"Alana! Why would you do that?!" Grover yelled.

The daughter of Artemis didn't look at the other demigods or the satyr, just kept walking. "Uh long story."

"Allie, that's the god of WAR," Annabeth stressed. "And you just called him a bitch?! And he didn't even react to it for some reason?"

"I'm sure he gets called a bitch all the time," Alana shrugged.

Percy pursed his lips and glanced at the others. "I mean," he started, "he probably deserves it."

Annabeth shook her head, sometimes those two were too similar for her. "That doesn't matter. You can't go around calling powerful gods names! I know this has something to do with Clarisse, but whatever she told you to do or you decided to do needs to chill. We can't ruin this quest because of your issues with a god."

Alana rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. They kept walking until they got to a building with lots of chatter inside of it.

"Guess this is the right place," Percy assumed.

They walked in and found Ares at a table by himself, on his phone. "Gimme a second, I'm just starting a fight on Twitter here. Nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight." The kids glanced at each other confused. "Ah. Okay, done." He set his phone down and looked directly at Percy. "So your quest..." he sighed. "...is going to fail. Ask me how I know."

"It isn't gonna fail," Percy insisted.

Ares scoffed. "Sure it is." He pulled out his phone and showed a video. It was some guy complaining about Percy.

"Who is that?"

"My stepdad. What's he doing?" Percy questioned.

The video kept playing and the guy just kept berading him. "Wild right?" The god smirked.

"I'm gonna kill him," Percy angrily declared.

Ares smiled. "I knew I was going to like you." Alana rolled her eyes. "But 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 here then?" Alana asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed. "If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?"

"Hm. There's no fear in you two, is there?" Ares practically glared at them. "Doesn't matter. Whether the bolt's retrieved or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon."

"No." The son of Poseidon insisted. "The Oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war."

"Is that what she said? Or is that what Chiron said she meant?" The god asked. Percy nodded, knowing he was right. "You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work," Ares started. "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 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians 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 this 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 gave an unsettling grin. "Isn't that great?"

Percy wouldn't take no for an answer. "We're completing this quest. We're stopping this war. You said you can help. Can you?"

Ares paused then nodded. "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."

"You left your shield? Like, forgot it on the merry-go-round?" Annabeth quipped.

"Awh did you need to go to the playground to forget about the children you neglect," Alana fake pouted, making full eye contact with the god while speaking.

"Okay. The chirping was funny to me for a minute, but it is getting old." Ares said, irritated. "So do we have a deal, or am I killing all four of you so I can eat in peace?" He screamed.

They all looked at each other. "Okay." Percy answered.

"Great. One catch." Ares said. Of course there was a catch. "I really do need that shield back, so I'm gonna keep the satyr and bratty pants here as collateral so you don't run off." He looked right at Alana. She glared at him.

"What? No!"

"Ok."

"Challenge accepted."

"No way," Percy said, looking at Grover and Alana. "We don't split up again."

"It's ok," Grover responded. "If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead by now."

"I needed an excuse to talk to him," Alana smirked to herself.

"Ok no," Annabeth pouted a finger at Alana. "You need to keep your mouth shut. Grover, you have to watch her."

The older girl rolled her eyes. "I know what I'm doing."

Grover cut them off from arguing. "Can we just walk them to the door?"

Ares sighed and waved his arm in a 'go on' motion.

"Okay, look. Don't engage with him," Annabeth warned. "He'll wanna get you riled up, get in your head and you can't let him."

"It's okay. Really," the satyr smiled. "I know what I'm doing. Go. Get the shield."

Percy looked at Alana and smiled. "Annabeth would tell you to behave, but I'm gonna tell you that what you're doing is funny. Get him irritated."

The archer grinned at him. "You're my new favorite kid."

"We'll be here when you get back," Grover reassured. "I think Alana will make sure of it."

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Ares looked up to see Alana glaring at him from across the table. "You have an issue?"

Alana clicked her tongue without moving her eyes. "Yeah. You."

The god rolled his eyes. "Look Alana, you're not my favorite either. Just because your mommy says you're special, doesn't mean you are."

"At least my mom cares about me," the daughter of Artemis shot back.

Ares slammed his fists on the table and his face turned red. Much to his dismay, Alana didn't even flinch. "Listen here-"

"Ares!" Grover interrupted. "Uh, Did you know we've met before?"

The war god glanced at the satyr then glared at the huntress. He slowly sat down, still glaring, then looked at Grover after. "Been around a long time, little boy. I've met a lot of people."

"I'm 24," Grover mentioned.

Ares scoffed. "Good for you."

"We met at the solstice. On Olympus," the satyr explained.

"Protestor," Ares sighed.

Grover shook his head. "Oh, I wasn't one of the protestors. I'm a fan."

"I think you got me mixed up with someone else, kid," Ares wasn't buying it.

"No, I don't."

"Satyrs eat tofu. Satyrs worship flowers. Satyrs sing songs about their feelings. Satyrs are not fans of mine," he said absentmindedly.

"Nature is brutal. Red in tooth and claw, right? Maybe unpleasant. But that doesn't make it untrue. You are the champion of all of that. I respect it," Grover smiled, knowing his plan was working. Ares was clearly gaining interest in him, and starting to like him.

Alana sat there and glared at Ares, trying to hold her tongue, the whole time they talked. They went on and on about different wars, where they met, and things that most people didn't appreciate. The archer didn't care. At all. She was just here to piss Ares off.

"I hate kids. All of 'em. I hate my own kids." Ares said. Alana shot up and her face turned red with anger. "Um, maybe less than other kids, but still not fond of them. 'Look what I made!' 'What are butterflies for?' 'My knee hurts.'" He groaned in disgust.

The daughter of Artemis pointed a finger in his face. He quickly noticed that her fingers were all black, well actually they looked like.. shadows? "How dare you?! Your kids care about you, you know?! And you're out here saying you hate them?! You're so shitty!"

"Look kid, I get it, you're friends with my daughter. That doesn't mean you have to take all your pent up anger from your parents leaving you out on me!" Ares screamed back.

Alana was taken aback. She didn't expect him to know any of that. She couldn't really think of anything to respond with, so she stayed silent.

This satisfied Ares and he went back to his conversation with Grover. They kept talking about the winter solstice night. "That night is the worst night of the year, every year, by far."

"This one in particular, it seems," Grover commented. "Since one of those kids somehow walked off with the master bolt."

Ares scoffed. "Says you. Who knows who actually took it. Plenty of people hate my dad enough to try."

"Maybe," Grover agreed. "But not many people could pull it off. Someone Hades could've recruited for the job."

"Says you," the god shook his head.

Griver kept going. "And someone who could slip away long enough to do it without being missed, bold enough to cross Zeus, stealthy enough to get their hands on the thing..."

"En... Enough." Ares sighed. "Not everything is a puzzle that needs to be solved. You're as bad as my sister."

They all stayed silent for a moment. Alana glanced up and looked at Ares without glaring for the first time. "If it makes you feel better, I hate your sister too."

Ares looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. "Actually yeah. Is there anyone you do like?"

The huntress rolled her eyes. She tried being nicer. "I like people who aren't mean and bitter towards others."

The war god smiled fakely. "Well, good thing I'm not a person."

"It applies to gods too, asshat," she spat.

"Was she always like that?" Grover said suddenly.

Ares turned to him. "Who?"

"Your sister," the satyr answered. "Athena."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Always making things more complicated than they need to be so people will think she's smarter than you," Grover explained.

Ares just looked at him for a moment, silently. He suddenly slammed his hands on the table, making both kids jump, especially Alana. "Thank you! I can't be the only one that sees it, right?"

"No. Not at all."

"It certainly feels that way sometimes." The god complained. "And seriously, she's the smart one? Really? If she's so smart, explain the owl. She talks to it, like, all the time. This fat, nasty little feathered rodent. And it's like her best friend. And we're so sure that she's a genius and I, no owl, am not? You know," he looked at Alana, who was looking at him offendedly. "You and your mom do that too, don't you?"

Alana looked at him weird. "Do what?"

"Talk to animals."

She just nodded, as Grover pretended that part of the conversation never happened. "Totally!"

"It's like people only see what they wanna see and ignore anything at all that doesn't fit the story they like to tell themselves," Ares added.

"Exactly!" Grover agreed. "Like you being the one to find the lightning thief and not her."

Alana turned to the satyr, confused. What was he going on about?

Ares stayed silent for a moment. "What did you mean by that?" He asked.

"By what?"

"Found the thief. We both know your friend didn't steal the bolt," the god admitted.

"Yeah, but Zeus thinks he did, which is kinda all that matters, right?" Grover smirked, his plan was working.

"Shut up." Ares said.

Almost immediately after, Annabeth and Percy walked in with the shield in their hands. "Where's our ride?"

They were led outside to see a big truck with animals and hay all inside of it. "You're kidding," Percy told him.

"Get in, don't. I really don't care. But in a few hours, this thing is gonna be at the Lotus Casino in Vegas. Hermes hangs out there. You play your cards right and his personal driver can get you to L.A. in minutes." Ares handed Percy a backpack. "Here. Clothes. Cash. Drachmas to summon Hermes. I'd wish you luck, but what good would it do you?"

"We're not gonna fail," the blonde insisted.

"Don't worry. Your dad had plenty of kids he stopped caring about once he lost interest. You'll have lots of company," Ares grit out.

Percy stepped closer to the god. "We're not gonna fail, and I'm getting pretty tired of you saying it."

"Percy."

"You think you know who I am, but you don't. And if you aren't careful... you're gonna find out."

"Percy..." Grover pulled the demigod back and resisted the urge to smack him. Between him and Alana, the satyr was done with these demigods trying to anger gods. "So, thank you for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers... and the ride. We're gonna take you up on that, too."

Grover, Percy, and Annabeth started walking towards the truck, with Alana following behind. "Hey." Ares said once Alana was the closest to him.

"What?" She sassed.

"I don't like you," the god started.

Alana didn't wait to hear the rest before responding, "Good. I don't like you either."

Ares exhaled, trying not to punch the teen. "But my damn daughter does. A lot. So. Just- nevermind."

The daughter of Artemis looked at him weird before walking onto the truck. She turned and made sure he was still listening. "By the way, I'll be looking out for your daughter because I know you won't."

Ares didn't respond and Alana didn't wait to see if he would.

"Hey, do you think we could get some paper towels or something, it's not that nice in here," Grover requested. He was responded to with the slam of the truck door.

"Well... this smells." Percy commented.

"If it gets us where we need to go, that's all that matters." Annabeth reminded him.

"Assuming Ares was telling the truth," the blonde mentioned.

"He wasn't. Not entirely, at any rate," Grover told them. "He was holding something back."

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked.

Grover smiled at them. "Because I think I got it out of him. I know who stole the master bolt."

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A/N: I actually forgot this chapter was done and that I hadn't posted it-