THE NEXT AFTERNOON, JUNE 14, seven days before the solstice, their train rolled into Denver.
The quartet hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas.
Atalanta felt disgusting since she hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and the daughter of Hecate was sure that it 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?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows.
"I'm not talking about phones." Annabeth said shortly.
As the group walked around downtown, Atalanta felt like the weather was such a drastic change from the hot, humid air of St. Louis.
She glanced around at all of the mountains that surrounded them.
They were beautiful.
Everywhere they turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at her, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally they had found an empty clean it yourself car wash.
The three others were worried and continually looked around to see if anyone was coming while the dark haired girl tried to magically move rocks to make certain shapes.
So far she had made a heart, a star and a smiley face.
"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."
"Attie do you have anything?" Grover asked the spaced out demigod.
"Huh?" The girl asked, looking up at the satyr.
"Do you have a quarter?" Grover asked giving the girl a soft smile.
"Oh yeah. Here." She said throwing him a quarter.
He caught it and sent the girl a grateful smile.
"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?" Percy asked, confused yet again.
Atalanta wondered if there was ever a moment that he wouldn't be confused about something.
Grover fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."
"Instant messaging?" Percy asked, his interest piqued.
"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."
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Percy huffed out.
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."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors. Annabeth held her palm out. "Drachma, please."
Atalanta now focused back on her task of making magic stone shapes, didn't notice the hand waiting expectantly in front of her.
"Attie." Grover nudged the girl with his shoulder, "she needs the drachma."
"Oh right." The girl muttered grabbed the coin out of her pocket and handed it to the blonde.
The daughter of Athena 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.
"You should've been more specific. How do we know that we'll even talk to Chiron?" Atalanta scolded.
"As long as we talk to someone at camp we should be fine." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
The mist then showed strawberry fields, the sound of Long Island and the porch of the Big House.
Atalanta looked up to see Luke by the railing holding his bronze sword. He looked lost in thought and had a serious look on his face.
"Luke!" Percy called.
Luke turned towards the iris message with his eyes wide. It truly did look like he was standing right in front of them.
"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Attie! 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-"
Atalanta rolled her eyes at the girl. Luke was 19 and she was 12. It would never work out and if Luke truly reciprocated her feelings, Atalanta seriously misjudged his character.
"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?"
"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "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, come on!
"What?" Grover said. "But-"
"Give Percy and Attie the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed Percy the spray gun and followed Annabeth.
Percy readjusted the hose so he could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how-probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."
"Why would they back Zeus?" Atalanta asked with a scowl on her face.
"They said something about something that Poseidon did, but we all know it's because of the stupid rivalry between Athena and Poseidon." Luke answered.
In the next stall, they heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.
"So what's your status?" Luke asked. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."
Percy seemed to talk forever. He told Luke everything. It was weird since he barely knew him, but Atalanta just brushed it off and started playing with the stone around her.
It was helping with her boredom and keeping her mind off the quest.
"I wish I could be there," Luke sighed. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."
"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."
"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."
Atalanta looked up at the statement. She knew Annabeth would never do that but it was extremely suspicious for Luke to imply that.
"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."
Although Atalanta found that funny because of the crush Annabeth had on the older boy, her eyes were still narrowed at him.
Something was off. With Luke, with this quest, with the whole situation. She was going to figure it out sooner or later, but right now she had bigger things to focus on.
"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."
"Oh ... uh, yeah!" Percy tried, and failed not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."
"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?" The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.
"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "Be careful Attie. Use what you learned from your other quests. And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just-"
But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing.
The two demigods stood next to each other in silence. Not having anything to say to each other.
Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped immediately when they saw the somber looks on the other two's face.
Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy, Atalanta? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," Percy lied, softly grabbing the asian demigod's hand. "Come on, let's find some dinner."
A few minutes later they arrived at a diner. They were sitting in a booth surrounded by loud, cheery families. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their food and having a good time.
Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"
"We, um, want to order dinner." Percy mumbled
"You kids have money to pay for it?" The waitress rolled her eyes.
Grover's lower lip quivered. Atalanta grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. He relaxed slightly and sent the girl a small smile.
The dark haired girl glanced over to the other girl in the group. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.
Atalanta was just about to tell the waitress she had money to pay 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.
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. Handsome, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.
Atalanta couldn't help but roll her eyes. What was with gods and their dramatics. They really had no idea how to do anything normally.
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 again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
"It's on me." the biker said as he slid into the 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. He gave him a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
"What's it to you?" Percy scoffed back
Annabeth's eyes flashed to the green eyed boy in a warning. "Percy, this is-" 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?"
"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy 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." Percy snarked back.
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for-I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."
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."
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."
"Of course you do. That's all you gods do." Atalanta rolled her eyes.
Ares eyes flashed to the golden eyed girl and his eyes seemed to darken.
"Little miss magic. Still got quite the mouth, don't you?" He asked.
"Only when it comes to someone not worth my time."
"Listen hear kid-"
"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy butted in, trying to de-escalate the situation.
"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."
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" 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."
Atalanta sent Percy some magic through his arm to calm him down. He glanced at her and sent her a smile.
"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest."
Atalanta tried to block as much of Ares powers as she could, and by the looks of it she was doing a good job since Percy seemed pretty calm about the whole situation.
"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. "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. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy's eyes snapped up to the god's
"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."
"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." Ares offered.
"And what's the catch, huh?" Atalanta interrupted.
"Last time I checked I wasn't talking to you." Ares responded.
"And last time I checked, I don't really care who you were talking to. I am talking to you, and you're going to answer." Atalanta continued to stare the god in his eyes.
Ares looked away first and Atalanta smirked.
"I don't have to tell you anything kid. You'll do what I say." Ares said as nonchalantly as possible.
"We're doing fine on our own anyway." Percy remarked.
"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." Ares taunted.
"My mom?" Percy's eyes went wide as he stared at the god of war.
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?"
Ares bared his teeth at the raven haired boy, but it was the same one Clarisse always gave when she was unsure or scared but didn't want anyone to know.
"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." Ares threatened
When Atalanta opened her eyes again Ares was gone and Annabeth and Grover looked extremely worried.
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
"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."
"Why does he need us?" Percy asked, looking at his burger as if it had been poisoned.
"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."
"But this water park ... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"
"Or he's using us to do his bidding." Atalanta guessed.
The other three looked at her.
"You act like they don't do that. What do you think those unofficial quests were for? It certainly wasn't my choice to go all over the country to do things the gods could do way faster."
"So you're telling me that the gods are lazy?" Percy asked with a smirk.
"Pretty much. I swear they just make us do this stuff because they don't know what to do with themselves without drama." Atalanta whispered back so Annabeth and Grover couldn't hear.
"We'll just have to see what he wants." Annabeth said, looking between the other two demigods suspiciously.
******
THE SUN WAS SINKING BEHIND the mountains by the time they had 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.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, 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." Percy looked at the grey eyed girl with his eyebrows furrowed.
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental." Annabeth responded
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.
"Who is she? Echidna?"
"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."
Atalanta gave Grover a look and rolled her eyes at the dreamy expression on his face.
"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said. "Hephaestus."
"What's your point?" he asked.
"Oh. So how do we get in?" Percy asked, quickly changing the subject.
"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?"
"Give me your hands." Atalanta told the two demigods.
Annabeth put her hand in the dark haired girl's but Percy just looked at her weirdly.
"Why?" Percy asked.
Instead of answering him, Atalanta grabbed his hand.
Before he knew it, Percy was on the other side of the fence.
"Wha-" Percy stared, his mouth agape.
"I teleported us." Atlanta shook her head at his amazement.
"You can teleport?" Percy asked the asian girl excitedly.
"Yup," the girl answered popping the 'p'. "It's one of the powers I got from my mom."
"That's so cool" Percy muttered under his breath.
"Thank you." Atalanta smiled at him.
The green eyed boy blushed and didn't meet the girl's eyes.
Not knowing what caused the change in attitude in the son of Poseidon, Atlanta shook her head and kept walking.
The shadows grew long as the quartet walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
There was no one in the park. No monsters, no humans, no animals. Absolutely nobody..
They eventually stubled upon a gift shop. There was an array of items in the shops.
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just-"
"Watch us." Atalanta replied.
Her and Annabeth snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room.
A few minutes later they came out in Waterland merchandise.
Annabeth wore 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.
Atalanta had a bright green Waterland shirt that was similar to the blonde's, dark blue shorts with fish on them and her black and white converse that were painted with little flowers on them.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all four of them were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.
They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love.
The amusement park actually had a lot of cool rides that looked fun if they would still work.
Of course the park had an eerie feeling to it, but if Ares wanted to come here that was basically a given.
"So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, "they have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Atalanta told him "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Well, you know," Annabeth said. "Hephaestus. The black-smith. 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."
"Whatever."
"Hephaestus knows?"
"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, 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 ..."
"This is a setup. It's never this easy." Atalanta muttered, looking around.
"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?"
Percy received an elbow to the ribs from the dark haired girl.
"Be nice." She hissed at him, her eyes narrowed.
Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."
"Okay, I'm sorry." Percy took a deep breath while rubbing the spot where he was elbowed. "I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic.
"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. Atalanta, come with me-"
"You want me to come with you?" The asian girl asked, staring intently at the boy a light blush covering her cheeks.
"What's the problem now?" Percy asked, his face a mixture of annoyed and confused.
"Nevermind, just don't think this means that I like you like that" Atalanta told him begrudgingly.
"Why would I think that?" The green eyed boy looked to the other two people for help.
"You're asking me to go on the Tunnel of Love with you Percy. Maybe that's not how you meant it but when you ask someone to go on a love ride, it comes across a different way."
"Well you don't have to go. I can just go alone." He said, his face a burning red.
"Obviously I'm not letting you go alone." the girl huffed. "Just think about what you say before you say it please."
The raven haired boy nodded, his face still red as he started going down the side of the pool.
Atalanta followed him not far behind.
When they reached the boat there was a shield that was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf.
"Why would the gods want to meet somewhere like this?" Percy asked looking around the place in distaste.
Atalanta pointed in front of them.
There were mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. They could see themselves no matter which direction they looked.
"They might be dating each other, but while they're in here they get to look at the people they truly love the most: themselves." The golden eyed girl explained.
Atalanta looked around to see if there were any visible traps. She couldn't see any anywhere but something seemed weird about this place.
Turning to look back she saw Percy picking up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and by the looks of it, it had some sort of allure to it.
Percy smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against his cheek when Atalanta ripped it out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket.
"Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic." Atalanta muttered, making sure it was tucked away
"What?"
"Just get the shield, Aqua boy, and let's get out of here."
"Alrighty sweets, no need to get snappy."
The moment Percy picked up the shield his hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard.
Atalanta felt something off and checked around. She paled immediately when her hand touched the side of the boat.
"Wait," Atalanta said.
"Too late."
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap." Atalanta said, trying to think of a way out.
Noise erupted all around, it sounded like a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.
"Guys!" Grover yelled at the two.
Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position.
"Get dow-"
Before Atalanta could finish her sentence they fired, but not at the two in the boat, 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 panicked.
"No shit!" Atalanta said.
Percy grabbed the shield as the two ran toward the edge of the pool. They would've been up and out of there but things never quite worked out that easily.
The slope of the pool made it easy to get into but extremely difficult to get out of.
It was especially hard since Percy was now carrying a heavy shield and Atalanta was trying her best to help him up but she just wasn't strong enough.
"Come on!" Grover shouted.
He was trying to hold open a section of the net, 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 then with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty- nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."
"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!"
She was currently trying to pull the two up with a rope she found, Atalanta has no idea how she could've possibly found it, but it wasn't very sturdy and broke the second Percy tried pulling himself up.
Finally when they had almost made it to the rim, rows of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.
Annabeth screamed and pulled away from the side of the pool.
It was an army of wind-up creepy crawlies: bronze gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward the two in the pool in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"
She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before Grover dragged her away from the edge of the pool.
Atalanta grabbed Percy and pulled him toward the boat. He quickly caught on and they rushed as fast as they could towards 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 the dark haired duo.
Atalanta wanted to be optimistic and say that the spiders were only there to embarrass them and not harm them.
Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And they weren't gods.
Yep. She was being too optimistic. Especially when it came to something involving the god of war, the god of blacksmiths, and the goddess of love. That trio was a disaster from the start.
Atlanta and Percy climbed in the boats.
Percy started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard while Atalanta was pushing them away as quickly as she could.
"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.
Percy kicked one away and lost a part of his new shoe.
Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.
Atalanta and Percy looked around, frantically trying to find a way out of the spider infested ride.
"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.
Atalanta glanced at the water pipes.
She shared a look with Percy and he gave her a panicked look.
"Use the water." She told him.
"Ok." He nodded.
"Wait! Look." Atlanta said pointing up.
And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.
"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"
"But-"
"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was their only chance.
The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was still shaking but she seemed to be recovering.
Hopefully she would actually be able to help because things were going downhill right now.
Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons. "Five, four-"
Grover looked up hopelessly, raising his hands. It seemed he had pushed every button and nothing was working.
Percy closed his eyes as Atalanta created a shield around the boat.
It was small but since the spiders were so strong she wouldn't have been able to sustain a shield for very long otherwise.
"Two, one, zero!"
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders.
Percy pulled Atalanta into the seat next to him and she quickly fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into the boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and going over the shield that Atalanta was still holding.
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 the two demigods. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.
"Concentrate on keeping us up with the water and I'll keep the shield going." Atalanta told Percy.
Although Percy was new, the boat seemed to respond to him. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces.
Finally they spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred them against the metal net.
Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and the duo inside the boat rocketed through into the darkness.
Percy was screaming and holding on for dear life as the boat shot curls and hugged corners of the ride.
If Atalanta was sane, she would've been screaming alongside Percy, but her being the insane person that she is, loved every minute of the ride.
Speeding around the corners and plunging past pictures of Romeo and Juliet at a forty five degree angle sent pleasant tingles through Atlanta's body. She even took the liberty of raising her arms on the parts where it felt like they were plummeting to their death.
Then, all too fast for the dark haired girl, they were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through their 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 Atalanta.
"I know I'm the unhinged one in this duo, but, ARE YOU CRAZY?"
"Unless you want to get smashed to death." Percy strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it."
She had to give it to him. His plan was simple. But that didn't mean it wasn't insane.
"We better make it out of here Aqua boy, or I will bring us both back from the dead and I'll feed you to the cerberus." Atalanta threatened as she looked wide eyed as the gates approached.
Before he could say anything, Atalanta grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"On my mark," Percy said, squeezing the girls hand back.
"No! On my mark!"
"What?"
"Simple physics!" she yelled.
He sent her a questioning look.
"We jump at the right time and we don't go smoosh into the gates."
"Fine." the green eyed boy shouted. "On your mark!"
She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"
Crack!
Atalanta smiled as they made it over the gates.
Her smile fell when she realized that they had gotten more lift 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.
Atalanta placed a shield around the two and just hoped that it would hold up against the impact of their fall.
The girl thought about teleporting them, but last time she teleported herself mid air it ended with them being stuck in the ground and Lee, Luke, and the Stoll brothers having to dig them out of the ground.
Suddenly, the two falling demigods felt something pull them from behind.
"Ouch!" Atalanta cried.
Grover!
In midair, he had grabbed Percy by the shirt, and Atalanta by the arm, and was trying to pull them out of a crash landing, but unfortunately now, the two demigods had all the momentum.
"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"
"Excuse me!" Atalanta exclaimed, "I am not heavy."
"Not you Attie. This lug over here" Grover gestured with his head to where he was holding Percy.
"Hey!" Percy shouted, offended by the remark.
Whatever Grover was going to say was cut off as the trio quickly approached the ground.
Grover tried his best to slow the fall, but the momentum and weight of the dark haired demigods was working against him.
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.
Atalanta and Percy tumbled to the ground, slightly scratched on their knees, but thanks to Grover's help and Atalanta's last minute shield they were alright.
Atalanta looked to Percy to see if he was okay. Ares's shield was still on his arm.
Once they caught our breath, Atalanta and Percy got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving their lives.
Atalanta looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Their 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 the trio, the spotlights in their faces.
Atalanta looked at the cameras and narrowed her eyes. She lifted her hand up and flipped them off.
"Show's over!" Percy yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"
The Cupids turned back to their original positions. 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.
Annabeth ran up to the trio her face covered in grease.
"What happened to you guys?" Annabeth asked looking over the three critically.
"Well apparently the gods find entertainment out of us almost dying, not like we didn't know that already." Atalanta replied rolling her eyes.
Annabeth nodded in agreement.
"What happened to you is the real question." Atalanta said lifting up a piece of Annabeth's grease filled hair.
"I tried to get the controls to work." Annabeth huffed, "And I would just like to say that I never have been and never will be a mechanic."
"It's okay Annabeth, at least you tried." Grover told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Here let me help." Atalanta said as she waved her hand and the grease was gone.
"Thank you." Annabeth sighed in relief sending a gentle smile to the dark haired girl.
The daughter of Hecate smiled back and gave a nod of her head.
Percy finally snapped out of his trance and looked at the other three who were already looking at him.
"We need to have a little talk with Ares." he muttered darkly, his eyes the dark, gunky color of the water that had just brought them through the tunnel of love.