Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXIII: the God of War Buys Us Dinner

As it turns out, it wasn't a good idea to spend our last coins on making the Iris-message. Sure we had managed to contact Camp Half-Blood, but now we were stuck in Denver with no way of getting to Los Angeles. We also had no money for food, which meant we were starving. In fact, I don't think I've ever been as hungry as I was. So, in summary, we were stranded in Denver with no money, no clean clothes, no food and no way to complete our quest, the deadline of which would arrive in seven days. Basically, we were screwed.

Hoping we could somehow find anything edible, we entered a restaurant. It was your typical fast food burger establishment. It was filled with happy families enjoying a nice dinner, smiling and laughing. In our dirty clothes, we stood out like a sore thumb.

We took a seat at a table some distance away from the entrance, trying to avoid Percy being recognized by anyone. A waitress came up to us, not looking impressed in the slightest with our appearance. I can't really blame her. We didn't look very impressive.

"Well?" she inquired.

"We, um, want to order dinner." Percy said, looking up at the waitress pleadingly.

"You kids have money to pay for it?" she asked.

The emptiness in my stomach became painfully noticeable. Annabeth let out a tiny whimper and Grover looked like he was about to cry. Percy seemed like was trying to come up with a convincing lie, when he was saved by the bell. Or rather, the motorbike.

A deafening roar outside shook the diner as a large motorcycle pulled up. The man that entered the diner next made Dwayne Johnson look like a joke. He was as large as a sumo wrestler, but his bulk was pure muscle. He was wearing a red muscle shirt and a black leather duster, red wraparound shades and had a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. His face could have been described as handsome, if it weren't for the several scars scattered across it.

His arrival caused the waitress to mentally rewind.

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

"It's on me." the man said, sitting next to Annabeth and I.

He was so big that we were pressed against the window to avoid having to touch him. He smelled like blood, very repulsive let me tell you. For some reason he made me feel angry. Angrier than I had ever felt. Angrier than I was when Chiron had avoided my questions. Angrier than I was when Clarisse taunted me. Angrier than I was when Echidna mocked me at the Gateway Arch. I wanted to hit someone. Heck, if my dad was in the diner, I would have shot him with an arrow!

That thought snapped me out of it. Even if he hadn't said anything to me in months, sent no signs, I couldn't just give up on him. As far as I knew he was the only direct family I had left. And he had claimed me as soon as I got to camp, giving me a brand new family in the process. That had to count for something, right?

I quickly realized who it was that we were dealing with. There was only one god who could generate an aura of negativity and anger that intense: Ares, the god of war.

"Are you still there?" he asked the waitress, who had been staring at him for a while.

He pointed at her and turned as if on a swivel and marched up to the kitchen like a wind up toy. Ares then turned to Percy. Percy gritted his jaw and clenched his fists. It was obvious that Ares was getting to him. He had also affected Annabeth a bit, but she had managed to keep a cool head. Perks of being the daughter of the goddess of wisdom, I guess. The only one who wasn't affected was Grover. But frankly, with how scared he was, you didn't need an aura of anger.

"So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?" he asked with a grin.

He sounded just like the bullies back at Yancy. It wasn't very hard to turn your anger towards him. Percy definitely found it particularly easy.