gnossienne
n. the realisation that you didn't actually know someone as well as you thought you did
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'Look, I never wanted to be a half-blood.
Let's start from the top, shall we?
My name is Cassandra Jackson, but everyone usually calls me Ca...
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A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us long, or to wonder how how four kids in street clothes had got out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to clean up.
They dropped us off at the Santa Monica pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles, and sped off to help more people.
Our clothes were sopping wet, even mine and Percy's. It would've looked dodgy when the Coast Guard picked us up in the middle of the bay, and two of us were dry. Sure enough, as soon as I wished to get wet, I was soaked. Percy had lent Grover his shoes to hide his hooves.
"I don't believe it!" Annabeth seethed. "We went all that way -"
"It was a trick." I growled.
"A strategy worthy of Athena." Percy added, turning to her. "You get it, don't you?" Annabeth's anger faded away.
"Yeah, I get it."
"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody -"
"Percy, Cassie, I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry." Annabeth said. I turned away, tears welling up.
"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 between the Big Three. Someone else pulled the theft. Someone stole Zeus' master bolt, and Hades' helmet, and framed me and Cassie because we're Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed from both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And we'll have caused it."
Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that badly?" I stared down at the beach, narrowing my eyes.
"Gee, let me think." Percy spotted who I was glaring at.
He was waiting for us, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminium baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, it's headlights turning the sand red.
"Hey, kids." Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see us. "You were supposed to die."
"You tricked us!" I exclaimed.
"You stole the helmet and the master bolt." Percy said.
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, right?" I asked.
The idea seemed to amuse him. "You know the thief well, Cassandra. But that doesn't matter anymore. The point is, kids, you're impending the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus' master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."
