CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
( A GOD GETS HIS ASS
BEAT BY TWO PRE-TEENS )

IT SOUNDED BAD, BUT Kali was grateful for the disaster in L.A. It saved them from having to explain much of anything. The people in the Coast Guard boat that picked them up were too busy and distracted by what happened to question why four kids, in street clothes no less, were in the middle of the bay. Or even how. Their radios were jam packed with distress calls that never allowed them to really pay attention to the four of them, except to make sure no one was seriously hurt.

The Coast Guards ended up dropping them off the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and then sped off to save more people. Silently, Kali prayed that whoever was in the water when the earthquake hit was okay; that, if they were around, maybe her Neried aunts could help if someone needed it.

Each of them were sopping wet. Kali didn't dry herself off with a flick of the wrist, and Percy willed himself to stay soaked too; it would've raised questions if they didn't. What also would've raised questions were Grover's hooves. But Percy gave him his shoes, and now walked barefoot – and with no backpack.

On the boat, Kali had forced Percy to take a break from carrying it and then picked it up before he could once they got the pier. It was heavy like carrying a bowling ball.

After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach. On the shore at one side of them, the waves were calm. A false calm. Nearly still with off rhythm, small waves because of the quake. Unassuming. She knew beneath the surface that the undercurrents were strong and unpredictable, though. On the other side the city burned against the sunrise, and Kali refused to look at it directly.

How much of it had she caused? Most of it had to be Hades' fault, but Kali allowed herself to snap and knew some of the quakes belonged to her. She just...didn't know which ones – if there were a lot or not, if they were strong or not.

If they were destructive or not.

Annabeth's voice tore her from her thoughts. "I don't believe it. We went all that way–"

"It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

Her anger faded and she casted her eyes down. "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 acted as if he didn't hear her.

Kali spoke up to change the topic, "You know how the prophecy said we'll face the god who has turned? It was right. We were just wrong about it being Hades. He didn't even want war among the Big Three. Someone else did it."

He nodded. "Yeah. Someone else Zeus' master bolt and Hades' helm, and then framed me and you because we're Poseidon's kids. Meaning Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there might be a three-way war. And we'll be the cause of it."

"Not if we get there in time," Kali muttered, a bit of determination setting in her tone. Other than not liking how she was framed for something she didn't do, she didn't want a war to start that would indirectly effect Naia's and Makoa's lives.

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

Percy stopped in his tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think."

Kali did the same when she noticed who was down there. An annoyed, "Eugh," tumbled out before she could stop it.

There Ares was, waiting for them, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses. An aluminum baseball bat was propped over one shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, it's headlight turning the sand red.

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

Kali's grip on the backpack straps tightened and she glared up at him. "Both of us?"

Ares shrugged nonchalantly with a ghost of a smirk. "More or less."

Her brows lowered.

"You tricked me. You tricked us," Percy said. "You stole the helm 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, kids, you're impending 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' master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."

From his pocket he took out a ski cap, like the ones robbers use, and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The helm of darkness," gasped Grover.

"Exactly," Ares said. "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. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"That's exactly why the suck," Kali argued. "What good comes out of it?"

He grinned with all his teeth. The sight almost made her take a cautious step back. "Free entertainment."

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

"Yes and no," Ares told him. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brains to follow, but the backpack in 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? Anyway, 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 not just keep the master bolt for yourself? Why send it to Hades?" asked Percy.

Ares' jaw twitched. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep in his head. "Why didn't I...yeah...with that kind of firepower..."

He stayed in that trance for one second... Then two...

Kali and Grover shared anxious looks.

Ares' face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."

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

"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses like they were about to catch fire.

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

Percy hesitated. "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, kids. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded 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 charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood. The beast pawed the sand, glaring with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill.

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

Kali stilled, and tried not to look at him he was crazy. She wasn't a good fighter! What was he thinking?

The boar began to look between him and Kali, as if choosing who it would go after first. Despite mentally thinking he was crazy to include her in fighting against Ares, she went to stand by Percy to make the boar's move more predictable.

"'Us'?" Ares repeated, sounding amused. "Two against one, now that's a little unfair."

"And when is war ever fair?" Kali asked. "Didn't think you would care about that after admitting you want to kids dead."

He laughed, but there was a little edge to it...an uneasiness. "You both share one talent: running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. Neither of you have what it takes."

I don't but Percy might, she thought.

"Scared?" asked Percy.

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

Annabeth shouted, "Guys, run!"

The giant boar charged.

Kali actually sort of wanted to moved, but decided to stand her ground instead and unsheathed her dagger the same time Percy uncapped the pen and put on a brave face. She didn't want to let him down.

The boar rushed them. Instinctively, she threw the dagger as hard as she could before stepping to the side; it lodged between the boar's eyes. It squealed in pain. Percy slashed upward with it distracted, slicing off a tusk that fell at his feet. Disoriented and in pain, the animal ran into the sea.

Percy shouted, "Wave!"

Immediately, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around it to make a pig in a water-blanket. The beast squealed once in terror. Then it was gone, swallowed by the sea.

Kali's dagger was pushed to shore. She smiled to herself in pleasant surprise and picked it up, and put it back in it's sheath with a mental thanks to the ocean.

They turned back to Ares.

"Are you going to fight us now?" Percy asked. "Or are you going to hide another pig?"

Kali said, "My bet's the pig."

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

"A cockroach," he 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 pot."

"How about a deal? If we lose, turn us into anything you want and take the bolt for yourself," Kali said. She was really taking a chance saying this, and hoped it wasn't a mistake. "If we win, the helm and the bolt are ours and you have to go away."

Ares sneered.

Kali thought he wasn't going to agree, but then he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

Percy lifted his sword; Kali unsheathed hers.

"That's cool, shark bait," he said, and Kali scowled. "Classic it is."

The baseball bat changed into a large, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a Ruby in its mouth.

"Guys," Annabeth said. "Don't do this. He's a god."

"Well, I would be one, too, if I hadn't been cursed," said Kali.

She frowned with worry. "But you're not, Kali. He's..."

"He's a coward," Percy told her.

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

She took off her camp necklace, with five years' worth of beads and her dad's ring, and tied it around Percy's neck. She then took off a bracelet – one of those handmade, friendship ones that Kali hadn't payed attention to, to really notice it until then – and put it on Kali's wrist instead.

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

Percy's face had turned a bit pink. He smiled. "Thanks."

Kali smiled, too. "Yeah, thank you, Annabeth."

"And take this," Grover said. He took out a flattened can. "I don't have two, but..." He took off the soda can tab and handed it to Kali, then gave the can to Percy. "The satyrs stand behind you."

Percy said, "Grover...I don't know what to say."

Grover patted his shoulder. Percy stuffed the can in his back pocket. Kali did the same with the soda tab, then handed him the backpack.

"You all done saying good-bye?" Ares came toward them, black leather duster trailing behind him and the sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. "I've been fighting for eternity. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"

Neither answered.

What did she have?

Kali began backing up into the water, mind going to how she and her friends tested how long she could fight in it. The answer? A long time. She just needed to do what she did during Capture the Flag. Stay in the water; make sure he didn't back her out like Adelaide did. She was relieved that Percy was going toward the water with her.

Ares cleaved downward at Percy's head, then sideways at Kali. But Percy got launched into the air by the water, catapulting over Ares, and Kali instinctively ducked. She straightened up immediately and slashed at the god, but he was quick to block her. At an inhumane speed, he blocked Percy's attack from behind as well with the end of the sword's hilt.

Ares grinned. "Not bad, not bad."

He slashed again, and Percy was forced to jump on dry land. Kali attacked from behind, and it distracted Ares long enough for Percy to inch closer to the water. Unfortunately, Ares was quick and easily able to attack and block against two at once. It went on like for a few moments, until Ares successfully got them both on dry land by pushing Percy back and forcing Kali to follow.

Kali ducked again to avoid another slash, and she took a chance and swiped at Ares' legs with her blade. It didn't work. He backed up enough to not get hit, then moved forward quickly and stomped on her sword with godly strength, breaking it in half. At the same time, giving her no opportunity to react, he pulled a move similar that his children used and whacked her against the temple with the hilt of his own sword.

She got knocked down into the sand, temple now throbbing and eyes shut in pain. She vaguely heard someone shout her name through the ringing of her ears. Maybe multiple someones. Something wet now slowly ran down her face and hairline. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, she lightly shook her head with a grimace and then forced herself to reopen them. She rolled herself to her stomach and pushed up on her hands.

First, she saw the broken bronze sword. Then, a couple of drops of blood coming from the fresh cut landing in the sand. Her ears then picked up the sound of swords hitting underneath the ringing of her ears, which was thankfully starting to die down.

She looked up to where Percy and Ares were just in time to witness the god knock the sword out of Percy's hand and kick him in the chest. Percy went airborne – either twenty or thirty feet – and landed harshly in a sand dune.

Kali pushed herself to her feet. Ignoring the dizziness, she ran and snatched up Percy's sword – perfectly balanced, not too short and not too long – and a handful of sand. Getting in front of Ares, she tossed the sand into his face and slashed at him.

He shouted, stumbling back in surprise. "Augh! You little–"

The sword cut one sleeve of his leather duster but nothing else. Ares struggled to wipe the sand off of his face and fight at the same time.

Kali slashed again. He took another step back.

With another retaliated attack from him, Kali stepped to the side, turned, and then stepped back. Behind him was Percy beginning to move on the sand dune. Behind her was the no longer still waves of the ocean.

"Percy! Kali!" Annabeth shouted. "Cops!"

Kali didn't bother to look, but it did distract her concentration some.

Ares sliced his sword sideways at her stomach. Kali wasn't able to block it but, unthinkingly and luckily, turned that part of her body into water at the last second. All Ares' sword did was slash a hole on the front of her shirt, having done nothing but slice through water instead of skin.

He sneered in frustration and continued to attack. Kali continued to block.

With Ares distracted with her, he didn't notice Percy running back until the last second. Ares turned and slashed at him, but Percy fell and slide under the blade on his side like a baseball player. When he jumped back to his feet, Kali tossed him the sword and took a step back as he sidestepped to stand slightly in front of her. She took the chance to grab her dagger.

The blades collided again. Percy took another step back to the surf, which forced Kali to do the same. It also forced Ares to follow.

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

Around them, people were starting to gather. There were sirens wailing and more cop cars pulling up. Annabeth and Grover stood thirty feet to the left. There were few among the crowd with strange, trotting gaits of disguised satyrs. Shimmering forms of spirits, too, as if the dead had risen from the Underworld to watch the battle. The sound of leathery wings flapping from above was heard.

They stepped farther into the water, but Ares was fast. The tip of his blade ripped Percy's sleeve and grazed his forearm.

An officer's voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns! Set them on the ground. Now!"

Thank the gods for the Mist, Kali thought. She glanced at Ares' weapon to see that it flickering between looking like a shotgun, and looking like the two-handed sword that it truly was.

Ares turned to glare at the spectators. It gave the siblings a moment to breathe. Five police cars now parked in a line, officers crouching behind them with pistols in their hands. Each one was trained on Ares, Percy, and Kali.

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

With a sweep of his hand, a wall of red flames rolled across the patrol cars. The officers barely had time to dive for cover before the vehicles exploded. Behind them, the crowd scattered and screamed in terror.

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

He slashed. Percy deflected; he got close enough to strike, tried to fake Ares out with a feint, but his blow was knocked aside. Ares tried to get passed Percy to Kali, but got blocked and aggressively slashed at. The waves were hitting them on their backs now. The water went up to Ares' thighs as he waded after them.

The rhythm of the sea washed against them, waves growing as the tide rolled in.

Percy nudged himself more in front of Kali. "Do you think we can share control?" he asked quietly with his mouth barely moving, neither one of them taking their eyes off of the god.

"One way to find out," she replied just as quietly.

Kali twisted her feet into the sand at the bottom, focusing on the sea and of the deeper current pulling back more and more at a steady, nearly unnoticeable pace. It was an odd feeling, but she felt Percy's control over the water as well; she didn't know if she could describe it.

The waves shrunk. The tide receded. Tension built and built as nothing else happened.

Ares waded forward some more with a confident grin. Percy lowered his blade as if he was too exhausted to go on. Kali took more of the deeper current, while Percy did the same. The pressure was almost lifting him off his feet. Ares raised his sword. At the same time, they released the tide and Percy jumped, rocketing straight over Ares on wave while she stayed in place.

The six foot wall of water didn't affect Kali; it washed over her like it was nothing. But it did smash into Ares with full force in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of seaweed. Percy landed behind him with a splash, and feinted toward his head. Ares turned to raise his sword, but Kali had the undercurrent be yanked back with a force so strong it ripped Ares' feet from under him. The god of war fell under water, and Percy lunged and stabbed his sword straight down into the water.

The roar that followed made the earthquake from earlier look like a minor event. The sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand twenty feet wide. Kali saw that Percy stabbed him through the heel as she made her way back to his side.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from the gash in Ares' boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. Pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

He limped toward then, muttering curses in Ancient Greek.

Something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded. Sound and color drained away. A cold, dreary presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making it feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

Behind Percy and Kali, the police cars continued to burn. The crowd of spectators had long since fled. Annabeth and Grover stood in shock, watching the water flood back around Ares' feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

Ares lowered his sword.

"You have made an enemy, godlings," he told them. "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 and Kalliroi Beaumont. Beware."

His body began to glow.

Annabeth shouted, "Don't watch!"

As Ares revealed his true mortal form, Kali turned away and blocked her eyes and hoped Percy did the same fast enough. If not, then he would be disintegrated into ashes.

The light died.

Kali looked back. Percy didn't get disintegrated. Ares was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades' bronze helm of darkness. Percy picked it up, and he and Kali walked back to their friends.

But before they got there, the sound of flapping leathery wings returned. Three evil old ladies with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of them.

The middle Kindly One stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but she didn't look threatening. More as if she was disappointed, like she'd been planning to have one or both of them for supper until she decided she might get indigestion because of it.

"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So...it truly was not you?"

"No," Kali said. "Not in the slightest."

Percy tossed the helmet, which the Kindly One caught in surprise.

"Return that to Lord Hades," he said. "Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."

She hesitated, then ran a forked tongue over her green, leathery lips. "Live well, Percy Jackson, Kali Beaumont. Become true heroes. Because if you do not, if you ever come into one of our clutches again..."

She cackled, savoring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bat-like wings, fluttering into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.

They joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at them in amazement.

"Percy... Kali..." Grover said. "That was so incredibly..."

"Terrifying," said Annabeth.

"Cool!" corrected Grover.

Kali halfheartedly smiled. She felt like neither of those things. Not cool. Not terrified. One would think she'd feel the latter, but all she felt was exhaustion, a near complete lack of energy, and she was sore, too. Her head still hurt from getting hit. She didn't let the water heal it earlier, entirely too focused on the fight.

And that darkness...

"Did you guys feel that...whatever it was?" Percy asked.

They nodded uneasily.

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

Doubt covered Percy's expression, and he caught Kali sharing a look with Annabeth. When they looked at him, an understanding passed between the three demigods.

Percy took the backpack from Grover and looked inside. Kali peered in as well. The master bolt was still there. Such a small thing to almost cause World War III.

"Now we only have to get back to New York," Kali said.

"By tonight, and no later," agreed Percy.

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

"Fly."

She stared at him, then Kali. "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," Percy said the same time Kali gave a faux cheery, "Yep!"

"Pretty much exactly like that," he said. "Come on."

————

A/N— the rest of Part One's chapters are all finished!!! once i post all of them & the interlude-type chapter i plan to do, it'll be off to the Sea of Monsters! also,, i may be giving kali some non-human characteristics seeing as tho she's like. 0% human, so! that's gonna start showing up in Part Two if everything goes to plan :)

hope you guys are enjoying this so far & thanks for reading!! x