Annabeth Chase and the Lightning Thief

Chapter 24 - Percy insults a god

Ares met us at the diner. He looked smug.

"Well, well. You didn't get yourself killed," he sneered.

"You knew it was a trap," Percy spat furiously.

"Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

"You're a jerk," Percy snapped, shoving Ares' shield at him.

Grover whimpered with fear, shaking like he knew how tense the air was. I held my breath, sure that Percy was about to be blasted down to the Underworld.

Ares spun his shield like a professional pizza maker and it morphed into a bullet proof vest. He slung it across his back, staring at Percy like a snake.

"See that truck over there?" he asked, gesturing to an eighteen-wheeler parked nearby. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

"You're kidding," Percy said.

I didn't blame him. The sign on the truck read KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS. It wasn't exactly a five-star ride.

Ares snapped his fingers, causing the back door of the truck to swing open. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He pulled out a blue nylon backpack and tossed it to Percy, who caught it reluctantly. I looked over his shoulder as he inspected the contents: fresh clothes for all of us (which was a relief as we looked ridiculous in the Waterland merchandise, which were already ripped and ragged), twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos. At the moment, the Oreos looked the most appealing.

Percy didn't share my appreciation of the food.

"I don't want your lousy -" he began but Grover cut him off abruptly.

"Thank you, Lord Ares," he said, glaring at Percy out of the corner of his eyes. "Thanks a lot."

Percy gritted his teeth. He didn't look happy at all, but he didn't really have a choice. He was apart of the team and the supposed leader no less. Besides, we were in a bad way. We needed all the help we could get, even if we didn't like the helper.

The waitress who had served us dinner was watching nervously from inside the diner. She called something and and the cook came to stand beside her. Before I could react, he'd pulled out a small disposable camera and taken our pictures.

Oh, Styx. Another headline of Percy. This quest just kept getting better.

"You owe me one more thing," Percy snapped, struggling to keep his anger in check. "You promised me information about my mother."

Ares got onto his bike, revving the engine. "You sure you can handle the news? She's not dead."

Percy swayed, a stunned look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

I frowned. Percy didn't have many enemies, at least that he knew of. At the rate he was going though, he was getting a heap more.

"Kept?" he asked, confused, not understanding. "Why?"

"You need to study war, punk." Or strategy, I thought. Not that Ares had the brain capacity for that though. "Hostages. You can take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me."

Ares laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

I though Percy would let it go, but he was obviously one of last-laugh kind of guy.

"You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

I stepped away from Percy, sure he'd done it this time. And if he was going to be blasted, I'd rather not be blasted along with him.

"We'll meet again Percy Jackson," Ares threatened, his sunglasses glowing from the flames in his eyes. "Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

In a show of dramatics, he revved his engine loud, then spun and tore off down Delancy Street.

"That was not smart, Percy," I chided, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I don't care," he growled, turning away.

"You don't want a god as your enemy," I pressed. "Especially not that god." I didn't mention it, but he already had plenty of godly enemies. His birth would not have pleased everyone on the council, particularly Zeus and my mother. I'm sure that a lot of them would love to kill him right now. Only his father's protection and power was keeping him safe.

But if he started getting other enemies, even Poseidon wouldn't be able to save him.

I didn't think I'd ever find myself getting along with a child of Poseidon, but despite myself, I couldn't help but side with him. He was just a demigod like the rest of us, struggling to survive in a world where it was kill or be killed. I found that maybe it didn't matter who your godly parent was. It was who you are and what you do that matters more.

"Hey guys," Grover called. I hate to interrupt, but . . ."

He pointed at the diner and I turned to follow his finger. There were two men at the cash register, paying their bill. They wore identical black coveralls that had a white logo on the back that matched the one pasted on the side of the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck. For a moment, I began to think that this was a trap, but then I passed it off. These had to be mortals. No monster was that good at hiding themselves.

"If we're taking the zoo express, we need to hurry," Grover warned.

Percy didn't look happy and I didn't feel much better. But really, we didn't have any other choice.

We ran to the truck and hopped in, closing the doors behind us. As soon as I looked around the truck, I found that I had been right in having a bad feeling about it.