Phaedra was panicking.
"Oh my gods! That was Percy!" Phaedra told the satyr and blonde frantically.
Grover bleated and said "maybe he's ok...he's Poseidon's son. I doubt that he would let him die. Especially because this war depends on him." Putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
A little girl said, "Mama! That boy walked out of the river."
"That's nice, dear," her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.
"But he's dry!"
"That's nice, dear."
That was funny.
Phaedra whipped her head around so fast that she almost got whiplash. She saw, through the huge amount of people in the crowd, a boy walking, looking around. It was Percy. She pulled the group along and pushed through the people to get to him.
A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."
Well, at least those people are ok, but we need to get to Percy.
"...an adolescent boy," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities..."
Phaedra had finally got her and the group through the swarm of people and Grover's voice bleated, "Perrr-cy!"
He turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug-or goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"
Once Grover backed away, Phaedra threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Percy stumbled at the sudden hug, not expecting one from her. Percy looked at Annabeth and Grover, not knowing what to do. Grover had a ghost of a smile on his face, looking at them. Annabeth mouthed 'hug her back, idiot.' Phaedra had pulled away, with both of them blushing.
She muttered a small "sorry..." before going back to her place in between Annabeth and Grover, the former smirking at her.
Annabeth then looked at Percy, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see him. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"I sort of fell."
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?" Phaedra exclaimed.
Behind them, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher.
Then the woman began talking to the paramedics. "Chihuahua-"
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she looked at Percy. "There he is! That's the boy!"
He turned quickly and pulled Annabeth, Grover and Phaedra after him. They disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
Percy told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, the high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.
"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."
Before Annabeth could respond, they passed another reporter doing a news break, and Percy froze in my tracks when he said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."
Oh shit. Trouble just seems to follow this kid.
They ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"
Somehow, they made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted.
They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. They hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and Phaedra was sure that was obvious.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."
"We can't use phones, right?"
"Who said anything about phones, Jackson?" Phaedra said, giving him a smirk.
They wandered through downtown for about half an hour. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis.
Finally they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. The group veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping their eyes open for patrol cars. They were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure they were up to no good.
"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"
"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."
Grover looked at Phaedra and she said "sorry guys, I only have cash. I was smart not to waste my money."
Percy fished out his last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter.
"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."
"What are you talking about?"
He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."
"Instant messaging?"
"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected.
"The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods." Phaedra explained to him.
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"
Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."
"Yes." Phaedra said. They looked at her. "Well, Percy can control water, and I can control light. That's the easy way, right there."
Grover gave her a look and said "yeah, but you'll get tired and give up soon and we don't know how well Percy can use his powers yet." Percy gave him a look and Grover said "it's the truth." With a shrug.
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.
Annabeth held her palm out to Percy. "Drachma, please." He handed it over.
She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer. "Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Phaedra was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. They seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to them at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.
"Luke!" Percy called.
He turned, eyes wide. Phaedra could swear he was standing three feet in front of her through a screen of mist, except she could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.
"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
"We're...uh...fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought-Chiron-I mean-"
Nasty
"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right? Is Phaedra there? Is she OK? She didn't get hurt did she?"
"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision.
Phaedra stepped forward and waved as she said "Hey, Luke." He grinned at her and looked at her for a few seconds before turning his head to Grover, who said"What kind of issues?"
Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop.
As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.
"Chiron had to-what's that noise?" Luke yelled.
"I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, Phaedra, come on!"
"What?" Grover said. "But-"
"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.
"Don't boss me around, blondie." Phaedra said before playfully shoving Annabeth out of frame, cause her to glare at the brown haired girl.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi and Phaedra smacked the back of his head, then he handed Percy the spray gun and followed Annabeth.
The man with the loud music had his car door opened as the loud rock blared out of the radio, he was washing his car while rocking out. He was a tall man with a black leather jacket and dark jeans with combat boots.
"Hey, sir! I'm gonna need you to turn down your music!" Annabeth told the man.
The man looked at her and laughed. "I'm not going to listen to a kid." Phaedra rolled her eyes at him and stepped forward. "Sir, she said to turn down that gods awful music." The girl said calmly.
The man turned to face the kids and looked at Phaedra when he said "listen little girl, I don't answer to you so I'm not going to turn down my music."
Phaedra glanced at her friends who saw the calm look on her face and quickly backed away. She stepped forward and said "See, here's what's going to go down. You stay here and keep the music up and I crack one of your nuts. Right or left, that's your choice. Or walk away and turn it down in order to live to be a douchebag another day."
The man laughed and said "I'm not scared of a small child."
"Alright." Phaedra held her hand out and Annabeth handed her a knife and held it threateningly. "It would be such a shame if you were cut by one of these things. It's very sharp." She ran her fingers along the edge of the knife, with a deathly calm smile at the man.
Annabeth, Grover and Phaedra came around the corner, laughing with Phaedra in the middle and her arms around both of them, but stopped when they saw Percy's face. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy?"
What did Luke say?" Phaedra asked.
"Not much," Percy said. "Come on, let's find some dinner."
Phaedra went next to him and his expression looked a little guilty. "You're a terrible liar, you know that right?"
He looked startled. "Huh?" He asked.
"You look guilty. You're not very good at lying. And you're not good at hiding it. I'm a child of Apollo. I can tell when someone's lying. Especially if they're as bad as you." He looked offended but said nothing more.
"Don't worry. I'll figure out what you're hiding. You'll probably say something later." And she kept walking.
A few minutes later, the group was sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.
Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically.
"Well?"
Percy said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Grover's lower lip quivered. Phaedra was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.
Percy looked like he was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress. Phaedra was about to speak when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.
All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather that looked like...well, Caucasian human skin.
Oof. That's rough to whatever that was.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was
dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he
had the cruelest, most brutal face she'd ever seen-handsome, she guessed, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.
Ares...
As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain.
She asked them again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.
He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"
He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.
The biker looked at Percy. Phaedra couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in her stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. She wanted to hit a wall. She wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?
He gave Percy a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
Percy just looked irritated. "What's it to you?"
Annabeth's eyes flashed him a warning.
"Percy, this is-" Phaedra started.
The biker raised his hand.
"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
The God family is disgusting. And I don't like it when people interrupt me. It makes me want to punch them. Maybe I could and blame it on Ares' influence...
Percy looked at him. "You're Clarisse's dad," He said. "Ares, god of war."
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."
"She was asking for it."
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know?"
Phaedra said quietly, "I beg to differ. You murked Poseidon's son for what he did to your daughter."
"What I'm here for-I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you." Ares Continued, ignoring the demigod.
The waitress came back with heaping trays of food-cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.
Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.
She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."
Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails.
"Problem, sweetheart?"
The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
"You can't do that," Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."
Phaedra looked at Annabeth and Grover and said "welp..about that..." and they snorted.
Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked sarcastically.
"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little...date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
Do we look like dogs to you?
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"
"Percy, shut up. Stop angering people." Phaedra said giving him a look.
The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.
"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."
Oop. I kind of want to see him as a prairie dog. Ooh, or maybe even a guinea pig.
It seemed like Ares was just trying to get Percy riled up into a fight. Percy also looked like he was holding back.
"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest."
Ares's fiery eyes made Phaedra see things she didn't want to see-blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry.
I'm now suspicious.
"Well...if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back."
Yeah you go way back because you murked his son.
After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Phaedra asked the God.
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."
"Not going to lie to you all, that's actually very smart." Ares nodded. Annabeth kicked her under the table. "Ow! Sorry..." and she kicked her back.
"Thanks," Percy grumbled.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends. Nice to see when someone knows a great strategy when they see one." Ares said, aiming the last part to Phaedra, nodding to her in respect.
"We're doing fine on our own." Percy said.
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
I got money though.
"My mom?"
He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked. "Something scare you off?"
I love how he just likes to piss off divine beings. If you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.
Ares bared his teeth, but she'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.
"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."
After that Phaedra felt like she must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when she opened her eyes again, Ares was gone. The group looked at Percy with a serious expression.
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
Percy stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of Phaedra. She realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power-cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.
"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."
"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."
The boy looked down at his cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."
"We get it Annabeth, you're smart. But just know that you can't have wisdom without knowledge, which is what my dad is also the God of." With a smug tone. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
That's right Annabeth. I can brag about my godly parent too. You're not the only smart one.
"But this water park...he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"
Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.
Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."
The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.
That was, until Phaedra looked over and saw some flowers.
"What are you looking at?" Percy asked as he noticed that she wasn't paying attention. She points to the flowers. "Oh, those are nice. Do you know what kind they are?"
"Yeah, they are gardenias and wild lavender. They're my favorite flowers. Coincidence that it's there, maybe..." She answered. She was about to walk away, when Percy went over and picked them.
After a few seconds he came back with one of each flower. "Here." He said, with the flowers in hand.
"Why'd you pick them?"
"Because you said that they were your favorites. Did you not want them?"
"Oh, no I do. I just didn't expect you to go and get them for me. Thank you." She reached for the two flowers but Percy moved his hand "Huh?" She asked.
"Actually, I'll just..." and he steps closer to her and began messing with her hair to put the flowers in.
Phaedra began blushing from how very close he was to her. Percy finally stepped back, also blushing from his actions. "There. That way you don't have to hold it all the time and so it won't get crushed from your bag." He told her, trying to avoid her eyes.
Phaedra looked down and blushed harder and looked up at him with a sweet smile. "Thank you."
That was very sweet.
They kind of just looked at each other with small smiles and a blush on their faces for a few seconds before Annabeth cleared her throat and said "when you two are done on the planet Venus, we have a quest to finish, thank you."
They quickly looked away from each other as Phaedra went to Annabeth and punched her arm and Percy went to Grover who was chuckling.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, after a few moments, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"Why? I thought you hated Ares."
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.
"Who is she? Echidna?"
"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily.
"Goddess of love." Phaedra said.
"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said. "Hephaestus."
"What's your point?" he asked.
"Yeah. Your dad is actually married. To your stepmom Amphritie. Your dad cheats a lot. Almost all of the gods who are married do, except for Hera and Hades." Phaedra told him.
"Oh. So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings. He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"
Phaedra groaned and said "Show off."
The demigods had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as they crawled over the top.
The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
No monsters came to get them.
Nothing made the slightest noise.
They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-
"Clothes," Annabeth said.
"Fresh clothes." Phaedra added.
"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just-"
"Watch us." the girls said.
They snatched an entire row of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later they came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all four of they were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.
They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. Phaedra got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath.
"So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, "they have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told him. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Well, you know," Phaedra said, "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"
"She likes bikers." Percy said.
"Skater boys are cuter. I want to meet one so he can teach me how to skateboard. It looks like fun."
"Really, you like skater boys?"
"Yeah, I mean, it is what I said, Jackson." She shrugged.
"I have a skateboard." Percy suddenly said.
Phaedra stopped to look at him. "Really?" He nodded.
"Cool, can you teach me?" She looked at him hopefully. He blushed and nodded, not saying a word. She smiled at him turned back around and continued walking with Annabeth.
"Hephaestus knows?" he asked after clearing his throat because of the long silence.
"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like..."
She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."
In front of them was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from them, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE! Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"This is too easy," Percy said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"
Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.
"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder..."
"Grover," Percy said, "you smell any monsters?"
He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."
"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"
"That was really mean Percy. It's not his fault." Phaedra told him.
Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."
"Okay, I'm sorry." Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but Phaedra got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.
"No," Percy told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."
Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling. Phaedra, come with me-"
"Are you kidding?" She looked at him as if he'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.
"What's the problem now?" he demanded.
I cant go on that ride. It's literally a ride for couples. Plus I have a bad feeling about this. What if people were watching. That would be embarrassing.
"Me, go with you to the...the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"
"Who's going to see you?" But his face was bright red too. "Fine," he told her. "I'll do it myself."
She nodded. She looked at Grover and Annabeth who gave her a look. "Go with your boyfriend, Phaedra." Annabeth told her with a teasing look.
"He is not my boyfriend. Shut up, Annabeth or I will punch you." Phaedra whisper-shouted at her
"Whatever floats your boat, babe. Now go help him."
Phaedra followed Percy, muttering about how boys always messed things up.
They reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf.
Then Phaedra noticed something she hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot.
They could see themselves no matter which direction they looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.
Nasty
Percy picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink and Percy smiled, a little dreamy. He was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Phaedra ripped it out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
"What?"
"Just get the shield, sir Jackson, and let's get out of here."
The moment Percy touched the shield, Phaedra knew they were in trouble. His hand broke through a trip wire.
"Wait," Phaedra said.
"Too late."
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."
Noise erupted all around them, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.
Grover yelled, "Guys!"
Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. They shot, but not at them.
They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.
"We have to get out," Percy said.
"Duh! No shit Sherlock!" Phaedra said.
He grabbed the shield and they ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.
"Come on!" Grover shouted. He was trying to hold open a section of the net for them, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding them with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute...Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight..."
"I knew someone was going to watch us! Fucking stalkers!" Phaedra yelled.
"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"
They'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic...things poured out.
Annabeth and Phaedra screamed.
I don't do spiders either. I hate snakes and spiders.
It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Phaedra said.
"Sp-sp-aaaah!" Annabeth yelled.
Phaedra fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before Percy pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.
The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of
them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding them.
Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And they weren't gods. Phaedra and Percy climbed into the boat. He started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. He yelled at the girl next to him to help, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.
"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker. The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie them down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. He kicked one away from Phaedra's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of his new surf shoe.
Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.
The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. They could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.
"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.
"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"
"But-"
"Do it!"
Annabeth was screaming her head off. Phaedra was just paralyzed with fear at the moment.
Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.
"Five, four-"
Grover looked up at Percy hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting Percy know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.
Percy closed his eyes.
"Two, one, zero!"
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Percy pulled Phaedra into the seat next to him and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into their boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing them completely, but not capsizing them.
The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.
The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing
against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.
Spotlights glared down at them. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to
Olympus.
The two demigods held tight, both of them screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.
Then they were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.
If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool.
But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade-one submerged, the other cracked in half.
"Unfasten your seat belt," Percy yelled to Phaedra.
"Have you lost your mind? Because I will help you find it." Phaedra yelled to him
"Unless you want to get smashed to death." he strapped Ares's shield to his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it."
Phaedra seemed to understand. She gripped his hand as the gates got closer.
"On my mark," Percy said.
"No! On my mark!"
"What?"
"I hang out with Annabeth! She taught me simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"
"Fine!" he shouted. "On your mark!"
She hesitated...hesitated...then yelled, "Now!"
Crack!
Phaedra was right. If they'd jumped when he thought they should've, they would've crashed into the gates. She got us maximum lift. Unfortunately, that was a little more than they needed. Their boat smashed into the pileup and they were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.
Something grabbed Percy from behind.
Phaedra yelled, "Ouch!"
Grover! In midair, he had grabbed Percy by the shirt, and Phaedra by the arm, and was trying to pull them out of a crash landing, but Phaedra and Percy had all the momentum.
"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"
They spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.
They smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale.
Phaedra and Percy tumbled to the ground. Percy had pulled the girl into him to soften her fall. They were banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on his arm.
Once they caught their breath, Phaedra and Percy got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving their lives. Percy looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. The boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.
A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on them, the spotlights in their faces.
"Show's over!" Percy yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"
I don't like being humiliated. I'm not going to be bullied by temperamental gods. That's stupid.
The Cupids turned back to their original positions. But not before Phaedra took out her bow and an arrow and shot straight into the camera with accuracy. The lights shut off.
The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. Percy hefted the shield on his arm and turned to his friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."
Word count: 6479
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