about why those two would know that, but not everybody else, before they let it go. They would find out eventually.

("Excellent," Grover said... gets tired of pumping.")

"Uh, huh?" Gwen asked, severely confused now.

Greeks were strange, she knew that, but this was another level of strange completely.

Ares was currently cursing his existence, wondering why on earth he was having to read this, there was no fighting going on at all!

("What are you talking about?")

"That's what I want to know." The Romans all muttered, along with Percy. They were extremely confused. They should be finding a way to get further west, and instead they were spending what little money they had left at car wash.

(He fed in the quarters... messaging?"

"Iris-messaging,")

"Oh." Reyna said, suddenly understanding. She had heard about that, it was an old Greek practice, she didn't think it would still be used anymore, honestly. She knew the Romans didn't, but she didn't think the Greeks themselves still did. Jason looked like he understood now, too. As Praetor, the two of them did have access to information the rest of the Legion didn't have.

"What?" Frank asked, somewhat confused now. Reyna and Jason may have an idea of what was going on, but that didn't mean the rest of them had any idea.

"Hold on, I think I explained." Annabeth said, tilting her head to the side, trying to remember back. A lot had happened between this call from the car wash and now, after all.

(Annabeth corrected. "The... the same for half-bloods.")

Hazel, Percy, and Frank all glanced at each other before they had to look away or risk rolling on the floor laughing. They were the only ones who knew the truth, after all. She may be in charge, but she only carried the occasional message if it was really important. Fleecy, though... Fleecy was pretty cool.

They liked the phrase for getting her attention a lot better than they liked the one for getting Iris' attention. Iris didn't even pay attention anyway, so...

("You summon the... a spray gun?")

The Greeks suddenly found themselves having coughing fits, while the Romans looked scandalized at the disrespect implied in the question. Although, they didn't say anything once they noticed the amusement in most of the Olympians expressions, while Hermes, Apollo, and Poseidon had no problem laughing outright.

"Not with a spray gun, no. But it was needed this time." Annabeth said, amused. She hadn't given his comment the proper attention she should have the first time, now that she knew him better, she could find proper amusement out of it.

(Grover pointed the nozzle... to make a rainbow.")

"That makes much more sense." Reyna said, talking solely to her legionnaires. They nodded.

"Greeks are weird, though." Gwen said simply. Jason nodded his agreement.

"You haven't lived with them for the past few months. Percy may have been asleep, and then with Lupa for a few months, but I've been awake and with them the whole time." He informed his people. Although, he wasn't quite sure about that, anymore. His time with the Greeks had changed him... he wouldn't go so far as to call himself Greek, but no longer could he call himself completely Roman. Whereas before going to Camp Half-Blood, he was often told that he was the model Roman soldier...

"If they are anything like what we saw from the one day he was with us, I believe it." Frank muttered.

"Well, Percy is considered their camp leader..." Jason trailed off with a shrug.

"If you had had time before going on this quest to develop and train your powers, you could have done this without using what little money you had left." Poseidon told the rest of the room with a frown, while the Romans had their conversation separately. He didn't like that the boy was out here, on a quest, without even knowing the most basic of his abilities. So far, all he really knew was that he could breathe underwater and that water healed him. That wasn't really helpful in a combat situation. Percy blinked at him before groaning. Annabeth and Grover made faces of their own.

(Sure enough, late... accept our offering.")

Frank, Hazel, and Percy glanced at each other again, before whispering something to the rest of their companions. The rest of the throne room was very curious about what they found so funny.

(She threw the drachma... a golden shimmer.)

The more observant demigods realized that this was exactly what happened with Sally. Did this mean she was never dead... she was taken instead? But who? And why?

The Romans were just listening in interest.

("Half-Blood Hill,"... moment, nothing happened.)

"Ah, perhaps if you had been more specific?" Chiron suggested. "And requested myself, instead of just using the destination?" Annabeth flushed a slight red, that would have probably helped.

Only three people in the room knew that it wasn't a matter of not being specific enough, more likely Fleecy was busy in the shop and had to take a minute to reach the set up in back so she could put the call through. She didn't have the control over rainbows and such that Iris did, so she had some equipment that gave her that control.

(Then I was looking... porch of the Big House.)

Chiron tilted his head, but didn't say anything. That was where he could usually be found. When not dealing with problems or teaching a class, that was.

(Standing with his back... down in the meadow.)

"What were you watching, anyway?" Percy asked curiously. Luke blinked at him for a moment, trying to remember back. Surprisingly, it was Clarisse that answered.

"Ares and Athena cabins were probably going at it again." Clarisse shrugged. Luke turned to her in surprise. "What? It happened often enough while those three were gone, it's not much of a guess." She asked defensively.

Chiron groaned and hid his head in his hands, his tail flicking in agitation. Those two fighting was always the worst to deal with. Athena campers may value smarts more than they did physical prowess, but they were still the most war-like campers aside from Ares. And they were always going at it. Annabeth and Clarisse both looked at him apologetically, but didn't say anything. They did their best to mediate so he didn't have to get involved, but that didn't always happen.

Of course, there were the times when those two were the ones starting the worst of the fights... especially back then.

Annabeth and Clarisse just glanced at each other before glancing away just as quickly, not wanting Chiron to start lecturing them right now.

("Luke!" I called... a screen of mist,)

"It was very surprising the first time." Percy said with a shrug.

"Hmm. Would Iris do the same for Romans, or is it just Greeks?" Reyna asked after a moment. "Because something like this would be extremely helpful." Mostly, she was thinking about the times they got a message from a legionnaire out in the field requesting backup, only to get there and find out they were already gone. If they could have a faster messaging system, they could get to them quicker. Yes, Romans were all about having an honorable death, and going out fighting while doing their jobs and all that, but that didn't mean she liked reading the casualty reports.

Every name on those reports was one less able fighter they had available when something happened. One more friend that they had to prepare funeral rites for.

Jason gave her a glance, he knew what she was thinking about. They had many, many late night discussions talking about ways they could communicate with those sent out on quests or missions. They couldn't use mortal cell phones, monsters would just sense them. The postal system was too slow, and sometimes even the eagles weren't fast enough. If they were even sent with an eagle at all. They weren't usually.

"I don't know." Percy said, in answer to Reyna's question. He raised an eyebrow at Chiron, who shrugged. He didn't know, either. IM'ing had always been a Greek thing, and Romans didn't like Greeks enough to copy or adapt any of their methods. At least, they never had in the past.

Reyna frowned and made a mental note to look into it when they got back.

(except I could only see... Are you guys okay?")

"We saw the newspapers about the bus accident and the St. Louis Arch. Of course, none of us had any idea what happened exactly, we only knew what little the mortals knew." Luke said with a shrug when everyone looked at him odd. They were trying to figure out why that statement sounded almost desperate.

"We never would have guessed at the, ah... extent, of what really happened during those events." Clarisse said, nodding in agreement. Although she grimaced at agreeing with Luke about anything. Despite the conversations the demigods had, she highly doubted if she could ever trust him. Not again.

("We're... uh... fine," Annabeth stammered.)

Thalia sighed and glanced at Annabeth, deadpan. Seriously?

Annabeth was avoiding looking at either Luke, red-faced. When Annabeth looked at Percy, he was too busy finding the wall interesting and having a stony expression on his face. She sighed, thinking about how much her and Percy fought about Luke, especially while they were down in the Labyrinth, before Kronos rose...

Athena looked between Luke and Annabeth again and returned to her plans on separating her daughter from that sea-spawn. The Luke boy looked much more respectable, and much better for her Annabeth... although she never thought she would think that of any son of that thief.

(She was madly straightening... out of her face.)

Luke chuckled, not even trying to hide the amusement this time. "Hate to say it Annabeth, but that was about how I expected you to look. You were on a quest, and after the bus incident... I was expecting you to look pretty rough." Annabeth turned red.

It didn't help that the other demigods were snickering, especially those who had gone on long quests before, not just combat missions during the war. Unfortunately, that number wasn't that large, Annabeth and Percy were the ones who were assigned the big quests, while everyone else was sent out on missions. However, they were all well aware of just what a demigoddess could look like after a few days away from camp, after a few days of sleeping in train cars, buses, or out in the open.

Aphrodite frowned. Just because they were on a quest, that was no excuse for the girl to not take better care of her appearance, or for her to not try to fix it when faced with the boy she obviously, at the time, liked.

Percy frowned at all the snickering demigods and gave a perfect New York taxi-cab whistle to get their attention. The demigods quickly got the message and shut up.

("We thought-Chiron-I mean-")

Chiron nodded. "Yes, I believe if you had been more specific." He said again. "But, otherwise, the porch of the Big House is where I can usually be found if I'm not teaching a class or settling a dispute." Not that the latter happened often. The children were fairly good about settling things themselves. Most of the time.

When Apollo's cabin was involved, though... that's when he usually had to step in just to save them all from Dionysus' annoyance. He never appreciated it when the Apollo cabin cursed another cabin, especially when they used the one that forced them to speak in rhymes. Or limerick's. That one was the worst. If there were three cabins that he hated having to break up from a fight, it was Ares, Athena, and Apollo.

("He's down at... with the campers.)

"Like what? Everyone usually gets along pretty well." Beckendorf said, slightly confused. It had to be serious if Chiron had to go settle it.

The older ones just glared at a wall while Luke shifted, uncomfortable. Hermes blinked at him and sighed.

Issues that he caused...

(Listen, is everythin... Is Grover all right?")

Thalia frowned. "Way to redirect the conversation." She grumbled.

"Yeah, I kinda wanted to know more about what was going on at camp while we were gone." Annabeth said with a frown. Luke quirked a grin, but didn't say anything. He had been more concerned with Annabeth on this quest. Also, he had his orders to make sure they stayed on track to go to the Underworld. He had been worried that Ares wouldn't perform as he was supposed to, but he supposed he shouldn't have underestimated Kronos.

Luke glanced around, but decided to keep quiet and keep listening. After all, if he was going to carry out his orders, he needed to know everything that happened and went wrong so he could make sure it didn't go wrong again.

He just hoped that he wasn't revealed in these books. Fates orders and older demigods there to keep the fighting to a minimum or not, he had no doubt that Zeus would have a lightning bolt with his name on it if he was revealed to be an agent of Kronos.

("I'm right here," Grover... "What kind of issues?")

"Like Beckendorf said, the campers usually get along pretty easily." Grover said with a shrug. Besides, he was a Satyr, knowing what was going on around camp was part of his job. Well, when he was in camp and not out scouting for more demigods.

Ares growled, getting annoyed that he could barely get a sentence out before being interrupted. He was wondering why those brats of Uncle Poseidon's were so insistent that he read this chapter. There was no action.

(Just then a big Lincoln... to maximum hip-hop.)

Even Apollo grimaced at the music choice. He regretted ever coming up with hip-hop, and then letting it continue to exist. It had come about when he was having a bad time with something, it had been a phase he went through, one that everyone else was grateful he snapped out of relatively quickly, but the music had unfortunately stayed.

(As the car slid into... vibrated so much,)

Grover and his younger self both shook their heads, holding their ears. One as he remembered that, the other in pain just thinking about it.

Piper grimaced, thinking about all the business associates and colleagues of her fathers that she interacted with, and how they were the types of people to be blaring the music like this without any regard for the people around them. Rich people who thought they could do anything they wanted just because they were rich.

(it shook the pavement.)

"Wow." Apollo said in surprise. "How does that person have any eardrums? That is loud, far louder than the human ear can handle, especially if he does that all the time."

"He did seem pretty hard of hearing when we went to talk to him, about turning it down." Annabeth said in agreement after a moment. Apollo frowned.

"And how would you know what the human ear can handle?" Athena scoffed.

Apollo's frown turned into a scowl when he turned to glare at her. "I do happen to be the god of healing. I know everything there is to know about medicine and the human body. Most medical techniques used today were invented by either myself, or by one of my children, or by both. Don't you dare say that I know nothing of my own domains, I am sick and tired of you doing that." He hissed.

There was silence for a moment, as Athena gaped at him, mouth hanging open like a fish. They had never seen Apollo lose it like that, but most of them knew that the normally laid back god was finally having enough of her high-minded ways, and how she was always trying to tell them all facts and such about their domains, as if they didn't already know everything there was to know about those subjects.

It was highly insulting.

Ares cleared his throat, eyeing his half-brother in concern, before he kept reading.

("Chiron had to- what's... to get out of sight.)

Which naturally brought another round of snickering until they caught sight of Percy's glare and shut up.

("Grover, come on!")

"Wait, you wanted the Satyr with sensitive hearing, to go closer to the very loud noise that was probably already hurting his ears." Clarisse said, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

Annabeth blinked at her in surprise before her eyes widened in horror. "Oh, my gods. Grover! I'm so sorry, I didn't think about..."

"Don't worry about it." Grover cut her off with a small smile.

"But..." He just waved her off again, while his younger self did the same with Annabeth when she tried to apologize for not considering that, even though she hadn't been the one to do that.

("What?" Grover said... the Oracle at Delphi,)

"Hey!" Most of the girls protested while the guys nodded in agreement.

"My Oracle isn't that hard to understand." Apollo grumbled, frowning.

"Yes, yes she is." All the demigod said at once. Even Chiron! Apollo sank down in his seat, pouting.

(then he handed me... and still see Luke.)

Poseidon sighed again and glanced at his wife, "We are bringing him to the Palace, and teaching him about his abilities. BEFORE this quest happens." He said, she nodded in agreement.

"Poseidon..." Zeus said in warning.

"And you cannot stop me, if I want to teach my only demigod son about his abilities, then that is exactly what I will do." Poseidon rumbled, turning to his brother with a glare. "All my other demigod children had their older siblings to teach them, all the other demigods at camp have older siblings to teach them what they are capable of, my son is the only one that doesn't. Well... mostly." He amended, glancing at Thalia and Nico. Jason and Hazel to a lesser extent, since they were Roman, and Jason probably had a few Legacies around to show him the ropes. Nico would have taught Hazel all he could.

The demigods all blinked at Poseidon, and then glanced at their respective parents, wondering why none of them ever paid them half the attention that Poseidon tried to pay Percy. They knew it couldn't be just because Percy had no siblings to watch over him like they did.

("Chiron had to break... Zeus- Poseidon standoff.)

"I wonder who leaked it." Clarisse muttered with a glare. Luke laughed nervously, edging away from her subtly. He didn't want to be anywhere near her or her spear. Which she just happened to be polishing at that very moment.

He remembered how much that thing hurt. And he had no intention of being on the other end of it right now.

In fact, most of the demigods had their weapons out at that moment and were doing maintenance, it was something to do with their hands, especially since the poker games had been temporarily banned when it became a little too competitive.

Even Rachel had taken out a small blade, enchanted to turn into a necklace and made just for her so that she could still use it despite not having godly blood powering the magic needed to turn it back and forth between being a charm and being a blade. But then, she was the Oracle. So, she did have some innate magic...

Beckendorf and Leo were still in the corner making Leo's new whip, and Hephaestus had sat down nearby the other demigods, having spotted a few nicks in their blades from a distance, and was waiting for them to bring them to him for him to fix. His sons had reached the point where they could finish on their own, he really only needed to do a few of the enchantments over the materials and help provide what Leo's tool belt couldn't.

Taking a chance, Jason had already spoken to him about his lost coin/sword/spear, and the blacksmith had promised to see what he could later that night. Of course, he wasn't going to make it exactly like it had been. It had been a great creation, though, so he was just going to add a few enchantments to make it harder to lose (kind of like Riptide) and harder to break.

Ares was watching the demigods taking care of their weapons in approval, while some of the other parents were wondering why some of the weapons looked like they had been taken from a monster as spoils and made their own. The younger demigods just blinked at their older selves.

Chiron was just surprised they were managing to sit still for so long, and was glad they were finding things to do. Although the fact that Percy and Annabeth were staring at Ares while running a stone over their blades probably didn't bode well for the war god...

(We're still not sure... summoned the hellhound.)

"At least you admitted it." Travis muttered, and Luke flinched slightly. He deserved that, Annabeth had been right there. Not to mention, he had come to like Percy. Although, that hadn't stopped him from summoning the thing and setting it on him to begin with...

(Now the campers are... Poseidon, more or less.)

"More or less?" Clarisse asked, confused. "There was no 'more or less' about it. We were backing Poseidon, end of story." She scowled.

"What about the other cabins? You only named three." Athena said, she already knew who her children would be backing.

"Wimps were trying to stay out of it." Clarisse's scowl deepened, and Frank frowned at his Greek sister. There was nothing wrong with staying out of something that wasn't your fight, maybe those others were just more willing to admit that Poseidon had nothing to do with the theft and were trying to figure out what really happened.

(Athena is backing Zeus.")

"Of course I was." Athena sniffed. Then glanced at her daughter, wondering again why the girl was going out with the sea-spawn. Didn't she know better?

(I shuddered to think... volume decreased drastically.)

"You know, you never did tell me what you guys did over there." Percy said, tilting his head to the side. Annabeth immediately turned a bright red and glared at Grover when he opened his mouth to answer. Percy blinked and looked at her, shocked, along with everyone else. Just what on earth happened to cause this kind of reaction?

Unfortunately, no amount of begging could get her to talk. When he tried to break out what she dubbed the 'baby seal' eyes, she just looked away biting her lip. If she couldn't see them, then he couldn't use them to get her to cave. It wouldn't happen. Finally, he huffed and admitted defeat.

Although, now he was really curious. Whereas before, it was just a passing thought.

("So what's your... including my dreams.)

"Trusting. Especially after that prophecy." Apollo muttered with a frown. The future demigods frowned, too. They hadn't realized just how much Percy trusted Luke.

Percy had had doubts about Grover, and even Annabeth. Briefly, but they had been there. But... he didn't hesitate in the slightest to trust Luke, there had been no doubts here.

Percy just looked mad at himself, for just trusting the older boy like that. He hadn't even shown Grover this kind of trust until it was almost winter break.

(It felt so good to... for a few minutes,)

"Things were so much simpler at camp. Out there, everything was complicated, and I had no idea what on earth was going on. There was just so much we didn't know about the situation." Percy trailed off grumbling while Annabeth patted his back in commiseration. A few people frowned, but agreed that he had a point.

Luke's appearance offered a small sliver of familiarity.

(that I didn't realize... took the master bolt.)

"Even that boy agrees it had to be you." Zeus said, glaring at Hades, his paranoia making an appearance again. Hades glared back, making most demigods shiver in fear.

Percy sighed in annoyance. "I've already said, it wasn't him. Don't go blaming others just because you don't want to admit something." They already knew that Kronos was making a come back, and he knew Zeus was likely already denying anything was wrong.

The older demigods all cast long looks at Luke, they knew why he was pointing fingers in one direction. Only five other people in the room knew why exactly he wanted them in the Underworld so badly. Both of the older versions of both Percy and Annabeth, and Grover. Luke just glanced at them, but didn't say anything.

(He was there at... and we saw him.")

"That's right, everyone seemed to have forgotten that the campers were there at the time, while they're all pointing fingers at each other." Percy muttered. He actually found it somewhat insulting that the gods never once considered that the demigods could have acted on their own. That the demigods couldn't have done it at all. They badly underestimated the demigods, and they paid the price, never even considering that the demigods could be anything but loyal.

They had become dangerously complacent.

"Especially since Zeus was so busy blaming somebody that wasn't even here." Annabeth gestured towards the rest of the throne room, reminding those from the future that they had interrupted the same meeting that book-Luke was currently talking about.

Everyone that was already here for the meeting blinked at the two, but didn't say anything, especially since Poseidon was glaring at Zeus for the reminder that he, Poseidon, was being blamed along with his son.

("But Chiron said the... magic items directly.")

"We can't." Hermes said with a shrug.

"But, I suppose there is nothing stopping us from having somebody else steal it and bring it to us." Apollo added with another shrug.

"That may be, but there are more gods than those in this room. There are plenty of other immortal beings in the world who aren't happy with Zeus's rule or the way the Olympians in general run things." Percy said, again proving his point that the Olympians underestimated everybody else, and how complacent they had become.

Said gods in the room fell silent, thinking about what he said.

("That's true," Luke said... have to be invisible.")

"Oh." Many of the older demigods said in sudden understanding.

"That's how you did it so easily. You stole Annabeth's hat." Thalia was not happy, Luke flinched slightly. The gods looked up, alarmed. Those who already knew it was Luke, were silent, while those who didn't yet know, started scanning the demigods, now that they knew the thief was in the room at this moment.

Luckily, they missed Luke's flinch.

Unfortunately, a few of them remembered the future demigods reactions towards Luke when he showed up, and were now suspicious.

(We were both silent... didn't mean Annabeth.)

"You better not." Thalia muttered darkly, giving him a look that promised pain if he ever did. He flinched again, he had hoped to never end up on the other side of that look again. Once was more than enough for him.

"I'd wondered why you seemed so withdrawn when you came back." Annabeth said, frowning. "You could have told me about this."

Percy shrugged. "How was I supposed to open up that conversation? Besides, I was still thinking about that stupid prophecy."

"You didn't seem to be thinking about that during your conversation with Luke." She answered dryly.

(She and I have... little sister to me.")

Annabeth looked disappointed, while Annabeth raised an eyebrow and leaned over to kiss her Seaweed Brain on the cheek. Luke sighed before reaching over to give Annabeth a side hug before he started whispering in her ear.

Athena narrowed her eyes. Luke seeing her as a sibling changed nothing. After all, they were Greek. Hades was married to his niece, Hera and Zeus were married despite being brother and sister, and she was pretty sure Demeter and Poseidon had a few children running around despite being siblings themselves. She should have no problem getting those two together despite what Luke just said in the book.

(I wondered if Annabeth... the car wash.)

"Whoa."

"Just what did you do?" The Stoll brothers asked in shock as everyone else stared at the girl.

Her face was bright red, and she wasn't meeting anybodies gaze, while Grover was keeping quiet by virtue of the bronze knife sticking out of the couch cushions... right between his legs.

"It's no use." Percy said sadly. "She won't even tell me, and I've asked." Everyone frowned, but the futures knew that if she wouldn't even tell Percy, then they were never going to hear the story. Not even Percy knew...

("You'd better go see... done you some good.")

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover glared at a wall while Luke shifted. He didn't know at the time who was really wearing those shoes, so he'd been surprised when he was punished for not making sure the right person was wearing them. Instead, it was the Satyr.

("Oh ... uh, yeah!"... like a guilty liar.)

"You were somewhat successful." Luke informed him. "Although, now that I know you can do better than that..." He looked at Percy questioningly.

Percy shrugged. "I was tired and hungry." As if that explained everything. And to most of the demigods, it did. It explained everything perfectly.

("Yeah, they've come in handy.")

"That part wasn't even a lie. They really had come in handy." Percy grinned, thinking back to the mental image of Grover whacking Medusa with a stick. He wished he could have seen it, but it was too dangerous at the time to open his eyes. With his luck, he would have looked right into her eyes and been turned to stone the second he glanced up.

Grover figured out what he was thinking about and grinned fondly at the memory.

("Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?")

"Surprisingly, yes." Grover answered this time with a shrug. He at least got a few laughs.

(The water shut off... a pine tree if he just-")

Thalia's eyes went wide while Grover cringed. Luke blanched before gulping. He'd forgotten all about that conversation. "Excuse me?" She whispered dangerously, slowly turning to glare at Luke. "What did you just say?" When Luke didn't answer, she growled before getting up and dragging him out the door, sparking electricity as she went. Everyone could see everytime it touched Luke because he would grit his teeth in pain.

Once they were gone, it was a few minutes before everyone heard her starting to yell, followed by cries of pain. Eyes flicked towards the MS.

"What?" Jason asked when they noticed the looks they were getting.

"Aren't you here to stop something like that?" Katie asked.

They were silent for a moment, before Piper spoke up. "He asked for this one." They left it at that.

When Thalia returned, still dragging Luke behind her, she let Apollo give him a square of Ambrosia, just enough to boost healing a bit. She wouldn't let the god of healing do anything else.

Those who didn't the full story of what happened, or Grover's involvement in getting Thalia to camp, looked confused while it was obvious none of those who knew were going to say anything.

(But the mist was... they saw my face.)

"He looked like somebody kicked his Pegasus while he was down." Annabeth said, amused. Percy grumbled while everyone else either laughed at the description or looked confused.

"Pegasus?" Hazel asked, slightly confused. Horses were only for officers, especially Pegasi. Scipio was the only Pegasus in the Roman camp.

Percy lit up a little. "Yeah, Blackjack. Has an unhealthy obsession with donuts, but he's loyal. He's also one of the fastest Pegasi around and makes a good war-horse." He shrugged.

"Where exactly did he come from again?" Katie asked. She didn't think anybody back in camp had any clue where the black Pegasus came from. Blackjack had just shown up one day, seemed to have some kind of argument with Percy (which was strange to watch), and stayed while letting nobody but Percy ride him. Anybody else who tried could be guaranteed a three day, all expense paid trip to the Infirmary tent.

"He was on the Princess Andromeda, a fight broke out between us, the Party Ponies, and the Titans army that was there, and he managed to escape in the confusion. Since then, he seems determined that I saved him so I am therefore the boss." Percy was resigned. He had become resigned to it years ago, for some reason he found it hard to truly say 'no' to Blackjack. His eyes darkened when he thought about watching the Minotaur throwing a car at his horse. It just clipped them, but it still broke a wing.

Blackjack had just been deemed fit enough to fly with a rider again when he was kidnapped by Hera, and Percy had promised a flight down the East Coast to his favorite donut shop. He was going to have to make it up to the black horse later, although Blackjack would probably complain endlessly about the missed trip.

Most just blinked at the explanation before shrugging it off and labeling it as a 'Percy-thing' and moving on. Others continued to look at him strangely. Poseidon hid his smirk.

(Annabeth's smile faded... say?"

"Not much,")

"Oh, he said a lot more than that." Annabeth grumbled, giving Percy a look, but she didn't really blame him. Luke had given him a lot to think about, not all of it good or true.

(I lied, my stomach... find some dinner.")

"Oh, dear. How will you pay for it?" Sally asked, concerned. They may not have had a lot of money when Percy was younger, but she always managed to put food on the table, and food was usually also included in tuition in some way at his schools.

"We managed." Was all Percy said, giving her a reassuring smile. For some reason it didn't work... not even when she remembered the chapter title.

(A few minutes later... to order dinner.")

"Why else would you be in the diner?" Katie asked rhetorically. Percy shrugged while Thalia and Nico snickered a little.

("You kids have money to pay for it?")

Sally bit her lip, worried, but knew from the chapter title that they got fed, somehow.

She also knew that the gods didn't generally help you out without expecting something in return.

(Grover's lower lip... eating the linoleum.)

"That would be interesting to try and explain." Thalia said after a moment, tilting her head to the side while Grover turned beet red and his younger self looked down.

"Finding food for you would have been the easiest part." Percy said with a frown. "We could have had Annabeth sneak in back and nick a few clean forks or something." Grover blinked, before a slightly dreamy look crossed his face at the thought of good quality forks.

Everyone else just laughed.

(Annabeth looked ready... story for the waitress)

"Hopefully it would have been better than what you thought up for Medusa. That was pathetic." Nico chimed in. Percy glared, but Ares didn't give him a chance to respond.

Nico wondered if he was going to regret that comment later on.

(when a rumble shook... pulled up to the curb.)

Hephaestus raised an eyebrow at his brother, but said nothing. How many times had he worked on that bike? Of course he would recognize it just from that short description alone.

(All conversation in the... headlight glared red.)

Ares paused and quickly read ahead a bit before reading the full description out loud, a sinking feeling in his stomach making itself known. Why would he be there right now? There was nothing of any interest to him on this quest... was there? Well... at least now he knew why the kid wanted him to read, although he hoped he was there to make himself helpful and to not hinder the quest in anyway.

Zeus would go ballistic if that happened.

(Its gas tank had... Caucasian human skin.)

"That bike is the form his war chariot is in the most often. It probably is human skin." Hephaestus muttered, examining the Drakon bone sword one of the MS had brought to him. She wanted to know if he would build a scabbard for it or enchant it somehow for her. Make it easier to carry around. She said that she had asked his children, but whenever they got around to seeing what they could do, something would come up and they didn't have time.

She didn't tell him that most of the time, that something was their latest project for finding their missing brother. Since Nico had told them that he didn't sense Leo's death, they never gave up trying to find him. Of course, that didn't stop Nyssa or Harley from punching him unconscious for disappearing on them like that.

Plus, none of them had ever had a reason or chance to work with Drakon bone before. Her sword was sharp, there was very little in the world that it couldn't cut through. And she would never have to sharpen it, either. It was similar to Riptide in that case... which made finding a proper sheath very difficult.

Unfortunately for Ares, most people heard his brothers comment, and were now watching him suspiciously, wondering why on earth he was there.

(The guy on the... wrestlers run for Mama.)

Ares smirked, but kept reading while several others rolled their eyes at him.

(He was dressed in... handsome, I guess,)

Ares smirked, which quickly changed into a glare when he watched Percy's exaggerated gagging (while the other demigods snickered). He brightened up slightly when Aphrodite winked at him while rubbing her hand on his arm. (Her husband glared).

He would have said something, anything, but Zeus cleared his throat and glared. He wasn't thrilled about the possibilities running through his head about why his son was there. All he knew, was that if Ares did anything to distract the demigods from finding his Bolt...

(but wicked- with an... face somewhere before.)

Clarisse cleared her throat and looked at him pointedly. He mouthed, 'what?' while shrugging and looked at her innocently.

(As he walked into... they all sat down again.)

"Ares!" Hera snapped. She didn't care one bit for mortals, but she also didn't find this to be acceptable behavior. Not in this day and age, anyway.

"What? Why shouldn't I demand respect? Country is the best place since Sparta." Ares said, shrugging. He kept reading before she could go off on him again. He did not feel like listening to another lecture, not that he ever listened anyway, but still.

(Everybody went back... money to pay for it?")

Percy sighed. "Why couldn't she have just taken one look at us and not asked that? Honestly, it's like she doesn't have a heart for three starving kids." He grumbled, to Annabeth's amusement.

"Because if she fed every kid that looked as pathetic as we did, she would probably be broke and homeless herself." She reminded him, he just grumbled some more.

(The biker said, "It's on me.")

"What are you up to? Why are you there buying questing demigods food, you've never shown any interest in a quest before." Apollo asked his half brother suspiciously.

"I show interest in quests." Ares protested. "And I don't know what I'm doing there yet." He scowled before turning to the book. He hated this chapter, there was no action.

(He slid into our booth... against the window.)

Annabeth grimaced. "That was cramped." She said, and the other demigods nearby nodded in agreement. They hated confined spaces.

They were amazed as it was that the three of them went up the elevator in the Arch.

Athena shot a small glare at Ares for crowding her daughter, but didn't say anything.

(He looked up at the... "Are you still here?")

"She was probably waiting for them to give her their order, dear." Aphrodite said with a delicate shrug. Ares just blinked at her.

"Eh, I'm sure she'll just bring something." He waved off.

"And if it wasn't something the kids wanted?" Sally muttered, not pleased with his presence. This story, her son told her. This was one of the few tales of his quests that her son didn't leave out in his telling afterward. He had been... annoyed, to put it lightly.

(He pointed at her, and... back toward the kitchen.)

Hera narrowed her eyes at her son, but he kept reading, not wanting to let her start.

(The biker looked at... Anger, resentment, bitterness.)

"Uh-oh." Poseidon, Sally, and Amphitrite all said at once, while Triton grimaced. Annabeth and her older counterpart both flinched, the older one more violently than the younger one. Annabeth looked at her older self in confusion.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Percy is a very laid back guy. It takes a lot to get him angry, and that is a very good thing." Annabeth said. "When he gets angry... stuff tends to start exploding. At the very least. Him being angry is not something you want to be around." She warned. They suddenly remembered the episode earlier where Percy lost it against Zeus.

Percy got a few sideways looks, as well as one very paranoid look from Zeus.

"And he is currently sitting in front of somebody who is very good at making people angry..." Sally said, sighing softly. Ares shot Percy a look, wondering just what he could do. Well, he knew what Poseidon could do...

(I wanted to hit... fight with somebody.)

Sally grimaced. There had been several times over the years where she had seen Percy in that mood. The only thing that worked to calm his temper was a long trip to the pool. If it was close to their yearly trips to the beach, then that worked even better.

(Who did this guy... old Seaweed's kid, huh?")

"Excuse me?" Poseidon asked, incredulous at the disrespect from his nephew. Considering how both Zeus and Poseidon could so easily hinder war efforts, he usually respected them more. After all, air and naval forces couldn't go anywhere if the sky and seas didn't cooperate. And if they could, they were severely hampered in what they could do. Even ground forces had to get where they were going somehow, usually by air.

"Sorry, Uncle Poseidon." Ares muttered before he kept reading, wondering why on earth he would be like that.

(I should've been... at my stepdad, Gabe.)

"Whoa, that is not a compliment towards you, brother." Hephaestus smirked when he saw Ares fingers twitch in annoyance. Ares shot him a glare and kept reading.

(I wanted to rip this... "Percy, this is-")

Thalia barked out a short laugh. "Telling him who is sitting in front of you would just make him want to talk back even more."

Annabeth just sighed. Everyone else shot Percy a few wide-eyed looks.

(The biker raised his... mind a little attitude.)

The Romans jaws dropped. They remembered the interactions between Mars and Percy after the games, and they now wondered just how much of what was said by Mars when he was talking to Percy was the truth, and how much he really remembered as Ares, when he was Mars.

Frank glanced over at Percy, who was smirking at the Romans while he whispered to Annabeth, who looked resigned.

"Only you, Percy, would make enemies of a gods Roman form when you're already enemies with his Greek form." She deadpanned, to the Romans shock and horror. Percy just grinned while the future Greeks looked just as resigned as she did.

"Should we add him to the list?" Nico asked Thalia, already knowing what she was talking about. She sighed and pulled it out.

"Didn't Mars assign Percy to the Alaska quest so that he would learn to respect Mars?" Hazel asked rhetorically. The Romans all grimaced. Yeah, that was never happening. Everyone looked at Percy in curiosity while Percy grinned.

Sally sighed. "I blame you." She said simply, pointing at Poseidon, whose grin mirrored his sons. Amphitrite sighed as well, she knew Sally's pain, she knew it well.

(Long as you remember who's the boss.)

Poseidon snorted. Like he could ever hope to control a child of the sea.

(You know who I am, little cousin?")

Percy made a face at the reminder that he was related to the war god. There were just some people on his dad's side of the family he tried to forget about, or deny if he couldn't just forget them. He'd denied being related at all to Zeus, even, a few times. And he outright refused to even consider acknowledging Hera as his Aunt.

Apollo and Hermes, now they were pretty cool. He enjoyed hanging out with them on occasion.

(Then it struck me... "You're Clarisse's dad,")

"What is with you and identifying the gods by who their kid is? Not their domains, by who their kids are?" Annabeth wondered out loud. He'd done it before, she'd seen him do it numerous times, who knew how often he did it when she wasn't around. Percy just shrugged while everyone else looked at her curiously.

"He does do that a lot." Nico whispered to Thalia, who nodded in agreement.

(I said. "Ares, god of war."... miniature nuclear explosions.)

"Whoa." A few kids blinked, glancing at Ares in surprise.

He grinned and went to take off the shades he was currently wearing, even now, but a pointedly cleared throat from Hera stopped him and he glared before he continued reading.

Poseidon's glare never left him. If his nephew dared show his son any visions...

("That's right, punk... Clarisse's spear.")

Clarisse grumbled and glared, but didn't say anything. She merely reached out and grabbed the spear that her father gifted her with after they read that part of the story. She'd already spent the past chapter polishing it (again), but now she just held it.

("She was asking for... fights, you know?)

"Well of course not, how else would they learn to fight for themselves?" Ares interrupted himself to mutter. He was the god of war, if his children couldn't fight for themselves, that would be a disgrace.

Both Clarisse's nodded in agreement, looking offended that it would ever be insinuated that they would ever need their battles to be fought for them. Even Frank looked a little offended at the insinuation, although he still wasn't sure how he felt about being a son of Mars. But, he was a Roman soldier.

The only time they needed or wanted someone to fight their battles, was if they were dead or dying.

(What I'm here for... proposition for you.")

Zeus narrowed his eyes while a few others glanced at Ares suspiciously. Annabeth, Percy, and Grover scowled at the wall while Annabeth curled in on herself at the memory of that park ride.

She was terrified of spiders before Tartarus, just like any child of Athena, after...

Percy glanced over, concerned, but she waved him off.

(The waitress came back... and chocolate shakes.)

Most of the demigods were very close to drooling at that moment as stomachs growled.

Hestia rolled her eyes fondly and reminded the group of teenagers and younger that they would be eating after this chapter.

They all glanced at her before turning to watch Ares intently. All those demigods staring at him like that actually made him fidgety.

(Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.)

"Well, you just made her and the diner very rich." Sally said, blinking. She knew how much those could sell for in a mortal shop, she'd been desperate not long after the Twins were born. She refused to go to their father for help, so she used one of the Drachma he had left her for if she ever wanted/needed to contact him or Chiron.

She received a good sum for it, and it lasted them for a long time, especially when she stretched it out. Which wasn't easy with two children, especially ones who had the typical demigod appetite.

She didn't know why she was even surprised, they were pure gold, after all. With no other metals mixed in.

"Assuming they can find someone who will buy those off a fair price, or that the owners will let them do that." Athena pointed out. Sally shrugged. Either way, that diner had received a very large tip right there.

(She looked nervously... "But, these aren't...")

"Yes, those are not exactly standard currency." Athena said dryly, eyeing Ares, who shrugged, unconcerned.

(Ares pulled out his... "Problem, sweetheart?")

Hera glared again, that was not how he was taught to treat women growing up!

(Considering she was never really a mother to him, whenever she lectured, he never listened. He did what he wanted, when he wanted. Whatever he knew about how to properly treat women, he knew from Aphrodite, Amphitrite, Persephone, and Hestia. Those four were too scary sometimes to not learn a thing or two when they decided they didn't like how he behaved.)

(The waitress swallowed... people with a knife.")

Ares looked up with a smirk, and would have said something, but Hera didn't want to hear it.

All the children of War in the room looked uncomfortable at their fathers behavior.

(Ares laughed. "Are... place since Sparta.)

"Da- er." He cut himself off when Hera loudly and pointedly cleared her throat. "Yes, yes it is." He finished lamely.

"Watch your language around the children." Hestia warned, before Hera could. She knew that Ares would never listen if Hera told him.

Ares looked sullen, but nodded his assent before he kept reading.

(Don't you carry a weapon, punk?)

"Of course I do. Although I have been looking for a proper back-up." Percy mused.

"That's good, back-ups are always good, even with a weapon enchanted like the Riptide that is difficult to lose." Ares said absently before he continued reading.

"What were you thinking for a backup?" Leo asked. "It would have to be something forged from the sea so you could wield it effectively..." Beckendorf looked interested as well. Percy tilted his head before going to join them to discuss it.

(You should. Dangerous... do me a favor.")

"Some favor." Percy muttered.

"Hey. With the way he worded that, you could call it in whenever you want. He asked for a favor, after all." Poseidon said, sitting back with a grin.

Ares froze, then silently read through that again. Crap, they were right.

By wording it as a favor, he opened himself up to owing the little brat later on down the road. As a rule, the Olympians were very conscious about what they said, and how they said it. If they owed somebody something, they generally tried to even the 'score' as soon as possible. Now, if it was given as an order, then there was no problem. Quests generally fell under this category. But, favors? Oh, boy.

The two older Percy's and Annabeth's all stared at Poseidon in shock.

"Why didn't I realize that?" Annabeth finally exclaimed after a moment, and Annabeth just slapped her forehead. Both Percy's just sighed in defeat. Such a missed opportunity.

("What favor could I do for a god?")

"Apparently a lot of them." Percy mused, thinking about how many 'favors' he'd done for various gods over the years. "At least Hermes repays his favors, though." He grinned at Annabeth, thinking about the trip to Paris Hermes gave them after doing him a favor and fighting a cyclops for him.

She flushed slightly, thinking about it. "Did we ever thank him for such a nice evening? He didn't have to go to the lengths he did for that trip." She pointed out.

Percy shrugged. "You really think the god of travelers is going to arrange a substandard trip? Or not put all the effort into it that he could?" He pointed out.

"Good point."

"What trip was this?" Hermes asked, curious. And, admittedly a little smug.

"You asked for a favor about a month after Annabeth and I got together, so I agreed, if you could arrange a trip for us. We had a nice dinner in Paris, and did a little sightseeing." Percy explained with a shrug. He didn't bother explaining the favor.

"You even took care of the bill at the restaurant, and provided suitable clothes for the night. You didn't have to go that far, but..." She shrugged. Percy had been perfectly capable of paying for it himself, apparently without Gabe in their lives and with Paul bringing in a steady paycheck, Sally was able to give Percy a decent sized allowance, and he didn't spend it on much. Poseidon also gave him some money after the war was over, but she didn't remember what Percy said the money was for. She'd enjoyed herself that night, though, no matter who footed the bill.

"Ah. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves." Hermes said, pleased. Trips were meant to be enjoyed, he took it as a bit of an insult when trips were poorly planned, and thus weren't enjoyed as much as they should be because of it.

Ares scowled, and hoped that the boy never came to call in this favor that his book self just asked. He had no interest in arranging a date night, unless it was with Aphrodite, of course.

("Something a god... time to do himself.)

Hephaestus snorted. "All you have is time." He grumbled. Maybe if Ares had less time on his hands, there would be less wars in the world. Maybe Uncle Hades could think of something. He would benefit the most from less wars. Well, the mortals would certainly benefit as well.

(It's nothing much... park here in town.)

"Left it, huh?" Hephaestus grunted, a gleam in his eye. He knew, from experience, there was only one (maybe two) things that could get Ares to leave his shield behind. And Hephaestus happened to be it.

Percy and Annabeth both glared at him, along with their older selves in the corner. Grover just shook his head and decided not to say anything.

(I was going on a little... date with my girlfriend.)

Hephaestus actually growled at that while Aphrodite giggled. Sally glanced at them and frowned, but didn't say anything. Hera looked disapproving, but didn't say anything.

Yet.

(We were interrupted... fetch it for me.")

"Why not go back and get it for yourself?" Jason wondered quietly, he liked living too much to say it out loud where Ares could overhear. The demigods that were closest to him heard, though, and nodded in agreement.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, amused, when they heard the question. Because Ares was too scared of his brother, (that was Percy's theory, anyway).

("Why don't you... get it yourself?")

Percy chuckled and glanced at Jason, amusement still dancing in his eyes. Jason merely narrowed his eyes and didn't say anything.

(The fire in his... a little hotter.)

"Ares, don't you. DARE." Poseidon warned with a growl. Mrs. O'Leary added a growl of her own; long, deep, and dark enough to send shivers down everyone's spines. Except for Percy, of course. She was his dog, after all. He knew that no matter how threatening she sounded, she would never hurt him.

Ares sunk back into his throne, and lifted the book in front of his face in a vain attempt at shielding himself from his uncle's wrath. And the wrath of the Hellhound beside his cousin.

("Why don't I turn... with my Harley?)

Percy sighed in annoyance. "You know, that threat gets really old after a while. You guys really need to come up with some new material." He complained. Poseidon looked concerned, and Amphitrite had to lay a hand on his arm to get him to calm down.

Annabeth sighed, "I think they are too used to that being a useful threat, and never bothered to find anything more original." She theorized. Percy grunted.

(Because I don't feel like it.)

"Lame excuse." All the older Greeks said at the same time. They knew that he was scared of something, and now they really wanted to know what.

Ares glared at them, wanting to blast them all right now, but a cleared throat and a pointed glare from Zeus made him keep reading.

The younger demigods and the Romans looked at their older Greek counterparts in shock. They didn't think they would ever get used to them showing the gods such disrespect, and right to their faces, no less.

(A god is giving... Percy Jackson.)

"What is retrieving a shield supposed to prove?" Reyna asked Jason quietly, he shrugged.

(Will you prove yourself a coward?")

"If anything, I think he proved himself a coward. When he ran and sent us, instead of facing his brothers trap himself." Percy muttered to those around him, many tried to stifle their laughs, while Clarisse looked like she didn't know whether to be amused, or highly offended.

"He clearly doesn't know me very well, if he thinks that a comment like that will get me to do anything. I grew up with that." Percy pointed at Gabe, still in his corner.

Annabeth chuckled again. "That is true, the best way to offend and goad you into doing something, is to threaten those around you, not by calling you a coward or weak." Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty, after all.

Not hubris. No, hubris was hers. Percy was the one who kept her grounded, kept her from giving into her pride all the time. She still had her moments, but... if it weren't for him, it would have long ago proven why they were called 'fatal flaws'.

Poseidon frowned at hearing about Percy's lack of self-preservation. As pleased as he was, that Percy showed himself to be a true hero, with his concern for others... as a father he would rather that his son worried about himself just a little more. He really hoped that Annabeth managed to keep his fatal flaw in check.

(He leaned forward... can protect you.")

The reminder of the attack on the Arch and Percy's high-dive act made Poseidon clench his fists and resist the urge to punch his little brother. Whether or not he stopped punching, well... that was up for debate.

"I don't need a river. Or to be near the ocean. Not anymore, at least." Percy said with a shrug. And it was true, ever since the Triple G Ranch, when he realized that the ocean was all around... Of course, it was more exhausting the further away from the water he was. Or, the hotter and dryer it was. For example, one should never try to summon the ocean in the middle of the desert.

Just... no.

Poseidon smiled proudly at his son. He was glad that Percy had managed to find that out on his own, he had figured quite a few things out on his own, actually. That showed that he was smart, resourceful, and cunning. When he wanted to be, of course.

(I wanted to punch this guy,)

"I should have just done it." Percy grumbled. Annabeth frowned and quickly reminded him why that would have been a bad idea.

(but somehow, I knew... love it if I attacked.)

"Yes, he would." Most of them agreed.

(I didn't want to... got a quest.")

"Yes! Yes!" Zeus suddenly said. "Exactly, they are already on a quest to retrieve my Bolt. Therefore, nothing will happen to delay them, because your shield can either wait, or you can just go get it yourself." He snapped at his son, annoyed that he was taking the children away from their quest to find His Lightning Bolt!

Ares blinked at him and sunk down slightly down in his throne, but didn't feel like getting into it with his old man right then, so wisely kept reading.

"I'm sure they don't get delayed too much. Besides, Ares asked for a favor. If they think about it, he can use the favor to either get transportation, or to get Ares to just take them straight to the entrance." Athena said, tilting her head to the side as she thought.

The three on this quest froze, they hadn't even thought of that. Although, they supposed that Ares had sort of provided transport. It took them further west and closer to where they needed to be, after all. Even if they did land in the Lotus Hotel for most of the precious time they had left.

"We... are idiots." Grover said, slamming his head back into the couch behind him. Percy and Annabeth sighed and nodded in agreement.

(Ares's fiery eyes... want to see-)

"ARES!" Poseidon yelled, standing up from his throne, enraged. Ares gulped slightly and hoped that his book-self didn't show the brat too much. Otherwise, his uncle was likely to take him outside.

Amphitrite and Triton hurried to stand up as well, with Amphitrite standing in front of him, placing a hand on his chest in an attempt to keep him there. Triton stood behind her, as an extra barrier between his father and cousin.

"Read." Aphrodite urged her boyfriend quickly, eyeing the King of the Seas carefully.

For once, he listened to her.

(blood and smoke... on the battlefield.)

Poseidon growled, low and deep, alongside Mrs. O'Leary, but Ares just kept reading.

Although, he did speed up slightly. Hopefully, his book-self would quit while he was ahead.

He was having a hard time shaking off the death glare he was receiving from Sally, though. Now, he knew where Percy got it from.

("I know all about... made him hungry.)

Zeus, and several others, looked at him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. They let him keep reading.

Ares would have stopped reading to daydream about what he could do with a weapon like that at his disposal, but one quick glance at Zeus showed that that wasn't a good idea.

("Well... if I couldn't... old Corpse Breath.")

"What." Hades asked, low and dangerous He looked like a panther, about to pounce at any moment. Mrs. O'Leary whimpered when she felt his anger, and curled up tighter around her human.

Ares gulped again. His book-self was going to get him killed!

Persephone put a hand on his chest, to restrain him much like Amphitrite was still doing with her husband (Hazel looked unsettled, seeing her father this angry, Nico didn't really care). At this point, Ares would be very lucky if the two brothers didn't pull him aside for a little... chat.

"Twenty bucks, says that Ares doesn't make it to the reading tomorrow." Luke whispered among the demigods, eyeing the two elder gods.

"Suckers bet." Katie replied. Especially, if they got far enough today, that they knew Ares part in the theft.

By this point, both Clarisse's were getting concerned for their fathers safety. He could take care of himself just fine, they knew that. But... he was making the wrong people, very, very angry.

("You told him Hades stole the bolt?")

Hades growled again, and Persephone increased the pressure of her hand on his chest, in an effort to warn him to stay put.

Ares sped up in his reading.

("Sure. Framing somebody... recognized it immediately.)

"Naturally, you would have also told me about your suspicions of Poseidon being framed as well, right?" Zeus asked with gritted teeth. He was glaring at his son.

"Uh, well... sure. You would have been the first I told." Ares said quickly before continuing to read.

Funny how nobody believed him.

(In a way, you... your little quest.")

"Gee, thanks." Several demigods said sarcastically. Percy and Annabeth laughed, everyone else looked at them in confusion.

("Thanks," I grumbled.)

Now they understood, and merely exchanged looks with each other.

("Hey, I'm a generous guy.)

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover scoffed. "You call that generous?" Percy muttered incredulously. Ares glared at him over the top of the book, but didn't stop reading.

The duel pointed coughs and glares may have helped with that.

His Aunt and the mortal woman were terrifying.

(If anybody ever asked, he denied ever thinking those thoughts.)

(Just do my little... and your friends.")

"Just like that?" Katie asked, surprised.

"Yup. Just like that. Hey, since he offered it, would that count as paying the favor?" Percy asked, curious. After all, he offered. And when Hermes asked for that favor, the trip to Paris was what he asked for in return. "Or would he still owe me one?"

"No, that would count as you two being even." Athena said, shaking her head. Ares sighed in relief. Good, he hated owing favors. Especially to demigods.

They could be arrogant little brats at times, especially the more powerful ones.

Percy wilted in his seat. He'd been hoping that Ares still owed him. Annabeth laughed softly and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, at least it solves the transportation problem." Hazel pointed out.

Grover grimaced. "Sort of. It also, kind of, caused another problem on its own." He said darkly, remembering the conditions they found those animals in.

Everyone looked confused by Grover's comment, but decided they would find out later in the book. Artemis, in particular, would not be happy.

("We're doing fine on our own.")

Everyone scoffed, or looked at the son of Poseidon incredulously. Did he really just say that? Percy turned red and cleared his throat, looking at the ceiling.

"None of us really wanted to accept anything from Ares." Annabeth said softly. "Not even this side-quest."

"Unfortunately, we didn't have much choice." Grover said with a grimace. Percy and Annabeth scowled at the reminder.

("Yeah, right. No... you're up against.)

"And you do?" Poseidon asked, skeptically. "After all, you're assuming, as if everybody else it seems, that it was Hades. Assuming." Ares looked at his uncle and blinked.

"Oh, no. He knew exactly what was really going on." Percy muttered to Annabeth. "He was one of three that did."

Annabeth hummed. "I'm not sure if he really knew about Kronos' involvement." She said, quietly.

"He knew enough." She looked at him, and dropped it.

(Help me out, and... about your mom.")

"ARES!" Several of the women yelled at the now cowering war god.

"How dare you use his mother against him!" Hestia exclaimed before Hera could start on him. He never listened to Hera, he barely listened to her most of the time, and she was the only one he did listen to with any kind of regularity.

Sally glared, and promised retribution for him putting her son through what it was he was planning.

She hoped she could get some kind of reimbursement out of him for all the repairs that they had needed to do on the plumbing in their apartment. Every single time Percy got annoyed enough, just thinking about this whole thing, something would usually burst. He managed to control it, eventually... but it still happened way too often for her liking.

("My mom?"

He grinned... The water park)

"Why would you have left your shield in a water park?" Hephaestus asked, incredulous.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Ares asked, this hadn't happened for him, yet.

"Well, at least there will be plenty of water around if something goes wrong." Triton said, trying to reassure his father that Percy would be near a source of some of their power. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover exchanged looks.

Triton was assuming that the water park was still in operation.

(is a mile west on... Tunnel of Love ride.")

There was silence for a moment while Ares stared at the words he just read, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to be disgusted by the fact he would go somewhere called that. Aphrodite beamed, and put her hand on his knee, causing her husband to gag, and Ares decided that maybe this ride wouldn't be so bad... if it scored some points for him with his girlfriend.

The trio on this quest, exchanged looks while Percy remembered what he thought about this ride when he first saw it.

"That is obviously a trap." Jason said, but he knew that they were still going to go. After all, Ares himself had sought them out to give them the job. No matter how much they may want to, or how crunched for time they were, they had no choice if they wanted to stay on the god of war's good side. (If he even had one...)

"Yup."

"Definitely."

"Without a doubt." Several other demigods chimed in all at once.

"Oh, we knew it probably would be. Didn't have much choice." Annabeth said with a sigh.

"Most of the situations we get in, end up being traps somehow..." Percy said with a scowl. "It's really, really annoying." He added. Annabeth nodded in agreement, she always somehow ended up getting dragged into it, too.

("What interrupted... scare you off?")

"Excuse me?" Ares demanded, cutting himself off. "I don't get scared off!" He protested hotly. Clarisse nodded with a smirk.

Percy only raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

(Ares bared his teeth... before on Clarisse.)

Clarisse smirked slightly at being like her father, while Clarisse smiled somewhat shyly.

(There was something... he was nervous.)

Ares cut himself off. "Excuse me? I don't get nervous, either, punk." He retorted, threateningly. Percy wasn't intimidated, he just raised an eyebrow.

Both of Ares daughters in the room scowled at Percy, for daring to insinuate that their father had anything at all to be nervous about.

("You're lucky you... of rudeness as I am.)

"That's true, but it also depends on which one you are talking to, and how easy it is to show them respect." Percy said with a raised eyebrow. "I will show respect, if you are at least polite, or show me some respect in turn. Some of you, I have absolutely no respect for." He informed the council. His group of demigods nodded their agreement.

They felt the same way about respect, but they at least had more self-preservation to keep those opinions to themselves when actually face-to-face with a god that they didn't respect a whole lot.

The Romans gazed at them in horror. You didn't need to like or agree with the god, you should respect them regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, they were the gods! That alone demanded that you respect them.

Jason merely closed his eyes and sighed. He'd gotten used to the Greeks attitude towards the gods when he was with them for the past few months. Frank and Hazel exchanged a horrified look, the chances of their coming back from Alaska in one piece, were becoming more and more slim.

(I'll meet you back... told me otherwise.)

Percy sighed. "I wish I really had imagined it." He mumbled. Annabeth grimaced, but nodded in agreement.

("Not good," Grover... This is not good.")

"Not good at all. You don't have time to run his errand, but you also have no choice but to run his errand." Reyna said with a frown. "Not if you want to stay on his good side."

Annabeth snorted. "The day Percy Jackson is on Ares good side, would probably be the day the world ends." She said dryly. Percy just shrugged beside her. Honestly, he had no real interest to be on Ares good side.

The only gods whose good side he did want to be on, were those he respected. Like Hestia, Artemis, his dad, and a few others. Hermes and Apollo had his respect, but not in the way that they were powerful and therefore demanded it. No, they were fun to hang around, sometimes.

But, as he already explained, they had to earn his respect, and very few of them had ever done that.

(I stared out the... playing with me?)

"Hmm, my guess is, both. He is definitely just messing with you, but he might also know something." Chiron said, thoughtfully.

Mrs. O'Leary growled at him, angry that this god dared mess with her human like that. Grover's eyebrows shot up when he mentally translated what she was saying, and whistled.

"If I were you, I would avoid dark alleys for a while." He told the war god, who glanced at the tame Hellhound.

The highly protective, tame Hellhound.

(Now that he was... drained out of me.)

Sally unconsciously relaxed once she heard that Percy's temper was no longer being manipulated.

(I realized Ares... people's emotions.)

"Oh, he does. And one of these days, he's going to mess with the emotions of the wrong person." Hera said, glaring slightly at her son. If what they were saying was true, and based off what happened earlier when Zeus went a little too far with one of his comments (honestly, trying to tell somebody to abandon their mother, what was her husband thinking?), then young Perseus was the wrong person to mess with.

Ares blinked at his mother, and turned considering eyes on the Son of Poseidon. Yeah, maybe he should avoid manipulating the boys emotions in the future.

In the interest of self-preservation.

(That was his power... Let's just go.")

"You better not." Ares cut himself off to growl.

"You will do nothing if they do. And they better forget you because they already have a quest, to find MY BOLT!" Zeus growled back, his voice rose to a thundering war at the end. He gave the questing trio a short glare to emphasize his point, which they all ignored because they knew what was going to happen next, he didn't.

("We can't," Annabeth... much as anybody,)

Ares looked conflicted, not sure whether he should threaten the upstart for that comment, or preen.

Both Clarisse's glared, while Frank was conflicted, as well. On the one hand, this was his father's Greek form. On the other, he still wasn't sure how he felt about being a son of Mars.

(but you don't ignore... you into a rodent.")

"He wouldn't dare." Poseidon growled. He was not happy with the reminder of that threat. Ares tried to act nonchalant, as if he didn't care that he was being threatened by his uncle, but the gulping and sweating gave him away.

"Eh, I get threatened with that all the time." Percy said with a nonchalant shrug that Poseidon did not at all appreciate. "It's very old... unoriginal... uninspired. And annoying. Very, very annoying."

"What have you been threatened with over the years? To be turned into?" Nico asked, curious. He knew it had happened, but he didn't know it was really that often. And here he thought being turned into dandelions every so often was bad. At least his step-mother was consistent, and only did it as 'grounding'.

"Various rodents. Groundhog once. Jackalope, jack rabbit... Dolphin several times. Different species of dolphin every time, mind you. I think one time somebody threatened to turn me into a catfish and leave me at a fish farm. I have been turned into a guinea pig once." He admitted the last one reluctantly with a grimace.

Poseidon looked like heads were going to roll, and roll quickly.

Everyone else was very, very confused when the MS found the dolphin comment to be particularly amusing. The one that several knew to be Percy just crossed his arms and muttered about something working and them all escaping, so why were they laughing so hard about it.

While Ares kept reading, Percy and Annabeth had their own, quiet conversation.

"That curse is pretty inconvenient, though." He muttered. "Although, now that I think about it, it's also pretty easy to get around." He tilted his head, trying to remember the exact wording Ares used when he cursed the Son of Poseidon.

"Hmm, yeah, good point." Annabeth said with a grimace. Unlike him, she actually remembered what he said, verbatim. She especially remembered the look of rage on his face when he said it. That had been terrifying. She hadn't wanted to lose her new friend, especially not so soon after settling their differences and learning to work together.

Triton shot them a suspicious look, but decided not to say anything when it looked like their father hadn't caught what they were muttering about. The other demigods, edged away slowly. If he really was cursed...

(I looked down at... seem so appetizing.)

"Whoa." A few people said, shocked and a little scared. Anything that could Percy Jackson off his food, was cause for serious concern.

"Were you that worried about what he wanted?" Katie asked him.

He tilted his head to the side, and shook his head. "No, I think it was more the fact that I was worried about the time constraints, and the fact he was the one to get it for us." He shrugged.

A few people snickered at the thought that he was that repulsed by Ares, that he didn't want to touch any food provided by the war god. Both Clarisses' looked like they wanted to strangle him for the implied insult, while Ares was gritting his teeth in an attempt to not strike the half-blood down then and there.

("Why does he need us?")

"Why do they ever need us?" Luke muttered, bitter. Hermes frowned, concerned when he heard the tone his son used. He'd never heard such bitterness from his son before. Not even when the boy ended up stopping at his mother's house, that one time Hermes happened to also be visiting.

"Well, not much we can do about it, but make the most of it sometimes." Thalia said, almost as bitterly.

("Maybe it's a problem... That's all he has.)

Ares snorted, annoyed and angry. "Spoken like a true daughter of Athena." He said, giving the girl a scathing glare. The younger girl shrank back in her seat, with the son of Hermes putting an arm around her in comfort and leveling his own glare. "Thinking that your the only one in the room that can think things through. Just because I happen to prefer fighting, doesn't mean I can't think or strategize. It's part of my domain." He groused before going back to the book after glaring for a few more minutes.

While Annabeth cowered, Annabeth merely met his glare with a level, cool look. Percy, for his part, leveled a mild, warning glare of his own, but stayed out of it. He knew that Annabeth didn't like it when he fought her battles for her, as hard as it was sometimes to just sit and watch.

Athena glared at him for his comments, and the slight against her.

Annabeth, despite her outward appearance, was thinking about what Ares had said, and realized that he had a point. She did tend to, sometimes, look down on others as unintelligent when something came up, or try to inject her opinion where it wasn't needed or wanted. As if she knew better, or they couldn't think for themselves. In fact, all her siblings tended to do it.

The Romans and daughters of Ares glared as well, equally as insulted as the war god. The children of Mars were the legions top strategists. Mars was also their main patron god, and insulting him was... well, it just wasn't done.

(Even strength has... acted almost scared.)

Ares growled, but kept reading anyway. He didn't feel like repeating himself. That would make it seem like he was only denying it to save himself the embarrassment, and take away from the validity of the denial.

Hephaestus frowned at him, he knew full well that Ares could get scared, he was usually the one who managed to scare him.

(What would make... away like that?")

"Something set up by me, to trap him and my wife." Hephaestus finally said, shrugging with a small smirk. Aphrodite only glanced at him when he emphasized the last two words.

"Yeah, a trap set up with a god in mind. We weren't gods." Percy groused, a little bitter about Ares sending them there, for his entertainment. They could have been killed, and Ares just wanted a laugh.

Hephaestus frowned, concerned at the reminder. Yes, that would be a problem for those three. Anything trap he came up with was liable to have automatons included, and his automatons were not known for being benign.

(Annabeth and Grover... found the water park.)

"That wasted so much time." Sally murmured, worried. Zeus glared at his son, angry that the boy was having the demigods take precious time to run an errand that he was more than capable of doing himself!

"When demigods are already on a quest, it is hereby forbidden, for other gods to send them off on personal errands!" He proclaimed. "Anything you want them to do, can wait until after their quest, or get somebody else to do it!" Honestly, finding his Bolt was far more important than getting Ares shield, when Ares was the one stupid enough to leave it behind in the first place.

Hestia smiled at her brother. In her opinion, he should have said something about it years ago. "Even if you get sought out personally, just ignore it if you're already on a quest. If they try to do anything to punish you, I'll deal with it." She assured the demigods, who looked unsure about ignoring a god asking for a 'favor'.

(Judging from the sign... it read WAT R A D.)

"What?" Aphrodite asked, blankly. Why on earth would Ares take her somewhere like that? When she heard it was a water park, she'd been excited, because she actually really liked water parks.

But an abandoned water park?

Ares took one look at his girlfriends face, and immediately gulped before crossing this place off his list of potential date locations. He quite liked being intact, thank you very much. Regrowing, ah… important body parts after his girlfriend got especially angry or annoyed… well, let's just say it was painful.

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other when they saw Aphrodite's reaction. Percy really hoped that she didn't try to kill him when they read about some of the comments he made.

(The main gate was... with barbed wire.)

"Oh, that's even better." Aphrodite said, even more sarcastically. She did still have her hand on his arm, but now she pulled away completely, and leaned against the other arm of her throne, with her arms crossed over her chest. Ares looked at her mournfully, but knew that there was nothing he could do right now, but wait for her to calm down. He knew from experience, that trying to apologize or make excuses would only make it worse. Although, chocolate sometimes helped...

"Somebodies in trouble." Sally sing-songed quietly. Hestia chuckled beside her.

(Inside, huge dry... leading to empty pools.)

"Oh, that's not good." Triton said. A dry water park, with Percy's still developing abilities, was not a good thing. If there was still plenty of water around, then Percy's inexperience wouldn't be as much of an issue, but... with no water to directly use, he would have to take it out of the air if he needed it for whatever reason. And he wasn't experienced enough for that.

"Hopefully, there will still be water in the pipes that he can use. It would depend on how long the park has been abandoned, and how they got their water supply in the first place." Poseidon reasoned, just as concerned as his son.

(Old tickets and... looked sad and creepy.)

Aphrodite leveled another glare at her boyfriend. He really expected to take her somewhere like that?

("If Ares brings his... what she looks like.")

"Excuse me?!" Aphrodite demanded, switching the target of her ire. Sally clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. Percy froze and stared at her in shock and horror.

"I didn't know it was you." He exclaimed hurriedly. He didn't have a whole lot of respect for her, not as much as he respected a few of the others, mostly because of how tended to play with others love lives.

Mostly his.

However, he most certainly did not want her on his bad side.

Mainly because she insisted on interfering with his love life. Honestly, those few months where he had both Annabeth and Rachel practically fighting over him were some of the worst in his life... Especially since he was actually interested in both of them.

("Percy," Annabeth warned... you hated Ares.")

"Oh, I do." Annabeth said, cheerfully. "And that feeling has not changed over the years."

Percy snorted. "Tell me about it."

("He's still a god... Grover added.)

"Thank you, Satyr. At least one of you knows how to treat a lady." She muttered, coldly. Percy cleared his throat, uncomfortable.

He didn't know who Ares girlfriend was, come on.

Percy froze in horror as he remembered who he guessed the girlfriend was. He was pretty sure he was about to die.

("Who is she? Echidna?")

Everyone froze in horror (and amusement). Did they just hear that? The silence was broken by a very, angry goddess.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Aphrodite screeched, bursting out of her throne and glaring at the upstart son of Poseidon.

"I didn't know it was you." He repeated himself, almost desperate. The last thing he needed was another Aphrodite induced 'love-triangle'.

Five out of the Seven, as one, face-palmed. Hard. Only Percy Jackson would compare Aphrodite, to Echidna. Piper was clearly trying not to laugh, because this was her mother! She found it very funny. Aphrodite shot her older daughter a dirty look before sitting down and fuming with a glare towards Percy.

("No, Aphrodite,"... a little dreamily.)

Grover coughed, while Grover turned bright red.

Percy chuckled, remembering how Grover used to be with goddesses like Artemis and Aphrodite... until he started going out with Juniper, anyway. "You should be glad Juniper isn't here right now." He said with a grin.

Grover's eyes widened in horror at the thought. His Juniper would skin him alive and use his fur for a throw rug!

("Goddess of love."... I said. "Hephaestus.")

"Exactly." Hera said, glaring at her son's wife. Aphrodite merely raised an eyebrow and ignored her mother in law, while Hephaestus got a sour look on his face, but didn't say anything.

"What's your point?" Annabeth asked Percy, and he sighed before shaking his head.

"Apparently, with this group, I don't have one." He muttered. Sally frowned, and looked at the gods with a strange expression on her face, although she also reached out to take Paul's hand, squeezing it tightly.

("What's your point?" he asked.)

Annabeth turned slightly red, but smiled at her half-goat friend. Percy sighed.

"I agree, though. What was your point? You already know that we are known for seeking relationships outside our marriages. After all, if we did not, none of you would be here." Aphrodite said with a shrug.

Reyna looked at them in slight distaste. While she knew that the Romans were much the same way, she also knew that most of the reason there were as many soldiers in the Legion as there were, was because most of them were Legacies. While the Greeks seemed to have the same numbers as the Twelfth Legion did... and none of them were Legacies.

("Oh." I suddenly... do we get in?")

"By climbing." Most of the room's occupants said in deadpan, all at the same time. Percy blinked at them, surprised.

"Did you all miss the part, where there was barbed wire over the fence?" He asked, frowning.

A few of them looked at each other, "Well, there are three of you. As long as you don't touch the barbed areas, you should be fine." Luke finally said after a few minutes.

"Well, yeah. But I wasn't really thinking that far at that moment." Percy frowned at him. Besides, he missed those (first) two lessons before this quest, while Annabeth caught him up on Ancient Greek, and history.

"Only a son of Hermes, would think of making a suggestion like that." Athena muttered in distaste. None of the demigods overheard her, but the gods and Chiron did. Those that didn't agree with her assessment all shot her reproachful looks.

Did she not know that the Hermes cabin held weekly seminars, about how to safely escape or break into places with barbed or electric wiring? All the demigods knew how to get around barbed wiring.

(Sometimes, they were sent somewhere for a quest that involved breaking into places like that. Like this little side-quest they were currently on in the books.)

("Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.)

"Well, that's one way of doing it." Hermes said, amused.

"Too bad we only had one pair, and one of us can't use them without being blasted out of the air." Annabeth said, grimacing. She'd happened to put her hand right on a barb.

(He flew over the... somersault in midair,)

"Hey! That was totally intended." Grover protested, turning slightly red.

Percy snorted. "Sure, it was. And your look of panic when it happened was...?" He asked. Grover pouted, but didn't say anything else as everyone else laughed.

Annabeth took pity on her old friend. "Don't worry, it still looked awesome." She consoled the half-goat. He perked up slightly.

(then stumbled to... the opposite side.)

"It would have looked even cooler if you had stuck the landing, though." Percy couldn't help picking at him a little more. A few people chuckled while Grover scowled.

(He dusted off... the whole thing.)

This earned a few more snorts, and Grover turned slightly red.

("You guys coming?"... old-fashioned way,)

"Having flying shoes would have been really helpful." Annabeth grumbled again. Percy blinked at her, was she still on that?

(holding down the... crawled over the top.)

"Those things are sharper than they look." Annabeth grumbled with a scowl.

"You stick yourself?" Hermes asked, amused. Her dark look darkened even more.

(The shadows grew... through the park,)

"Creepy." Leo sing-songed, along with both sets of Stoll brothers. Most of the rest of the room looked like they completely agreed with the boys.

"Try being there." Percy deadpanned. Annabeth and Grover shuddered, and nodded in agreement.

Ares growled at the near constant interruptions at the moment. He wanted to get this chapter over with, or at least skip to the action! He just knew there was going to be some, why else would he send those three here, if not for some entertainment?

(checking out the... Where's My Swimsuit?)

"Yikes. No wonder the park closed down. With attractions named like that?" Apollo asked, shuddering. Those were awful! He could come up with some much, much cooler names for rides at a water park.

Everybody nodded in complete agreement. They couldn't imagine that the park was ever open that long, before closing and being abandoned. Not with names like that.

Aphrodite shuddered, what was she thinking, letting Ares take her a place like this? Sure, it was out of the way, and less likely for Hephaestus to trap, but this just sounded awful!

(No monsters came... lined the shelves:)

"Really? How long had that place been abandoned?" Hermes asked, wondering why the park owners hadn't even bothered to grab the merchandise at least. Leaving stuff behind, and leaving it open like that... that was just asking for everything to be stolen. Unless they honestly didn't care...

"Don't know, we weren't complaining, though." Percy said, shrugging. A few of the adults frowned at what that implied.

(snow globes, pencils... "Fresh clothes.")

"Oh, yeah. That is what I'm talking about." Hermes said, grinning. He already knew where this was going.

"My daughter, is not stealing those clothes." Athena snapped at him. "She's better than that." She looked proudly at her daughter, only for her proud smile to slip when Annabeth wouldn't meet her gaze.

"It wasn't like anybody else was going to be coming in, the place was abandoned for years. And we were desperate for some clean clothes." She mumbled. Athena blinked several times, looking at her daughter as if she'd never seen the girl before.

"We've all had to help ourselves sometimes, when it was necessary to survive, or at least not draw attention to ourselves with our appearance and we had no other way of getting the materials we needed." Clarisse said after a moment, shrugging.

"Yeah, sometimes we have to help ourselves to a little more than just clothes or food, though." Percy said, with a sheepish shrug. "Just recently, I was trying to escape the Gorgon sisters. They would not stop coming. And every time I killed them..." He stared off into space for a moment before shuddering. Sally merely sighed heavily.

She tried to ignore that part of her sons life, where he sometimes had to steal to survive. She was pretty sure that if the mortal police ever figured it out, most, if not all, of the demigods that fought in the Titan War would be imprisoned for grand larceny.

Thank the gods, for the Mist.

("Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-")

Percy sighed. "Oh, the days where I worried about such little things like this." He said, sadly. A few of the demigods nodded in complete agreement.

There was a time when most of them would never dream of walking off with stuff like this. But, when the money ran out or was destroyed on a quest... one had to do, what one had to do. Sally and Paul frowned, concerned about the casual attitude towards theft, but didn't say anything. Sally knew full well about the life of a demigod, as much as she could when she knew that both Percy and Poseidon had left details out so she didn't worry. Paul...

Sally and Percy had both explained just what it meant to be a demigod, and he'd seen the kids that sometimes crashed on his couch before, after, or during a quest. He'd become almost more paranoid than Sally about keeping an eye on the first aid kit, and making sure it was well stocked. He'd almost gone into a panic that one time they ran out of Ambrosia and nectar. And beef jerky was kept in good supply as well, because it was both healthy, and something that they could take with them and not worry about the bag breaking, or it spoiling somehow.

("Watch me."

She... Waterland surf shoes.)

Aphrodite gagged. "Oh, you poor dear, that sounds awful!" She said.

Annabeth shrugged. "As long as they were clean, I didn't really care all that much." She informed the love goddess.

"Well, the clean part, I suppose... but the design! Oh, couldn't you at least have found some shorts with a better design on them? That outfit does not sound like it goes well together." Aphrodite shook her head.

"Can I keep reading? I'm going to keep reading." Ares said quickly, he did not want to sit here forever while the girls talked about fashion. He wanted to get to the action! Aphrodite shot him a dark look, and leaned further away from him, like she'd been doing ever since the park was first described.

(A Waterland backpack... with more goodies.)

"What else did you grab?" Poseidon asked, vaguely curious, but also just to frustrate Ares with yet another delay towards getting to the action.

"A deck of cards, a bouncy ball, a pad of paper and some pencils. A Rubik's cube. Just... small stuff to keep our hands occupied while we traveled. Assuming, of course, that Ares version of getting us a way west would leave our hands free. And a water bottle, that I could fill up somewhere. I think I still have everything from that park, actually." She said, shrugging. Well, except for the ball. That received death-by-Cerberus.

"Same." Grover and Percy both said. "I would have grabbed a few snacks off the shelf, but I wasn't sure how long the park had been abandoned, and really didn't want to poison myself or something." Percy added. He, however, had also gotten a snow-globe along with everything Annabeth had just mentioned. Amazingly, the snow-globe had survived the trip. Probably because it was wrapped up in his dirty clothes.

("What the heck."... defunct theme park.)

Aphrodite shuddered in horror at the thought and resolved to get the three of them a new wardrobe.

"I don't remember ever seeing those clothes." Sally said, tilting her head.

"We left them behind in Vegas." Percy said, not mentioning the casino. Although, he was pretty sure they would read all about it.

(We continued searching... the growing dark,)

"It was very creepy." Percy said matter-of-factly.

("they have a thing... about Aphrodite's husband?")

"Yeah, what about him?" Beckendorf and Hephaestus both muttered, barely loud enough for those closest to them to hear.

("Well, you know," she... Mount Olympus by Zeus.)

"Wrong." Hephaestus coughed out. "Dad wasn't the one to throw me off. She was." He said bitterly, pointing at his mother, who narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything.

Zeus licked his lips and found the floor interesting. He hadn't even known she was doing it until a few of the wind spirits came and reported seeing a baby falling off the mountain. They'd tried to catch him, but were unable to. They put him in the Healing Rooms once they realized who it was that fell.

He had not been happy with his wife when he found out she threw his son off a mountain and crippled him for life. Considering they were immortal... yeah.

(So he isn't exactly... talent, you know?")

Piper looked torn between agreeing with the assessment, and defending her mother. She knew that Aphrodite could be pretty shallow, but not all the time. Most of her half-siblings mortal parent was actually pretty hard-working and intelligent. As well as successful in their chosen careers.

"Hey, brains and talent can be highly attractive." Aphrodite sniffed. "Look at Piper's father, oh, now there was talent." She smirked, and Ares scowled. Annabeth thought about that one for a second, but had to concede that point.

That didn't change the fact, though, that Aphrodite didn't care much for her husband, instead going out with Ares. Or the fact that her children were... well, let's just say they could stand to learn some work ethic from their fathers.

("She likes bikers."

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?")

"Yup." Hephaestus muttered with a scowl. Leo and Beckendorf scowled as well. There was a very good reason why children of Hephaestus avoided their step-siblings in the Aphrodite cabin if they could. (With the exception of Piper, of course). They hated how their step-mother treated their father.

Sure, it wasn't like their father was exactly faithful to his marriage either, they wouldn't be there if he was, but at least he didn't flaunt his other relationships for the world to know. He didn't go out of his way to taunt his wife with them like she seemed to go out of hers to taunt him.

("Oh sure," Annabeth... them together once.)

"More than once." Hephaestus said with a smirk. The others smirked too, remembering those times.

Percy and Annabeth grumbled, they didn't care about those other times, they only cared about this time, when they were the ones caught in the net.

(I mean, literally caught... to embarrass them.)

"He does that a lot." Poseidon muttered, wondering how they were going to handle this one. He was also curious how Hephaestus was going to spring the trap this time. It was always interesting to see what he did, although he did wish his son wasn't caught up in it this time.

Aphrodite shot her husband a disgruntled look, not at all happy about those times, but didn't say anything. It had sort of become of game between the two of them.

(That's why they... ahead. "Like that.")

"Which is very predictable. You should mix it up sometimes." Athena advised. Ares and Aphrodite both shot her annoyed looks, while everyone else wondered why she would try to get them to pick new places.

She enjoyed watching them get humiliated just as much as the rest of them.

They dismissed it, used to her spouting random tactical advice sometimes. Didn't make it any less annoying.

(In front of us was... awesome for skateboarding.)

Several of the girls snorted. "Boys." They muttered. The boys looked vaguely offended by this, along with both Clarisses'. They happened to like skateboarding, too.

"We should go there sometime, if it's a good spot." Travis suggested.

"And it would be empty, we would have it all to ourselves." Connor agreed. The rest of the boys (and Clarisse) in the room made various noises, and plans were already being made to go back to that park when this whole thing with the Giants was over.

(It was at least... shaped like a bowl.)

The guys made appreciative noises, and the girls rolled their eyes.

Sally and Paul managed to hide their grins, knowing how much the boys liked skateboarding from how often Percy met up with some of them during the school year to go to the park.

(Around the rim, a... bows ready to fire.)

"Talk about cliche." Piper muttered in disgust.

Aphrodite frowned at her daughter. "Your brother would be pleased that he is being honored like this. Although... perhaps without the bow and arrows." She admitted the last part quietly to herself. Jason winced, remembering the encounter he had with Piper's older brother, Piper made a face that nobody but her companions noticed.

Ares frowned, too. Where did the bow and arrow thing even come from? Sure, Eros was very handy with them, but he was Ares son, so... that was a given.

Piper didn't say anything else, feeling that her point stood. It was so cliche, no matter how her older half-brother would feel about it.

Annabeth, Percy, and Grover were silent. They were the only ones who didn't think it was merely 'cliche'.

(On the opposite side... PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!)

"That sounds so corny." Katie said, with a frown and a shake of her head.

"Sometimes, love is corny." Aphrodite said primly, still miffed about her daughters comment regarding her half-brother. Piper looked at her in disbelief. Did her mother really just say that?

(Grover crept toward... painted all over it.)

Aphrodite tilted her head to the side thinking that, while the rest of the park left much to be desired, this didn't sound too bad. Piper gagged while the boys made faces. A few of the girls just tilted their heads in consideration, some of them nodded while others made a face of their own.

(In the left seat...

"This is too easy,")

"Agreed." Nearly every demigod in the room said at once. They were pretty sure, by now, that this was most certainly a trap.

Although, they were interested in hearing what was going on, Percy and Annabeth's comments about this 'adventure' had peaked their interest. This was sounding to be very interesting.

(I said. "So we... there and get it?")

"No, that's way too easy." Thalia muttered.

"How else were we supposed to retrieve it?" Annabeth asked, slightly bitter. She really, really didn't want to read about this next part. She actively tried to forget about it. What little she could even remember through the terror that was clouding her mind, anyway.

(Annabeth ran her... here," she said. "Eta.)

Hephaestus winced and looked at his uncle, who was already eyeing him suspiciously. "In my future self's defense, I was not planning on Ares passing it on to a trio of demigods." He defended himself. He did not want some of his forge's demolished sometime in the near future. One good earthquake from his uncle... and bye-bye volcano forge.

Poseidon merely narrowed his eyes at his nephew.

Percy narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend. "Should have wondered faster." He grumbled, referring to what she said while looking at the statue. She winced, but apologized quietly, again.

(I wonder..."... "you smell any monsters?")

Everyone relaxed slightly. At least they wouldn't have to deal with that, not on top of whatever it was Ares had sent them into.

Ares was the only one vaguely disappointed by that.

(He sniffed the wind... or really nothing?")

"Come on, man." Grover said, holding out his hand with a pained look on his face. Grover looked down, knowing that what happened on the arch was mostly his fault, despite what his older self told him.

Hermes shot Percy a dark look at that.

"I said I was sorry." Percy grumbled out, but did still look genuinely apologetic. Grover sighed, but nodded his acceptance of the apology.

(Grover looked hurt... was underground.")

Grover sighed in frustration. "Which is what made it the perfect place." He muttered. He was still miffed about that.

"Are you going to bring that up everytime the Satyr's hatred of the underground is mentioned?" Percy asked, wanting to know now before it started happening.

Grover merely shrugged, and Percy grimaced while everyone looked at the two of them in confusion. Except, of course, for those that were there that day.

("Okay, I'm sorry."...

"I'll go with you.")

"No, you should stay up top, since you have the flying shoes, you can move quicker to help if needed." Athena immediately denied. The demigods all looked at her while the three on this quest exchanged smirks, they couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she heard that Percy had the exact same idea.

(Grover didn't sound... happened in St. Louis.)

Grover, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, cursed his friends perceptiveness. Why, why did he have to be so observant?

Of course, there were also times where that observance did him no good and actually got him into even more trouble, because he had no idea how to really talk to people about whatever it was that he noticed in their behavior or attitude.

("No," I told him... something goes wrong.")

Athena looked horrified, and her mouth moved like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Most of the rest of the room chuckled while a demigod snapped a picture of the look on her face.

Where the camera came from, was anybodies guess.

(Grover puffed up... could go wrong?")

"Never ask that!" All the demigods suddenly cried at once, looking at both satyrs incredulously.

All the gods jumped and stared at the demigods, wondering where that reaction came from.

Grover flinched so hard, his whole body moved. "Sorry, I should have known better." He muttered.

Percy sighed. "Nah, everything would have still happened, that trap was laid." He muttered in response. Grover shrugged. His saying that might have made his companions slightly complacent.

("I don't know... come with me-")

Aphrodite squealed, and Percy shot her a glare, not appreciating her opinion or input into his love life.

Most of the girls snickered while Percy glared around at them, and a few of the other guys looked confused about what was so funny. Those men that understood, just shook their heads in amusement.

He still didn't understand what the problem had been, or why Annabeth made such a big deal out of it.

Honestly, girls.

("Are you kidding?" She... were bright red.)

"What's wrong with that? It's a quest, it's also obviously a trap." Luke said, confused. "It's not a good idea to go alone." The other confused boys all nodded while some of the girls sighed.

Boys.

The adults were amused.

("What's the problem now?" I demanded.)

The ones who were still confused nodded their agreement, while Percy grumbled about girls making everything complicated.

He still didn't understand, and didn't think he ever would.

The girls looked at each other and sighed, exasperated. Of course, he wouldn't understand, he had just asked Annabeth to go with him on the Thrill Ride of Love ride. How did he not see the issue?

("Me, go with you... somebody saw me?")

"Nobody is there. Besides, you're there to retrieve something, not do anything." Thalia said, exasperated. Honestly, this girl. The guys in general were still very confused about what her problem was, because they completely agreed with Thalia.

"Thank you!" Percy exclaimed, pointing at his cousin.

The Romans were looking at Annabeth like they'd never seen her before. They were militaristic, they didn't let little things like embarrassment get in the way of getting the job done. Although Gwen and Hazel understood most of what the problem here was. They just hadn't ever imagined that somebody like Annabeth would let such a little thing get in the way of the job at hand.

Annabeth flushed red, she knew that. But still... besides, what happened next was much, much worse anyway.

("Who's going to... make everything complicated.)

"Exactly." Most of those who didn't understand the problem muttered. The girls looked affronted, while the rest of the men nodded. They did tend to make things out to be more complicated than they really were.*

"We do not make things complicated, if you men weren't such idiots all the time..." Katie said hotly.

Hestia cleared her throat before the demigods could start arguing, and Ares glared at them angrily before he kept reading without giving them a chance to say anything else.

("Fine," I told her... messed things up.)

The girls nodded in agreement, while the boys growled. They didn't say anything though, not wanting to make Hestia angry with them.

(We reached the boat... lady's silk scarf.)

"Ok, if you just pick the thing up, then you are clearly stupid." Beckendorf deadpanned, that was way too easy, and way too obviously a trap.

Percy just sighed, while Annabeth buried her face in Percy's shoulder. A few of the others groaned and face-palmed.

(I tried to imagine... park ride. Why?)

"Good question." Aphrodite growled, glaring at the wall. Ares swallowed and kept reading, hoping that Percy figured out the reason and that his girlfriend would approve. Even if she didn't approve of the park yet...

(Then I noticed something... direction we looked.)

"Ah." Most of the council said at once, leaning back in their seats as they understood all at once.

Percy nodded while Ares and Aphrodite's children looked confused. Piper had a feeling she knew where this was going, though.

(That must be it... people: themselves.)

"Yup." Most of the gods said at once. That sounded about right.

Aphrodite pursed her lips, but finally nodded in satisfaction. She supposed that that would be one positive feature of this park. She still wasn't thrilled about the location, though.

Piper scowled. How was she supposed to get her siblings to pay more attention to something other than their looks, when their mother pulled stunts like this?

(I picked up the scarf.)

"Oh, this should be good." Piper muttered to Jason. He merely raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was talking about. "That's my mothers scarf. In the hands of a boy."

Now, those who heard her understood, and they looked at Percy in interest. He could guess what they were talking about, and turned bright red. He didn't even know exactly how he acted here.

(It shimmered pink... Something good.)

Sally chuckled, enjoying this small section of the book after everything else that had already happened in the books. Aphrodite hid a small smile, and Poseidon smirked at his son.

Percy scowled while his face turned even more red.

(I smiled, a little... against my cheek)

Aphrodite squealed, while those nearby covered their ears or made a face at her. Most of the guys snickered, until a few gallons of water dumped on their heads abruptly. They looked at Percy in disbelief, but he was staring at the wall. His face was beet red.

"Remind me to get this on tape when or if it still happens." Hermes muttered to Apollo.

Apollo laughed. "Knowing Hephaestus, he'll have gotten the whole thing on film, anyway. What comes is probably even better than this right here." He reminded, and Hermes merely tilted his head with a smirk.

Percy shuddered while Triton laughed at him, and Sally smirked playfully at her son, who shot her a betrayed look. His eyes gleamed mischievously, though.

(when Annabeth ripped... from that love magic.")

"And it joins the trophy collection." Percy said with a smirk.

"What else was I going to do with it? I wasn't going to leave it in my cabin for somebody else to find. Or, gods forbid, give it to the Aphrodite cabin to do whatever with. Can you imagine the kind of love-sick chaos some of them would have caused? I mean, Silena wouldn't have done anything like that, but her siblings..." Annabeth shuddered, Piper shuddered too at the thought of Drew getting her hands on a scarf with their mothers love magic all over it. "And it's not like Aphrodite doesn't have a million other scarves."

"True." Percy shrugged.

("What?"

"Just get the... get out of here.")

"Slow down, don't be so hasty." Luke muttered. Seriously, they knew this was probably a trap, didn't they? Surely they could have figured it out on their own.

"We didn't think about it being a trap." Percy muttered. "I just figured he was being a lazy jerk, just to be a lazy jerk." He shrugged now. A few of the gods chuckled at his description of Ares while he and his children glared.

Luke blinked. Did he say that out loud?

(The moment I touched... dashboard. A cobweb,)

Annabeth shuddered at the thought, while her two older counterparts winced at the vague memory of what came next. They didn't even hardly remember much of this through the terror.

"And, here's the trap." Gwen muttered to Dakota, who nodded in agreement, his hands were fiddling with a small puzzle that he kept on hand for when he had to sit through long, boring meetings between the Centurions and the Praetors.

(I thought, but then... invisible. A trip wire.)

"Oh, come on. That's the oldest trick in the book." Connor groused. He would know, his father basically wrote the book, they had a copy of the original in their cabin under layers of enchantments. All the children of Hermes, and even Leo, gave Hephaestus a dark look about it.

"Ah, but the old tricks are still used because they still work." Hephaestus said with a smirk.

"...True." Travis said, looking at his siblings. They made faces, but quieted down.

("Wait," Annabeth said.)

"Ooo." Almost everyone cringed back.

"Bad timing." Luke muttered. He'd seen the footage from this later on, Kronos had shown him. He hadn't known anything that happened before the camera's started recording, though.

("Too late."... This is a trap.")

"You need to be more observant." Poseidon said, shaking his head. He turned to Percy. "You shouldn't have been so hasty to grab the shield, either. Whether you considered it being a trap or not."

Percy grimaced, but didn't say anything about it. He just wanted to get out of that creepy park.

(Noise erupted all... into one giant machine.)

"Oh, this can't be good. This can't be good at all." Beckendorf said, glancing at his father in concern.

"What?" Clarisse asked.

"Whatever trap they just set off, is designed with Ares and Aphrodite in mind. Not two demigods." Leo said, glancing at Percy.

"Ah, don't worry about us. It takes more than one of Hephaestus' traps to take us down." Percy said, Annabeth smiled weakly beside him. The worry and tension in the room ratcheted up several levels.

(Grover yelled, "Guys!"... into firing position.)

Everyone froze, eyes wide, while Sally squeaked in shock and reached for Paul's hand.

That was a very sudden spike in the worry that was already there. They didn't know what exactly they expected with this trap, but it wasn't that. Aphrodite blinked at her husband, his traps had never been the point of serious bodily harm before.

(Before I could... shot, but not at us.)

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, but the tension didn't lessen any, because they were definitely in the trap now. A trap that, as the sons of Hephaestus pointed out, was made with two immortals in mind. Not two demigods who were definitely mortal.

(They fired at each... a huge golden asterisk.)

"A net." Jason deadpanned. "That cannot be all there is." He muttered with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, it wasn't." Percy said, darkly. Those who didn't know him looked startled when they turned to face him. Those who did know him, knew that he only got into dark moods like that when those he cared about were put in unnecessary harm or emotional trauma.

As one, they all glanced at Annabeth, who was already looking slightly pale just from the memory.

(Then smaller metallic... to get out," I said.)

"No, what gave it away?" Nico asked sarcastically. Percy just gave him a bland look, and didn't bother dignifying that with a response. Annabeth patted him on the arm, and he huffed before slipping his arm around her shoulders in support.

("Duh!" Annabeth said... as going down.)

By this point, everyone who cared was at the edge of their seats, silently cheering the two of them on. Ares was the only one happy that they had finally gotten to some action, the rest were worried.

Somehow though, they didn't think that it would be as easy as simply escaping the net.

("Come on!" Grover shouted... wrap around his hands.)

"Ah." Hephaestus said, leaning back. He went all out for this one, it seemed. There was a way to escape it, but he didn't think that the next part of the trap would give them time to figure it out. That, and, the escape route would be something only he and Aphrodite would really know.

He tried not to shift uncomfortably at the glare Perseus was aiming at him. That boy was not happy about whatever came next.

"Of course it does." Thalia and some of the demigods grumbled, not hearing Hephaestus.

"It would be way too easy if you could just hold the net apart and escape."

(The Cupids' heads... came video cameras.)

The demigods jaws dropped. "Aw, come on!" Travis and Connor both whined.

"It was taped, and we never got to see it? That would have been golden blackmail material!" Clarisse grumbled.

"Yeah, no. Sorry." Percy said, not at all sorry. What they didn't know, was that Chiron did have a copy of the tape, courtesy of Dionysus, but Percy found out about it and, well... lets just say the shark who accidentally ate it had a hard time properly digesting anything for the next few weeks until he went to a mer-camp to find out what was wrong with him. (Percy was apologizing to the local marine-life for weeks). Annabeth looked at him, amused. Grover coughed, he was the only one who knew that Percy had destroyed the available copy of this video, or that he did it because he didn't want anybody else seeing Annabeth in that state.

He said that enough people had seen it already, there was no need to pass it around.

(Spotlights rose up all... "Live to Olympus)

"Aw, man. I would have loved to see that." Travis whined again. Connor nodded, pouting. Hermes and Apollo glanced at each other, excited and hopeful.

This should be good.

Poseidon was the only one on the council who frowned, even Athena looked interested. He didn't know how he felt about everybody seeing this, granted most of the time on a quest, you know that somebody is watching. But, this was...

Aphrodite shot her husband a glare. He might not have invited everybody to come and laugh this time, but this wasn't any better.

(in one minute... "I'm so stupid. Eta is 'H.')

Athena pursed her lips together in disapproval. Her daughter should have realized all that earlier, before they even went down into the pool. "You should have realized that sooner." She rebuked, Annabeth deflated slightly, but didn't let it get her down.

(He made this trap... like absolute fools!")

"Yes, you are." Apollo said gleefully. He couldn't wait until they got to see this, if that even happened anymore.

Annabeth and Percy shot him a deadpanned glare, while Grover glared at the wall.

(We'd almost made...

Annabeth screamed.)

A few people started and glanced at Annabeth in concern.

What was it that crawled out of those mirrors?

Annabeth swallowed and leaned into Percy's side. She was not looking forward to reading about the parts she couldn't even remember.

Apollo's eyes widened in shock.

(It was an army of... whirring metal.

"Spiders!")

Those who knew Annabeth the best, jerked around to watch her in concern, eyes wide. They all knew that she had a particularly strong reaction to spiders, even for a child of Athena. Now, they were all terrified of spiders, and all had strong reactions, but Annabeth was the only one who became absolutely paralyzed with terror.

(Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!")

Annabeth gave a full body shudder and huddled into herself, closing her eyes. Annabeth whimpered quietly enough that her companions were the only ones to hear her, and Annabeth shuddered along with her older counterpart. Luke, Percy, and Percy all grabbed their respective daughter of Athena and tried to comfort them.

Everyone else watched the two younger Annabeth's in shock, surprised that she was showing such a reaction. All the book did was mention spiders. Of course, the older ones also remembered what happened the one time Travis and Conner thought that filling the Athena cabin with plastic spiders was a good idea for a prank. They had come spilling out of the door the moment somebody opened it, none of the cabin sixes occupants had been able to even look at their home for weeks without cringing in terror, and the nightmares some of them had...

Athena frowned in concern at her daughters having such a strong reaction to a spider. She missed the demigods and mortals glaring at her, since they were well aware of just why she was reacting this way. All of her children reacted this way.

(I'd never seen her like this before.)

The younger demigods shook their heads and glanced at their Annabeth. "None of us have." Clarisse muttered.

"I have." Luke said darkly, thinking about the one time before they got to camp. One of the abandoned houses they'd stayed the night in had suddenly become infested with spiders overnight, he didn't think there was a single surface that wasn't covered in them. Annabeth herself had been covered in cobwebs, and there had been spiders all over her, while he and Thalia had been left alone for the most part. He'd had to carry her out, and she'd been nearly catatonic for the next two days. That was after Thalia had to take her behind some trees to undress the girl and shake her clothes out to make sure she didn't have any still on her, and helped wash out her hair.

Thalia and his older self glanced at each other darkly, remembering the same incident. It had been horrible, and they would freely admit to raiding a hardware store afterward and carrying off as much bug spray as they could carry.

Those who had been wishing they could have seen the recording of this, were now glad they hadn't. They didn't want to see Annabeth in this kind of state, this wasn't who she was.

(She fell backward in... back toward the boat.)

"Well, that is the high ground, but there is nothing to stop them from crawling up into the boat with you, and you are now completely surrounded with no way of getting to the net should the Satyr manage to create a hole in it." Athena mused, although she was still rattled about how her daughter froze at the sight of a spider. She didn't exactly like the things either, being spawn of that woman Arachne, but she didn't freeze like that!

"All I was thinking of was to get off the ground. The boat was more easily defended than the flat ground. Sort of." Percy shrugged. He did what he could to keep the spiders away while trying to think of a way out of that mess.

(The things were coming... And we weren't gods.)

"No, you most certainly are not." Poseidon breathed, sitting at the edge of his throne, where he had shot as soon as the spiders appeared. He was glaring at Hephaestus and strangling the pole on his trident with both hands. For a second, Percy was afraid that he would blast his nephew like he had that giant squid during the war, but his father seemed to be controlling himself. Hephaestus glanced at his uncle and swallowed before deliberately turning his attention back to the project in his hands.

How was his future self supposed to know that Ares would send the demigods to get his shield instead of going to get it himself? For all he knew, Ares could have set this whole thing up on purpose, knowing that if he knew where the date was, he wouldn't be able to resist trapping them. Then, he sent the demigods once he was sure the trap was already laid.

This wasn't his fault!

He hoped.

(Annabeth and I climbed... more than scream.)

Thalia and both Luke's winced, while both of the older Annabeth's turned a slight red.

"I don't remember any of this." Annabeth muttered, barely loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"Well, you were pretty out of it until the spiders were gone." Percy tried to reassure, rubbing a hand up and down her back.

("Thirty, twenty-nine,"... were so many of them,)

"Yes, that would get hard to get out of." Poseidon said with a frown.

Percy nodded. "The threads were actually very weak. But there were thousands of them." He said with a frown. Hephaestus frowned at hearing something he built described as weak, but didn't say anything because he knew that Poseidon would probably kill him if he said the wrong thing.

(and the spiders just... of my new surf shoe.)

Everyone flinched in horror. If that spider got a hold of their skin... those things were deadly, there were too many of them for Percy to effectively fight off, especially while protecting Annabeth.

Grover and Annabeth looked at him in question, they didn't remember seeing that when this was over. "I slipped back to the gift shop and grabbed a new pair of shoes. And a few more things to do with my hands." Percy said with a shrug. They turned their attention back to Ares.

(Grover hovered above... it wouldn't budge.)

"You're better off trying to find something else out. Because that clearly isn't going to work." Athena said in disapproval. Ares shot her an annoyed look, but kept reading without letting anybody else comment.

(Think, I told myself. Think.)

"Don't hurt yourself." Thalia teased with a smirk.

Percy narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "If anybody was going to hurt themselves thinking, it would be you." He deadpanned.

(The Tunnel of Love... million robot spiders.)

"Good plan. Now, how do you get rid of the spiders." Athena said reluctantly, leaning forward in her throne.

"Will you let me read?!" Ares demanded, annoyed with her constant interruptions about what the three had planned. She fell silent and turned to glare at him, opening her mouth to start an argument, but Ares kept reading in annoyance.

("Fifteen, fourteen," the...

Water, I thought.)

"Yes!" Poseidon and Triton both called.

There should be some water still there somewhere, right? It was a water park, even if the water was shut off, there would still be some in the pipes that he could draw on.

Percy smirked minutely.

"That would work. But there's no water." Athena said, smirking at Ares. He narrowed his eyes and kept reading. He decided that ignoring her was the best way to go at the moment.

(Where does the ride's... behind the mirrors,)

"Where they were kind of well hidden." Thalia said, tilting her head to the side.

"Luckily, they weren't that well hidden." Percy pointed out with a shudder. That would have been bad, it would have taken him even longer to think of something.

(where the spiders had... the controller's station.)

"Yes, that could work." Athena said again. Amphitrite rolled her eyes and gagged her, although it was a single piece of clean seaweed, and not a clump of dirty seaweed like they used with Gabe.

("Grover!" I yelled... the 'on' switch!")

"Did that place even still have electricity being run to it?" Reyna asked, doubtfully.

"I don't think so, but I was desperate for something, and in a bit of a tight spot." Percy said, still holding Annabeth tightly to his side. Her eyes were still shut tightly.

"True." She said, and eyed Annabeth in concern. The daughter of Athena was not somebody that the Praetor could imagine would ever have a breakdown like this, but she supposed that everybody had something they just could not handle.

("But-")

"I was trying to point out that there probably wasn't any electricity. And the fact that I wouldn't have even known what buttons to push." Grover shook his head.

("Do it!" It was a... our only chance.)

"Not quite." The sea-folk all muttered. All it would take, was Percy reaching for whatever water was still in those pipes...

By this point, the tension in the room was almost suffocating.

(The spiders were all... at the buttons.)

"I had no idea what I was doing." Grover shrugged. And he really hadn't.

"It's not every quest that takes you to an abandoned water park." Thalia said with a grimace. "Although, those places are popular monster hangouts." Zoe and Artemis nodded their agreement.

"Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus' presence in the park earlier would have scared them away." Artemis pondered. Her two Hunters agreed.

"Thank goodness." Percy muttered. He was really glad that they hadn't had to fight off hoards of monsters on top of everything else they had to deal with in that park.

"At least one thing went right in that stupid park." Annabeth agreed.

The tension was going up the longer they read with the three of them still in the park.

("Five, four-"

Grover looked up... nothing was happening.)

"The only electricity is probably the security lights, if those were even on." Hestia quietly mused to herself, ignoring the tension in the air.

"The only lights on were the ones by the front gates." Percy shrugged.

"If anything happens to those three that affects the search for my Bolt..." Zeus threatened lowly. Sally looked at him in disgust, he didn't even care about the two twelve-year olds themselves. (Grover was almost thirty years old, she wasn't as worried about him.)

All he cared about was his precious lightning bolt.

(I closed my eyes... the Mississippi River.)

"There we go." Poseidon murmured. "The first conscious use of his powers. He'll start figuring them out quickly enough, now."

"Not as fast as if he had somebody to teach him." Triton reminded his father. Poseidon nodded and reminded his son of their plans to bring Percy to Atlantis for a bit.

Zeus could do nothing but grit his teeth.

(I felt a familiar tug... out of the pipes.)

Poseidon smirked, pleased with his sons progress. All three of them, plus the demigods that knew Percy visibly relaxed. Percy was in the water, he was going to be fine. Annabeth would come back to her senses now that the water was going to wash the spiders away, so she would be alright as well.

"That's good timing, though. Right when the camera starts rolling..." Apollo commented to Hermes happily. He was looking forward to seeing this video again, now that Annabeth wouldn't be a terrified wreck during it.

The demigods all cheered. Percy and Annabeth were safe now, they just needed to ride the flood to the exit.

(It roared into the... slammed into our boat,)

"She almost went over the side when it did." Percy informed them. He'd been more steady on his feet, because he'd been aware enough to brace himself, and it was water.

(over the top, whisking... dousing us completely,)

"I remember everything that happened from this point on." Annabeth informed. The water to her face was enough to snap her out of it.

"Good thing, too. I needed you aware or we would have been dead." Percy said with a shudder at the thought of what could have happened otherwise.

(but not capsizing us... force they burst.)

More cheers broke out among the demigods, and Hephaestus scowled when his creations were destroyed.

He knew better than to complain about it, though. Not with Poseidon still glaring at him in between looking at his son in pride.

(Spotlights glared down... live to Olympus.)

"Straight to our eyes for viewing." Apollo said with a smirk, and Hermes rubbed his hands together.

The demigods all narrowed their eyes at the two gods. They absolutely hated being used for the gods personal entertainment.

(But I could only... seemed to respond.)

"Not your imagination." Triton said with a smirk. Percy smirked back.

Ares shot them both a very annoyed look. He was getting annoyed with all the comments about the brats abilities.

(At least, it didn't... the metal net.)

"It was a good thing the water didn't go any higher. We would have been screwed." Annabeth murmured when the tension rose slightly again.

Those who thought the worst, relaxed slightly again.

(Then the boat's nose... both of us screaming)

"I was not!" Percy protested. He wasn't screaming!

Everyone laughed. "Percy, the Fates wrote these, remember?" Thalia reminded him, laughing harder when he pouted. (Not that he would ever admit it).

"Well, the Fates have a bad sense of humor." Percy grumbled, and looked up cautiously to make sure nothing was going to fall on top of him for talking bad about the Fates. When nothing did, he sighed in relief before scowling at everyone who was still laughing. He pouted when he realized that Annabeth and his mother were both laughing just as hard.

At least Poseidon was trying to hide his grin.

(as the boat shot... Valentine's Day stuff.)

Aphrodite perked up in interest. This ride was looking more and more interesting. And... "Oh, I loved Romeo and Juliet. They were such a lovely couple, it was such a shame what happened to them, I had so many plans for those two." She sighed dramatically while everyone else made a face.

Artemis looked at her in disgust. "Messing with mortals love lives, disgusting." She muttered to Zoe. Most of her Hunters, were with her because of something Aphrodite did, mostly to their chosen partner. The heartbreak drove them straight to her.

Piper looked uncomfortable, that sounded so much like the behavior she'd been working out of her siblings.

Ares eyed her hopefully. She was no longer sitting on the far side of her throne from him, and no longer looking in the other direction or holding her arms crossed over her chest.

(Then we were out... there was a problem.)

There was a stream of curses (under their breath in an attempt to keep Sally and Paul from hearing what they said) from the demigods. The good mood they'd been in while they thought the other two were safe now, disappeared faster than a donut spotted by Blackjack.

"Of course there was a problem. It would have been too easy otherwise." Nico grumbled as he played with a bone in his hands. A few people did a double-take when they saw it, wondering where it came from. The younger demigods inched away from him, unsettled.

So far, they had been pretty good about his presence, despite everything they'd ever heard about Hades and his children. The bone, though, was testing their limits. Just a bit.

"I wish it was easier." Grover huffed while rubbing his shoulder in remembered pain. He hadn't dislocated it, but he had torn a muscle, and it was sore for weeks after, since he waited so long to have it looked at.

(The Gates of Love were chained.)

"Oh, that is not good." Was the general comment.

"The water is moving too fast. If the water was flowing at a normal speed for this ride, then you would safely bump into it. But the waters are moving at high speeds, and taking you with it." Poseidon mumbled.

"He can either try to slow the boat down, or they can try to jump over the gate and into the exit pool. If they time it right, they could even just jump onto the gate itself, depending on its design." Triton muttered to himself. Percy looked up at him and blinked while his older self and Annabeth stared in shock.

"I didn't even think of trying to slow us down." Percy said.

"Or just grabbing hold of the gate." Annabeth blinked in surprise. They looked at each other and sighed. Poor Grover, that could have been avoided.

"Wouldn't it be safer if they just stay in the boat? It should be enough to protect them from the impact." Katie asked. The three who were there shook their heads.

"Lets keep reading." Percy leaned his head back to look at Mrs. O'Leary, who had been content to sit quietly and listen for the past few chapters.

(Two boats that had... other cracked in half.)

"Oh." Katie said blankly. "Don't stay in the boat. Definitely do not stay in the boat." Percy smirked wryly.

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Running into those other boats, you would run the risk of being skewered." Athena murmured with a hint of worry in her voice. She'd been silently sitting on the edge of her throne for a while now, having forgotten that she was keeping up a strategy commentary just to annoy Ares.

Sally gritted her teeth. This part, he'd left out.

("Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.)

"I'm not sure if that is a good idea or a bad one in this case." Sally made a face, already knowing just what happened during all this. Percy hadn't meant to tell her this part, but had let it slip on accident.

"I'm going to guess, both." Paul said with a grimace. They couldn't stay on the boat, it would be crushed and they could get severely injured in the wreck. But, at the same time, where else were they going to go? Leaving the seat belt might at least help minimize any injury, since it could at least keep them from flying head first into the gate itself.

("Are you crazy?")

"Yes." Everyone said as one, making Percy pout, while Annabeth laughed softly.

"That's alright, though. I like a little crazy." She whispered to him, making him grin and kiss the side of her head.

Sally was laughing softly, while Paul watched in amusement.

("Unless you want... was simple and insane.)

"As they usually are." Luke snorted in amusement. He'd honestly enjoyed going up against Percy for mostly this reason, it was very entertaining to watch what he did next to get out of a tight spot.

"They work, don't they?." Percy shrugged, unrepentant. Honestly, why go for complicated plans and ideas, when keeping it simple often worked best? Annabeth rolled her eyes. Percy may come up with the idea, but it was often her making sure that it worked and didn't blow up on them, or thinking everything through and being ready with a back-up plan if the original one didn't work.

Which actually wasn't that often.

Everyone else simply shook their heads in amusement.

(As the boat struck... to jump the gate.)

Poseidon and a few others relaxed, while most didn't care, or they were already relaxed just from the knowledge that Percy had a plan and Annabeth was there to see it carried through safely.

(I'd heard of people... land in the pool.)

The demigods and mortals all groaned. "Well, that guarantees that they won't land in the pool." Will deadpanned. Percy scowled at him, but didn't say anything.

"Hey! I'm not that bad." Percy grumbled to Frank.

He snorted. "Yes, yes you are. Your luck is very unpredictable, unless you actually say things like that, then your luck won't hold out."

"You must have done something to make Fortuna mad." Hazel pondered. "Or, I suppose it would be Tyche, since your Greek." She tilted her head.

Percy shrugged. "I don't think so, I think she's one of the few that I haven't offended in some way."

"That we know of." Annabeth muttered.

They didn't know it, but Hazel and Frank were having a similar conversation with Reyna and Jason about Percy.

(Annabeth seemed to...

"On my mark," I said.)

"No, I would go on her mark." Thalia and Luke both said. Percy shot Thalia a betrayed look, and they both snorted.

"Face it Perce, you know the streets, not books." Luke said, shaking his head. Percy just glared at him.

("No! On my mark!"... the trajectory angle-")

"Speak English. Or Greek, that's good too." Thalia informed her little sister.

"That was English. Not my fault you don't understand it." Annabeth shrugged smoothly with a grin. The demigods all laughed.

("Fine.'" I shouted... then yelled, "Now!"

Crack!)

A few people jumped when Ares smacked the arm of his throne with a smirk, making a loud crack echo through the throne room. He smirked and went back to the chapter without giving them a chance to comment. He wanted this to be done with. He read ahead a little bit and was relieved that it was almost over.

(Annabeth was right.)

"I'm always right." Annabeth informed with a deadpan and a raised eyebrow.

Percy blinked at her, but decided that it was better for his health in the long run, to just agree. As soon as she wasn't looking, he looked at the Stolls and tilted his head side-to-side in a 'sort of' gesture. "Ah!" He doubled over when a well-aimed elbow found itself planted in his gut. "Right, sorry. You are always right." He eyed the knife being held deceptively loosely in her hand. It was pointed at his privates...

She smiled angelically and put it away, while everyone else laughed at them or smiled indulgently.

Athena smiled in amused approval of her daughters actions. She still needed to find a few moments to get that sea-spawn away from her daughter, and get her daughter with that son of Hermes. Maybe Aphrodite would be willing to help with that.

(If we'd jumped when... got us maximum lift.)

They both grimaced, confusing Athena who had looked at her daughter with pride. What was wrong with that, they were going to clear the gates and land safely in the water, weren't they?

She had clearly missed both conversations among the demigods, just minutes ago.

(Unfortunately, that... more than we needed.)

Athena's face cleared up and now she understood. They were going to miss the pool, weren't they?

Most of the worry was back, and Poseidon was once again cursing the fact that his son hadn't had as much time to train, or even to explore his powers over water, before coming on this quest. It would have been a simple matter to bring the water up to catch them before overshooting it.

(Our boat smashed into... toward solid asphalt.)

Breaths were sucked in as a few people gasped.

"A fall like that..." Athena murmured, now a little scared for her daughter.

"I'm sure they were alright, they're here now." Poseidon said, eyeing his son and (maybe) someday daughter-in-law. Percy caught his eye and grinned in Grover's direction. Poseidon visibly relaxed.

(Something grabbed me... yelled, "Ouch!"

Grover!)

There were cheers and Grover got slaps on the back. Grover himself turned a bright red.

"Good job, man. You have earned your title of 'the Red Baron'." Beckendorf said, clapping him on the shoulder and referring to what Percy called him after Medusa was killed.

Grover stared at his older self with awe. This was the second time he'd ended up saving Percy and Annabeth. He honestly didn't know what to think about it, he knew that he would never manage it. '

Chiron nudged him. "You know that you can and will do the same if given the chance. Don't put yourself down so much." He told the young satyr quietly. The council put too much pressure on him, and didn't let him know often enough when he did something right. They deliberately set him up to fail most of the time, and it tore through the satyr's confidence like a hurricane.

(In midair, he had... all the momentum.)

"That really hurt, by the way." Grover informed the room. Annabeth and Percy grimaced, remembering how much it hurt Grover to continue the quest.

"Sorry about that, and thanks again." Percy said apologetically to one of his best friends. Grover just waved it off.

The parents looked worried again while the demigods relaxed. They knew that Grover had the two of them, and he wouldn't let anything happen.

("You're too heavy!")

Out of nowhere, Annabeth punched Grover in the shoulder. Hard. "OW!" He protested, holding his arm and staring at her in betrayal.

"Be lucky punching is all I did. I considered using my knife." She threatened with narrowed eyes. He shrank back in fear and turned pleading eyes on Percy, who sighed.

"Annabeth, he was carrying two of us. And he caught us suddenly, he wasn't making comments about your weight." Percy tried to placate her. She just huffed and sat back.

Sally and a few of the other adults chuckled at the typical reaction, pleased that they could still have normal teenage reactions despite being demigods and all the training that came with it.

(Grover said. "We're going... into a photo-board,)

The demigods sent out some more cheers. "Better that than the pavement." Thalia grinned. The three nodded in complete agreement.

Sally sat back again, once again relaxing at the news that the danger had passed. For now, anyway.

(Grover's head going... the Friendly Whale.)

There was some slightly hysterical laughter coming from the demigods, who had been tense once the solid asphalt became known.

"Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale?" Will snorted, and Grover turned even redder.

"I didn't care what it was, I was just glad it was there." Grover retorted. He wasn't exactly in full control of his flight after catching his two best friends. "That landing would have hurt."

"True." Thalia shrugged, even though she was still snickering.

(Annabeth and I tumbled... on my arm.)

Ares didn't even realize it, but as soon as he read that his shield was unscratched, he relaxed. He hadn't even realized he was tense from it.

"Good, now you can get back to the original quest, and find my Bolt." Zeus said, satisfied. He merely got disgusted looks for his comment.

(Once we caught our... against the gates.)

There were a few winces and covert glances to make sure Percy and Annabeth really were alright (they weren't actually that subtle, Percy and Annabeth just rolled their eyes).

"Honestly, guys. This was years ago. I'm just glad we weren't still in it when the boat crashed." Percy shrugged with a smirk.

(A hundred yards away... were still filming.)

Everyone laughed. "I forgot about those!" Travis cried gleefully.

"Don't bother asking Chiron for a copy. I destroyed it." Percy warned them.

"Aw." Connor pouted. Then he brightened up. "We can just ask dad if he has a copy." The Stolls high-fived while the younger pair looked at each other in excitement.

"Don't." Percy snapped, scowling. Then he glanced towards Annabeth, and the two of them dropped it, knowing how he got when it came to Annabeth.

(The statues had swiveled... spotlights in our faces.)

"Huh." Luke muttered suddenly.

"What?" Thalia asked, blinking at him.

"Found out where the rides power supply was going." He answered dryly.

"Not necessarily." Beckendorf waved off. "Dad could have easily enough powered them with magic, or otherwise created his own power supply. He didn't have to route mortal power supplies to the lights." He explained dismissively.

("Show's over!" I... you! Good night!")

Everyone chuckled at the response. "Perce, have I told you yet that I love your brand of humor?" Thalia asked her cousin. Jason frowned at her, but didn't say anything.

From his experience since reuniting with his sister (what little he'd seen of her in the last several months), and what he'd seen and heard of Percy, they both had a very similar sense of humor.

He didn't say anything about it, though, because he'd also heard that the fights between those two were legendary and created several new clearings in the forest.

Hermes and Apollo grinned at each other again. They really, really liked this kid. Once again, Hermes glanced towards Sally, considering. He was going to take the next break to research her family lines. No excuses, he really wanted to know.

(The Cupids turned... and dark again,)

"As if nothing ever happened." Poseidon muttered.

"Except for all the water everywhere, now." Triton smirked.

"The park was still just as creepy as it was before that incident." Percy shook his head with a sigh.

"If anything, it was creepier." Annabeth deadpanned.

(except for the gentle... had been any good.)

"Oh, I would imagine they were very good. All that we usually have on these days is stupid reality T.V. Your show would have been much more interesting than that." Hermes said with a snort. Honestly, mortal television programs were much more interesting.

Percy made a face. "You guys need some better entertainment, if I'm the best you got." He deadpanned.

"Yes, we do." Poseidon muttered. He didn't even have Hephaestus television, precisely because nothing good was on. The only thing he really watched was the news, and even then it changed every five minutes.

(I hated being... hated being tricked.)

"Oo. Yeah. You messed up." Nico informed Ares. He knew first hand, that one did not trick Percy. He still had nightmares about the time he tricked Percy into going to the Underworld, only for his father to take Percy prisoner. He hadn't even known it was possible for somebody to tear his fathers army apart like that, and he never wanted to see anything like that again.

And what Percy did to his father...

Ares merely raised an eyebrow at the boy, not believing that Percy could do anything about it.

(And I had plenty... little talk with Ares.")

"Uh-oh. Somebody isn't happy." Will said, snorting and shaking his head. The other (older demigods) all chuckled and settled in to listen to the show.

Clarisse scowled and gave Percy a Look, knowing about the fight after Percy returned from the Underworld. While the Ares cabin highly respected him and would follow him into battle anytime for any reason, (and most of the older ones had mostly forgotten that incident even happened by now, with everything that happened), there were some that had yet to forgive him for humiliating their dad like he did. Although, there were also some who weren't sure whether or not to be ashamed that their father, the god of war, was beaten by a barely trained demigod.

"Eh, I was only mildly annoyed at that point." Percy said, waving his hand dismissively. The other demigods only looked slightly relieved at that fact. An annoyed Percy still tended to cause plenty of damage, after all.

"That is the chapter." Ares said, closing the book with a snap and tossing it towards somebody, not even paying attention to who caught it. Athena gave him a dirty look for throwing a book.

"Why don't we take a lunch break? Everyone take your time, and get some air, stretch your legs. Burn off some energy." Hestia suggested, eyeing the (slightly) vibrating demigods warily. She had a feeling that they wouldn't be sitting still much longer, and preferred to let them move around and use some of that energy before they reached the point of no return and they started driving the gods crazy.

The other gods, and Chiron's, attention snapped towards the demigods, and Chiron's eyes widened when he saw how they were fidgeting with suppressed energy. There was a reason why the activities at camp were so physical, and he was frankly astonished that they had managed to sit still for so long.

Before anybody could react, the demigods cheered and charged out of the room, heading straight towards the palace dining room.

Sally laughed at the reaction, letting go of the remaining tension from the trap Hephaestus set for Ares. "Shall we?" She asked Paul, who grinned and held out his arm for her to take his elbow. She took it with another laugh before the two followed the stampede of hungry demigods. Percy took Triton's hand and practically dragged him behind his mother and new step-father.

The rest of the gods and goddesses blinked at where the children used to be sitting, while Chiron merely chuckled. "We should probably go while there is still food left."

Hestia giggled and got up to join the centaur in following the demigods and mortals.

---

*Before anybody decides to leave uncalled for reviews, quick disclaimer, that I am a girl. And I don't understand what girls are talking about half the time, or why they make such a big deal over things. It probably doesn't help that I grew up with two brothers, and the only two girls living nearby were both older with brothers of their own. So, yeah.