A Little More Than A Daydream

❂ Chapter Eight ❂

Ares was a jerk.

That's all I have to say about him.

His presence brought back every single memory I had of being bullied as a child, every single name I'd ever been called, every single instant where I had been without friends as I struggled to stand up for myself. It made me angry and frustrated that all I could do was sit and stew in silence as he talked to Percy and ordered us to retrieve his shield.

I kicked a stone with my shoe as we walked.

We reached the place Ares had told us to go to easily. It was an abandoned water themed park. Percy and Will wanted to climb over the fence, but I had a better idea.

"Harmony, sword" I used the gleaming silver and bronze blade to cut open the locks on the large gates and pushed them open.

"Emmalie! That's vandalizing!" Annabeth protested.

"The place hasn't been used in years" I pointed out. "Its a junk field."

"I'm still not happy with it" She frowned.

"Neither am I as far as it goes" I told her. "But we need to get this stupid thing for Ares and get on our way to saving the world"

We walked through the place, searching for Ares's shield. When we finally found the thing, Percy and Will went inside to retrieve it, activating the trap. Annabeth and I were both glad that we weren't inside, because mechanical spiders suddenly sprouted everywhere and began to crawl over the boys. They didn't care though, and just brushed them off.

"Emma!" I called.

Wings shot out from the sides of my shoes, and I took to the air. My take off was more than a little wobbly, but soon I was flying smoothly. The view from above was awesome, but I felt a slight twinge of fear in my gut as I realized how high I was. I flew to the gates on the ride - why they were locked, I had no clue, and sliced them open.

I was just in time too, because water started flooding out to fill the pool and the boys' boat come flying out a few seconds later. It slammed into me, and the boys quickly helped me on. Time seemed to slow down as we flew through the air. The pool was flooding too slowly.

Percy seemed to reach the same conclusion as I did and reached out a hand. The water flow increased just in time for us to crash into the pool.

"Ouch, Ouch, Ouch" Percy moaned as we picked ourselves up out of the wreckage.

"Hey, at least we got a free bath" I joked.

Will laughed.

Will and I were both drenched from head to toe but not even a drop had landed on Percy's clothes.

Annabeth looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh as she watched us drag ourselves out of the pool and onto dry land. "Maybe we can find some clothes around here at the gift store or something?" She suggested.

"I have a change of clothes" I told her. "But we need to find something for you four. We all stink."

"But I just had a bath!" Will protested, his eyes open wide and innocent.

"Oh be quiet" I shoved him playfully.

He shoved me back, making me bump into Annabeth. Me and all the boys all sucked our breath in at the look on Annabeth's face.

"Run!" Grover advised.

- ❂ -

Ares gave as a free ride in a 'humane zoo transport' truck. Although it headed straight to Las Vegas, the inside was terrible. The poor lion, zebra and antelope had been so poorly treated, that their ribs were showing. I could see signs of dehydration too and knew that these animals weren't going to last much longer unless they could eat or drink and the soiled straw was doing them no favours.