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LAURIE WOULD RATHER be rotting away in her mother's garden than at that table. She'd actually rather be anywhere else than here.
She and her three fellow quest-goers sat in a diner, she and Grover now squished up against each other as a god had pushed himself into their booth, staring a flaming gaze into Percy as he offered them a deal. Food sat in front of them but Laurie was suddenly not hungry, despite how long it'd been since any of them had eaten.
Ares may not've been one of the gods she was on the demigod hit list for, but his girlfriend was. Laurie didn't like the idea of being so close to him after realizing that. Not that she'd like it in the first place, what with the smell of grease and ash he tainted the area with.
After almost getting himself smited about seven times so far in the conversation, Percy added an eighth when he rejected Ares' offer.
"We're not interest. We've already got a quest." The boy spoke. Ares' eyes seemed to glow brighter at the rejection, as if he'd never heard anything such before.
"I know all about your little quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful . . . well if I couldn't find it, you've got no hope. Nevertheless, im trying to give you punks the benefit of the doubt. After all, I was the one who told your dad about the suspicion on old Corpse Breathe."
Laurie shrunk in her seat at the mention of Apollo, as well as at the hungry glower in the god's eyes, like he was so pleased that he'd discouraged the young demigods with his story.
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy inquired.
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war— oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you've got me to thank for your little quest." Ares replied.
"Gee thanks." The boy grumbled under his breathe.
"Hey, im a generous guy." The god of war remarked. "Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. Hook you and your friends up with a ride west."
"We're doing just fine on our own."
They definitely weren't.
"Yeah, right." Ares scoffed. "No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
Something about your mom.
The sentence lasted as an ongoing echo in Percy's ears, piquing his interest and making him both eager and angry simultaneously.
