Gaia's heir

Chapter 8

stepping off the bus at a station near an empty beach outside Los Angeles aspen stepped out into the bright sun light of a California sunny afternoon, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stepped off the bus after him. the trio had been rather sullen on the trip across country as they came to terms with the betrayal of their friend. 

aspen had been silent for the majority of the trip as he let them take the time they needed to get over the shock and hurt that came with these realizations, the only time he had been forced to interrupt their thoughts was when they needed to switch busses or leave for it to refuel.

"there's a diner not far from here, we'll stop there to eat since it's best not to enter the underworld while on an empty stomach" aspen said as he lead the group to the dinner that was set up not far from the beach where he sat them down at one of the tables before heading to the bathroom.

pulling out his hand held mirror that Hecate had given him aspen called Athena.

"aspen? what can I do for you?" the goddess of wisdom asked as soon as her image appeared in his mirror.

"I think I'll need your help auntie I found the master bolt but there is something much bigger going on, when I went to the camp I felt a sinister and malicious presence that was trying to cling to the campers and the camper that I found the master bolt on was luke the son of Hermes and this presence was clinging to him like a second skin but no matter how good he was at sneaking around there is no way that he could have known where to go in order to steal the master bolt"

"you think that one of the gods is behind this?" Athena's face showed her uncertainty at the thought of one of their family members betraying them like that.

"I don't think one of them is behind it but I do think that one of them might be under the influence of this aura, I don't know who it is that's behind this but I do know that I have never met this person, that only leaves so many beings strong enough to take control of another god in this way, though it might be easier if the god in question thought they would benefit from the war" aspen knew he was making accusations with out solid proof but he also knew that Athena would be able to see the logic in his thinking.

"you think Ares is the one who has been taken over?" Athena asked but he could already see the cogs turning in her mind as she thought thru everything she knew and everything that he had brought to her.

"it would make the most sense, with war on the horizon Ares must have dropped his guard just enough for this being to slip into his mind, at first it would have been a small suggestion here or there to cause more violence than usual while the being worked their way deeper into his mind until Ares thought that this massive war was all his plan, no matter how controlled he is Ares would never follow the orders of someone else especially not when it comes to war" aspen concluded as he watched Athena nod and add his own suspicions to her  calculations.

"you want to use the master bolt as a way to lure out Ares" it wasn't even a question.

"yes, there's nothing else that will get him out here so we can check him for anything that might be altering his mind, I also believe he has Hades helm of darkness and that needs to be returned as well" Athena nodded as her face grew grim at the news of Hades missing helm. 

no doubt she was wondering about how two of the big three could have had their main weapons stolen and yet no one had noticed until it was all over, this whole thing seemed a bit to sophisticated of a plot for most of the gods to pull off and very few of those that were smart enough to think of all this have the power needed to put it all into action.

"very well, I'll be there soon, if you see him before I arrive then you'll have to stall him until I can get there to help you subdue him, I'll bring some of Hephaestus' netting since it's one of the only things that will be able to hold him so we can take him back to Olympus" with that said she turned off her mirror and aspen left the bathroom silently hoping that the demi gods hadn't managed to get themselves into trouble while he was gone.