One was born to destroy, one was born to build.
Melanie Mavros doesn't know how it came this far. Being thrown in a new world with her best friend Percy, was not on her bucket list. Being send on a dangerous quest with the thought that she can be ki...
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When I'm busy, my mind is calm. Only my body hurts from time to time.
Melanie was not really excited to see the god of war again. Ares was waiting in the diner's parking lot. That annoying grin on his face that reminded Melanie so much of Matthew.
"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."
"You knew it was a trap," Percy said.
Ares widened his grin and winked "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV." Melanie doubted that. Percy shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk." Annabeth and Grover caught their breath. Melanie just nodded along. "Yeah, you seemed cool. But totally ruined it for me."
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back. Magic. Melanie was still not used to it.
"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas." The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
Percy said, "You're kidding." Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."
He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy. Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.
"Oh! Nice clothes!" Melanie said with a small smile on her face. Percy dumbly responded "I don't want your lousy—"
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."
"I think this dark brown sweater really makes my eyes stand out. It matches with my hair, so that's like a thing, right?" She gave Annabeth a look like; you see? "Also you're still cool to me."
Okay, maybe those Aphrodite kids did leave a mark on her.
Reluctantly, Percy slung the backpack over his shoulder
"You owe me one more thing," He told Ares, his voice clearly having a hint of anger. "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead." The ground seemed to spin beneath me. "What do you mean?" Melanie was so confused. "I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."
Sally was kidnapped? That's like a horror story. "Kept. Why?" Melanie felt sorry for Percy, Sally was everything for him. "You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
