The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 15

A Coast Guard boat picked them up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how three kids in street clothes had got out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

They dropped them off at the Santa Monica pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Their clothes were sopping wet, even Percy and Isa's. Isa couldn't dry herself up when the Coast Guard had appeared so she had to will herself to get soaked. Percy was also barefoot because he had given his shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves.

After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. Isa felt as if she'd just come back from the dead⎼which she had. Percy's backpack was heavy with Zeus's master bolt.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way⎼"

"It was a trick," Isa said.

"A strategy worthy of Athena," Percy added.

"Hey," she warned.

"Not now Annabeth," Isa said and they could all see that the girl was serious. Annabeth and Grover knew how bad this all was. "You don't get it, don't you?"

Annabeth dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody⎼"

"Percy..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

He pretended not to hear her. But Isa walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She could hear Percy's erratic heartbeat. He sighed but hugged back. His chin resting on top of her head.

"We'll get your mom back," Isa said. "I promise."

Once they let go, Percy turned to the other two. "The prophecy was right. 'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war between the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helmet, and framed me and Isa because we're Poseidon's kids. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

"It's not just you, bro," Isa said. Percy's face softened when she said 'bro'. "I'll be the cause too. We're in this together, right?"

"We're in this together," Percy agreed and they first bumped.

Grover shook his head mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

Percy and Isa stopped in their tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee let me think."

"I wonder who," Isa said sarcastically.

There he was, waiting for them, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

"Hey, kids," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see them. "You two were supposed to die."

"You tricked us," Percy said. "You stole the helmet and the master bolt."

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power⎼that's a big no-no. But you're not the only heroes in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice," Isa pointed out.

The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kids, you're impeding the war effort. See, you two've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."