CHAPTER FOURTEEN
( everyone has that bad relative )

A COAST GUARD boat picked us up, but with the disasters all over the city because of Hades's anger, they were too busy to question why four kids wandered onto the middle of the bay with street clothes. It was such a chaotic scene, that their radios were jammed with distress calls. They dropped us off at the Santa Monica pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people. Our clothes were soaking wet, and they were starting to itch. At least I wasn't also barefoot like Percy, who had given his shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves.

After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against the beautiful sunrise.

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

"It was a trick," Percy cut her off. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

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

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

"I'm so sorry about your mother, Percy," I looked back at him. I don't know if that offered the comfort I intended it to have, but at least I wanted him to know he wasn't alone.

"The prophecy was right," he said instead, completely ignoring what I had told him. "'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 because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

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

Percy stopped walking and looked down at the beach. "Gee, let me think."

There he was, as if he was waiting for us. He had his black leather duster and sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, the headlight turning the sand red.

"Hey, kid," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see him. "You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me," Percy answered him. "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 hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you'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. . ."

He took out a ski mask from his pocket and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The helmet of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares nodded. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

Ares shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy pointed out. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"

Percy stayed silent at those words.

"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades. . . Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way – no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why send it to Hades?" I couldn't help but wonder.

Ares's jaw twitched. It was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I. . . yeah. . .with that kind of fire-power. . ."

He held the trance for a few seconds. I didn't know to be nervous, scared or even both.

Ares's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have him caught red handed, holding the thing."

"You're lying," Percy told him. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, angry.

"You didn't order the theft," he guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

I couldn't help but exchange a glance with Annabeth at his words.

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

Percy paused. "Who said anything about dreams?"

Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk. "Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hard headed idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."

He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out came a wild boar, even larger than the one whose head hung above the door of my own cabin back in camp. The beast pawed the sand, glaring specifically at Percy with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the instruction to charge and kill.

Percy stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

The god laughed, but I could hear a little edge to his laughter, an uneasiness of some kind. "You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes."

"Scared?"

"In your adolescent dreams." But his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."

Annabeth cried out, "Percy, run!"

The giant boar charged. As the animal rushed toward him, Percy pulled out the pen and uncapped it, sidestepping. He slashed upward as the sword materialized in his hands. The boar's severed right tusk fell at his feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea.

He shouted, "Wave!"

At his command, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around its body. The beast squealed once in terror before it was swallowed by the sea. Percy turned back to Ares, looking more frustrated than before.

"Are you going to fight me now?" he asked. "Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?"

Ares's face was purple with rage. "Watch it, kid. I could turn you into –"

"A cockroach," Percy interrupted. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"

Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

"If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helmet and the bolt are mine and you have to go away."

Ares sneered. He swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

Percy raised his sword.

"That's cool, dead boy," he said. "Classic it is."

The baseball bat transformed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth. I was waiting for any of them to back down from the fight, but they were both staring at each other with anger behind their eyes. I knew Percy could hold his own sword fighting – I've even seen it firsthand – but this was the literal God of War.

"Percy," Annabeth spoke up, trying to talk him out of it. "Don't do this. He's a god."

"He's a coward."

She swallowed. "Wear this, at least. For luck."

She took off her leather necklace, with the five years' worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around Percy's neck.

"Reconciliation," she said. "Athena and Poseidon together."

He remained silent for a few moments, but then smiled. "Thanks."

"And take this," Grover walked forward. He handed him a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for a thousand miles. "The satyrs stand behind you."

"Grover. . . I don't know what to say."

He patted him on the shoulder and Percy stuffed the tin can in his back pocket.

Percy then faced me, as if he was waiting I'd give him or say something too. I didn't like this, at all, but I figured the least I could do was offer another weapon just in case. I removed the charm bracelet from my wrist and placed it in his palm, watching his face shape into one of confusion at the sight of it even if he'd already seen it before.

"Be careful," I told him. "This could help you for an up-close attack."

He nodded and the look on his face shifted again, this time looking honored that I'd given the bracelet to him. If he somehow made it out of this alive, I promised myself I'd make another charm to add to my bracelet.

"You all done saying goodbye?" Ares came forward to Percy, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"

He didn't say anything and kept his feet in the surf, backing into the water up to his ankles. Ares cleaved downward at Percy's head, but he disappeared. Before I could wonder what happened, the water catapulted him in the air and over Ares, slashing as he lost altitude. But the god was just as quick. He twisted, and the strike that should've caught him directly in the spine was deflected off the end of his sword hilt.

He grinned. "Not bad, not bad."

He slashed again and Percy jumped onto dry land. He tried to sidestep, to get back to the water, but Ares figured out what he was doing. He outmaneuvered him, pressing so hard against him. Come on, I thought to myself, Remember your training! But then I remembered he didn't have that much training. Hopefully Luke's old tricks might just help him enough.

Percy stepped inside with a thrust, but Ares was waiting for that. He knocked the blade out of his hands and kicked him in the chest. He went airborne approximately twenty meters. Suddenly, if things weren't bad enough, I heard the sound of sirens approaching us. Out of the corner of my eye, I recognized the blue and red lights flashing everywhere and over the shoreline.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "Cops!"

The car doors slammed shut and I was already bracing myself for something to go wrong.

"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"

A gruff cop's voice answered, "Looks like that kid on TV. . . what the heck. . ."

"That guy's armed," another cop replied. "Call for backup."

Percy rolled to one side as Ares's blade slashed at the sand. He reached out for his sword again and aimed a swipe at Ares's face, but the blade was deflected once more. Percy had no other choice but to step back towards the surf, forcing Ares to follow.

"Admit it, kid," Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."

A second cop car pulled up, its siren wailing. Annabeth, Grover and I tried to think of a convincing way to escape interrogations if the cops ever made their way to us. Spectators, people who had been wandering the streets because of the earthquake, were starting to gather around. Among the crowd, I heard the familiar flap of leathery wings circling somewhere above, but my attention then focused on the other approaching sirens.

A police voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns! Set them on the ground. Now!"

Of course, mortals wouldn't be able to see the swords. I didn't know what could be worse for a normal person to see, a shotgun or a sword, but neither option sounded good.

Ares turned to glare at the spectators. There were five police cars surrounding the area, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on Percy and Ares.

"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone!"

He swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the patrol cars. The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming in fear.

Ares roared with laughter. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."

He slashed. Percy deflected the attack and got close enough to strike. The waves were hitting him in the back, and my vision squinted just to see what he had in mind. Ares was up to his thighs, wading in after him with a confident grin. Percy lowered the blade, as if ready to give up. Ares raised his sword in opportunity. Unexpectedly, the tide was released and Percy jumped, rocketing over the god with a large wave. A two-meter wall of water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of seaweed. Percy landed behind him with a splash and feinted towards his head. Ares turned in time to raise his sword, but this time he was disoriented and didn't anticipate the trick. He changed direction, lunged to the side and stabbed the sword straight down into the water, sending the point through the god's heel.

The roar that followed made Hades's earthquake look like a minor event. The sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifteen meters wide. I hadn't realized that my hands were cupped over my mouth in shock until I was forced to put them down.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, poured from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, and complete disbelief mixed together over the fact that he'd been wounded. He limped towards Percy, muttering ancient Greek curses but something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded everywhere. Sound and color all around us drained away. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time in the process, dropping the temperature to freezing and making me feel like life was hopeless. A shiver ran down my body from both the cold and in a sense of fear, since it was a sensation I'd never felt before.

The darkness lifted just as quick as it appeared. Ares looked stunned. Police cars were still burning behind us and the crowd of people were nowhere to be found. Still in shock, I watched how the water flooded back to Ares's feet, the ichor disappearing with the waves.

Ares lowered his sword. "You have made an enemy, godling," he warned. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."

His body began to glow.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"

All of us turned away as Ares revealed his true, immortal form. If any of us dared to take a peek, we would've disintegrated into ashes before even having a good look at him. After a moment, the light died. When I turned back around, Ares was nowhere to be seen. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades's bronze helmet of darkness. I watched how Percy picked it up and began making his way back to us.

But before he could make it back, the flapping of leathery wings returned. Three evil looking old women with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of him. Alecto, the one in the middle, stepped forward. I was afraid they'd try to attack him again and stepped forward, but I noticed she didn't look threatening like before. I was too far away to hear what she told him, but I saw how he handed her the Helm of Darkness. Hopefully, that would clear everything with Hades.

As quick as they appeared, the three Furies rose on their bat's wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky and disappeared. With no other obstacle stopping Percy from joining us, he made it back with a relaxed look, as if he hadn't pulled the most amazing ( don't tell him I said that ) stunt I'd ever seen.

"Percy. . ." Grover breathed. "That was so incredibly. . ."

"Terrifying," said Annabeth.

"Crazy," I blurted out.

"Cool!" Grover corrected.

He didn't look like he agreed with any of our words, probably too tired from using his newly found abilities. "Did you guys feel that. . .whatever it was?"

We nodded, uneasiness in us.

"Must've been the Furies overhead," Grover guessed.

I wasn't sure of that answer. It had to be powerful enough to stop Ares from killing Percy on the spot. This, the past dreams, our encounter with the entrance of Tartarus. . .everything added more evidence to my theory that this was worse than we imagined. There was only one being powerful enough to do what just happened, and I prayed to every god I knew that I was wrong.

"We have to get back to New York," Percy declared after grabbing his backpack from Grover. "By tonight."

"That's impossible," Annabeth said, "unless we – "

"Fly," he agreed.

"Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on."

"You're crazy."

He gave me a smug smile. "I thought you knew that by now."

     IT'S FUNNY HOW humans can wrap their minds around things and fit them into their version of reality. Chiron had said that a long time ago. Who knew it would be the very thing to save us from this mess?

According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a lunatic kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake. This lunatic kidnapper – Ares – was the same man who had abducted Percy and three other adolescents in New York and brought us across the country on a ten day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal, after all. He'd caused the commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey as a way to get away from his captor (and afterwards, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus – "Why didn't I remember him before?") The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson (when I tell you that fueled his ego) had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.

The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted, playing the role of poor, victimized kids for the cameras.

"All I want," Percy had said, choking back tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew. . .somehow. . .we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number."

That was a smart move, I'd give him that. The police and reporters were so moved by his words that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York.

There was no choice but to fly. If Zeus had the slightest bit of decency, he'd let us fly safely. Still, all of us were hesitant to board the plane, but we had no better option.

It had been a long time since I'd boarded a plane, and I didn't remember ever feeling as scared as I felt on that flight. I thought I was exaggerating by keeping my seatbelt on the entire flight, but then I saw Percy gripping the armrests like a lifeline. He didn't dare to relax until we landed safely at LaGuardia Airport. The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!", then rejoined us at baggage claim.

We split up at the taxi stand. Percy told Annabeth, Grover and I to get back to HalfBlood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened. Obviously, we protested against the idea, since we had already gone through everything together, but he decided this was the part of the quest he had to do by himself.

As much as neither of us liked it, even Percy, he hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan.

author's note !
you know what's coming ;) brace yourselves people, cause this is going to be a wild ride from now on.

- see you soon, bex <3