Back To Black | Luke Castellan

10

Nadia, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover arrived and the dinner and walked in. They looked around and stopped Ares as the table laughing obnoxiously.

"Guess this is the right place." Percy said and they walked over to the table. He looked from his phone to them. "Give me a second, I'm just starting a fight on Twitter here." He said.

The four of them crammed into the other side of the booth. "Nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn it down fight. Ah okay down." He said, setting him phone down on the table and looked at them.

"So your quest... is going to fail. Asks me how I know." Ares said, looking at the four of them. "It isn't going to fail." Percy said.

"Sure it is." Ares said laughing. "For starters." He said putting his phone up and showing them a video of a man getting interviewed. "Percy was always troubled, but I knew thought he was capable of something like this." The man said.

"Wh—who is that?" Grover asked Percy. "My stepdad. What's he doing?" He asked.

"And in addition to the destruction of the Gateway arch." The reporter said.

"Wait for it." Ares said.

"You believe he may also have had something to do with your wife's disappearance?" She asked Percy's stepdad. "A kid that messed up? What wouldn't he do." He said.

"What?" Percy asked in disbelief. "Wild right." Ares said to him. "The FBI is already spreading your picture around."

"It's a Camaro. I really—we really love that car. So much." His stepdad cried out.

"He's a deadbeat." Nadia said, looking at Percy. "I'm gonna kill him." Percy muttered.

Ares put his phone down. "I knew I was gonna like you. But it's safe to say, the chances of you four idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L.A. without getting arrested are slim to none."

"Why are you sitting out here then?" Annabeth asked him. "If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?" She asked him.

He stared at her. "Hm. There's not fear in you, is there?" He asked and she shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Whether the bolts retrieved or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon."

The four of them looked at each other. "No, the oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war." Percy said.

"Is that what she said? Or is that what Chiron said she meant. Yeah. You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work." Ares said looking at him.

"See years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate his aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kind of set the tone right outta the gate." He explained.

"Olympian's fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead and that's why I love my family so much."

"My dad knows he's not getting the 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 said smiling.

"Isn't that great?"

"We're completing this quest. We're stopping this war. You said you can help. Can you?" Percy asked him.

"Okay, so here it is. There's an amusement park up the road. I left my shield there. You get me my shield back, and I'll get you to the underworld by lunch tomorrow with a plan to invade Hades's palace." Ares told them.

"You left your shield? Like, forgot it on the merry-go-round?" Annabeth asked him. He looked at her and leaned forward. "Okay, the chirping was funny to me for a minute but it is getting old." He said.

"So do we have a deal or am I killing all four of you so I can eat in peace?" He angrily asked.

Percy looked at them before looking back at Ares. "Okay." He said. Ares smiled and leaned back. "Great. One catch. I really do need that shield back, so I'm going to keep the satyr and her here as collateral so you don't run off." Ares said.

"What? No." Annabeth said. "Okay." Grover said and he looked at Nadia and she nodded. "No way, we don't split up again." Percy said. "It's okay." Grover said.

"If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead by now." Nadia said looking at him.

"Can I just walk them to the door?" Grover asked and Ares sighed and waved them. The three got up and looked at Nadia. She shook her head and they walked off.

Ares looked at her. "Didn't want to say goodbye to your little friends?" He asked her. "Nah, they don't need my words to tell them they'll be alright." Nadia said to him.

"Give me your dagger." He said and she shrugged her shoulders. "Why?" She asked him. "Because I said so." He said holding out his hand.

She rolled her eyes and reached in her bag. She sat up and set it in his hand. "Nice bracelet." He said, noticing it. "It was a gift." She said, putting her hand at her side.