Life of A Young Demigod: Book 1 (Percy Jackson reader insert)

Vegas, baby!

As soon as me and Andromeda left the building, we saw what had happened. About 50 feet away was one of those wooden sign things with the park mascots on them, where tourists could take a picture. Percy and Annabeth had, somehow, seemingly gotten thrown through it, their heads peeking out from one side, and the rest of their body on the other. Grover was just finishing up giving them a bit of ambrosia for the presumably massive headache both were experiencing at that moment, and had started to try and pull Annabeth out.

I started laughing a bit. "Hey! What the hell happened out here, guys?"

Percy glared at me. "Shut it, (Y/N). Not the time for jokes."

Andromeda gave me a look that said she agreed. I sobered up a bit. "Alright, sorry, but what happened? You guys ok?"

Annabeth, who seemed a bit shaky for some reason, began to explain. Apparently, the boat had been a trap set by Hephaestus for Ares and Aphrodite. When they were about halfway through the ride, a mob of small golden spiders wove a net over the two of them, trapping them in the boat. Then, a bunch of statues came to life and began broadcasting their predicament on "Hephaestus TV Live 24/7". Good to know the gods had cable. The two of them had just barely managed to escape, thanks to Percy's water powers and Annabeth's quick thinking.

Percy, who had managed to get out of the whale he had his head stuck through, held up the shield. "Don't worry though, I got it!"

With Grover's help, Annabeth pushed herself out of the seal she was stuck in with a grunt. "Damn spiders. Always after me because of what my mom did to Arachne. Can't stand them."

Ah. Makes sense I suppose. I actually kind of sided with Arachne in that story, but I'd never tell Annabeth that.

Andromeda sighed. "Well we'd better get back to Ares then, I guess."

I groaned loudly. "Ugh. Lets just get this over with. Less time I spend near that guy, the better as far as I'm concerned."

Percy started laughing a bit. "Weren't you the one who tried making friends with him at first?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be on good terms with the god of battle and combat. Seemed like a decent idea at the time. At least before he opened his mouth..."

Grover put a hand on my shoulder. "It was a smart idea, but... well, it's like he said. You can't make peace with war itself."

Eventually, we made it back to the gates. I sighed audibly. Right out front stood a familiar face. Ares.

Percy decided to be the brave one and approached him first. "We got your stupid shield. Now it's time for your end of the deal."

Ares gave him an evil looking grin. "Alright, fair enough, punk. I promised to tell you something about your mother, right? Well, here you go. She's not dead. Corpse Breath has her, no doubt as a hostage. It's a smart move, you'd be smarter to not play into it. I know you won't listen to me on that, though, so I won't even try."

As we talked, he gestured for us to walk with him back towards the diner.

Once we got back there, I gathered my nerves and spoke up. "You knew it was a trap. You nearly got us killed. You knew damn well about the boat and the hippalectryon, but you didn't say anything."

Ares glared at me, staring deep into my soul. "You're lucky I don't incinerate you where you stand kid. I can't though, I'm afraid. Even I sometimes have limits on what I can do."

He what?

"But yes, I knew. That damnable deformed smith  has it out for me for some reason." He looked at Percy and Annabeth. "You looked good on TV!"