Charmolypi

Chapter 46

The scene changed, showing the group of three racing towards the stalactites in a milky hue.

"Look up.'" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"

"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted.

"I don't think you do!" Percy shouted back. They were going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. That was the power of the pearls.

For a few moments, they couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of their spheres, then the pearls broke through on the ocean floor. The two other milky spheres, Annabeth and Grover, kept pace with Percy as they soared upward through the water. With a loud bang, they exploded on the surface, in the middle of the Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant

"Dude!"

Percy grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. He caught Annabeth and dragged her over too. A curious shark was circling them, a great white about eleven feet long.

"Beat it." Percy ordered and the shark raced away. Meanwhile, the surfer started screaming about bad mushrooms and paddled away as fast as he could. Somehow, they knew what time it was: early morning, June 21, the day of the summer solstice.

"Did he talk to a shark?"

"I don't think that's normal."

"Maybe it's something related to him being the son of Poseidon."

In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades's fault. He was probably too busy with Thea to send an army after them. Suddenly a sinking feeling happened when he remembered that Thea was still in the Underworld. Percy took a deep breath, shaking himself out of his thoughts. They had to get to shore in order to get Zeus's bolt back to Olympus as soon as possible.

They found a Coast Guard boat to drop them odd at the Santa Monica Pier with towels and water bottles before they left and resumed their jobs. The group stumbled down the beach and watched as the city burned.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way-"

"It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody-"

"Percy ..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry...."

"The prophecy was right," Percy told them. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

Percy stopped in my tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think." He said sarcastically. There he was, waiting for them, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

"Hey, kid," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see Percy. "You were supposed to die."

"Well, he's an absolute wanker, that one."