THE FOUR STOPPED IN FRONT OF a sign that read 'water land', the siblings stared up at it before percy spoke, "I haven't seen a lot of horror movies, but this seems like exactly the kind of place they'd suggest to avoid." He looked at annabeth and midas.

"It is and you know what? I'll stay out here, y'know, keep watch and stuff." Pandora nodded to herself, and she gave them a thumbs up before annabeth grabbed her by her sleeve and lightly dragged her to the entrance.

"We've never seen any kind of movie. We'll have to take your word for it" Percy and pandora looked at each other, "Well, that's kind of sad." The girl frowned.

"Never?" Percy asked, "What do you mean 'never' like, 'never-'never'?" He continued, his head tilting, he thought they at least had some type of movie theater thing back at camp but he was wrong apparently.

"Is there another kind?" Midas questioned, looking at percy.

"Well, if neither of us is dead in a few days, we really ought to fix that. You're missing out." Percy said, as they stopped walking, but pandora kept moving toward the turnstiles, "But in the meantime, we should probably get this over with, though." He followed after his sister.

Pandora began to turn one, "Wait, pandora, stop." The girl looked up, seeing spinning blades above her, Percy turned back to midas and annabeth then back to his sister, "Wait, what just happened?" Pandora voiced, her eyes shifting between the others and the blades.

"Just hold still. Gimme a second." Annabeth said, holding out her hands as she looked up, studying the blades, "In the mechanism there, that's celestial bronze." she stepped a little closer. Percy glanced at annabeth.

"Oh, fascinating. Annabeth, what is happening right now?" He asked, "Celestial bronze is what you and pandora's sword is made of. If you're a human, it'll pass right through you. If you're a monster or a demigod.." She trailed off and percy eyed the contraption.

"Well, what's it doing there?" Pandora looked back at the other three, "That's a great question. Safe to say, this is not just some amusement park." Midas nodded in agreement, "A god built this." Percy looked at midas.

"What kind of god builds amusement parks?" He asked, "Hephaestus, you idiot." Pandora rolled her eyes at him, before her eyes shifted back up, "You're the idiot for just walking straight into a trap."

"How was i supposed to know—" Midas sighed, tired of the constant bickering between the two, he clapped his hands, getting the attention of percy and pandora.

"Enough! Can't believe i'm on a quest with idiots." He muttered loudly for them to hear to which they took offense to that but looked back up at the blades.

"Why would hephaestus build an amusement park?"

"Maybe..he finds them amusing?" Annabeth shrugged, pandora looked back over to her, "That's really not funny, annie." Percy made a face, smiling a bit. "It's a little funny."

"Just a bit." Annabeth threw her hands up again, the daughter of zeus huffed, rolling her eyes as midas and annabeth agreed with her brother. Annabeth's eyes drift upward, studying the mechanism, "Oh..oh, look at that. That's cool." Pandora eyed the girl.

"Annabeth, i get that whatever—" She gestured to the blades, "That thing is, is cool but please!" Annabeth looked down in thought, "Just relax. I'm on it." She inhaled sharply. "Okay. I get this. Just.. push through it."

"Push?" Pandora said, eyeing her again, "Yep." The girl nodded, Percy looked at annabeth, "Are you sure this is safe?" He questioned, "If annabeth says push, you push." Midas spoke up, fully believing that annabeth is always right, to which she is.

"Um, weren't you the one this morning who was all, 'The fates say one of us is gonna die—" Annabeth sighed, looking away with a shake of her head "And that we should take it really seriously?' 'Cause i fully remember—" Annabeth looked at her. "Dory."

"Yeah?"

"Just..push." Pandora nods slightly, looking at midas and percy really quick before pushing forward, she looks up as she pushes the turnstiles, she passes safely to the park and the counter ticks from zero to one.

"Oh, thank dad i didn't die." She placed a hand on her chest and took a deep breath, "What was that?" Percy asked as they passed through, "The machine isn't designed to hurt us. It's meant to scare us. It's a test." Annabeth explained, the counter ticks to four as they all made it on the other side.

"Hephaestus wanted to know any time one of us came poking around his playground. I guess now he knows." Annabeth sighed, before they continued walking.

Daphne, leah and grover as ares laughed, tapping away at his phone, "This what happens when you give old people phones." The daughter of hecate muttered, ares glanced up from his phone, glaring at her, daphne shrugged at him and took a burger off of the plate.

"We've meet before." Grover spoke up, ares looked back down at his phone with a sigh, "Been around a long time, little boy. I've met a lot of people." He said, still tapping away, "I'm 24." daphne choked on her burger and smacked her chest. "You're twenty-four? Jesus, gro." She shook her head, she thought he had at least been sixteen or even seventeen.

"Good for you." The god scoffed, grover blinks, smiling thinly, "We met at the solstice. On olympus." Grover said, ares sighed as he still stared down at his phone.

"Protestor."

"Oh, i wasn't one of the protestors. I'm a fan." Ares eyes flick up, glowering at grover, "You're a fan of him?" Leah made a face as she looked between grover and ares, "That's very...interesting." She said, eyeing the god with a frown on her face, grover glanced at her giving her a look.

"I think you got me mixed up with someone else, kid." Daphne pointed to ares in agreement, "Oh, he definitely did. 'Cause there's no way." She laughed then paused as ares glared at her, "I'm really tired of you—" He pointed, leaning forward but was cut off by grover.

"No, i don't." He shook his head, "Just shut up and eat." Leah gave her a look making her frown but kept her mouth shut, the god sets down his phone, looking at grover. "Satyrs eat tofu. Satyrs worship flowers. Satyrs sing songs about their feelings. Satyrs are not fans of mine." He told before he picks his phone back up, going back to scrolling.

"Satyrs are children of nature." He corrected, ares eyes flicking back up at him, "Nature is brutal. Red in tooth and claw, right?" Grover sat up. "Maybe unpleasant. But that doesn't make it untrue. You are the champion of all of that. I respect that." He expressed, ares looked away in thought.

The god squinted his eyes at grover, "So what are you like, a casual World War II buff?" He asked, "You've seen Saving Private Ryan, have you?" Daphne leaned back, "That's a good movie, old man. What do you know about that." Ares looked at her with another glare. "The adults are talking." He gestures to himself and grover.

Daphne rolled her eyes, "I prefer the Turbot War. The lobster war. The three hundred and thirty-five years' war. Your deep cuts." Daphne glanced at grover out of the corner of her eyes then looked at leah as she spoke up. "Yeah. I prefer those, they're the only—"

"Wars where hardly anyone died." Ares finished for her, "I like your mellower stuff. There's something cool about overwhelming force and a quick surrender." The god shakes his head, "No one talks about those anymore." Leah and Grover shared a look as ares looked off to the side, the satyr smiling a bit as she got the memo. "They should."

Ares returns his gaze to grover and cocks his head, leaning forward, "So tell me where we met again?" The satyr smiled softly, before he began to talk.

"Oh, wow." Annabeth voiced as they look up at a ride, she then pointed at it, "Look at that. Tell me the god of craftsmen didn't build this." Pandora looked at her, noting her liking for architecture, "Have you two seen anything like this?" She asked.

"If it belongs to the god of craftsmen, what was the god of war doing here? Aren't they enemies? And why'd he split without his shield?" They pass a ferris wheel, walking down a path. "If i'm guessing..ares has always had a thing with—"

"Aphrodite. She's hephaestus's wife." Percy said in realization then his eyes widened as he glanced at the others, "Oh, you're kidding. He met her here? In her husband's park? That's so wrong." Pandora hit her brothers shoulder. "Wrong? That's literally the definition of messed up. That's so messy."

"They got caught and he had to leave in a hurry. One thing ares was telling the truth about..this family is a mess."

Midas went to say something but they all paused as a pink sign buzzes to life over a tunnel, "Don't you even try to tell me not to be weird about this." Annabeth said, looking at the sign. "We didn't say anything."

"I can feel you thinking it. I am not going in there." Midas stared at the pink sign then looked at the boat sitting right under it, "This must be where ares and aphrodite got caught. The shield must be in there. We just gotta go get it." Annabeth told, percy looked at her and pandora. "I think i'm gonna stay out here with midas."

"Sure. Let's go check out the scary ghost ride while the two scary ones stay outside. Why not?" Pandora gave them a sarcastic grin before stepping forward, annabeth trailing behind after she looked at the boys.

"Have fun." Midas waved.

"This is creepy." Pandora muttered as she looks around the dark tunnel, she glanced at annabeth after she heard a distant thud, "You heard that, right—" The lights fade for a moment making her look around again.

'What Is Love?' started playing and she instantly recognized the tune, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She drops her head slightly and sighed, "What is happening right now?" Annabeth asked, her hands clasped together.

"I've heard this before. I think, from an orthodontist's office maybe?" A pattern of ethereal light shoots across the tunnel wall, pandora and annabeth eye the glow before turning back around, pandora looked at annabeth for a moment then looked back up at the glow.

Annabeth watched her, then her eyes drift up to the wall, a silhouette of a woman forms in the light, she waddles forward then spins, her body expands, revealing a child at the center. The child dances for a moment before the woman came back and the child pops out of the woman's stomach. "Wait, i know this."

The woman casts out the child, "It's hephaestus's story." The silhouette of adult hephaestus, hammers an anvil, a slender woman in a flowing dress drifts pass, pandora glanced at annabeth again before looking away, not seeing annabeth also stare at her for a bit.

"Rejected by hera." The silhouette of hephaestus chases her, "Rejected by aphrodite. My mom told me these stories all the time. I remember this. She said.." She paused, staying silent making annabeth turn to her. "What?" Pandora stared in front of her then looked at annabeth. "She said this is what the gods are like to each other. This is the kind of family they are."

A muscular silhouette appears, "Why didn't you wanna say that just now?" Annabeth asked, shield in hand, the silhouette pulls aphrodite away, "She and my other mom..they were trying to keep me and percy away from you guys." Annabeth arches a brow, pandora turns away.

"Maybe you were right. Maybe they should have been preparing me and percy better."

"Maybe they were preparing you. So when you got to us, you'd be different than this." Pandora stares off, the muscular man strikes hephaestus, the lights dissipate, props of green crystals glow in the other dark tunnel, they both yelled as the boat suddenly plummets down a slope, they zoom pass blue, red and yellow crystals as they hurdle deeper into the cave.

They emerge in a corridor filled with water, passing an open room, they spot a golden statue holding ares shield by a throne, "There it is. Are's shield." Pandora's eyes widened as she looked in front of them, another corridor with flashing lights and dense fog.

They watch as another boat plummets down the corridor, "Jump!" Pandora exclaimed before they both jump out of the boat and dives into the water. they try to swim toward the golden statue, annabeth struggles to stay afloat in the turbulent water. She reaches out to pandora who swims towards her, the water churns and darkens.

Now, the two gasped for air as they lie on the ground, pandora props herself up, looking around with a furrowed brow, "How did you—" Pandora shook her head, just as confused as annabeth. "I didn't do anything."

"Then how—" Pandora sat up on her knees, "I don't know. I didn't do anything. I don't—I don't even have water powers." The girl looks up at the statue, "At least we made it." Annabeth copied her actions and sat up on her knees.

"How are we supposed to get that thing down?" Their gaze drifts from the shield to the golden throne at the statue's feet, annabeth stood up and offered her hand to pandora who took it and pulled herself up. The girl creases her brow. "These things are connected somehow."

"It's a machine, but how do you start the machine?"

"You think they'll be okay in there?" Percy glanced at midas then looked back at the tunnel, "You do realize that's the daughter of zeus and the daughter of athena, right? They'll be fine." Percy shook his head, "You don't know that and if something happens, dory will literally save annabeth even if she doesn't need saving. She told me that she'll take a bullet for me, you know how insane that sounds?!" Midas raised his brow and looked at percy.

"Percy, trust me. They'll be fine, annabeth's smart and she'll know what to do." He pats percy's shoulder before walking away, the jackson furrowed his brow as he watched midas walk away, "Where are you going?" He asked. "I'm not standing here waiting around for them."

Percy looked back to the entrance of the tunnel before following after midas, "What's your favorite movie?" Midas asked, looking at percy as they mindlessly walked around the abandoned park, "Corpse bride." He shrugged, "Only because it was my mama's favorite movie. She loved that movie."

"Your other mom, what happened to her?" Percy looked away with another shrug, "She disappeared. When me and dory were seven, like, vanished. Me and dory were mad when mom married gabe but, now we get it, she did it to protect us, they both did. And now they're in the underworld because of me and pandora." He frowned, shaking his head quickly.

"What about you? Do you talk to your dad?" He asked, looking at the boy, "Nope. He never really tried to talk to me, not a single word. Not even after all these years he never called." Percy nods in understanding as they walked past a working ride. Midas stopped, glancing at the ride that slowly moved around in circles, he looked at percy before dragging the son of poseidon to the ride. They sat in the car as it started moving again.

"I get it. At least you have your mom, right?"

"I guess, i mean, she's not always there but she's there, y'know? She's always busy or something and that's probably the reason i haven't been to the underworld lately, don't get me wrong, hades is kinda cool but he's annoying. I'd rather leave daph to handle with him."