Chapter 5: Fighting Your Fears

Frank rubbed the back of his head and looked at Percy hesitantly. "Uh, you're kind of going to need to ride it if you're going to finish helping Clarisse."

"Where is Clarisse?" asked Juniper, looking at the girl two seats away. "I meant then, not now."

"Fighting Deimos," Thalia answered for her. "Or she was."

"You guys need to fix that and finish it. Getting to the Pier before sunset isn't going to be easy," Carter noted.

"We always manage in time," Jason said optimistically.

"Just in time," Nico agreed.

"Us too," Walt muttered. "Somehow."

Clarisse and Deimos were in the goat area. Percy parked the motorcycle near the petting zoo. He ran toward Clarisse who was on her knees in front of Deimos.

Every head in the room turned to Clarisse. She glared back at all of them daring them to say something. It was Alex who dared to ask. "He's showing you your fear. What is it?"

"You don't have to tell them."

Clarisse growled and shrugged Chris's arm off her shoulder. "It doesn't matter. They'll see it anyway."

Deimos' form shimmered. It smoked as it moved between his figure clothed in black leather. Fire shone through his sunglasses as he raised his fist over Clarisse. He declared she'd failed him again. He'd told her what would happen. She scrambled away pleading for him to stop.

"Ares," Piper said softly. "That's your greatest fear."

Clarisse just glowered at the scene in front of her.

"Why are you so scared of him? Surely even Ares wouldn't hurt his children," Reyna asked.

"He wouldn't," Frank agreed. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't."

Percy frowned at the conversation. "Ares doesn't harm his kids in any way as far as I know. Clarisse still has her reasons. I've known that Ares wasn't as supportive of his kids as my father was for a long time. Since the Sea of Monsters. I'm not sure why it wasn't shown but I stumbled across Clarisse and Ares talking. It's not Ares she's scared of—"

"It's failing him," Will said in realization. He looked at Clarisse with surprise. Since the end of the Titan War, Clarisse had worked to repair her relationship with the Apollo cabin. It had resulted in a strange friendship between them. Will felt he knew Clarisse better than most by now. And now he understood more than he ever thought he would.

She turned to him, the fear glimmered in her eyes for another moment. Her back stayed straight and she continued to look ahead. The room was silent as they watched, waiting for the rest of the scene to play out.

The illusion of Ares yelled Clarisse was a foolish girl. Percy screamed her name, it was an illusion. She needed to stand up to him.

"So, all you need is someone to snap you out of it?" Jaz asked.

"Not exactly. It worked this time though," Apollo answered her.

"It breaks the illusion," Hazel wondered aloud. "Like with the mist. It fractures it and makes it easier to see through."

Deimos's form of Ares flickered as he yelled he was the War god and Clarisse was a worthless girl, whom he knew would fail him. Now she'd suffer his anger for doing so.

Clarisse shook with anger as she glared again at the scene in front of her. Chris put his hand on her fist pushing it down. The red in her eyes dimmed but she still wore a hard look on her face as the scene continued. Now everyone knew her true fear, or what it had once been.

Percy yelled to her, getting her attention. He told her to stand up to him. To get up. All he was was talk. Clarisse stammered she couldn't. Percy yelled she could. She was a warrior. She needed to get up.

Clarisse suddenly stopped her glaring to look at Percy. Other's could have sworn there was a shy smile on her face, but no one said a word. However, after a second she resumed her glaring at the scene. Percy was seen grinning at Jason and Nico as he nudged them excitedly, bouncing in his seat.

Clarisse's glare turned to him. He just grinned wider at her. There was a silent conversation for a moment, then Clarisse groaned and turned her glaring back to the projection of her brother.

Clarisse paused and stood up. Deimos yelled in Ares' voice asking what she was doing and demanding she beg for mercy. She took a shaky breath and gave a quiet but strong no.

Next to her, Chris grabbed her hand with a proud grin. There were a few whistles and cheers from the more daring. Clarisse's back started to straighten from the slump she was in as everyone in one way or another expressed their support or excitement.

She loved having Chris to cheer her on and support her. She'd always had her cabin. She and Percy had their differences, but she knew at the end of the day he and the princess were her friends. She supposed that meant everyone else here was also her friend. Maybe not like Silena, never like Silena, but close enough.

Deimos bellowed a what? Clarisse raised her sword and said she was tired of being scared of him. Deimos roared in rage and Clarisse blocked him as he struck. She stumbled back. She gave a feral look and a small grin as she said he wasn't Ares, or even a good fighter. He growled and attacked again. With a quick maneuver she disarmed him, leaving him vulnerable to be stabbed in the shoulder. Deimos yelped in pain.

The whole room erupted into cheers. For a few seconds Clarisse looked around in shock. Then she smiled. Some of the older campers looked at her in shock but Clarisse basked in the applause with pride.

"Guess only Ares' demigod children are any good," Will muttered.

"He's not that good himself either," Leo smirked.

Annabeth gave him a warning glance. "I wouldn't say that. He's a great fighter. Just not a smart one."

Clarisse's glow of pride turned into a glower as her gaze turned to Annabeth. However, the questions and continuing cheers drew her attention away after just a small second.

Deimos started to glow. Percy yelled at Clarisse to look a different way. Both turned away as Deimos exploded into godly light.

In the room, everyone else turned away on reflex, all except Percy and Jason who looked at each other in surprise. Percy just shrugged. He'd heard about Jason's deadly experience with Hera's godly form. He didn't know why he wasn't scared of it himself anymore. It just didn't seem as terrifying after all he'd seen.

Slowly everyone else started to look back up. There were a few terrified and confused looks. Others wore crazy grins on their faces. It took another few seconds for them all to calm down. It was obvious that this was the end.

Percy and Clarisse were left alone with goats who were trying to eat their clothes. The motorcycle was no longer next to them, but a horse-drawn chariot.

"You finished," Juniper clapped happily. "You finished your quest."

"Not his quest."

"It was hers. And it wasn't finished yet," Percy agreed with a grumbling Clarisse.

"My quest was to drive the chariot and bring it back to Dad's temple. Deimos and Phobos were just there to stop me."

Clarisse looked at Percy skeptically as she wiped her face. She sternly told him he hadn't seen that. He hadn't seen any of it.

"I hate to break it to you," Grover said warily, "But we've all seen it."

"You're done, goat boy."

"Clarisse, stop—" Chris tried calming her.

"It's your fault!" She yelled turning toward Percy. "Your fault anyone was seeing this. No one needs to know any of this!"

Percy looked back at her in silence for a moment. "You're right."

Clarisse glared silently in response.

"She is. This stuff was all supposed to be private. My whole life is being shown to you guys. I'm dealing with it. But that also means you guys are seeing other people's private things. You're inadvertently seeing Clarisse's private life."

Percy paused for a second. "Did I use that word right Wise Girl?"

"You've actually been studying," Annabeth said with an impressed look, though there was the slight raising of an eyebrow.

Percy grinned knowing there were kisses in his future, but his face fell somber again quickly remembering the topic at hand. "None of this leaves this place. No one brings it up unless absolutely necessary. I promised Clarisse not to tell anyone. I tried to respect her privacy."

He took a deep breath and looked around the room. "I tried to respect everyone's privacy. For some reason, the Fates won't allow that. That doesn't mean we can't try to do it all the same. Unless Clarisse gives you permission you won't bring up her fear. You won't bring up Annabeth's vision from the Sirens, or Nico and Minos or any of that stuff. Not without being allowed by them."

Percy sat down again with his arms crossed and a stormy look on his face. He wouldn't say anything about his life and his privacy. It wasn't his anymore. He didn't think it ever had been. It wasn't exactly fair, but he couldn't complain here. Having his fears shown with everything else didn't seem as important as Clarisse being so vulnerable, or Nico's struggle and Calypso's curse being suddenly shown to everyone.