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The walk back to the diner was awfully quiet. Neither Drea or Percy had much to say, leaving Annabeth very curious as to what had happened. She'd eventually find out but just after Percy's near death experience, it was too soon.

Drea was busy trying to bury down the way she was feeling about Percy attempting to give his life instead of her doing it.

Learning to trust wasn't her specialty.

Even after the both of them falling from the arch, she questioned his motives. She wanted to trust him. Watching him volunteer to fight the Chimera with her should've made Drea believe in Percy. But her mind wouldn't let her.

In front of Annabeth and Grover, maybe he wanted to look like a hero, not help her.

But he had now done it twice. Even when they were alone and nobody was watching him be courageous. When Drea had insisted she sacrifice herself instead and he could've let her. Percy still gave himself up.

It'd be impossible to still doubt Percy.

She didn't know it, but Percy secretly hoped he had gained some confidence in him. It wasn't hard to tell the kind of person Drea was; suspicious of everyone, stubborn, and untrusting.

It was obvious back at Medusa's lair that she didn't believe Percy was on the quest for the right reasons. But now that his attention was focused, he wanted her to see that. Maybe it was some odd need for approval, but he was determined to gain her trust.

Finally arriving back at the diner, they opened the door with the obnoxious sound of a ringing bell. The 3 kids stepped inside and menacingly stared at Ares.

Drea, who had been holding the shield the entire way, placed it on the tiny table as she approached. The look on his face was one of surprise that he was trying to suppress. It was obvious to Drea why. Perhaps he hadn't expected them all to return.

Percy and Annabeth were next to her, also not giving him Ares a very kind glance.

But Drea couldn't stay focused on Ares for too long before looking over to Grover. They were skeptical to leave him behind but thankfully, he seemed to be okay. The boy smiled at her with appreciation, happy she cared to check on him.

Now with all of them staring at Ares, Percy demanded, "Where's our ride?"

ϟ

Heading outside, Ares lead them over to a large truck that seemed strategically parked outside the back of the diner. Accompanied with many other trucks around it, the vehicle looked very sketchy.

"You're kidding."

At Percy's sassy remark, the god snapped his fingers. The back doors to the storage compartment of the truck flew open, revealing a plentiful of dirty crates and cages.

"How inviting." Sneered Drea.

"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."

The mention of Hermes had Drea's ears perking up. The infamous father to Luke. On behalf of Luke, she decidedly hated him.

"Here," Ares tossed a backpack at Percy that seemed to appear out of thin air. "Clothes. Cash. Drachmas to summon Hermes. I'd wish you luck but what good would it do you?"

There he went again, doubting the kids and their abilities to complete the quest.

"We're not gonna fail." Percy insisted.

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

"We're not gonna fail." he repeated. "And I'm getting pretty tired of you saying it."

Ares grimaced at his resistance.

"Percy." Grover warned.

"You think you know who I am, but you don't."

He took small steps and got closer to him. He wanted the god to really hear him.

"And if aren't careful, you're gonna find out."

The tense feeling of the conversation grew thicker by the time Percy was in his face. Annabeth seemed concerned by the interaction, worried that Ares would retaliate. Meanwhile, Drea was very pleased. If Percy hadn't done it, she'd have reminded Ares to watch himself.

Grover quickly skipped over to defuse the situation. "Percy."

Nobody paid any mind to Grover.

"So, thank you for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers... and the ride! We're gonna take you up on that, too." Grover weakly smiled in an effort to calm down the heated moment.

One by one, they entered the back of the truck, each of them helping the next get inside. Once they were all in, they evaluated the disgusting
compartment.

Ares watched them step in without saying anything.

Grover politely asked, "Hey, do you think we could get some paper towels or something, it's not that nice in here.."

With a snap of the man's fingers, the doors shut on them. They were left in a cold and dark metal box. Sounds of animals clamoring around echoed and continued while Percy commented,

"Well... this smells."

Drea mumbled,"Really? Cause I thought it was pretty homey in here."

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

"Assuming Ares was telling the truth."

"He wasn't."

Everyone turned to Grover, equally confused.

"Not entirely, at any rate. He was holding something back."

"How do you know?" asked Annabeth.

"Because I think I got it out of him."

"Yeah, you did!" Drea cheered for Grover, not entirely sure what it was but still proud regardless.

Suspense built up as the group waited in anticipation.

"I know who stole the master bolt."

ϟ

"Do you think you're special, lightning thief? That's hardly even your true profession. Do you think you cannot be replaced?"

A solemnly husky voiced spoke.

"I gave you the tools to steal the master bolt, only to watch it taken from you and your accomplice. That mistake has been corrected."

Percy was listening in the background, confused. His nightmares usually came in the form of sandy dunes that this voice haunted him in. Now, he was watching the headmaster who had expelled him from Yancy speak, presumably to the Lighting Thief.

"But there is too much at stake for you to fail me again. The war ahead of us. The war beyond Zeus and Poseidon's war."

The voice grew more threatening word by word.

"Give me reason to question your worthiness again, and there is another that just might be ready to take your place. Not the one of your own choosing."

Percy was only made aware that he wasn't just spiritually tapping into the conversation but that he was actually there when the figure of his headmaster turned to him, peaking through the crack of the office door.

He was awkwardly being stared at. It felt ominous; disturbing.

"Isn't that right, little hero?"

He was talking to Percy.

"Not time for us to meet quite yet. Run along now," Through the paned window of the door, Percy could make out that the 'Lighting Thief' had turned to take a glance at him. "and show me what you are capable of."

Jolting awake from his dream state, Percy's face was immediately attacked with the bright beam of sunlight. Ironically, it was the daughter of the sun god who opened up the trapdoor in the ceiling of the cargo hold and thus blinded him.

Besides sight, his sense of hearing was bombarded with the noisy sounds of pigs squealing, others growling, and more.

"Does that help?" Grover asked, referring to the new found shine of sun in the room. 

"Guess we're about to find out." Annabeth sighed. "Can you see where we are?"

Grover proceeded to lift himself back up and poked his head through the trapdoor. The wind pushed against his head as he did a quick scan of their surroundings. Drea could only chuckle and imagine what Grover taking a peak might look like from above. 

He lowered himself back down to declare, "We're almost there."

Drea jumped down from the crates she was balancing upon to sit down with Annabeth on the haystack. She was struggling with the crystal to create a rainbow reflection.

"Here, lemme see."

Annabeth stood and handed the glass crystal to her, and a sudden ethereal ringing began. There at the wall appeared a rainbow light. Percy was intrigued and found himself walking over to sit next to her.

"Ah hah, a signal."

"How are you so good at that?"

Drea replied to the girl, "Rainbows go hand-in-hand with sun, it's like my birth right."

Waiting expectantly, Drea gave Percy a look. He held the drachma in his hand with no movement.

"You know, Bubbles, that won't backflip into the rainbow itself."

Percy took the hint and carefully lined up the coin and then flicked it into the light. It shimmered for a moment before the drachma disappeared.

"This will never stop being weird."

Annabeth commented, "If you want the gods' attention, you have to pay for it."

Drea cleared her throat at the awkward words and began to recite, "Oh, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering."

Waiting a second, the light glimmered in acceptance of the offering.

"..uh, camp right?" Drea asked Annabeth for confirmation. "Show me Camp Half-Blood, Chiron's Office."

There, through the twinkling sparkles of color appeared an older teen wearing a signature orange shirt. It was obvious who it was, but standing next to him was another boy, alike in features but slightly shorter with straight hair.

"Luke?" Percy called.

When the boy turned around, so did the other one.

"Owen!" Drea whooped.

There was both her brothers, looking glad to see the group of kids.

"Annabeth? Percy?"

"Drea! How's it going, bug? Are you guys okay?"

"Oh my gods, I have so much to tell you! I met your dad! He was kinda standoff-ish at first but he literally rescued Percy from his own contraption thingy—

"Where's Chiron?" Annabeth interrupted.

"Chiron's holding camp together with both his hands—

"Hooves and all." Owen butted in.

Luke ignored his humor, "Everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides. Please tell me you're calling with good news."

Percy bursted out, "We know who stole the bolt."

"How do you know?" Luke asked cautiously.

"We ran into Ares, and Grover got him talking and realized Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them." Annabeth grinned knowingly, "So, who would Ares cover for other than.."

"His favorite daughter." Luke declared. "Clarisse is the lighting thief."

"There's no way. Drea, Sylvia has been running around with Clarisse all week while you guys have been gone." Owen announced.

Drea scoffed, "I knew it! She told me that they weren't anything but she had that look on her face when she lies."

"Clarisse hasn't been acting like a thief, I don't think.."

"Doesn't matter. You have to get Sylvia to avoid Clarisse without telling her she's the thief. She'd never believe it." Drea told Owen.

"Chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows."

"Arrest her? He's a centaur not a cop." Owen chuckled.

"There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger."

Both girls looks to Percy, wondering why he believed there to be something greater at play.

"Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me."

Drea sighed to herself. Trust him.

"Okay, we're on it." Luke accepted on behalf of him and Owen.

"So, Ares, huh? What was that like?"

Owen looked to Drea, "Was he as stupidly scary as everyone says he is?"

"Not a bit." she scoffed.

"Well.. compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Drea corrected Percy, "Was Medusa not on Saturday?"

"I thought Sunday."

"We didn't have anything on Sunday. But then on Monday you threw me down to the river."

"Right. So, Medusa on Saturday."

"Guys," Luke cut them off while Owen laughed in the background. "What is this?"

"What?" They asked in synchronization.

"When did you turn into an old married couple?"

They chose to ignore the sounds of both boys in Chiron's office laughing at Luke's remark.

Drea couldn't fathom how they would even resemble an old married couple. It was just Luke's way of teasing her. Meanwhile, Percy looked annoyed.

"..not to change the subject, but i'm gonna," Percy dryly joked. "we could use your advice on something. We're headed to Las Vegas to find your dad—

Immediately Annabeth made her way over to Drea to quickly spin around the crystal and break the message. Luke's image was then gone and Percy seemed to turn around for an explanation, obviously lost.

"Dude.." Drea muttered while screwing her eyes shut in frustration.

"What was that about?"

Annabeth mentioned, "You can't ask Luke about his dad."

"Well, now I certainly can't." Percy sassed.

"If you tell him we're going to see Hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it. We don't need that right now." she explained.

He was confused. Why would he do that?

"They don't get along?"

Drea mumbled out, "That's a nice way to put it."

Not even a second later, Grover walked over to the duo sitting on the haystack with Annabeth standing anxiously next to them.

"Okay, got some updates."

The three expectantly faced Grover.

"The men driving this truck are not nice people."

Percy and Annabeth seemed a bit let down with what they were expecting while Drea was even more curious. She always wished she could talk to animals the way Satyrs could.

"Traffickers."

"We can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardizing the quest."

"Oh, no, no, no. They've already got a plan to get themselves out." He reassured Annabeth. "And us, too."

A smile landed on his face as he passionately spoke of the caged animals.

"I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked."

"What's that?"

"Thumbs."

Drea couldn't help but match Grover's smirk.

"But we're here now, so, all good."

Annabeth questioned, "And once the cages are open, they have a plan from there?"

"Yeah. Really elegant. I mean.. these guys, they're.. they're like artists."

ϟ

Countless animals roamed one of the busy streets of Las Vegas. An ostrich speeding through, a camel whining at a kid sticking his head out a car window, horses and donkeys galloping through the streets. Not one car could get by, many of them honking and screaming while others abandoned their vehicles all together.

On the sidewalk, watching the entire scene, the four kids stood very concerned. Apart from Grover.

"When you said artists I didn't think you meant escape artists."

Agreeing with Drea, Percy added, "This seems dangerous."

"Oh, they'll be totally fine. I gave them a Saytr's blessing. They'll be able to reach the wilderness—

"I meant for the people."

"Oh..them."

He hadn't given the people in the area any thought.

"Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll.. Yeah, I don't know. But the animals are all set."

Knowing there wasn't anything they could do about it anymore, they turned from the ongoing conflict to refocus their attention.

"Okay, come on, before the cops show up."

"So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?"

Drea couldn't help but laugh and attempt to muffle it into her fist. Percy was confused.

"What?"

He followed her line of sight and noticed the ginormous building with intricate features, one being the distinct petals of a Lotus flower.

"I'm guessing the one with giant lotus blossom on it."

Percy jokingly rolled his eyes at the girls.

"You guys were, like, two seconds ahead of me."

Continuing to laugh her way down the sidewalk with Annabeth, Percy and Grover followed.

"Seriously. Sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?"

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Ellie Speaks!

hi so this chapter was kinda filler so mb BUT i included a few details (like the title) that will be important tehe

i also didn't proof read this one or anything so i may have to fix spelling errors and such later but i wanted to post this