᯾☾︎𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑶𝒇 𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈☽︎᯾ ᵖ ʲᵃᶜᵏˢᵒⁿ ˣ ᶠ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

⋆ 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨. 𝐢: 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧 ⋆

꧁𓆉︎𖦹☾︎✯☽︎𖦹𓆉︎꧂

⋆ 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 ⋆

꧁𓆉︎𖦹☾︎✯☽︎𖦹𓆉︎꧂

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐎𝐓.

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

"You don't seem happy about that," Y/N  said. "And you knew it was a trap!"

Ares gave her a wicked grin. Though it also looked like a nervous smile. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

Y/N sent him a death glare, and Percy shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk," he said.

Annabeth and Grover caught their breath. Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back. "See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, Y/N could read it only because it was reverse-printed white on black:

KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL:
HUMAN ZOO TRANSPORT.

WARNING:
LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

"You're kidding," Percy said in disbelief.

Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck was unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job." He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos.

You've got to be fucking kidding me! Y/N thought bitterly.

"I don't want your lousy..."

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving me his best red alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

Reluctantly, Percy slung the backpack over his shoulder. The waitress who'd served them dinner was watching nervously out the window like she was afraid Ares might hurt the kids. She dragged the cookout from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera, and snapped a picture of them.