Thinking Out Loud - Clarisse La Rue

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓕𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷

"Alana! Why would you do that?!" Grover yelled.

The daughter of Artemis didn't look at the other demigods or the satyr, just kept walking. "Uh long story."

"Allie, that's the god of WAR," Annabeth stressed. "And you just called him a bitch?! And he didn't even react to it for some reason?"

"I'm sure he gets called a bitch all the time," Alana shrugged.

Percy pursed his lips and glanced at the others. "I mean," he started, "he probably deserves it."

Annabeth shook her head, sometimes those two were too similar for her. "That doesn't matter. You can't go around calling powerful gods names! I know this has something to do with Clarisse, but whatever she told you to do or you decided to do needs to chill. We can't ruin this quest because of your issues with a god."

Alana rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. They kept walking until they got to a building with lots of chatter inside of it.

"Guess this is the right place," Percy assumed.

They walked in and found Ares at a table by himself, on his phone. "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." The kids glanced at each other confused. "Ah. Okay, done." He set his phone down and looked directly at Percy. "So your quest..." he sighed. "...is going to fail. Ask me how I know."

"It isn't gonna fail," Percy insisted.

Ares scoffed. "Sure it is." He pulled out his phone and showed a video. It was some guy complaining about Percy.

"Who is that?"

"My stepdad. What's he doing?" Percy questioned.

The video kept playing and the guy just kept berading him. "Wild right?" The god smirked.

"I'm gonna kill him," Percy angrily declared.

Ares smiled. "I knew I was going to like you." Alana rolled her eyes. "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."

"Why are you sitting here then?" Alana asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed. "If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?"

"Hm. There's no fear in you two, is there?" Ares practically glared at them. "Doesn't matter. Whether the bolt's retrieved or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon."

"No." The son of Poseidon insisted. "The Oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war."

"Is that what she said? Or is that what Chiron said she meant?" The god asked. Percy nodded, knowing he was right. "You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work," Ares started. "See, years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family so much. My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war." He gave an unsettling grin. "Isn't that great?"

Percy wouldn't take no for an answer. "We're completing this quest. We're stopping this war. You said you can help. Can you?"

Ares paused then nodded. "Okay, so here it is. There's an amusement park up the road. I left my shield there. You get me my shield back, and I'll get you to the Underworld by lunch tomorrow with a plan to invade Hades's palace."