THEY HELP PERCY AND PANDORA down a packed corridor, they duck into a small elevator and sits down.

"What was that back there? What did you hear?" Percy asked, Annabeth stares at the floor, avoiding their eyes, "She spoke to you. Alecto did that to me and percy back in the museum in New York." Pandora's chest heaved as she stared at annabeth.

"What did she say?" Leah jumped in, annabeth looks up, seeing echidna with a monstrous shadow behind her, "Was that the chimera?" Grover asked, "I think... I think that was the chimera."

"Yeah, grover, buddy, we are doomed." Daphne tucked her lips in and nodded, patting grover's back, "How did the chimera even get inside here? How did any monster get inside here?" Grover looked at daphne then back at the others.

"Annabeth?" Pandora called, "We're in a sanctuary. Athena would have had to let her in, but why would she do that?" Grover questioned.

"Annabeth!" The girl's eyes met pandora's, "What did echidna say to you?" She asked, Annabeth looked away, "She said my impertinence wounded my mother's pride. And that would will be my doom."

Daphne groaned, placing her head in her hands, "Told you, we're doomed." leah nudged her, telling her to shut up for once. "Impertinence? what kind of—" She paused. Annabeth tilts her head to pandora.

"Medusa's head." The girl nods to herself, "I embarrassed my mother." Annabeth said, making the both jackson's shake their heads. "But we're the ones who sent the head to olympus. We signed the note."

"And i went along with it. It embarrassed her. Now, she's angry."

"Okay, so she's a bit salty." Pandora said, before grover spoke up. "Guys, what are we gonna do?"

"She isn't gonna help us when we get to the top to save pandora and percy." Grover shook his head, "No, i meant, what are we gonna do about echidna and chimera? They're gonna be right behind us." The elevator dinged, signaling that they reached to the top.

"We're not gonna have much time." Annabeth said, as they got out of the elevator, "They'll be up here any minute." Midas nodded in agreement as the others helped pandora and percy out.

"And if my mother isn't going to protect us, then we'll just have to fight it out up here." They reached the top of the stairs to see people filling the hallway.

"Well, there goes our plan." Pandora said, glancing at people, "Oh, no. We gotta get everybody outta here." Annabeth looked around, spotting a fire alarm on a nearby wall.

She turns back to the room of people before walking over to it, and pulling it down, the alarm blared loudly, causing people to look around.

"Everyone, let's line up." The chaperone spoke to the others, leading them to the elevators, "You guys follow them down." They all glanced at annabeth.

"What? No, no, no. W—We're not splitting up." Grover shook his head, leah nodded in agreement, "Yeah, no splitting up." Annabeth sighed. "Grover, leah, come on."

"No. No, no, no, no, no, we're all getting out of here together." Percy stammered as midas and grover helped him walk, "We won't make it. The chimera is the demigod-killer. Someone has to slow her down and buy everyone some time." They reach the door that led the small staircase to the elevators.

"I'm staying with you, then." Midas looked at annabeth who shook her head, "No, you stay with them. I'll be fine." She reassured her friend who didn't believe anything that she said.

"I'll be fine." She repeated, seeing the look on leah's face, "Okay, help them down the stairs and get percy to the river. And if you see any power poles, get pandora to it, she can absorb the electricity. And don't stop. Not till you get to hades, not till you have the bolt, do you hear me?"

"Annie—" Leah started, "Do you hear me." Annabeth repeated and leah nodded, "Okay." Pandora shakes her head.

"Okay, go." Annabeth went to close the door, "Wait." Pandora took off her ring that vibrated before it turned into a sword, she flips the handle of her sword toward annabeth and holds it out to her. "Take this."

Annabeth reaches out, percy realizes what his sister was doing as pandora pulls annabeth forward, he quickly ducked under annabeth and got past the door before pandora could close it. "Wait!"

"You idiot." Pandora muttered, "What? you think i would've let you do this by yourself? no way." The others banged on the door making pandora turn to it.

"Hey! Percy, Dory!" Grover yelled from the other side, still banging. "Guys, please."

"Pandora, percy, no! Don't do this. They'll kill you."

"Zeus never helped me before. He wasn't gonna start now." She pants as percy leaned on the wall beside her, reaching into his pocket, "Me and percy would've never made it to hades. But you can. And now you will."

The others kept banging and shouting their names as they now started to walk up the hallway, their eyes blurry, "You're still an idiot" Pandora said, as they continued to walk up.

"Maybe, but i'm not letting you do this alone." He glanced over to his sister who looked similar to him; sick, and pale, it was clear the poison was working and fast at that.

They spot the chimera walking up slowly to them, snarling loudly, pandora and percy both pad forward, sword at the ready.

"I don't think that's a 'pup'." Pandora muttered as echidna stands behind the chimera, watching, "This is the end, sweetheart. Don't fight it. You'll just make her angry."

The siblings meet the chimera in the middle of the hall, towering over them, the chimera snarls, baring her huge teeth, They both slash her leg before she throwing them to the side.

They watched as a scaly hood unfurls around her neck, an orange glow emits from her open mouth, they looked at the chimera in confusion before their eyes widened and they roll to the side, narrowly avoiding the fire.

They began to crawl away slowly, they stopped when the floor dropped before them, pandora and percy turns from the hole to the chimera, they both stand up, wobbling slightly before they walked back over to the chimera slowly.

They grip their swords tightly, the chimera swings a claw at them, pandora and percy dodges the attack then swing their swords, the chimera knocks their swords away with her horn then bashes them against down the hole.

Echidna walked closer, looking down the hole to see percy holding his sister's hand as his other hand clinging to the only thing holding them up.

"So unfair. You never had a chance, did you? If only someone'd cared enough for you to provide you with one." Percy's fingers begin to slide, before they fall.

They rapidly descend, percy trying to grab his sister's hand, he fully grasped it as her eyes finally closed, The boy felt a gush of wind push them before a column of water from the river swallows them.

Percy looked around the green murky water, looking for his sister before he spots her, seeing her eyes closed and noticing she wasn't moving, he tries to swim to her but something holds his leg.

He descends to the riverbed, rusted debris pins his foot, he tries to get his foot out but it doesn't budge, he glanced up, looking at his sister, who still didn't move with small bubbles coming out of her mouth.

He goes back to try and tug his foot out but he stops, looking in the hazy water seeing something glowing approaching in the distance.

"You are frightened. It's all right, percy. Your father sent me to tell you, it's all right. Just breathe." Percy shakes his head and tries desperately to swim to his sister so they can breathe. "Your father is here. He's always been here. It is so hard for him to stand back. To see you struggle. It is so hard for us all. But he's here."

"And the he's so very proud." The mysterious voice continued, "Trust him. Trust yourself." Percy stops struggling as he stares at the ghostly figure, "Just...breathe." Percy parts his lips, his chest lifts as his lungs fill.

"Dory, dory, dory!" Percy slapped his sister's face softly, ignoring the calls of his friends that were in the distance, the girl finally woke up, coughing out water as she slapped his hand away.

"Did we die?" She muttered, looking around, percy helped his sister to her feet, "No, my dad, he helped us." The girl sighed, "He could've let me breathe underwater, i am his favorite niece after all." She shook her head.

"You weren't even conscious." Percy said, before pulling her into a hug to which she froze up but relaxed a second later. "You scared me, panda."

"I can never die." Pandora pulled away, smiling at him before she turned, spotting their friends, "Hi." Percy waved at them.

The others slowly approached, "Look, i'm sorry about
pushing you in the stairwell, it was a great plan but percy messed it up, but hey, we didn't die, that's a first—" Pandora froze again as annabeth wrapped her arms around her, holding her in a tight embrace.

"Interesting." Daphne muttered, "Glad you're alive, sea boy." Midas gave him an awkward punch to the shoulder with a smile.

"Yay, you guys are alive, can we go now?" Daphne complained, "You're not as dead as we thought you'd be." Grover spoke up, as leah rolled her eyes and daphne.

Annabeth slowly unwrapped her arms that were around pandora and stepped back, "Surprise!" Pandora grinned, "Although, i thought i was dead for a moment."

"How was it?" Daphne's eyes lit up, looking at pandora for an explanation, "I think i just passed out." The girl's shoulders dropped in disappointment.

"What happened?" Leah asked, looking at the two siblings, "Short version, we need to go to santa monica." Annabeth's lifts her brows at percy's words.

"What, like now?"

"My father's gonna meet me there. He's gonna help us." Pandora turned to her brother, confusion written on her face, "Hello, excuse me, what?"

"Okay. Uh, just one problem with this plan. The police think that we crashed an amtrak train and then did that." Grover points up at the smoking arch.

"Th—the cops are after us?" Percy questioned, "Yeah. We're fugitives, isn't that fun?" They all stared at daphne, "What?" Leah shook her head. "Just stop talking for a bit, please."

"Isn't that gonna make it hard for us. to get on a train? Or a bus? Or really anything you need tickets for?"

"I'm sorry, but i'm not walking anywhere." Leah said, looking at them.

"I hate all of you." Leah huffed, dragging her feet on the quiet road, Percy snorted before he furrowed his brow and looked at them. "Hey, guys. I think this quest might be harder than we thought."

"Oh, look, he's just now noticing." Midas rolled his eyes at percy, "I've been thinking. I didn't steal the master bolt. Panda didn't steal the master bolt. You guys didn't steal it. We're pretty sure hades has the master bolt, but he couldn't have stolen it himself." His hands hit his jeans, ignoring midas's comment.

"I mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing, or why, or how deep this goes..." Walking in the middle, he glances at them, "I'm the last person to realize this, aren't i?" He questioned.

"Well, yes." Pandora nodded along with grover, "Okay, so.." Percy sighed, "maybe when we started, my head wasn't fully in this, but since the river..it all feels different now." Percy's mouth curved into a slight smile. "He saved me. He saved me and dory. My dad."

"Oh, brother, he got hit with attention from his father, there's no coming back from that." leah snorted at pandora's words as they continued to walk down the road.

"I guess i just really thought that's something he'd do for me. So maybe i gotta take things seriously now." Daphne and grover looked back, hearing something approaching. "Car."

"That's not a car, it's a bike. Just let it pass. Come on." They quickly duck behind a concrete barrier, boarding the road, "I'm saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. I think we might need to be detectives here, too."

"Hey, that sounds fun. Don't you think, Detective chase?" Pandora turned to annabeth who were having a silent conversation with midas, "Yeah." She avoids pandora's gaze, percy notices this and leans forward.

"Why are you being weird with us again? I thought we weren't doing that anymore." He asked, "We're not being weird." Annabeth furrowed her brow.

"Yes, you are. You've been weird since we left the arch."

Pandora leaned back slightly, nodding in realization as she looked at annabeth, "Oh...i get it." Annabeth turns to her, looking confused, "It doesn't have to be a thing, you know. That you hugged me." daphne, midas and leah chuckled.

"Oh, boy." Annabeth sighed, "I don't think—" Percy started but his sister cut him off, "I mean, we're like friends now, right?" Pandora glanced at him, "That seems like a thing friends do. At least i...i think they do." She trailed off, looking at her friends faces.

"We saw the fates. Back at the arch, we saw the three fates, and we saw atropos cut a piece of thread."

"And that's bad or..? all she did was cut a piece." Percy looked at them, "The fates weave the life strand of every living thing. When you see a string cut—"

"It means one of us is going to die." Pandora stared at her, "We're all gonna die eventually, i see no—" The girl cut her off, "Soon. It's a warning." Pandora and percy shared a look.

"An omen."

Percy sighed, "Okay. Guys, we need to talk about this whole fate thing. Three old ladies with a ball of yarn can't know what's gonna happen. What i choose to do changes what's gonna happen, and i can choose to do anything i...want." He pauses as the motorcycle engine stops

"Need some help?" The group shoot each other a look before peaking over the barrier, they looked at a man in a long leathered coat. "Beg pardon?"

"I asked if you could use some help." He stared down at them, "Nope. No We're—We're good. Appreciate you asking, though. So long." They all slowly duck back behind the barrier, "You don't seem too good." He glanced in front of him before glancing back at the barrier.

"We don't want anything from you." Annabeth pops up before ducking behind again, "Unless you have cookies." Pandora peaked over before leah pulled her down.

"You sure? Because you guys are so behind schedule." The man grins, The group fully stands up, staring at him with confused looks, "I mean, summer solstice is just a few days away. And as much as i'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin and big brother, i feel like, maybe, i wanna give you a hand."

"Big who?" Pandora tilted her head, "Ares." Annabeth looked at them, "You must be athena's kid. Always gotta be the wisest one in the bunch." He leaned forward, "Why would you help us?" Annabeth asked.

"How do you even know about what we're doing out here?" She continued, "Because i'm doing exactly the same thing as you. Zeus sent all of his kids out looking for the master bolt, too. Listen, dummies. I'm hungry.
There's a halfway decent diner up the road. If you want my help, you'll meet me there. But don't dawdle. Won't wait forever." Ares throws on a pair of shades before he starts his motorcycle.

He smirks at the children before pulling off, their eyes follow him down the road, "That's my big brother? This family sucks." Percy nodded in agreement.

"Come on." They set off down the road, following the motorcycle as it races away.

They step into the diner and looks around, They spot ares at a table as he laughs out loud, "He even laughs like a douche." leah said, as ares slaps the table.

"Guess this is the right place." They walk towards the booth, "Give me a second, i'm just starting a fight on twitter here." They sit down opposite of him.

"Nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight. Ah. Okay, done." The phone clattered down on the table, "So your quest..." He sighed. "...is going to fail. Ask me how i know."

"No one cares, old man." Ares glanced at daphne, who ate some of his fries, "It isn't gonna fail." The war god scoffed, glaring at daphne. "Sure it is. For starters..." He showed them the phone that showed gabe on the news.

"Percy and pandora were always troubled," Pandora furrowed her brow, "But i never thought they were capable of something like this." His voice wavered, "Wh—who's that?" Grover asked.

"Our stepdad. What's he doing?" Percy looked back to the phone, "Wait for it." Ares grinned, "Two kids that messed up? What wouldn't they do?"

"What?" The siblings said in sync, "Wild, right? The FBI is already spreading your pictures around." They glanced at ares then back at the phone. "It's a camaro. I really—We really loved that car. So much. Cut." Percy shook his head as gabe faked cry on the news. "I'm gonna kill him."

"I knew i was gonna like you. But safe to say, the chances of you seven idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L.A. without getting arrested are slim to none."

"Why are you sitting here then? If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?" Annabeth questioned, tilting her head at the war god. "Hm. There's no fear in you, is there?"

"Doesn't matter. Whether the bolt's retrieved or not, zeus is going to war with poseidon." Percy shoots his friends and sister a quizzical look before turning back to ares. "No. 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? Yeah. You're new to the family, young ones, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before i was born, my grandpa kronos ate my aunts and uncles."

"He should come back and eat you." Daphne snorted at the muttered words that left leah's mouth, The war god took a deep breath, keeping his composure as his eyes narrowed, staring directly at leah who didn't look away from him.

"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."

"Is that what you're doing right now? Betraying? backstabbing?" He glances back at daphne who ate one of his burgers, "You're really making me mad." The girl shrugged again. "It's probably the truth."

He took the burger from her hand and slams it back on the plate before turning to the others, "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." Ares scrunches his face, he holds a hand to his mouth. "Isn't that great."

"We're completing this quest. We're stopping this war. You said you can help. Can you?"

"Okay, so here it is. There's an amusement park up the road—" Pandora looked at him, "What? you want us to hold your hand on the ride or something?" She questioned.

Ares looked like he really wanted to throw the group to the curb, "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 spoke up, Ares leans forward, glaring at all of them, "Okay. the chirping was funny to me for a minute, but it is getting old. So we do have a deal, or am i killing all three of you so i can—Stop eating my food!" He took the burger from daphne's hands again with a yell.

"Woah, calm down, old man." Midas snorted, "Okay." Percy nodded, ares smiles and leans back, "Great. One catch. I really do need that shield back, so i'm gonna keep the statue here as collateral so you don't run off."

"What? No." They immediately shook their heads but grover nodded, "Okay." They turn to the satyr, "No way. We don't split up again." Percy said, looking at him. "It's okay. If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead by now."

The god eyes them with a wry smile, "Can i just walk them to the door?" Ares waves his head with a sigh and they got up, walking to the door, "Okay, look. Don't engage with him. He'll wanna get you riled up, get in your head and you can't let him."

"We'll stay with grover." Leah said, making annabeth nod, "Who said i wanted to stay with the old man?" Daphne asked, "Too bad, you're staying." The girl rolled her eyes.

"It's okay. Really. I know what i'm doing. Go. Get the shield. I'll be here when you get back..And them, too." He pointed to daphne and leah who went to order something, not realizing they don't have any money.

The four walk out of the diner, leaving grover alone as he stared at ares, he glanced back at leah and daphne before walking over to the booth.