↳LOGICAL
CHAPTER FIFTEEN!
015. ❝ THAT'S DEBATABLE ❞
"THEY'RE LOOKING AT US." grover says to the two girls next to him, reffering to the crowd of police officers who were staring at them, but only havan was actually listening to him as annabeth stared into the distance.
"so we should probably get out of here don't you think?" he asks again, but there was still no reply.
"dude, they're looking right at us." the satyr averts his gaze away from the police officers as he says this. "yeah, grover i think we got that part." havan replied, her a expression a mix of annoyance and worry.
"what?" annabeth murmers slightly, before grover began to gesture in the direction of the police officers. "come on. let's go find percy." havan breaks up their small encounter, recieving sympathetic looks from her friends.
grover sighs. "havan--"
"he's alive. i know it." the girl cuts him off before walking past the both of them in the direction of the river. "percy!" they all began to call out, looking around the area, checking to see if he was around.
"percy!" havan called out.
it was then when the three noticed the boy climbing over the balcony. the group continued to eye him weirdly as he sends them a small "hi." in response.
"look, im sorry about shoving you in the stairwell. even hearing myself say that sounds really bad, but i just knew you'd never agree, and there wasn't enough time--" but percy's explaination was cut off by havan walking up to him and pulling him into a hug.
the two stood there, in eachothers arms, for a while. but to them, that while probably felt like forever. the two were then broken up by annabeth coughing awkwardly as grover began to speak. "you're not as dead as we thought you'd be." the satyr says.
percy shrugs. "suprise."
"what happened?"
"short version, we need to go to santa monica." percy tells them, and they all look at him confused. "what, like now?" grover asks him. "my father's gonna meet me there. he's gonna help us."
"okay, just one problem with this plan. the police think we crashed an amtrak train." grover starts. "and then did that." he finishes, now gesturing his arm in the direction of where the arch was destroyed.
"the cops are after us? isn't that gonna make it hard for us to get on a train? or a bus? or really anything you need tickets for?" percy inquires earning similar looks from his companions.
havan huffed. "anybody else hungry?"
"me!" grover replied.
──── ✿︎ ────
"I THINK THIS QUEST MIGHT BE HARDER THAN WE THOUGHT." percy says, looking between his friends who didn't say anything in reply, already knowing the information he just happened to realise.
"i've been thinking." he starts.
"shocking." havan murmers sarcastically.
"i didnt steal the master bolt. you guys didn't steal the master bolt. we're pretty sure hades has the master bolt, but he couldn't have stolen it himself. i mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing. or why, or how deep this goes." he finishes, looking at his friends who stayed silent before looking at him awkwardly.
"i'm the last person to realize this, aren't i?" percy asked them, they all nodded in response. "okay, maybe when we started my head wasn't fully in this but since the river...it all feels different somehow. he saved me. my dad. i guess i just thought that wasn't something he'd do for me. so maybe i should take this more seriously." the boy finished.
the group continued to walk until they heard an engine revving from behind them. "car." grover states blankly as they all turn around to look.
"that's not a car it's a bike. just let it pass, come on." havan told them, before gesturing to the barricades on the side of the road, indicating they should hide behind them. they all then sat down with their backs against the concrete, blocking their bodies away from the view of the road.
percy continues. "im saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. i think we might need to be detectives here too."
"yeah." havan replies, nonchalantly. "why are you being weird with me again i thought we weren't doing that anymore?" percy turns, now looking at her as he says this.
"im not being weird." havan denies.
"yes you are. you've been weird since we left the arch." he continued, earning a small glare from the girls direction.
"oh...i get it. it doesn't have to be a thing, you know. that you hugged me and held my hand." percy says, but his realisation only makes the girl resist a roll of her eyes.
"then stop making it a thing."
"i mean, we're like friends now. that seems like a thing friends do. atleast i think they do--" he adds but is cut off by havan. "you almost died, you moron. of course im going to feel weird about that."
"yeah, but im alive." percy argued.
"but you almost died. nobody said this quest would involve people dying, if someone had mentioned that. i wouldn't be here." havan sighed. "no one said be here, that was your choice. so don't start acting weird with me again because youre not happy about that." percy tells her, as the two shared a small look slightly, but it wasn't a good one.
but as havan was about to reply, she was cut off by annabeth. "i saw the fates. back at the arch, i saw the three fates, and i saw atropos cut a piece of thread."
"and that's bad or...?" percy queries.
"the fates weave the life strand of every living thing. so when you see a string cut--" grover starts.
annabeth cuts in. "it means one of us is gonna die."
havan huffs. "great. more dying."
"i mean we're all gonna die, eventually." percy states sardonically, and this time, havan didn't resist rolling her eyes. "soon. it's a warning. an omen." she tells him.
percy sighs. "okay, guys. we need to talk about this whole fate thing. three old ladies with a ball of yarn can't know what's gonna happen. what i choose to do changes what's gonna happen, and i can choose to do anything...i want--" the boy finishes, before turning to listen behind him.
the motorcycle engine had come to an abrupt stop, and that stop just happened to be right behind them. "need some help?" a voice came from behind them, they all then stuck their heads out from behind the barricade, eyeing the mysterious man.
"beg pardon?"
"i asked if you could use some help." the man said once again. "nope. we're good. appreciate you asking, though. so long." grover says, as the four begin to sit back down.
"you don't seem to good." the man inhales deeply before saying this. "we don't want anything from you." havan says, sticking her head out to speak to him.
"you sure? because you guys are so behind schedule." the man chuckles. "i mean, summer solstice is just a few days away. and as much as i'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, i feel like, maybe, i wanna give you a hand." the man says, the four were now standing behind the barricade.
"cousin?" percy asked.
"ares." annabeth tells him.
"you must be athena's kid. always gotta be the wisest one in the bunch." ares said, looking in annabeth's direction.
"wait, why would you help us? how do you even know about what we're doing out here?" havan asked him. "because im doing exactly the same thing as you. zeus sent all of his kids out to look for the master bolt too." he starts.
he sighs. "listen, dummies. im hungry. there's a halfway decent diner up the road. if you want my help, you'll meet me there but don't dwadle. i won't wait forever." the god says, before starting his motorcycle and riding off.
"that's my cousin? what kind of family is this?" percy sneers caustically.
"did he just call us dummies? with that ratchet ass haircut of his and everything?" havan mutters slightly, earning an amused look from grover.
"come on. let's go."
the four began to walk in the direction of the diner. when they had finally arrived, annabeth opened the door to the diner as the four were met with the smell of food and the indistinct chatter of the customers around them. the only thing you could hear more that the retro music playing over the speakers, was ares' loud laughter.
"guess this is the right place." percy said as the four made their way towards the booth the god was sitting in. "gimme a second, im just starting a fight on twitter here. nothing makes me happier than a good old burn-it-down fight." he continues to type for a short while before placing his phone down. "okay, done."
"so your quest." he sighs. "is going to fail. ask me how i know." ares began, as percy and the rest of the group sent him a perplexed look.
ares scoffs. "sure it is. for starters..." he says, before pulling out his phone once again and played them a video of a man sobbing on the news. "who's that?" grover asks percy.
"my step-dad. what is he doing?"
"wait for it." ares sneers.
"do you believe he may also have had something to do with your wife's disappearance?" the reporter asked the man.
"the kids that messed up? what wouldn't he do?" percy step-dad continued.
"what?" percy widens his eyes.
"wild right? the fbi is already spreading your picture around." ares said before they all went back to watching gabe ugliano sob on the news.
"im gonna kill him." percy says, his tone and expression serious. "i knew i was gonna like you." ares smiles slightly. "but safe to say, the chances of you four idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to la are slim to none." he adds
"why are you sitting here then? if you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?" havan asked him.
ares turns to her. "there's no fear in you is there? you're just like your father."
"that's debatable." the girl shrugs.
"whatever. it doesn't matter. whether the bolt is retrieved or not. zeus is going to war with poseidon." ares said, as the four began to look at eachother weirdly. "no, the oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war." percy argued.
"the oracle also once said that the prophecy about fire and water wouldn't happen. but you two are sitting infront of me before the prophecy even happens." ares said, looking between havan and percy.
"wait, the prophecy is about us?" havan asked him, and the god just nodded in response. "either way, is that really what she said? or is that what chiron said she meant?" he asked them.
"yeah. you're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. see, years before i was born, my grandpa kronos ate my aunts and uncles. yeah. then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked him into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right out of the gate." ares starts, his words getting louder by the second.
"olympians fight. we betray. we backstab. we will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. and that why i love my family so much. my dad knows he's not getting his bolt back with quests or goose chases. he knows there's a war coming. and in reality, i think he's okay with that. i think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war." he finishes before inhaling deeply. "isn't that great?" he asks them.
"we're completing this quest, we're stopping this war. you said you can help, can you?" percy asked him and ares sighs. "okay, so here it is. there's an amusement park up the road. i left my shield there. you got me my shield back, and i'll get you to the underworld by lunch tomorrow with a plan to invade hades' palace."
"you left your shield? like, forgot it on the merry-go-round?" havan asked sarcastically. "okay, the chirping was funny to me for a minute, but it is getting old." he snarls at her.
havan scoffs. "kinda like your haircut."
"so do we have a deal, or am i killing all four of you so i can eat in peace?" the older man growls. "okay." percy replies reluctantly.
ares smiles. "great. one catch. i really need that shield back so im gonna keep the satyr and athena's spawn here as collateral and you can take the smart ass with you."
"what? no." havan argued.
"okay." grover and annabeth said at the same time. "we don't split up again." percy tells them. "it's okay. if he wanted to kill us we'd be dead by now." grover states locking eyes with the god sat infront of him.
"can i just walk them to the door?" he asked and the god sighed before gesturing his hand for him to go. when they had made it to the door, havan turned back around to look at grover and annabeth.
"okay, look. don't engage with him. he'll wanna get you riled up, get in your head and you can't let him." havan tells them. "it's okay really." annabeth tells her.
"and you, grover?" the girl asks her bestfriend. "its okay. i know what im doing. go. get the shield. we'll be here when you get back." he says, before pushing the two out of the door. as havan and percy were walking away from the diner, the girl looked back slightly, her face serious.
"what?" percy asked her.
"he better not leave before i tell him how much i hate his children." she murmers, amusing the boy next to her with her random statement.
"im sure he knows."
💌
im actually pissed.
wattpad deleted THREE of my chapters
so much writing just gone down the drain.
i also can't find my dividers in my gallery🤦🏽♀️
there's alot going on.
this chapter was longer but i shortened it slightly seeing as i needed to update.
sometimes this app is my enemy.
nev<3