I was on the St. Monica beach for the second time in my life laid on my stomach. Then a hand appeared in front of my face. I would recognise that hand anywhere. Luke. I looked up at his face. He had an emotion I couldn't read. I took his hand and he pulled me up. Then pulled me in a hug as soon as I stood up. His head was on top of mine smelling my hair.
"You're alright." He said.
"Yeah I'm fine we just need to talk-" I was cut off by him.
"We'll talk when we get out of the camp he whispered into my ear. I pulled away.
"No, we have to talk before-" I was interrupted by Percy appearing two feet away from me and Annabeth helped him up. I infront of him. "You good?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm good." Percy said and then looked away from me to look at something behind me. I turned around. Of course it was Ares. I took a deep breath and started walking towards him. I threw my bag on the ground next to Luke and walked closer. I was about 10 feet away from him.
"Why you standing there like stick. Fucking fight me you dick. I've had enough of you. So come on, fight me. Unless you're afraid of me. You know what I'm capable of. You saw what I did to Echidna and the Chimera." I finished as I looked him dead in the eye ready to murder him.
"Single combat!" Percy shouted out of nowhere.
"What?" Everybody asked as we looked at Percy confused
"One-on-one, but I set the terms." Percy started.
"Percy if it's gonna be a one on one it's gonna be me and Ares cause I'm gonna murder him." I said as my head was turned to Percy. But he ignored me. "If I draw first blood, I keep the bolt
and you surrender the helm."
"Percy." I said seriously. He walked next to me like I was nothing. Ares laughed.
"Do you accept?" Percy asked.
"I mean it's your funeral, kid. Although, just to be clear, no funeral." Ares agreed. "Any trace of you leaves a trace of my plan, and we can't have that."
"It wasn't your plan, though, was it?" Percy asked. "It was Kronos. It was his idea to frame Poseidon's kid and steal Hades's helm and Zeus's bolt to start a war."
"What?" Ares asked.
"Is that where he got to you, too?" Percy asked. "Through your dreams?"
"Gods don't dream, little man." Ares started. "And no one tells the god of w*r how to start a fight. And after you die..
say hi to your mommy for me." And Ares launched at Percy. I tried to lift my arms so I could manipulate Ares' blood to help Percy. But Luke held them down. I looked at him. He didn't even look back at me. I looked back at Percy. They were still fighting. Wait maybe I can do it without my arms. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on Ares. Then something clicked like I something connected. I opened my eyes and saw Percy on the sand and Ares trying to move his leg.
"What are you doing kid!" Ares shouted at Percy. Percy slowly started getting up and there was a huge wave forming behind him. "Let go of me kid!"
"I warned you…if you're not careful...you'll find out…who I am." Percy said and let the wave wash Ares. I let go off him and Ares screamed. When he tried to get up Percy was already attacking him with his sword again. He pushed Ares on the sand.
"You okay?" Grover asked Percy as he walked towards us. I ran to him and hugged him.
"You hurt?" Missy asked from behind me.
"You were good." I said as I let him go to look at him.
"I learned from the best." Percy said and looked at Luke. Luke stood there with his arms crossed over his chest smiling proudly. There has to be another way then to join Kronos. If we explain it to the kids the right way maybe we as demigods could do it without a war. Maybe a protest or something.
"And you thought you were just a kid." Annabeth said to Percy. Then we heard slow clapping.
"Yay! That was so cool. Wanna know what you really won today? An enemy for life. Both of you." He said looking at me. "Congrats." Then he started shining.
"Don't look at his true form!" Missy shouted as everyone turned around. I did the same. Well Luke pulled me and turned me around but yeah.
"It's Hades's helm." Annabeth said. Percy took it and started walking towards a cabin that was on the beach. The kids followed Percy. Luke took my hand to do the same. But I stopped.
"Luke, there must be another way." I said whispering. "I know that Kronos is the strongest ways but imagine how many sacrifices would that be. I don't want to see any demigod who did nothing wrong die just because their parents are stupid. But we can find another way I'm sure." I said as I placed my palm on the scared side of his face.
"Effie-" Luke started.
"No listen, we can explain it to kids and they'll understand non of them are huge fans of their parents. So we can just at first start a protest we can do something else but Kronos is not the way to do it." I said as I looked into his brown eyes. He closed his eyes.
"Effie, I love you with every bit of my heart but I have to do this. You know I do and I just can't sit around and do some stupid protests. I have to take the matter in my own hands. If you won't join me I'm not okay with that but you can't do anything to stop me from loving you even if it means we'll be fighting on different sides of the war. I will love you but I'm doing this for you and for every other demigod out there." He said as he looked at me and put his palm on top of mine. "I really love you Effie and I'm ready to sacrifice everything for your happiness."
"I love you too Luke. But I also love those kids. I honestly thought I'd never say it but I really do love them and I don't want to hurt them." I said. Luke looked away but I turned his face back to face me. "But you're right. If we want things to change we have to do something." He smiled slightly. "But, you have to promise me we won't hurt any of those kids. Even if we see them not a single hair will be missing from their head. Understand?"
"I promise." Luke said and I closed the space between us. He kissed back immediately. When we pulled apart our foreheads met for a few seconds. "We should go to the kids." We walked hand in hand towards the cabin. We saw Alecto flying out of the cabin with the helm.
"What does that mean, "Good luck on…" Dude." Grover said.
"No." Missy said seriously.
"I have to." Percy said.
"What for? The quest failed. We missed the deadline." Annabeth said.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"Percy's planning to go to Olympus." Missy said fear written all over her face.
"No, liten this is bigger than the quest..Before we set off, Chiron told me the last war on Olympus kicked off World war II down here. We have to get Zeus to call it off." Percy explained.
"Returning the bolt is the only way
I can get his attention." I said understanding Percy as he nodded.
"Percy, you don't want Zeus's attention." Luke said.
"I gotta tell him about Kronos. Did you see how frightened Hades was about the idea of Kronos coming back?" Percy said as I nodded remember Hades' face. "Zeus has to know. Bringing him the bolt might be enough to get him to listen. You five gotta go to camp. Now that we know who Ares and Clarisse were working for,
someone has to warn Chiron."
"He'll kill you." Missy said to Percy seriously. "You understand that, right?" Missy finished as Annabeth nodded.
"Either because he still thinks you stole the bolt, or because you're a forbidden kid. Zeus will never let you leave Olympus alive." Annabeth said.
"I'm done running from monsters. This is too important. I have to try." Percy said.
"And besides I'll be going with him." I said.
"No, Jules-" Percy started.
"Listen, it's either me alone or you and me your choice." I said. He nodded defeated. Then Annabeth walked towards Percy.
"You're gonna need all the luck you can get." Annabeth said as she put her camp half blood necklace around Percy's neck.
"Just for clarity, how sure are we you couldn't just explain everything in an email?" Grover asked.
"Where's the glory in that?"
