history of man // percy jackson & the olympians

09 | a god buys cheeseburgers

SURE ENOUGH, A COUPLE MILES UP THE ROAD WAS A HOLE-IN-THE-WALL DINER. the group cautiously walked in, and a small part of andromeda hoped that they had taken too long, and ares left.

unfortunately, that wasn't true.

from across the diner, ares let out a loud cackle. he sat by himself at a giant booth, with a mound of french fries and a pile of burgers in front of him.

andromeda's stomach gurgled at the sight of it, but she knew she shouldn't eat anything the god offered them. just in case.

"guess this is the right place." percy whispered.

they approached the booth, and ares looked surprised for a moment as he noticed them. "give me a second, i'm just starting a fight on twitter." he told them, pointing to his cell phone. "nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight."

the group slid into the booth, and andromeda noticed there was only a seat next to ares available. she definitely did not want to sit there, so she grabbed a chair from a nearby empty table and pulled it up next to grover on the end.

ares pushed a few buttons on his phone, before placing it face down and crossing his arms. "so your quest is going to fail." he said with a sigh. "ask me how i know."

percy narrowed his eyes. "it isn't gonna fail."

ares scoffed. "sure it is." he said with a chuckle, pulling his phone out and showing them the screen. "for starters,"

he played the video of a man — gabe ugliano — talking about percy to the news.

"percy was always troubled," the man in the video said. as soon as he started speaking, percy tensed up. "but i never thought he was capable of something like this."

grover kneaded his eyebrows. "who - who's that?"

percy's eyes narrowed. "my stepdad." he answered. "what's he doing?"

the interviewer in the video continued. "and in addition to the destruction to the gateway arch, you also think he may have had something to do with your wife's disappearance?"

ares let out a chuckle. "wait for it."

gabe sighed — a kind of sigh that andie could see right through. "a kid that messed up? what wouldn't he do."

percy's face fell. "what?"

"wild, right?" ares asked. "the fbi is already spreading your picture around."

crocodile tears fell from gabe's face. "it's a camaro." he sobbed, seemingly more upset over a destroyed car than his beloved wife's disappearance. "i really — we really loved that car."

percy's face hardened. "i'm gonna kill him."

ares sighed, locking his phone. "i knew i was gonna like you." he said. "but safe to say, the chances of you three idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to l.a. without getting arrested are slim to none."

annabeth raised her eyebrows. "why are you sitting here, then?" she asked. "if you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?"