ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɴɪɴᴇ : ᴅɪᴅ ᴀ 15 ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴏʟᴅ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ʜɪꜱ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ?

This quest is so fucking off track.

As we walk into the mediocre diner Ares had talked about, we hear extreme laughter coming from a table. We turn to see Ares laughing with his head back, doing something on his phone.

"Guess this is the right place," Percy assumes as he approaches the god of War. I follow Percy as Ares sighs and keeps tapping on his phone. He notices us coming to the table and sitting down.

"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," Ares explains. He finishes his stupid Twitter fight and drops the phone on the diner table. "So your quest," he pauses, "is going to fail. Ask me how I know." Ares looks around. "Wait, quick question, can you use your charmspeak to get us some free food?" I sigh and nod.

"Excuse me, waiter," I say.

"Wait, what's that?" Percy questions.

"It's a type of hypnotism usually used on humans to get what I want. Aphrodite only gives it to certain children, like the ring she gave me. See, watch this," I explain, pointing at the group of waiters looking at me.

A boy around the age of 15 comes up to us and smiles.

"How may I help you, miss?" The brunette waiter asks, holding up a menu.

"Well, unfortunately, these three gentlemen didn't bring their wallets, and I am all out of money. Is there any way we could pay for this in the future or...?" I question, resting my elbows on the table and my hands on my face. The waiter keeps staring at me as I blink my eyes. This is super embarrassing.

"Uh, uh, yes ma'am. Yes, pretty girl," the waiter replies. "Anything else, like a water or something?" I think for a second. I am thirsty.

"Yeah, a water would be lovely," I respond, smiling and locking eyes with the waiter. He jots it down and smiles as he walks away from our table.

"You're welcome," I say to the three guys as Grover and Ares chuckle. Percy just stares down at the table. I tap his shoulder to make sure he's okay and he seems a little pissed.

"Our quest, it isn't gonna fail," Percy retorts, sounding annoyed.

"Sure it is. For starters-" Ares picks his phone up and shows a video recording of a man on the news. Percy was always troubled, but I never thought he was capable of something like this, the grown man says while sniffling. Percy squints his eyes and rolls them.

"Who's that?" Grover asks Percy.

"My stepdad. What's he doing?" Percy comments. The news reporter goes on. And in addition to the destruction at the Gateway Arch, you believe he had something to do with your wife's disappearance?

"What is that grown ass man doing?" I question.

"Wait for it," Ares adds, trying to hold in his laugh. Percy's step dad says, a kid that messed up? What wouldn't he do?

"What?" Percy remarks.

"Wild, right?" Ares responds, chuckling a little bit. "The FBI is already spreading your picture around." It's a Camaro. I really-we really loved that car. So much. Percy's stepdad sniffles as I roll my eyes. It's obviously fake. Cut.

"I'm gonna kill him," Percy says, his anger rising in his voice.

"I knew I was gonna like you," Ares replies. The waiter comes with a glass of water and a napkin.

"Here is your water," the waiter says, placing it down in front of me. He smiles at me and hands me the napkin, numbers written on it. I read them and smile back as he walks off.

"Uh, did a 15 year old just give me his number?" I mumble quietly. Percy rolls his eyes.

"Whatever. But safe to say, the chances of you three idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L.A. without getting arrested are slim to none," Ares comments.

"Well, if you are tryna find that bolt yourself, why are you sitting here dummy?" I retort, sipping the glass of water.

"Hm, you really are like your mom. Doesn't matter. Whether the bolt's retrieved or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon," Ares explains. I look up at him in confusion.

"No. The Oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war," Percy states, looking at me.

"Is that what she said? Or is that what Chiron said she meant?" Ares says. "Yeah. You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. 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!" Ares exclaims, sounding like a maniac. "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 inhales. "Isn't that great?"

"We're completing this quest. We're stopping this war. You said you can help, can you?" Percy reminds. Ares shakes his head.

"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 explains.

"Why would you leave your shield at an amusement park? You forgot it on the Ferris Wheel or something?" I remark. Ares glares at me.

"Listen, just cause you are Aphrodite's kid doesn't mean you won't get on my nerves, okay?" Ares shouts. I huff and slowly eat a fry. "So, do we have a deal, or am I killing all three of you so I can eat in piece?"

"Okay," Percy agrees.

"Great! One catch. I really do need that shield back, so I'm gonna keep the satyr here as collateral so you don't run off," Ares adds.

"What? No!" I exclaim. Grover is like the most tolerable one on this quest. I can't deal with Percy alone.

"Okay," Grover responds. Gah, what is it with the guys having stupid decisions?

"No way. We don't split up again," Percy disagrees.

"It's okay. If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead by now," Grover says, turning to Ares. "Can I just walk them to the door?" Ares hesitates and sighs. He nods and the three of us stand up. I slip the napkin in my pocket.

"Alright, be careful. I'd prefer to come back with the shield and see you alive," I say.

"It's okay, really. I know what I'm doing. Go. Get the shield. I'll be here when you get back." Percy and I look at each other and nod. We walk out of the diner into the afternoon and sigh, not having a good feeling about this.

𝔄/𝔫 - ℌ𝔢𝔶 𝔤𝔲𝔶𝔰! ℑ'𝔪 𝔱𝔯𝔶𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔮𝔲𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔬 𝔟𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔪𝔢 😭

𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔨𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 🫶