Sorry I had no author's note last chapter (I know you're all very upset), but I was rushed. Let me know if there are any typos I missed. Also, an anonymous guest asked if in the last chapter my "let's head out" pun was intentional. The answer is yes (actually no, but I'm going to pretend as if it was). Any how, enjoy this next chapter! :)
We catch the train and successfully make it to Denver without having anymore monster encounters. We also contact Chiron at a car wash via a homemade rainbow and Iris messaging. Unfortunately, Luke shows up instead of Chiron. I'm about to passive-aggressively tell Luke to go shut it and get Chiron when some idiots pull up in a big Lincoln Continental with the stereo turned to maximum hip-hop.
"What's that noise?" Luke yells. I roll my eyes.
"Give me a second!" I yell. I walk up to the car and tap on the window. A few seconds later the car speeds away as quickly as possible, nearly hitting a lamppost. I walk back to Percy and Grover.
"Jesus, what did you say to them?" Grover asks, horrified. I smile.
"That the car wash was closing because it had an infestation of car worms."
"Car worms? That's…that's not a real animal." Grover says.
"They don't know that." I say, referring to the hooligans in the car. Suddenly I hear the screech of a car veering suddenly, a crash, and a moment later police sirens. My face pales.
"I think we should go now…" I say. "Percy! What did Chiron say?"
"Not much. Come on, let's find some dinner." He says, looking grumpy.
We're sitting in a diner trying to dig up some money to pay for food. My stomach is grumbling, and it looks like Percy might pass out. All of a sudden, a rumble shakes the whole building. A motorcycle the size of a baby elephant pulls up to the curb.
"Oh no." I moan.
All conversation in the diner stops. The motorcycle's headlights glare red. Its gas tank has flames painted on it and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The guy on the bike is even more butch than his bike. He would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He's dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wears red wraparound shades. As he walks into the diner, a hot, dry wind blows through the diner.
"Whoa, talk about compensation, if ya get what I'm saying." I giggle at Percy and Grover. The guy's radar hones in on our table immediately. Grover looks at me in horror. Percy just glares at the man. He stomps over to our table.
"It's on me." He says, stone cold. He slids into our booth, pushing me up against the window. My shoulders squish into my cheeks.
"Ok, terminator, think ya could scooch over a little?" I ask. He ignores me and instead talks to Percy.
"So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?" He asks with a wicked grin. It's the first emotion besides plain anger that he's exhibited, and I must say I'm not that impressed.
"What's it to you?" Percy retorts. He suddenly got real sassy. Ok then.
"Percy," I'm about to say that I've never seen him look so serious, when the guy cuts me off, assuming I was going to reprimand Percy.
"S'okay. I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?" The man asks Percy. I roll my eyes.
"The human embodiment of testosterone?" I mumble under my breath.
"That's right. Ares. God of War." Ares says. "I'm here because I've got a little preposition for you."
"Thanks, but we don't need any grammatical terms to show location." I say.
"Not a preposition, a proposition." Grover points out, then shrinks back into the booth in terror.
"Alright, you punks. Ya want to do it or not? All I need you to do is get my shield. I left it at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me." Ares says. Before Percy can come up with another snappy remark (I don't know what's gotten into him), I interrupt.
"What's in it for us?" I ask.
"I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends." Ares says. I contemplate this for a moment.
"Hmm. How about this? I want a "first class" ride west, and I want you to conjure one of your zombie fighters or whatever to be our personal chauffer. I know you have the power to do that. And I want to call him Alfred." I say. Ares knits his brow together, thinking about this.
"Okay. You've got yourself a deal."
"Annabeth!" Percy exclaims.
"Chill out Percy. This quest will be ten times better with a zombie chauffer named Alfred. Trust me." I say.
"Help me out, and maybe I'll even tell you something you need to know. Something about your mother." Ares says to Percy. Percy is suddenly interested. He crosses his arms, but reluctantly agrees.
"So the park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride. I'll meet you back here." Ares says. I can't help but giggle a bit. Before either Percy or I can comment on that, Ares disappears.
"It's probably some kind of trick." Percy says. "Forget Ares. Let's go."
"You're absolutely right. It is almost definitely some kind of trick. Nevertheless I will get that zombie chauffer named Alfred, so help me. So we're going. Come on." I say. With that matter settled, we head out.
After breaking into the old, crusty water park we start looking for the Tunnel of Love.
"Ew. Who would bring their date to this ratchet old place?" I ask.
"That's what I was thinking." Percy agrees. "If Ares brings his girlfriend here, I'd hate to see what she looks like." I laugh.
"Isn't he dating Aphrodite?" I ask.
"Yeaaa." Grover says, clearly dreaming about Aphrodite.
"Why would she let him bring her to this dump?"
"Probably so that her husband, Hephaestus wouldn't find them."
"Murder, incest, adultery. Wow, are you sure the gods aren't Game of Thrones characters?" I ask. As we walk around, I notice a rubber ball in the gift shop. Instinct tells me to grab it, and I remember that it could be useful when we meet Cerberus.
"Look!" Grover says, pointing to an empty bowl about fifty yards across. Above it a sign read, THRILL RIDE O'LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE. Marooned at the bottom of the pool (like Ares's love life) is a pink and white two seater boat with a canopy over the top and hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, is Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"I wonder what scared Ares away…" Percy asks.
"Maybe he has commitment issues." I say. I laugh hysterically. I wipe away a tear from my eyes.
"Ooh man, but in all seriousness, yeah we should be on the lookout." I say. I stare at the cupid statues lining the rim.
"Grover, find a rope so we can get out quickly." I say. I start sliding down into the pool. Percy follows me. I look around for traps. Percy walks up to the shield.
"I think we're in the clear." I say, having not noticed anything. I turn back to Percy. It seems when my back was turned, he had picked up the shield.
"Um…Annabeth?" He asks, looking concerned.
"Guys!" Grover yells. Up on the rim, the Cupid statues are drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could even say a final curse, they shot, but not at us. They fire at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trail from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they land to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads start weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.
I rub my temples. "I really don't need this in my life."
Percy and I run towards Grover. But the threads begin to weave themselves into the rope he's holding and start to wrap around his hands. Then the Cupids' heads pop open. Out come video cameras. Spotlights rise up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice booms: "Live to Olympus in one minute…Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…"
"Are you kidding me?" I ask the universe. Then a hatch opens, and thousands of tiny metallic spiders pour out.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I scream at the sky. I'm so done.
"Grover! Turn on the water!" I yell.
"Thirty, twenty-nine." The loudspeaker calls. I get an idea. I pull of a hatch from the side of the pool, and start slamming the spiders with my makeshift blunt slab. Percy is yelling something at Grover.
"Fifteen, fourteen." The loudspeaker says. I need to stop the spiders from coming in. I rush over the hatches and stuff one of my shoes into it. The spiders are stopped. I move onto the next hatch. The spiders are now crawling all over me.
"Eeewww." But I force myself to keep going. I stuff my other shoe into the other hatch. Unfortunately, I only have two shoes. The universe just really hates me today. I turn to see Percy on the boat, trying to fend off spiders, while yelling at Grover. I rush over to help him out.
"Five, four." The speaker announces. Then I get an idea.
"Percy! We're so stupid!"
"Thanks I've noticed!" Percy says, and swats away some spiders.
"You're a son of Poseidon and we're in a water park." He looks at me.
"Two, one, zero" The loudspeaker announces. Just as it says zero, water burst out of pipes all around us. I jump into the boat and hold on tightly. The spiders short circuit all around us. Spotlights glare down on us. All of Olympus is now watching us.
"Geez, do they not have Netflix on Olympus?" I ask Percy. Then our boat lurches forward, and we start plunging down the Tunnel O'Love.
"THIS IS NOT HOW I PICTURED MY FIRST DAAAAATEEEE!" I yell, while trying not to hurl.
Percy and I hold tight as our boat shots around corners and plunges down ninety degree angles, and past pictures of Romeo and Juliet, and other Valentine's Day stuff. I sighed with relief as we came out of the tunnel, only to sigh with exasperation upon seeing that the pool where we should have safely landed, was barricaded by two boats. We were about to crash into them. I grab Percy, he gives me a shocked look, and I roll my eyes.
"Trust me!" I yell. A moment before we hit, I unfurl my wings and propel Percy and myself into the air. I fly us up a little, safely out of the way of the shrapnel, then safely land.
"Worst date ever. We're breaking up." I say jokingly to Percy. He smiles. He looks down at Ares's shield.
"This had better be worth it." He says. I notice the Cupids are still filming.
"I need a moment." I say angrily, and storm towards the cameras.
"I hope you're all thoroughly entertained." I say sarcastically. "I'm sure that when you are on the brink of war, the best way to spend your time is by watching little kids get beat up instead of, oh I don't know, MAYBE HAVING A FAMILY INTERVENTION. You know, if you all just talked to each other a little bit more, maybe you would put two and two together and see you're all getting PLAYED. Honestly, I can see why the Greeks and Romans stopped believing in you. Because all you do is bicker and squabble and do a really shitty job of keeping peace. So you can all sit on your shiny thrones on Mount Olympus and wait for us to clean up your mess. In the meantime, I'm converting to Buddhism."
At this point, Percy and Grover pull me away from the cameras.
"Show's over!" Percy says. "Thank you! Good night!"
The cameras shut down.
"Annabeth, are you crazy?" Grover asks.
"Sorry, I have a problem with shitty authority figures." I explain.
"Let's just hope they found that outburst funny, not insulting, and that they don't strike you down…or worse." He says.
"It was worth it." I say. "Plus they know that we're their only hope at peace. They wouldn't smite me."
"Either way, I think it's time we had a talk with Ares." Percy says. He's clearly as angry as I am.
"I'm with you." I agree. Grover looks horrified but nods.
"I'm with you till the end…hopefully that won't be for a while." He says nervously.
The war god is waiting for us at the diner.
"Well, well," he says. "You didn't get yourself killed."
"You knew it was a trap," Percy says. I put my hand up.
"Percy, let me handle this." I say. I point my finger at Ares. "You knew it was a trap."
Ares gives us another wicked grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."
Percy shoves the shield at Ares. "You're a jerk."
I don't hold Percy back. Ares grabs the shield and spins it in the air like pizza dough. It changes from form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slings it across his back.
"Where's our limousine?" Percy asks. Ares nods, and a limousine comes zooming up to us with flames racing behind it. And I mean, literal flames. It comes to a stop and a zombie chauffeur steps out of the driver's side. He walks over to the passenger side and opens the door. I bounce around in excitement. I walk up to him, and sure enough his nametag reads Alfred.
"I don't like you Ares, but you certainly deliver." I say. Ares cracks his knuckles.
"Yeah, and here's a little something for doing the job." He slings a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tosses it to Percy.
Percy says, "I don't want your lousy-"
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupts, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."
Percy reluctantly slings the backpack over his shoulder.
"You owe me one more thing," Percy tells Ares. "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-starts this motorcycle. "She's not dead."
"What do you mean?" Percy asks.
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."
"Kept. Why?"
"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Nobody's controlling me."
Ares laughs. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
Percy balls up his fists. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."
"To be fair, we ran from them too." I point out. I see the faces on both Percy and Ares. "Sorry, not helping."
"We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." Ares starts his Harley, then roars off down Delancy Street.
"Okay, so let's try to avoid fighting in the future because I don't feel like getting impaled. Come on, we've got a sweet limo waiting for us." I say. Both Grover and Percy seems agitated, but they get into the limo. They don't talk for a while because of their sour moods. During the silence, my mind slips back into worrying about Nemo. His words keep ringing in my ear. And I remember when he just disappeared. Never saw him again. I never learned if he got out or if the Editors got him or if he died. He just never showed up again. It was as if he was never there in the first place. For all I knew, I could be waiting for Nemo forever and he could never show up again. But there was no way of knowing…
"Annabeth that must've been pretty intense back there at the waterpark." Grover says, bringing me back to the present.
"Huh? I mean, I've never a huge fan of waterparks but it wasn't so bad." I say.
"I meant the spider. Children of Athena are scared of spiders because of the Arachne story. But you handled yourself well back there." Grover says. Whoops. Looks like I was supposed to be afraid of spiders. I forgot about that detail.
"I sort of outgrew that fear. It's pretty irrational, ya know? Honestly, I think the inescapable oblivion of the universe is much for petrifying." I say. Grover nods, absorbing what I just said. My stomach grumbles.
"Hey Alfred!" I shout to the front. "Is there any food around here?"
Alfred groans something.
"Hmm. I think he said there're some Oreos in the backpack." Grover says.
"…How did you?" I ask, but it seems Grover didn't hear me. He reaches into the backpack, and sure enough, there's a pack of Double Stuf Oreos.
"MMMMmmmMMM." I say, and we start passing the Oreos around.
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