𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔 • Percy Jackson.

17

"WE LOOK SO FUCKING STUPID." Decked out in water land merch; flower shorts, ocean shirts, red labeled shirts, surf shoes, literally anything they robbed off the closed souvenir shop. Annabeth stopped adjusting her backpack straps (it was all water land themed), "you want to stay in that greasy, dirty, orange T-shirt?"

He quit complaining.

After their wardrobe change, they searched the entire park for the Tunnel of love. "The name sounds so corny." He commented offhandedly, glancing around the abandoned park. The shadows grew ever so slowly.

Time was so inconsistent and Percy's questions didn't do much within the blurry night. Honesty who asks, "So Ares and Aphrodite, they have a thing going?"? "That’s old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Yeah, like ten-thousand year-old gossip." Amani answered with a yawn. "Three-thousand years." Annabeth corrected, Amani snorted. "Same shit." He said with a shrug placing his hands behind his back. "How do you know that?" Percy asked and Amani shot him a glance, "I read." Percy gave him a look. "Sometimes." Amani added in. (Spoiler! He never reads.)

"What about Aphrodite’s husband?" Percy asked, "well, you know," Annabeth said. "No I really don't." Percy said, Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's Hephaestus.  The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn’t exactly handsome. Clever with his hands and all, but Aphrodite isn’t into brains and talent, you know?"

*She likes bikers."

Amani shrugged, they're kinda hot, he thought.

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That’s why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like…" She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that." Her hand pointed straight forward.

He followed the hand and in front of them stood an empty pool, at least fifty meters. Around the rim bronze statues of Cupid stood guard, their wings were spread and bows were ready to fire. "Oh my Gods. This looks so corny." Amani said in between a fit of laughter. The sign read; Thrill ride o' love: this is not your parent's tunnel of love.

Grover crept towards the edge. "Guys, look." Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares’s shield, a polished circle of bronze.

He glanced at the shield down below and felt his head tingle and it followed through his body down to his finger tips. He muttered, "this looks like a trap." While Percy said at the same time, "This is too easy. So we just walk down there and get it?" He wondered if it was too easy.

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue. "There’s a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder…" Trailing off Percy asked, "Grover you smell any monsters?" There were none.

"I'll go down there." Percy spoke out, brave as ever he supposed. "I'll go with you." Grover said it, but he didn't sound enthusiastic, he could hear the way his voice quivered a bit. "No," Percy told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You’re the Red Baron, remember? I’ll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong." Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"I don’t know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me –" Amani raised his eyebrows, "are you kidding?!" Annabeth said, looking at him with the utmost shock. Her cheeks were starting to grow red again, embarrassment? Amani concluded glancing between the two who made a big deal out of nothing. "I'll do it with you," Amani said with a shrug.