JAWBREAKER

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

A Coast Guard boat picked Warren and the others up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up, after all, their radios were jammed with distress calls. So the group was dropped off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD!

Their clothes were sopping wet, but besides being a little cold they were alright. Percy had given his shoes to Grover to disguise his hooves. It was better that the Coast Guard wondered why one of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them was half goat.

After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise.

Warren felt as if she'd just come back from the dead— which she had. She was still in shock at her revelation, and grew even more furious as the minutes ticked by. She didn't care that he was a god, or that he was her father, Warren was ready to bury Ravager in Ares's skull.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way—"

"It was all a trick," Percy kicked the sand.

Warren reached out a tentative hand to place on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about your mother, Perce. I'm so sorry..."

He pretended not to hear her and shrugged off her hand. He knew that if he talked about his mom he would start crying.

"The prophecy was right," Percy said. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades, he didn't want war among the Big Three. Of course it was Ares."

Annabeth nodded, "And you were framed because you're Poseidon's kid. He'll get blamed by both sides."

"By sundown today, there will be a three-way war," Percy grimaced. "And I'll have caused it."

"It's not your fault," Warren insisted. "I should've known. No one else would want a war that badly besides—"

She looked down the beach and stopped mid-sentence. Her black eyes narrowed viciously.

There he was, waiting for them in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight staining the sand red.

"Hey, kid," Ares said, smiling at Percy. "You were supposed to die."

In a flash, Warren flipped her drachma into Ravager and bared her teeth. "How could you!" she screamed. "You stole the helm and the bolt."

He looked down at his daughter and smirked. "Good to see you too, Ren. Anyhow— I didn't steal them personally. You know that gods taking each other's symbols of power is a big no-no."

"Who did you use? Clarisse?" Warren's knuckles turned white around Ravager's hilt. "She was there with us at the winter solstice. Why even send me on this quest!"