II PERCY

THEY FOUND HIM JUST a few kilometres away from the harbour.

The street was unnaturally deserted, as if all the tourists had decided to steer clear of it for some reason. There were two walls on either side of them, about two car lengths apart. Poseidon's golden chariot rested against one of the buildings. Up close, Percy could distinguish its different features—on either side there was a merman (his father?) carved in gold. Miniature shells decorated the front and back of the chariot. It was obviously meant for races as there were no seats, but was also built to be more comfortable as the base was wider to allow more passengers. Attached to its front were the two winged-but-unable-to-fly horses whining and pawing at the ground angrily. One was pure white, the other more or less gray.

Death! one shouted.

Yeah! the other cheered. And cheeseburgers!

The driver was checking out the chariot as if it were brand new, perhaps thinking, This thing is mine? I am so awesome. His sandy blond hair swept over to one side casually, and his grin reminded Percy of one he had seen before. He just wasn't able to place where. The man was well built, and the way he handled his javelin was uncanny. But his oddest attribute was his left shoulder—it was made of pure imperial gold.

"Hey, Percy!" the man exclaimed when he saw them, walking in their direction. He suddenly froze. "You are Percy, right? Gods, there are so many of them."

Percy frowned, thinking. "There are?" he asked.

The man swatted at the air, as if waving the thought away. "Bah. One of my daughters married the son of Perseus. He was horrible at the family reunions."

Hazel nodded. "That's nice," she said. "Who are you, exactly?"

He grinned. "What, can't you tell?" When none of the demigods replied, he told them, "Okay, I'll give you a little hint." He paused, making the demigods catch their breath. "Are you sure you want to know?" he asked them instead.

"It doesn't matter," Annabeth told him. "We came here for a reason, and playing Rumpelstiltskin isn't it."

"Are you sure?" he asked her, eyebrows raised mockingly. "I'll give you the real hint. My daddy is Tantalus."

The name struck Percy like an extremely pointy bat to the face (which he could tell you, unfortunately, as he knew the experience). He remembered the ex-activities director of Camp Half-Blood, and judging by the hard expression on Annabeth's face she did too. He suddenly knew why this guy looked familiar.

"You're Pelops," Annabeth concluded. "Son of Tantalus."

"And technically I'm also the great-grandfather of Heracles and Theseus, and the grandson of Zeus," he offered nonchalantly, failing to look modest on purpose.

Hazel looked down and shook her head in disapproval. "Everybody's related to everyone somehow in mythology," she said.

Annabeth continued. "Your father was a king. He invited the Olympians over for dinner one day, and… you were the main course." She said that hesitantly, as if she didn't want to hurt this guy's feelings.

But he couldn't care less. "Yeah. Only Demeter actually fell for it, though," he offered. "That witch... with a B instead of a W."

"And your shoulder," Hazel continued. "That's what she… um, ate?"

Pelops nodded. "Yep. When the fates ordered Zeus to bring me back to life—sometimes I believe those guys have more power than the gods themselves—Hephaestus took the liberty of making me a new shoulder. But the one he made was ivory. This one's shinier." He grinned, showing off his white teeth.

"Okay. Sure. But why do you have my father's chariot?" Percy demanded.

Pelops frowned. "Oh, so you're the son of Poseidon. I thought that was Jason for some reason.

"Anyway, Thanatos was chained, I got a get-out-of-jail-free card, and—BAM! I find this bad boy, just waiting for me here! It's awesome, isn't it? Look, the horses even remember me." He leaned back and patted the first one on the snout, which reached out and tried to chomp his fingers off.

Percy glanced at Annabeth for an explanation. "After he was brought back to life, Poseidon made him his apprentice, sort of," she explained. "He taught him how to use a chariot. Then, um, there was this race to win the hand of his wife, and he asked your dad for help. So Poesidon sent Pelops a golden chariot with two untamed horses. But Pelops thought it wouldn't be enough, so he got a son of Hermes who worked for his opponent in the race to rig the other guy's chariot so that it would fail. Both his opponent and the son of Hermes died."

"That's actually not true," Pelops said. "I killed the Hermes guy later on. He was asking for it, really, talking so rudely and standing so close to that cliff."

Percy nodded. "And now you have my father's chariot," he said.

Pelops nodded. "And two of his horses," he added, leaning against his javelin casually.

"I think I'm going to need it all back."

Pelops grinned, straightening up again. "Are you going to threaten me? Gods, fighting you guys would be so cool. You're basically legendaries. And Gaea—"

He froze.

Hazel narrowed her eyes. "What about Gaea?" she demanded.

Pelops grinned, returning to his old idiotic self. "Gaea? Isn't she like the earth goddess or something?"

"You said her name," Annabeth warned.

"Yes I did."

"She's the one who sent you here," Percy concluded. "She gave you the chariot."

Pelops shrugged, forgetting his act as the clueless. "Yeah, and I'm supposed to kill you guys or whatever. But you're so easy to talk to! I mean, I can already tell that we're friends."

The horses snarled.

"But why are you helping her?" Hazel asked. "The gods helped you after your father… um, cannibalized."

Pelops snorted. "Yeah. Sure. They most certainly did not throw me off Mount Olympus like freaking Hephaestus when my father stole some of their godly food. And they most certainly did help me when my entire family was cursed by that stupid son of Hermes!"

He shrugged, returning to his calm endeavour.

"Plus, Gaea has better negotiation skills. Listen to this: I kill at least one of you guys and advertise her rising until the Feast of Spes, and I get to keep the chariot! What a deal!" He paused. "Here, take this." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card, holding it out to them. Percy cautiously took a step forward and took it.

Feast of Spes! it screamed. The rising of our favourite earth goddess! High-quality entertainment, delicious food, and gory death guaranteed! [Some conditions apply; go to Athens for details.]

"We need to get that chariot back fast, Percy," Annabeth hissed quietly.

"What? Are you leaving?" Pelops asked, thinking that that was what she told him. "Are you serious? Can I kill one of you first, though? I really like this chariot, and the horses are great company."

Cheeseburgers! one of them yelled.

Hazel shook her head. "I don't think so," she said.

"Aw, please! Just one! We're friends, right?"

None of the demigods agreed.

Pelops sighed. "Ugh. You guys are so stubborn." He swung his javelin around to his front professionally. "Ah well. I guess I am going to have a workout today." He turned to one of the horses. "Remind me that I owe you five drachmas."

Then he charged.


And CUT! That's a WRAP, PEOPLE!

Hope you liked that: just reminding you all I worked SO EXTREMELY HARD on this to make it sound like Rick's style. Did it work?

PS: This is where you leave the review, and go to the next chapter. (The review box is just below, if you're wondering.)

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