[Percy's POV]
I'd love to tell you that my last thoughts were about my friends. My mom. Maybe I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, et cetera.
None of that. The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!
The river raced toward me at the speed of a truck. Wind ripped the breath from my lungs. Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision.
And then a whiteout of bubbles. I sank through the murk, sure that I was about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever. But my impact with the water hadn't hurt. I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly.
A catfish the size of my stepfather lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags swirled up all around me.
At that point, I realized a few things: first, I had not been flattened into a pancake. I had not been barbecued. I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins anymore. I was alive, which was good.
Second realization: I wasn't wet. I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire on my clothes had been quenched. But when I touched my own shirt, it felt perfectly dry. I looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter.
No way, I thought.
I flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi.
I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry. I lit it with no problem. As soon as I let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag.
Weird. But the strangest thought occurred to me only last: I was breathing. I was underwater, and I was breathing normally.
I stood up, thigh deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled. I should've been dead. The fact that I wasn't seemed like... well, a miracle. I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother: Percy, what do you say?
"Um... thanks." Underwater, I sounded like I did on recordings, like a much older kid. "Thank you... Father."
No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the color of butterscotch.
Why had Poseidon saved me? The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. So I'd gotten lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance. Y/N and those poor people in the Arch were probably toast. I couldn't protect them. I was no hero.
Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders.
A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around. There, not five feet in front of me, was my sword, its gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud.
I heard that woman's voice again: "Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in you." This time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar.
"Where are you?" I called aloud.
Then, through the gloom, I saw her. A woman the color of the water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were green like mine.
A lump formed in my throat. I said, "Mom?"
"No, child, only a messenger, though your mother's fate is not as hopeless as you believe. Go to the beach in Santa Monica."
"What?"
"It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence."
"But..." I was sure this woman was my mother, or a vision of her, anyway. "Who- How did you-"
There was so much I wanted to ask, the words jammed up in my throat.
"I cannot stay, brave one." the woman said. She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress. "You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts..."
Her voice faded.
"Gifts?" I asked. "What gifts? Wait!"
She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone. Her image melted away. If it was my mother, I had lost her again.
I felt like drowning myself. The only problem: I was immune to drowning.
"Your father believes in you," she had said.
She'd also called me brave... unless she was talking to the catfish.
I waded toward Riptide and grabbed it by the hilt. The Chimera might still be up there with its snaky, fat mother, waiting to finish me off, probably eating my friend like a hot dog. At the very least, the mortal police would be arriving, trying to figure out who had blown a hole in the Arch. If they found me, they'd have some questions.
I capped my sword, stuck the ballpoint pen in my pocket. "Thank you, Father," I said again to the dark water.
Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface.
I came ashore next to a floating McDonald's.
A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve.
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."
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 people falling from the Arch."
Survivors. I felt a surge of relief. Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely. I hoped Annabeth and Grover were okay. I didn't know what to tell them about Y/N. All I could really do was hope he had managed to fight that thing and get away.
While I tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on, my thoughts came back to his eyes. They were blank. As if someone had taken them out and replaced them with a smooth pale marble.
"A pair of adolescent boys," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that security cameras show two young boys 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..."
That was somewhat relieving. I backed away, trying to keep my head down. I had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.
I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated,
"Perrrcy!"
I turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug or... goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"
Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"I sort of fell."
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"
Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "This boy! He just went crazy. And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing 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 fought it! He was like a monster! He killed that lady and that dog! He tore them apart like a... like a wild animal! Then he jumped out of the hole like that other crazy kid and- and-." Then she saw me.
"There he is! That's the other boy!"
I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd. "What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator! And where's Y/N? What happened up there?"
I told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, Y/N's potential fate, and the underwater lady's message.
"You left him up there!?" Annabeth and Grover shouted. Annabeth thought hard for a minute, before shaking her head and gathering herself.
"We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad, Seaweed brain."
In a moment, I sighed, and turned, catching sight of a glinting metallic color. A familiar shine. How could I miss it? I pushed through the crowd and followed the shine before Grover or Annabeth could ask about it. I busted through the crowd until I reached the edge of the police tape. Right by the woods.
There he was.
[Y/N's POV]
My body was shaking. Hot tears were flowing from my eyes. The voice growled again.
"You are a fool."
I grabbed the sides of my head, and shook, wildly, hoping that this might get whatever that was out of me.
"Get out of my head!" I screamed. I was lucky to be away from any crowds. This wouldn't help my case.
The voice faded, but it finished with, "You will need me again..."
Everything ounce of my being was throbbing in pain and the feeling on my neck slithered down my body and disappeared. My head rattled. I was covered in monster dust, cuts, and my own blood.
Before I could process that voice and get past my own thoughts, I was hugged and tackled from behind. I toppled to the ground and heard rapid footsteps following the tackle. Then a gasp and a relieved bleat from everyone's favorite satyr.
Percy got off of me and before I could ask him anything, Grover hugged me tightly. He kept bleating out through tears of joy and as I tried to gather my breath, I was enveloped in another hug. Percy again. I caught my breath and they eventually let me go.
"What happened up there??" Percy shouted out. "You were knocked out and then your face! You eyes were-" I put a hand over his mouth, and put a finger up to mine, trying to shush him. He nodded.
Eventually, I peeled Grover off of me and ran a hand through my (H/C) hair a few times, trying to soothe myself. I was sweating and wiped my brow. "Percy told us you were stuck up there with those people?" Annabeth asked. If I wasn't so confused I would say she might've sounded worried.
"I have no idea what happened. I got kicked across the room by the chimera and then I was here. I heard..." I trailed off, receiving skeptical looked from my friends. "You heard something?" Annabeth asked.
"I-... No. I didn't hear anything..." I huffed out. She wanted to ask more questions I was sure, but then we heard a reporter jabbering.
"Percy Jackson and an unnamed adolescent. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boys who may have caused this explosion fit the description of two young men wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boys are believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson and the unknown aggressor. As soon as we know his name we'll have more for you."
My eyes widened. I must've been the unknown. It's good I never actually registered at Yancy or else I'd be in trouble. I motioned for everyone to follow and we ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"Alright," I told them breathlessly. "We need to get out of here. Right now!"
Annabeth gave me a look. I knew how badly she wanted to ask what happened. I wish I could explain it to her, but I have no clue.
Somehow, we made it around the cops, and all the way back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. We 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 us.
***
All I could do was sit there and think. Think about all that's happened in the last few weeks. Nobody spoke for a good length of the ride. I'm not sure anyone knew what to say. I definitely didn't.
After a few hours of sullen silence, Annabeth finally broke it.
"Y/N... What really happened up there? Percy told us you might be dead... And then you just show up on the ground. Covered in blood. I trust you, Y/N, I really do, but this is too crazy to look past."
She kept thinking hard, trying to come up with the next words. "Does this have something to do with your mom or dad?"
"I-... I-..." Did it? I don't know. I don't know.
I whimpered a pathetic response. "No... no I don't think it does..." I just leaned back in my seat, trying to process everything myself. Percy sat up, adding on. "Your eyes man... They were blank. Just a pair of white... eyes! Your face. You looked- You were covered in these- these-" he stammered. "What was that about?"
I kept my mouth shut as I tried to process all of the information. My eyes going white. That would explain the burning feeling after all this time. But I've never been able to figure out why they do that. My face was covered in something. And then the voice.
It was a voice I swear I've never heard before, but I recognized it. I don't know why this is happening more lately. Before this year, I've only felt that twice. And not once before today had I heard that voice speaking to me.
Maybe it has been. Maybe I just didn't hear it. Maybe I... Maybe-
Grover bleated in his sleep, as I tried to figure out what answers I could give them.
"Y/N. You know I trust you beyond any doubt, but if you're holding onto something this crazy, you have to tell us." Annabeth's words compelled me. She was right. As usual.
"You need to tell us Y/N. What's the deal?" Percy begged. My head dropped.
I sighed deeply, rubbing my eye with my knuckle, groaning. "I... I wish I could explain everything to you guys... But I don't know either. I just don't. I want to-" I felt a tear threatening to break out from my eye. "But... but I can tell you something else."
Annabeth leaned forward in her chair. Percy's eyes widened.
"Dude... you can trust us. We swear." Percy looked at me then annabeth. "Right, wise girl?" He glared at her. She nodded. "Of course. We swear. You can tell us, Y/N." her voice was soft and kind.
I took a deep intake of air and tried to come up with something.
"Well... You remember how I said I never met my dad?" They nodded. "It's true. I have no idea who he is either. For all I know, that could explain this. But maybe not."
A deep intake of breath willed my next words. It hurt to relive, but I couldn't let my friends not trust me.
"My mom..." I said, my voice wavering. "She's the only parent I've ever met. And she hates me so damn much. Even before she met me, she hated me."
"Well, who is it?" Annabeth asked gently.
I sighed. "Think about it Annabeth. There's only one person it could be." Her eyes widened. I figured she got it. "Your mom is..."
"Yeah..." I muttered, looking down. Percy just looked confused. Annabeth certainly wasn't. "But she's a maiden goddess. How would that even work??"
"Athena's also a maiden goddess. Look at you." Percy just sputtered. He was trying to figure it out himself. "I'm so lost," He said. "Who is it?"
"Think about it, Percy. Man hating 'maiden' goddess. Who does that describe?" His eyes darted around while the gears churned.
His jaw dropped.
"Artemis..."
"Yeah..." I choked out, swallowing a massive lump in my throat. "Yeah that's her."
"But Artemis would never get y'know... Intimate with a man... Right?" He spoke, rubbing the back of his neck when he spoke on the awkward idea.
"I'm not sure, Percy. She never bothered to explain how she, a goddess who hates men and everything about them had a kid."
Annabeth looked at me warily. Her voice was soft and comforting. "Is that... Is that what happened on Olympus? Is that why you won't go back?"
I nodded. "Yeah... Yeah I had convinced Chiron to let me stay. I told the gods that I refused to leave until one of them owned up to being my parent. Eventually, probably as horrified as she could, admitted I was her son. Well. She never called me that."
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "It was something a little more hurtful that I've tried to forget... Then, well. She just left. And I got kicked out of Olympus and out of my hopes of finding someone who cares about me."
I sighed and thought about that day. About what she said. About what she did. I could never forget it, no matter how hard I tried.
"I haven't gone back to Olympus or even tried talking to her again. She hates me for being born the way I was, and I wasn't going to waste time trying to convince her otherwise. Maybe she's right. Maybe I am terrible just for existing. Who knows?"
I sat up in my seat. I saw Percy looking at me differently. He had visible emotion in his eyes. "See, this is why I never tell anyone. Don't look at me like that, Percy."
"What look?"
"Pity. I can see it in your eyes. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me or anything. It's the cards I've been dealt. Plain and simple."
I slammed my hand into the chair arm. Not angrily, but more to emphasize my point.
Grover stirred. He snorted and woke up. Scratching his patchy facial hair, he yawned, stretched and through it inserted himself into the conversation. "Mmmm... What are we talking about?"
"Oh nothing, G. Just my mom." His eyes were saddened when I said that. He's known. He's always known. I told him years ago.
Annabeth looked like she was on the verge of crying. Maybe she was just upset that she couldn't figure it out first. I shook my head and bit the inside of my bottom lip.
"But that doesn't explain what happened up there." Percy muttered.
I wracked my brain trying to think. This... thing is why I've been so angry about everything lately. I'd hoped that I would figure it out soon, but I came up with nothing.
"I'm not sure anything will explain it just yet, Percy. I don't know... I know the same amount about this as you do." He looked unsure. I scratched an itch on my nose.
"Listen. I don't really want to talk about this right now. I'm going to try to take a nap. You guys should get some sleep too, alright?" They silently resigned that they wouldn't get answers today. I really wish I could give it to them, but I couldn't. Not yet. I couldn't even give myself answers.
I rolled over in my seat, feeling their eyes on my back. I felt a tear brim from my eye but wiped it away, not letting myself cry over this. I just sniffed and closed my eyes. I fell asleep easily, for the first time in a while.
[Percy's POV]
As he rolled over I couldn't help but wonder. How that feels. Being hated just for existing. Annabeth put her head in her hand, thinking and probably trying to figure the rest of his story out before anything else was revealed.
"I never thought..." she muttered out. "Yeah me either. I never imagined his mom would be... that." She shook her head. Grover bleated nervously. Her head snapped to look at him.
"You knew this whole time?" He looked like he wanted to shrink. "Yeah-eah-eah" He sputtered, covering his mouth quickly to hide the goat noises coming out of him. "He- He asked me to not tell anyone. It's a sensitive subject."
"Clearly. But we could've done something. If he would've told us we could've tried... to... I don't know, help?" Annabeth spoke frantically.
"That seems like something really heavy to talk about. You should know Annabeth. Bad parents." She looked at me with an annoyed scrunch in her nose.
"Listen guys." Grover whined. "Let's just leave it for now. I'm sure he'll tell us everything in his own time." I nodded and she, despite her annoyance, agreed. We all stayed silent most of the remaining ride.
***
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious. Y/N had slept the entire rest of the way. He hadn't moved at all.
I was worried for a bit until he started snoring. This was the first time I'd actually seen him sleep. It was a weird thing to watch. He slept like he was dead.
"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?"
"I'm not talking about phones."
She gave Y/N a nudge and his eyes shot open like he was never asleep in the first place. He stretched and stood, grabbing his sword. He stayed quiet still. I wanted to say something to help him but I'm not sure there was anything I could do.
We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally we found an empty "do it yourself" car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.
"What exactly are we doing?" I 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."
Y/N handed Grover a quarter. I checked my pocket and realized I only had two nickels, and a drachma from Medusa's place.
"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."
"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."
"Yeah, Percy. Can't you just conjure up a rainbow. Or is that not in your wheelhouse?" Y/N chuckled dryly. I appreciated the jab, because it meant he was talking again, but I looked at his face. There was no visible emotion in his eyes. I wasn't sure how he was feeling and it's not like I was getting any hints. I turned back to Grover.
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors. Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."
I 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 I was looking through the mist at fields of strawberries and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us 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!" I called.
He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was l standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.
"Percy! Y/N!" 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-"
"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 Y/N the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed the spray gun over and followed Annabeth. Y/N held the spray gun out, tightening the nozzle to give us a better view of Luke.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me 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."
I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything. In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.
"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you guys."
I told him pretty much everything, including what happened with us at the arch and my dreams. It felt so good to see him, to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off. I almost spat out that Y/N had told us who his mom was but he beat me to it.
"Luke, hey." He stammered.
"What's up, Y/N?" The blonde man replied.
"I uh. I wanted to tell you the truth about what happened in Olympus. It's not fair that I've been keeping it." Luke's scarred face showed surprise. "Wow... Are you finally ready to talk about it now?"
Luke spoke through the surprise, a comforting tone in his voice. "Yeah. I told them. So. Yeah. You should know too." He trailed off, just standing there, silent for a moment.
"It's Artemis. My mother. I... I'm sorry for not telling you until now. I should be a better friend than that to you. I'm sorry."
Luke's eyes widened even further. "I- I can't say I was expecting that to be the answer... It's alright that you didn't tell me. Sorry, man. No wonder you don't like talking about her any... I wish I could be there with you guys." He told him.
"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."
We were all silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"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."
I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash. Y/N almost dropped the nozzle at the shrill noise.
"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!" I tried 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. "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. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall. Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face.
Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin. "Come on, let's find some dinner."
A few minutes later, we were 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?"
I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger. Y/N looked tired. More than usual. Like he could fall asleep at any moment.
I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress 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 I'd ever seen.
Handsome, I guess, but wicked. With an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.
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 us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth which was way too small for him, and crowded Y/N and Annabeth together smooshing them up 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 me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach.
Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?
He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad, Gabe. I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"
Annabeth's eyes flashed me 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?"
Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.
"You're Clarisse's dad," I said. "Ares, god of war."
Ares grinned and took off his shades.
(Jeffery Dean Morgan as Ares)
Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. Glad my reputation precedes me. 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? Anyway. 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 gulped, then left with the gold.
"You can't do that," I 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."
"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 kids 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."
He turned and scruffed up Y/N's head, laughing like I imagined a biker would. Gruff and a lot. I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I 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. "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?"
"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," I 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."
"We're doing fine on our own."
"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."
"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?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"
Ares bared his teeth, but I'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 I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone. I might've thought the talk had been a dream, but my friends' expressions told me otherwise.
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
"Of course he did. Ares loves preying on the people he deems below him." Y/N huffed a breath through his nose. "No offense Percy."
"None taken. That guy sucks."
Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me? Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I 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," I 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."
I looked down at my 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."
"Yeah and his brain is probably a bicep or something." Y/N jested from across the table.
"But this water park... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"
The others glanced nervously at each other. Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."
[Y/N's POV]
The sun created a beautiful image beyond the mountains as it set. We found the Water Park. The sign for the place was all sorts of messed up. I could only assume that it said Waterland. Mostly based on the marks around where the letters used to be.
The entrance was chained shut and covered in barbed wire. Of course Ares takes her here. The whole place was dry. For a water park there was a distinct lack of water. The place would probably be explored by ghost hunters, or whatever those people call themselves in the magazine.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy muttered, chuckling, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
"Yeah, I'm not sure you would hate to see her." I muttered, picturing the one time I've seen his girlfriend. She was very attractive. Curly blonde hair, gray eyes, you know what I mean? "Hate to be around her, maybe. But definitely not see."
"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?"
"Aphrodite actually." I added. "She's fickle. Goddess of love and all that."
"I thought she was married to somebody," he said. "Hephaestus."
"Please tell me you're joking?" I laughed out. "Most gods never cared about marriage in the first place."
"Oh... So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.
He flipped his way over the fence, a 10/10 performance besides the fact that he didn't stick the landing.
"You guys coming?" he asked us, gloating. Goating? Heh.
Percy, Annabeth, and I had to climb the old fashioned way. I went first, holding the wire down for them to cross, then cutting my hand on the way down. I sighed and let it bleed. It wasn't a deep cut, just a scratch.
I left a trail of blood drops behind me as the shadows started to grow past the mountains. It felt like they were trying to sneak up and scare us.
We looked around for the tunnel of Love, but ended up finding other rides and attractions first.
Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit? Funny names, but I wasn't exactly in a laughing mood. Lucky us, we didn't get attacked by anything. There was a souvenir shop full of clothes. Sweet relief.
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Oh yeah" I said.
Percy objected. "You can't just-"
"Watch me." Like a Hermes camper she snatched an entire row of stuff from the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she 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. We were all now changed. Dressed up like moving billboards of the derelict water park.
"So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy asked, trying to kill the silence. "They have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told him. "Three thousand year old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Hephaestus. He's the god of forges." I explained. "He got crippled by Hera when she threw him off Olympus as a baby. He's not what one would call conventionally attractive. But I've heard he's a pretty cool dude all things considered. But Aphrodite is the type that values looks over all else. You get me?"
"She likes bikers." Percy quipped.
"Sure. Bikers" Annabeth said defeatedly. Percy kept bombarding her with questions.
Eventually we made our way to a big empty pool at least 100 feet across. There were a dozen cupid statues around it. This must be it.
The sign above said "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' shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"This seems too easy." I muttered. "Should I just go down and grab it?" I asked Annabeth.
She ran her hand over one of the cupid statues. "There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder..."
"Grover," Percy asked, "you smell any monsters?"
He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."
"Nothing? Like, 'in the Arch and you didn't smell Echidna, nothing', or really nothing?"
Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."
Percy apologized swiftly.
"I'm going to make a run for it." I said, ready to jump my way down and run as fast as I could.
"I'll go with you." Grover sounded really unhappy about the idea of it. But he did seem desperate to atone for what happened at the arch.
"It's alright, G. You're our air support. The... What was it Percy?"
"Red Baron."
"Yeah. That. You can use the shoes to keep an eye on us. Percy, stay with him. You'll be my backup if I get killed or something."
Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"
"Something. I'm sure of it. Something always does. Annabeth. Cmon. I need your brains-"
"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just risen from the grave. Her cheeks were bright pink.
"Now what'd I do?" I questioned.
"How embarrassing is that. Me and you on the... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? What if somebody saw me?"
"First of all, ow." I heard Percy and Grover snicker at this.
"Second of all. It's not a big deal. Just come on." She stood still. "Alright. Fine by me. In I go then. All by myself. Open for attack. If only there were a genius daughter of Athena here to save me." I quietly laughed to myself.
I was fully prepared to slide in alone. But when I started down the side of the pool, she was right there with me, still red in the face and muttering about boys being annoying or something.
Once we had gotten to the boat, I picked up the scarf. Something smelled good. Probably the love goddess' perfume. I wouldn't mind a candle in this scent. Annabeth ripped it out of my hands and stuffed it into her pocket.
"Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
"That's a... good point. I guess. But it might not have love magic. Just perfume" She eyed me with her normal curiosity, but finished stowing the scarf away.
"Just get the shield, Prancer and then we can go."
I put my hand on the shield and suddenly I felt very nervous. I pushed through some kind of cobweb. It turns out it was a tripwire.
"Wait," Annabeth said.
"Little late for that, Einstein."
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."
"Fantastic."
Noise erupted all around us, 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. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. 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 gotta go." I said.
"Duh!" Annabeth said.
I grabbed the shield and we ran, but it didn't matter how fast I was. The pool was so steep it was like trying to climb the wall of a building.
"Come on guys!" Percy shouted.
He and Grover were trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever they touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around their hands.
The statue's heads opened. Spotlights. Video Cameras. And a voice somewhere drowned out my thoughts. "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!"
"Well, at least we'll get some exposure for our acting careers!" I scathed myself for not thinking faster before trying to snatch the shield.
We were just about to drag ourselves to the top of the pool when a bunch of tiny metallic multi-pronged things fell on us.
Annabeth screamed in terror. It was a bunch of shiny metal gear spiders. I was wondering for a moment what this was about, but then I remembered. Athena and spiders. Makes sense.
"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"
I'd never seen her like this before. She jumped onto my back and grabbed tightly. Annabeth tried kicking the robots away but all she ended up doing was causing me to lose my grip on the wall and slide back down the bowl of the pool. I stood up and swiped off some of the spiders, sighing at the turn of events.
Annabeth kept screaming at the top of her lungs. I picked her up and carried her down towards the boat.
We were going to drown in these things if we weren't careful. "Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker. The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were pretty easy to break apart at first but there were just so many of them.
One of them bit into my bracer and I swatted it away. Percy patrolled the edge of the pool trying to find a way to help us. Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.
I decided to do something no one expected. I'd use my brain.
"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.
Pool. Water. Percy. Son of the god of water. I looked around at the pool and spotted the pipes behind the spiders' origin point. Above that was a control office.
"Percy! Grover!" I yelled. "Get to that booth. Get the water on!"
"But-"
"Just shut up and try it!" I must be out of my mind, but when was I in my mind? Annabeth was screaming her head off. The spiders were all over. Grover and Percy were slamming down on the buttons in the control room.
"Five, four-"
Percy and Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising their hands. They had pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.
I yelled at Percy. "You're the son of the water god! Act like it!" He let out a visible "ohhhh."
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth close and tightened her seatbelt. We were hit hard with a tidal wave. Spiders splashed around. I was lucky Anabeth hadn't gone catatonic yet.
The cameras were rolling now. We were bathed in spotlights. I could only imagine what Olymous was seeing now.
I held Annabeth tight, both of us screaming as the boat raced around, slamming into corners, barely holding us in. I fastened my seatbelt as we raced past whatever romantic crap was in there. I felt wind whistling through my hair and luckily enough, we weren't going to die here. I saw the exit. Thank you Percy.
The Gates of Love were chained. Thanks Percy.
Now, I'm no expert, but I figured this ride wasn't going to end like it should.
"Unbuckle yourself!" I yelled to Annabeth. She had finally snapped out of it and come back to reality.
"Are you crazy?" She yelled at me, somehow not knowing the answer to that question already.
"Oh yeah! And you better be too unless you want to die in the tunnel of love!" She shrugged and agreed with the reasoning. I put the shield on my arm and ran the scenarios.
"We gotta jump!" I yelled as the wind whipped through our hair. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I hoped it would work. Annabeth seemed to understand what I was going for. She gripped my hand as we got closer to what would hopefully not be our end.
"On me!" I said.
"No! On my mark!"
"Why?"
"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"
"Alright whatever!'" I shouted. "On you!"
She hesitated... hesitated... then yelled, "Now!"
Unsurprisingly, she was right. If we went when I wanted to, I would've broken every bone in my body slamming into the gates. She got us out.
Still, it was a little too far out. We flew over the gates, over the pool and out by the parking lot. I grabbed onto Annabeth and rolled, trying to land on my back, but something pulled us up.
Grover! Percy!
Grover was flying with the shoes, he was holding Percy who had me by the leg. I was holding Annabeth so we were upside down. On top of that, we had too much momentum to stop. We started sinking.
"You guys are too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"
We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.
My back smashed into a photo board. Annabeth flinched as splitters flew off me and past her. Grover and Percy's head went straight through the spot where tourists would take their pictures. I tumbled to the ground, Annabeth in my arms, and the shield keeping half of the pain away when we rolled onto it.
I was banged up but alive. She was doing much better than I was. But she still quivered as we finished rolling and I let her go.
Annabeth caught her breath and pulled Percy and Grover from the photo board. They made their way over to me. I was on my back, trying not to pass out. The adrenaline finally left my system and I stood up, thanking them for saving us.
The pool water had finally subsided. I could see the cameras still rolling. Not sure what made me do this, but as the spotlights shone on our faces. I took a sarcastic bow.
"Good night Olympus! Hope you enjoyed the show!
The lights shut off. The cupids reset. The park returned to its original quiet and dead state. I wondered if any of the gods got a laugh from that.
I handed the shield to Percy and turned to the others. "We need to have a conversation with my dear old uncle Ares."