𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑺𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏.

Ariadne stepped forward, "Who did you use? I doubt it was Clarisse. But who?"

The god let a cruel smirk form on his face, "Ariadne Phoenix. Aphrodite's been asking about you, how was being dead for a couple minutes?" She growled before he looked back at Percy, "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'll be mad at him. And Haded is still looking for this..."

He reached into his pocket and removed a black ski mask, placed it between the bikes' handlebars. It changed into a war helmet, shining of bronze.

Grover gasped, "The helmet of darkness."

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

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

Ares didn't care, "Best kind of war." He shrugged, "Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy said, fists clenched by his side. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated got your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, Just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid, it always returned to your pocket, right?"

"Anyways," he continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way— no loss. I still had the weapon,"

"But why not keep the master bolt for yourself?" Percy asked, "Why send it to Hades."

That made Ares think, and it seemed as if he was listening to someone else in his head. "Why didn't I... yeah... with that kind of firepower..."

He held that thought for a few seconds before breaking it, "I didn't want the trouble. Better have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."

Percy shook his head, "You're lying. Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

Smoke billowed from the god's glasses, ready to burst into flames. "Of course it was!"

Ariadne stood next to Percy, ready to make the god angry. "You didn't want the theft. There was another hero sent to steal the items, and you caught them once Zeus sent you to look. But, obviously, you didn't turn them in. Something or someone convinced you to let them go. So, you kept the items until Percy came along. Kro—" she stopped herself, "I mean, the thing in the pit is ordering you."

Ares gave her a glare, and she was sure he was deciding what animal he was going to shift her into. "I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

She gave him a raised eyebrow, looking back at her friends wide eyes with a smirk. "Who said anything about dreams?"

For once, it looked like she was feeding off his anger. Her anger was rising just as much as his, but he tried hiding it with a smirk. "Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking the bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you— nothing personal."

Although, that was a very, very personal reason in her mind.

He snapped his fingers and before his feet, the sand exploded. Erupting from the ground was a wild boar, a bigger version of the one hanging above cabin five. It's hooves pounded at the ground, beady eyes targeting Percy. Razor tusks lowered, ready to charge and impale him.