The Truths Spoken In The Sea Of Lies

Ares gets a taste of the Trident.

A fierce battle unfolds.

Against my jerk of a cousin

Victory is mine!

***

Rhea pulled Annabeth and Grover underwater after she created an oxygen bubble around them, then swam fast with Grover and Annabeth's hands in hers, it didn't take much for them to reach dry land with Rhea's speed swimming.

Rhea willed the three of them to be dry and also gave Grover the spare shoes she had.

Grover was confused. "Why do you have another pair ?"

Rhea was the one who looked confused this time. "Did you really think I didn't change my shoes or something ?"

"Silly me." Grover deadpanned.

"You shall go west and face the god who has turned.'" Rhea said. "Ares is the god who has turned, people are idiots, they looked at the wrong gods to blame, and the god of war who loves war so much is right there, and NO ONE suspected him."

And there he was, waiting for them, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminium 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 me. "You were supposed to die."

"And you were supposed to return the master bolt and the helm, not steal them for yourself."

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power is a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands but that doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus will be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this ..."

From his pocket, he took out a ski cap-the kind bank robbers wear- and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"I can't believe the gods don't spell their symbol of power to return to the hand of their master once they command it." Rhea shook her head. "Am I the only one with a brain here ?"

Poseidonas scoffed.

Rhea glared at the bracelet. "You shut the fuck up we still need to talk."

She could feel Poseidonas glare on her.

"But I have one small question. You look like someone who cares about power a lot so why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" Rhea said. "Why send it to Hades who could have used it in the war, you didn't think that you would get away unscratched ?"

Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I ... yeah ... with that kind of fire-power ..."