Devil's Backbone ✶ Luke Castellan

𝟬𝟭𝟭 the carnival of terror

     Percy led the way to the table where Ares was seated at, being followed by the rest of them. Delia anxiously approached the table before she stopped when she saw Ares look up from the phone in his large and callous hands. "Gimme a second, I'm just starting a fight on Twitter here. Nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight," He informed, a joyful smile etched at each corner of his lips.

     But while Percy, Annabeth and Grover took a seat in the opposite end of the booth, Delia rolled her eyes and snatched the mobile device out of the god's deadly grip. Ares was quick to narrow his eyes into a glare while he continued to stare up at the girl. Delia's friends, however, were surprised by her sudden actions, each of their eyes growing wide in shock. They believed Ares was ready to slice the girl into two for being as bold as she was in that very moment. And Delia would never admit it out loud, but she was goddamn terrified, and regretted her actions the second she swiped the phone out of Ares's hands. But she knew she couldn't show it. So the girl rolled back her shoulders before she turned the phone off.

     "We didn't come here to watch you start pathetic online fights," Delia spoke down to him, slamming the phone down on the table before she slid into the booth with Ares, reluctantly sitting next to him. "We came here because you said you could help us with the quest. Is that true?" She questioned, her brow raised in a suspicious manner.

Ares stared down at the younger girl sitting beside him, the same familiar glare burning in his eyes full of disdain. "You know, you're a lot like your father: cocky and doesn't know when to shut up," Ares explained to the girl, but Delia didn't allow her confidence to falter. She just simply glared back at the man in response. Ares picked up on this and chuckled before he turned to face the others. "So your quest is going to fail. Ask me how I know," He told the children sitting around him.

Delia exchanged a few glances with Percy for a moment from across the table before the curly haired boy lifted his gaze to stare back at Ares. "It isn't gonna fail," He retorted, but his words only seemed amuse Ares even more.

     "Sure it is. For starters..." Ares scoffed before he picked up the phone placed down on the table, tapping his fingers across the screen a couple of times before he flipped it around. Delia only got a brief glance at the screen to see it was a news interview. Then she heard an unfamiliar male voice coming from the device, talking about how Percy was a troubled kid.

     "Who's that?" Grover was the first to ask.

     "My stepdad," Percy answered before he turned his attention back to the mobile device. Delia didn't know much about Percy's home life before he came to camp, but if his angered expression was anything to go by, he hated his stepdad. "I'm gonna kill him," Percy threatened, speaking through gritted teeth.

The boy's words were enough to make Ares smile proudly at Percy in response, nodding his head as he put the phone back down. "I knew I was gonna like you..." Ares paused for a moment, his joyful expression quickly replaced by a more serious look. "But safe to say, the chances of you four idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L.A. without getting arrested are slim to none," He added, changing the subject in the process.

"Why are you sitting here then?" Annabeth piped up. Delia looked over at her newfound friend to see she was staring straight back at Ares, suspicion burning deep within her chocolate brown eyes. "If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?" She questioned, shrugging her shoulders.