Celestial - a Percy Jackson fanfic [BOOK ONE]

Chapter thirteen

A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a diner. All around us, normal families were eating burgers and drinking sodas. Oh, how I wished I could go back to that.

Finally the waitress approached us. She looked at us skeptically. "You kids have money?"

We sure didn't look like it. Our clothes were dirty and our hair was all messed up. Grover's lip was quivering and my stomach was absolutely yelling at me.

A rumble suddenly shook the building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner came to a halt. The room was silent as the guy on the bike rose to his feet. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt, and black jeans with a hunting knife strapped to the thigh. He had sick shades on, and his face was scarred from many, many fights. He seemed... familiar.

As we walked into the diner, a hot and dry wind blew past us. Everyone into rose to their feet as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again, resuming their normal behavior. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had pressed a rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money?"

"It's on me," the biker said. He slid into our booth and crowded Annabeth and Grover against the window. He was huge.

The biker looked across the table at Percy and I. I couldn't see his eyes behind his shades, but anger and bitterness began to boil in my stomach. His aura fed rage to others around him.

He gave us a wicked grin. "So, punk, you're old Seaweed's kid?"

"What's it to you?" Percy snapped back.

Annabeth glared at Percy. "Percy, this is—"

"It's okay," he interrupted her. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"

That's why he looked so familiar. His face resembled that of Clarisse's and her siblings. They had the same vicious sneer.

"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said in awe. "Ares, god of war."

Ares only grinned and placed his shades on the table. Instead of eyes staring back at us, there were only fiery red empty sockets. "That's right, punk. And you, missy, I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

I shrugged. "I didn't mean to. But even if I did, she sure deserved it."

Ares chuckled. "Probably. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for - I heard you were in town. I have a little proposition for you."

The waitress came back with heaps of food on several trays. Cheeseburgers, fries, shakes galore. Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. She stared at them for a moment, but before she could protest, Ares scared her off by pulling out his huge knife and cleaning his fingernails with it. She gulped and headed straight back to the kitchen.

"You can't do that," Percy said. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Ares chortled. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. It's a dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you two to do me a favor."

"What favor could we do for a god?" Percy asked.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in down. 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."

I raised an eyebrow. "Fetch it? Are we dogs?"

The fire in his eye sockets flowed a little hotter.