So, Annabeth decided that we needed to talk to someone named Chiron about our talk with the river spirit and the fact that I existed.
I am pretty sure that Chiron was the centaur dude Percy told me about earlier, so I am pretty excited.
But what I didn't get was how we were going to talk to him if phones were a big no-no for demigods because they attracted monsters.
We wandered around in downtown Denver for a while, the air dry and hot, making all of us a little cranky. Which I feel like was kind of valid on the account that all of us had not eaten since the night before, and all of us probably smelled like a dumpster.
We found a do-it-yourself car wash after a while, where Annabeth led all of us to the farthest stall from the street, keeping us out of the searching eyes of police officers or suspicious people.
I stood next to Percy, leaning against the cool brick wall as I watched Grover pick up a spray gun.
"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, sounding as tired as I felt.
"It's seventy-five cents," The satyr muttered. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"
"Don't look at me," The blonde shook her head, dark bags under her gray eyes. "The dining car wiped me out."
Percy grabbed whatever money he could find in his bag, passing Grover a quarter in the end.
"Excellent," Grover said, getting ready to insert the money into the machine. "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?" I asked, furrowing my brows.
"I-M'ing."
I blinked as I watched him set the spray gun to FINE MIST, "Instant messaging?"
"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected, running a hand over her grimey face. "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."
"Oh, that makes sense," I nod, shrugging.
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Percy asked incredulously.
"Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow," Grover shot back at him, pressing the release button and watching mist fill the air.
A bright rainbow filled the space as the late afternoon light filtered through the stall.
"Drachma, please," Annabeth held a hand out to Percy. I watched my brother hand her the coin before eyeing Annabeth as she declared, "O goddess, accept our offering." She threw the gold coin into the rainbow, not even phased as it vanished. "Half-Blood Hill."
I was not sure what to expect, but when the beautiful image of strawberry fields and what I vaguely recognized to be the Long Island Sound came into view, I audibly gasped.
"Woah..." I breathed.
The image was also focused on some kind of image where it looked like a sandy-haired person had his back to us.
He had a bronze sword drawn at his side, his eyes pinned on something none of us could see.
"Luke!" Percy called, making me jump.
The guy turned, and I would be lying if I didn't think he was handsome.
The older teen had sky blue eyes, tanned skin from years of being in the constant sun, and was toned and muscled (probably from the training my friends told me about).
But it was the scar that really set off his looks.
The scar stretched from just barely past his right eyebrow and traveled over his right eye, giving his appearance an even more mysterious look.
His eyes grew wide at the sight of Percy as he moved to the rainbow, his lips quirking up with a grin, "Percy! Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
I glanced over at Annabeth, who was trying to fix up her appearance in vain.
I almost snickered, recognizing her not-so-secret crush on the blond guy as she stammered, "We're...uh...fine. "We thought-Chiron-I mean—"
"He's down at the cabins." The guy's smile fell, his lips pressing into a thin line. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"
"I'm right here," Grover shouted as he maneuvered himself to meet Luke's gaze in the message. "What kind of issues?"
The teen did not get the chance to answer as a car with an obnoxiously loud stereo system rolled into the stall next to us.
The bass was enough to make the ground shake, and my ears ring.
I glared at the brick wall that blocked us off from the annoying bringer of the hip-hop monstrosity.
"Chiron had to—" He flinched at the sound as if filtered through the message. "What's that noise?!"
"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth called, moving out of the line of sight of Luke, looking relieved about it. "Grover, come on!"
"What?" Grover furrowed his brows. "But—"
"Give Percy or Sally the nozzle, and come on!"
Grover muttered something about girls being impossible to understand and something about someone named Delphi.
I snickered as he passed the spray gun to Percy, who was adjusting the hose, so the rainbow continued steadily.
The music still blared, but Luke's words were loud as he cried, "Oh, you're new..."
My eyes whipped over to the image, and I met Luke's curious gaze.
I straightened a little, unsure what to say suddenly.
This is Sally," Percy exclaimed with a grin, wrapping an arm around my shoulders even though we were the same height. "She is my sister."
Luke's eyes nearly popped from his head, "Did-Did you say sister?"
Percy nodded excitedly, "Isn't that awesome?!"
I smiled shyly at him before looking at Luke again, his eyes flashing with wariness before being replaced with kindness, "Nice to meet you, Sally. I'm Luke. I guess those three knuckleheads have explained everything?"
I chuckled, "Whatever they can, I guess. But yeah."
Luke snickered before running a hand through his hair and sighed, "Wait till Chiron hears about this! He's gonna lose his mind! This means that Poseidon broke his pact twice!"
I grimaced, thinking about that.
Apparently, the Big Three of the gods (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) all agreed not to have kids for whatever reason. I don't remember anyone explaining why, but that pact thing was just a passing comment I caught on our trip.
"How fun," I muttered before snapping my fingers, "What-What were you gonna say about the fight?"
Luke took five seconds to register my words, blinking and pulling his eyes away from me as Percy and I stood side by side, both crossing our arms unconsciously in unison.
"Right," Luke continued to shout over the music. "Chiron had to break up a fight. 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."
I glanced over my shoulder at Annabeth's arguing voice and the sound of the music quieting a decent amount.
"So, what's your status?" Luke asked, glancing at me as he lowered his voice a little bit. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you. Especially you, Sally."
Suddenly, Percy was explaining everything that had happened on the quest so far, even explaining our weird dreams we had been sharing and the explosion of the bus, and my joining the trip.
I chimed in a few times, but I mostly kept an eye on the nozzle time, and too soon, it beeped, alerting us we had one more minute of water.
"I wish I could be there," Luke sighed, his mind obviously thinking about our tale. "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," Percy furrowed his brows in confusion.
"That's true," Luke's lips pinched in thought. "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."
My stomach twisted.
Annabeth could turn invisible with her hat.
I must have paled significantly, and Percy must have reacted too because Luke quickly jumped in again, "Oh, hey. 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."
I seriously doubted Annabeth would appreciate that description and suddenly wondered how everything was going when the music turned off, and someone was screaming. Then there was a car door slam and the screeching of tires.
I glanced out of the stall just in time to see the car before shooting off as quickly as possible.
"You'd better go see what that was," Luke chuckled a little bit at the noises. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."
I glanced at Percy, wondering if he would tell Luke that Grover was wearing them and not him.
"Oh...uh, yeah!" Percy spouted, his neck turning red as he lied. "Yeah, they've come in handy.
"Really?" Luke grinned, seeming to be pleased with the report.. "They fit and everything?"
The music shut off, the mist disappearing.
"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver. You too, Sally, nice to meet ya!" Luke called as the image started to completely disappear. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—"
He disappeared, and I looked at Percy, "What happened? With Grover?"
Percy opened his mouth to answer when Annabeth and the satyr came from around the corner, laughing loudly.
When they saw our faces, the sound was cut off as the blonde asked, "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
I went to explain when Percy subtly grabbed my hand, silencing me, and he lied, "Not much. Come on, let's find some dinner."
I gave him another look, and he shook his head when our friends turned around.
I wanted to ask him why he had lied, but my empty stomach was screaming at me, so I just nodded, and we followed Annabeth and Grover back into the city.
We found a chrome diner and very quickly seated ourselves, the smells of fries and burgers overwhelming our senses.
"Well?" A waitress came to the table, eying us skeptically.
"We, um, want to order," Percy stammered the obvious.
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
My hands were shaking from anxiety and hunger as Percy fumbled over his words, trying to come up with a story, but we all jumped when the whole building shook.
My eyes whipped to the parking lot and widened at the sight of the enormous motorcycle that had pulled up to the curb.
Everyone was silent.
The motorcycle was unnerving to look at with its glaring red headlight, the gas tank with flames painted across the surface, and shotgun holsters on either side with two actual weapons placed inside. My stomach curdled at the sight of the seat, which looked a lot like Caucasian human skin.
My eyes drifted to the biker, who looked weirdly familiar, but I could not place where I had seen him or if I had seen him at all.
He was dressed in a red muscle shirt, black jeans, and a leather jacket, the look complete with a hunting knife strapped to his though, red wraparound shades, oily crew cut, and cruelly scarred face.
The moment he swept into the diner in all of his scary biker gang aura, the air grew dry, and people all around us stood slowly, then sat back down at the wave of his hand.
As we stared at him, the waitress asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
"It's on me," The guy responded in a gravelly voice as he shoved himself into the booth with Grover and Annabeth, pushing them against the window. He gave the woman a scowl as she stared at him, "Are you still here?"
I watched in shock as the biker pointed at the woman, and she marched away with an awkward spin.
My hands clenched in my lap as I turned my eyes to the biker who was staring at Percy and me through his red shades.
Rage swept through me as I looked at him, and I had the sudden urge to karate chop him in the face.
I fought back against the urge as the biker smirked at Percy, "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?" His face turned slightly to me, and he gave me a nod, "And that must make you the little mistake."
I flinched slightly at the title, The Little Mistake.
I scowled at him, snapping, "What's it to you?"
"Sally," Annabeth said slowly, giving me a warning look. "This is—"
The biker dude raised his hand, cutting her off, "S'okay, I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
I just glowered at him, my tongue turning thick in my mouth as I refused to respond.
"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said, his whole body radiating anger beside me. "Ares, god of war."
I did not waver as the god grinned, taking off his shades and showing off his empty eye sockets, which glowed with little mini 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? What I'm here for–I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you." He looked at me with a snide smile, "You too, little miss mistake."
I almost launched myself at him as he called me that again, still not understanding why in the heck he had the audacity to say that. Still, my attention was diverted to the waitress, who brought piles of burgers, fries, onion rings, and shakes to the table.
Ares turned to her and dropped a few gold drachmas into her hands, and she nervously murmured, "But, these aren't..."
The god pulled out his knife and started to clean his nails casually, "Problem, sweetheart?"
The woman, in response, turned around and left, taking the gold with her.
I glared at the god again as Percy snapped, "You can't do that. You can't just threaten people with a knife."
Ares chortled at my brother, "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?"
"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."
I raised a brow, all the shyness leaving my body as I quickly shot back, "Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"
He turned his eyes to me, his empty sockets glowing a little brighter with annoyance, "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, Sally Elway. Will you prove yourself a coward, Percy Jackson?" Ares leaned forward, tilting his head at us tauntingly. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."
I kept stone still in my chair, my lips pressed into a thin line as Percy snarky replied, "We're not interested. We've already got a quest."
Percy gasped slightly beside me, making me side-eye him in worry as Ares snarled, "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 ..." The god licked his lips as if he could almost taste the missing Master Bolt's power in the air. "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?" I questioned him, catching onto the nickname.
"Sure," He looked over at me, his lips still twisted in frustration. "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 muttered beside me, less than happy to be saying that to the meathead across the table.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy," Ares smirked. "Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."
"We're doing fine on our own."
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against." He nodded at me, "Now you got another Big Three monster-magnet with you. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
Percy stiffened next to me, "My mom?"
Ares knew that would get my brother's attention, "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancey. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"What interrupted your date?" I asked, trying to ask as many questions as possible so that we weren't completely blind going in. "Something scare you off?"
The god bared his teeth at me, and for some reason, I was not at all afraid of him, and maybe that was because I could tell he was also nervous, or at least I thought he was.
"You're lucky you met me, little mistake, 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." He pointed at the two of us, "Either of you."
The world went dark for a brief moment, and when color came back into my vision, Ares had vanished into thin air.
I furrowed my brows, running a hand through my tangled brown waves.
"Not good," Grover suddenly murmured, his voice shaking. "Ares sought you out, both of you. This is not good."
Annabeth gave me a confused and sad glance, probably recalling the nickname Ares had given me.
Little Mistake.
I frowned at my food, refusing to believe that was how I was seen.
It couldn't be true.
Right?
"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy said, shaking his head after moving his eyes from the now empty curbside. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."
"We can't," Annabeth retorted. "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?" I asked, glaring at the once appetizing food.
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains. 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?" Percy questioned, flicking a fry away from him.
Annabeth and Grover shared a nervous look before the former answered, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."
†††
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said. "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
I couldn't help but agree.
The waterpark was a dump.
There was trash, barbed wire, padlocks, empty pools, and creepy billboards everywhere that made my skin crawl just looking at it.
"Percy," Annabeth shot at him. "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 commented, looking around from Percy's right.
"Who is she? Echidna?" Percy teased or at least tried to.
"No, Aphrodite. Goddess of love."
He said it in a dreamy tone, making me roll my eyes.
"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said in confusion. "Hephaestus."
"What's your point?"
"Oh...So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover shouted before he launched over the gate to the waterpark. Landing on his knees after doing an unintended somersault in the air. "You guys coming?"
"Stupid shoes," I grumbled as I struggled to climb up and over the gate with my brother and Annabeth the old fashion way.
We walked through the empty park, staying close to one another as the shadows seemed to follow us.
But there were no monsters and no noise.
It was slightly unnerving.
"Clothes," Annabeth suddenly said. "Fresh clothes."
I turned my head to find the open and abandoned souvenir shop to my left, and my eyes grew at seeing the clothes and doodads hanging around for the ghosts.
"Yeah, but you can't just—" Percy started.
"Watch us," I stopped him.
I marched forward, grabbing an entire row of clothes before waving for Annabeth to follow me.
We took about ten minutes before we each emerged in our new Waterland attire.
I kept my old shoes on despite their old condition, but I changed into a pair of blue and purple flower-print shorts and an oversized purple Waterland t-shirt.
It felt amazing to get out of the torn and gross clothes we had been traveling in for days now.
We both stuffed a bunch of other stuff into two backpacks before moving to where we had left the boys.
They stared at us as I was braiding my long hair back, and I raised a brow, "Well?"
"What the heck," Grover shrugged before he and Percy copied us, and we hurried across the park, searching for the ride.
"So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy asked as we strained our eyes in the dark to find the ride. "They have a thing going?"
I chuckled while Annabeth responded, "That's old gossip, Percy. Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Well, you know. 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," I commented without thinking.
She gave me a look, rolling her eyes, "Whatever."
"Hephaestus knows?" Percy continued to question, ignoring Annabeth and me.
"Oh sure," Annabeth nodded as if it was totally normal (but being gods, I guess it was, but ya know). "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 and stared at something, "Like that."
In front of us was a huge empty pool that had to be like fifty years across at least and was the shape of a bowl.
I could vaguely make out the shapes of a bunch of Cupid statues around the rim and the opening where the tunnel opened opposite of where we were sitting.
I couldn't make out with the sign read, the darkness getting to be too thick, and my dyslexia was being a jerk.
"Guys, look," Grover called to us from the edge.
At the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seating boat with a canopy.
And in the left seat, glinting tauntingly up at us, was Ares's bronze shield.
"This is too easy," Percy muttered beside me. "So we just walk down there and get it?"
"There's a Greek letter carved here," Annabeth said as she ran her fingers over one of the statues. "Eta. I wonder..."
"Grover," I turned to the satyr. "You smell any monsters?"
He sniffed and shook his head, "Nothing."
"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?" Percy asked bluntly.
"I told you, that was underground..." Grover said in a hurt tone.
I elbowed my brother, giving him a hard look before he said, "Okay, I'm sorry." He took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you," Grover told him, not sounding thrilled about it.
"No," Percy told him, shaking his head. "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." He looked at me, "You and Sally."
I wanted to fight with him but just asked with a sigh, "Sure. But what could go wrong? Grover said there's no monsters."
"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me—"
"Are you kidding?"
I blinked at her high-pitched voice, looking at her and her coloring face.
"What's the problem now?" Percy snapped at her.
"Me, go with you to the...the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that?! What if somebody saw me?!"
I had to bite my lips to stop from laughing at the red faces of Annabeth and Percy as they argued.
"Who's going to see you?" My brother sputtered. "Fine. I'll do it myself."
Grover and I watched the two of them crawl over the edge and down to the two-seater.
I giggled, "Those two..."
Grover snickered beside me, his eyes sweeping around the area before he glanced at me, "What do you think Ares meant? When he called you that?"
I flinched a little and quietly replied, "I don't know. I'm hoping he was just saying that to annoy me..."
"But—"
"Grover, I don't—"
We were both cut off when an ear-piercing noise filled our ears.
We spun to see the Cupids moving and then shooting something across the pool at one another.
We watched in shock as silky gold threads latched onto opposite sides, making a net over the top of the empty bowl.
Grover and I sprinted to the edge of the pool spying Annabeth and Percy, trying to lug themselves up the side of the pool with the shield in tow.
"Come on!" Grover shouted at them.
I shoved my hands down, grabbing at the net, which immediately began to wrap around my hands.
I yanked them away as a loud voice shouted over the area, "LIVE TO OLYMPUS IN ONE MINUTE...FIFTY-NINE SECONDS, FIFTY-EIGHT—"
Annabeth was shouting something below that I could not understand as I turned to Grover, "Fly and see if you can find any loose points!"
He nodded, taking off when Annabeth screamed.
I looked down, and my face paled at the sight of the bronze spider robots starting to fill the pool.
"PERCY, GET HER TO THE BOAT!" I shouted at my brother as I climbed to my feet.
I rushed around the pool, trying to find a way to stop the net from trapping my brother and friend.
"THIRTY, TWENTY-NINE—" The speaker continued.
I pulled out my sword, but my hand burned when it spazzed out in my grip.
What the heck?!
It stopped, the gleam of bronze glaring into my eyes before Percy shouted, "SALLY!!! WATER!!!"
I caught his eyes, confused, "WHAT?!"
"I NEED YOU TO CALL THE WATER!!"
"HOW DO YOU—"
"FIVE, FOUR—" The speaker announced.
I looked down at my brother and friend, both of them being tied down by webs that the spiders had produced.
I tried to think.
What was I supposed to do?!
My eyes fell on the pipes around the pool, and with a panicked breath, I thought about the water inside.
The trickling of droplets.
The rushing of currents.
Water.
There was a tug in my stomach, something I had felt before but had no idea what it was.
I thrust my free hand toward the pipe just as the speaker screamed, "TWO, ONE, ZERO!"
The pipes exploded, rushing towards me.
At first, I was so shocked that anything had happened, but then I realized the water would follow my hand motions, so I quickly drew it towards the boat Percy and Annabeth were in. The water slid over the boat, clearing the spiders and dousing the two passengers, but not flipping the water-vehicle.
Having never done this before, I struggled to keep the boat from spinning as I dropped my sword and made the water lift.
"Come on...Come on..." I growled under my breath as I willed the water and the boat to make sure the latter did not run into the walls.
I quickly made the water shove the boat into the tunnel, and even though the boat disappeared, I felt like my body was still connected to the water, which was rocketing Percy and Annabeth into the darkness.
It was going so well; I was just guiding my friends as I led them through the water without seeing them when I realized we had a problem.
There was supposed to be an entrance to the exit pool...but the gates to that pool were chained.
"GROVER!!! THE GATE!!!" I screamed even though there was no way for us to do anything. "YOU HAVE TO CATCH THEM!!!"
The satyr did not have any time to react as the boat came screaming down the tunnel and thrusting both of my hands into the air, I threw the boat into the air, watching in terror as Annabeth and Percy flew from the ride and into empty air, the shield latched onto the latter's arm.
Grover caught them, but with a mighty crash, my friends and brother crashed into a photo board, Grover's head getting stuck as soon as they landed.
I dropped my hands, and the world spun, sending me to my knees.
Arms wrapped around me, lifting me off the ground as lights swung onto us, and I blinked twice before noticing the blurry figures of the Cupids on us, the spotlights filtering us with white light.
"Show's over!" Percy yelled from beside me, keeping me on my feet. "Thank you! Good night!"
The Cupids spun back to their original positions, the lights shut off, and silence filled the park again, except for the gentle drip, drip, drip of water from the pool.
Exhaustion filled my limbs as I dropped my head on my brother's shoulder, murmuring, "Sword..."
"It's on your finger again," He told me, an edge in his voice. He tightened his arm around my waist, turning us to face Annabeth and Grover, "We need to have a little talk with Ares."
"And take a nap," I muttered, even though I knew no one could hear me.
"Percy, that was incredible," Annabeth breathed as we walked. "That was so much—"
"It was Sally."
I could feel Annabeth and Grover turn their eyes to me.
"H-how did you—" Annabeth stammered.
"Beginner's luck," I replied, giving her a weakened smile.
Introducing...
Ares
as Jeremy Renner
Luke Castellan
as Jamie Campbell Bower