La Vie en Rose // Percy Jackson

xv. percy battles his jerk relative

Annie's POV:

A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us for long, or to wonder how five kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Our clothes were sopping wet, even mine. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, Percy wa probably praying they wouldn't pick us out of the water and find him perfectly dry, which might've raised some eyebrows. So Percy had willed himself to get soaked. Percy was also barefoot, because he'd given his shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves.

After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. Percy looked as though felt as if her just come back from the dead - which he had. His backpack was heavy with Zeus's master bolt. His heart seemed even heavier from seeing his mother.

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

"It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody-"

"Percy..." I said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

Percy pretended not to hear me. If he talked about his mother, he looked like he was going to start crying like a little kid. I wouldn't have looked at him anything less than he was.

"The prophecy was right," Percy said. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed Percy because I'm was Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And and I'll have caused it."

Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

Percy stopped in his tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think."

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

"Hey, kid," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see Percy. "You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me," Percy said. "You stole the helm and the master bolt."

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power - that's a big no-no. But you're not the only heroes in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

The idea seemed to amuse him.

"Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you two. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."

From his pocket he took out a ski cap - the kind bank robbers wear - and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.