Welf groaned. Resting his forehead against his hand, he planted his elbow into the table. Absent-mindedly picking at his food with his fork.
"Man, I am so stressed. Those last two chapters felt like they took ages"
Next to him, Tsubaki nodded her head.
"I know what you mean; I was on the edge of my seat the whole time."
"I don't even think I can eat right now; I'm so hyped up" Tiona screamed across the room as she shoveled food into her mouth, ready to quickly get back to the story.
Tiona, having given up on controlling her sister for today, sat silently next to her, eating at a more sedate, elegant pace. Fixing her posture every time she felt like Finn was looking over in her direction.
The cafeteria was alive with noise as everyone talked about the last few chapters. One after another, they were forced to watch as these kids barreled through the states on the runaway wagon that was this quest.
From attacks to weird visions to attacks again, it felt like neither Percy or them could comfortably catch a break.
What certainly didn't help was the environmental feedback they were getting. The stress of feeling all those high-level monsters standing right in front of them and yet not being able to do anything was starting to wear on a couple of them. Not to mention the mind magic that had fed itself through.
Thankfully, they broke for lunch when they did, or else some of the Gods feared that the more delicate members of their viewing party would collapse under the stress.
Though the one that they were most concerned about was Ais.
Bell looked around the cafeteria. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their break, even Bete, who was laughing at something Gareth said, was having a good time. And Ais, sitting next to Reveria, was beginning to get back that tiny smile at the edge of her lips that very few people seemed to notice.
The rest of the Hostess girls were already starting to shut down the kitchen as last-minute orders were coming to a halt. Everyone one of them except one.
A tiny hand gently grabbed his shoulder.
"What's wrong, Bell-sama?" Lili asked.
"Nothing..I don't see Syr."
Welf snickered.
"Aww, trying to find your little girlfriend- OW!" Welf cried out, clutching his arm. "What the hell, Lili?!"
"Welf-sama should watch what he says."
"Why you little-"
Ryuu shook her head, ignoring the childish banter next to them.
"I'm sure Syr is fine, Bell. Mama Mia probably just has her off doing something."
"Maybe," Bell didn't look so sure though. During the last chapter's readings, Syr had been acting a bit weird. He didn't know what it was, the way she sometimes talked or moved. Or maybe the way that she wouldn't look at him, but something felt… off.
And he was pretty sure it had something with Freya.
Their previous interaction before the last chapter was the most telling, and concerning.
Even if, Bell felt himself blush a little, even if he wasn't looking at them when Freya bent over to take the book from Syr. The atmosphere he felt coming from over there hadn't been all that pleasant.
He had wanted to talk, to take a minute to ask Syr about it as soon as Freya closed the book, but before he could get the chance to talk to her, he was dragged away by his Familia to the cafeteria.
After that, he thought he'd see her when everyone sat down to eat their food, but she never popped up again.
Weirdly enough, Freya was missing as well.
*****
Thud Thud
Heavy boots echoed across the empty hallway.
A soft yellow light from above splashed against welcoming almond walls and dark hardwood floors.
The ceiling, replaced by the image of an open sky, showcased the noon sun overhead surrounded by soft, pillowy clouds.
Knowing that being forcibly taken from their home world would cause some mental anguish among his guests, The Watcher was kind enough to endeavor to design the most relaxing, homey feel for the dormitories.
Just by walking to their rooms under a night sky full of twinkling stars and novas, people would feel all the stress of the day leave their bodies as they got ready for bed.
All that good, homely feeling was chased away though, as a large, dark shadow glided against the walls.
Ottar walked down the empty living quarters with a tray of food in hand. He was here to collect his Goddess before it was time to start the readings again.
Lunch was nearly over, and she still needed to get something to eat.
Rounding the corner towards her room, he caught the tail end of a conversation through the crack of an open door.
"-And if you ever do something like this again, I will not hesitate to kick you out of the Familia. Stip you down and drag you through Oario on your hands and knees. Do you understand me, Horn?"
"I understand, Freya-sama"
Ottar stopped in front of the door. From the open crack, he could see as Freya-sama, seemingly towering over a bowing form, looked down upon Horn, still dressed as Syr.
Straightening up, Freya-sama pointed to the door.
"Good, now get out of here and remember, act right, or else. There will not be a next time."
Bowing one final time, Horn kept her head down as she left teh room. Not even looking at Ottar as she hurried out the door. Making her way to the cafeteria, where there'd no doubt be many questions of where she had been.
Outside, Ottar watched as Freya fixed her hair before she motioned him in.
Setting her tray of food on the dresser, he knelt before her.
"Are you ready Freya-sama?"
Not even looking at him, Freya walked over to the food and stabbed a cherry tomato with a fork. Taking a bite, she sighed.
"...Yes, I will have to be."
*****
Welf stepped up and picked the book off the coffee table.
Now that everyone was done eating and were taking their seats again, it was time to start the next chapter. And somehow, through their loose-goosy reading order, that meant that it was the Hestia Familia's turn to read again.
Out of the rest of their Familia, Welf was one of the few that hadn't had a chance to read yet. Besides him, the only other choices were Haruhime, Yamato, or Lil Lili, and Welf wasn't the type of person to force his juniors to head into danger before him.
If everyone was gonna be forced to take a turn at some point, better that he go first before any of the girls do. That's what it means to be a man after all.
"Is everyone ready?" Welf asked.
"Yeah, yeah, just get it over with."
"I hope this chapter isn't as crazy as the Monster lady one."
"We are just gonna have to wait and see."
"Well, just prepare yourself guys," Welf said as he thumbed the pages. "Feels like this is gonna be one of the longer chapters."
Opening to the next chapter, Welf sat down and started reading.
"A God buys us dinner."
The Gods all immediately sit forward.
"A God," Hermes mutters.
"But which one?" Hephaestus asks.
"Obviously one of those Olympians, Hephy. Do you think we're finally gonna meet you?" Loki asked, tucking her feet underneath her.
"Maybe, though I'm putting my money on Dionysus. He's already met them, plus he's supposed to be looking after the kids, right? This might be him helping them.
Hestia shook her head. "No, he hates kids, remember. Plus his punishment is watching the kids at the camp; no way he springs up to help anyone outside of it."
Ouranos shook his head.
"A God interfering on a Fate-given quest would be one of the most vagrant rule breaking ever seen. At most, I believe this God is there just to give direction, a choice, with no direct interference." Ouranos said.
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. A day since their last meal, four days since their last shower. "Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit." "We can't use phones, right?" "I'm not talking about phones."
"These phones of theirs…They are such advanced messaging technology that I can't even begin to think about how they work." Finn sighed.
If he could only figure out their technologies and bring them back to their world, thousands, maybe millions of lives could be saved. From travel, communications, and even weapons. But the more he jotted these ideas down, the more he realized the undertaking needed to bring these wonders to life.
Too much, it was too much for them at this moment. Maybe even too much for the next few lifetimes. But still he kept his notes precise and detailed. Who knows, years down the line maybe some genius could make use of these mad scribbles.
Hephaestus tapped her fingers against her chin.
"Hmm, seems to be that each individual device sends a signal using an internal battery powered by an electrical charge meant to send signals across waves. More than likely, these waves are sent to certain areas or nodes that then further send these signals to their intended recipient."
Noticing everyone had stopped talking, Hephaestus looked around the room. Everyone was staring at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. A few had swirls in their eyes as steam poured out of their head.
These complex words and concepts were too much for their fragile brains, so they shut themselves down before more harm could come to them.
Coughing, Hephaestus turned around, trying to hide her blush.
"Ah....I guess you can think of it like messengers traveling along a road to get to where they need to go."
"Whoa, Hephaestus-sama. How do you know all that?" Tsubaki asked, amazed. Even she barely understood all of that.
Hephaestus looked at Tsubaki, surprised. Usually, back in Tenkai, Gods usually got mad at her whenever she went off on complicated subjects. It's why she tried to keep many of her explanations short and to the point.
She had just gotten so intrigued by these phones of theirs that she just couldn't help herself by trying to explain her new insights. But now, seeing how everyone was looking at her with stars in their eyes, she couldn't help but feel a little bit prideful.
Turning her nose up, Hephaestus flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Please, as a Goddess of crafting, with a deep understanding in my Domains, I can instantly know how any work under the Heaven is crafted just by looking at it. Though creating it without using my Arcun in our world is another matter." Hephasesuts tilted her head as she went of the numbers in her head. "If I wanted to do such a thing, our world would have to advance thousands of years, give or take."
"Wow, and to think their world is that far along," Welf said, amazed.
Tione raised her hand.
"But if I remember correctly, they said that monsters are attracted when they use these phones, so how are they gonna send a message?"
"Through messenger birds?" Her sister suggested.
Tione looked at Tiona with a deadpan gaze as she raised her fist.
"OW!"
Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
"Those are some beautiful mountains," Gareth said.
"They reminding you of home?" Riveria asked
"Please, the mountains of my homeland would be like comparing a child to an adult. And the volcanoes…there's not a better place to forge in the whole world." Gareth sighed.
Making their way to a car wash, Grover grabbed a hose. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping." "What are you talking about?" He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing." "Instant messaging?" "Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."
"Iris?" Hestia raised her eyebrow
"You know her, Hestia-sama," Haruhime asked.
"Yeah, she's the Goddess of Rainbow. Cute little kid, but she doesn't ferry messages for us or anything…though she does like to gossip a lot."
"Hehe."
"What's so funny, Loki?" Hestia rolled her eyes. Why does she have to respond to everything she does? Can't Loki be more mature…like her.
Loki smirked at Hestia.
"Funny that you're calling her a little kid when she's still taller than you."
Hestia's face erupted.
"W-Wha- Only by l-like 3 inches." She screamed. That's not that tall, right? In fact, they're practically the same height.
Hestia brought one of her hands up to where Iris's head would be. Yeah, they're still the same.
Loki laughed, leaning her face against her fist.
"Well, as your little boy toy will tell you, three inches is a lot."
"Bwah?" Bell looked stunned. Who was she talking about?
Hestia crossed her arms smugly over her sizable chest.
"HA! Shows what you know. Last I checked, Bell is at least eight-"
"C-CHECKED! HESTIA-SAMA!!" Bell screamed. What was going on? Since when was his s-size a part of their conversation?
A few women in the room whipped their heads towards Bell. Their heads shadowed and eyes glowing white, Bell felt a shiver go down his spine.
Hestia snapped out of it, barely realizing what she was about to admit.
"A-Ah, sorry, Bellu." She whispered out the side of her mouth. "And anyway, Loki, you should talk; doesn't Iris beat you by at least two cup sizes?"
Loki's temple started to throb. Oh, she just had to bring that up.
"EH! Say that again, shorty! I dare you! I double dog dare you!!" Standing on the sofa, Loki grabbed her bicep and raised her fist at Hestia.
"WELL I-"
"OK! That's enough!" Hephaestus shouted.
Standing in the middle of the theater, Hephaestus held up her hands, blocking the two of them.
"Let's at least show some kind of decorum in front of other people's kids. We at least like them to have pride in us as Gods, after all."
As that was going on, Welf leaned over to Bell.
"Bell, are you really…"
Bell waved his arms in front of his blushing face.
"W-What? Ah, maybe.. I've never mea- Hey! Hold on, that doesn't matter! What does Hestia-sama mean by measure?"
"I don't know." Welf shrugged "I mean, it's not like she hasn't had the opportunities, right? You guys used to live in the same basement together."
"I-I guess…Now that I'm thinking about it. I used to feel like something was watching me when I took showers back at the church, but I always just brushed it off as my imagination." Bell looked over to Welf, a little bit scared. "You don't think-"
"Who knows?" Welf shook his head. "Ah, better change the subject. I think Hestia-sama heard us, and it looks like she's about to start crying."
"Yeah, you're right."
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."
"So they're using the water to act like rain and make a rainbow, I see." May nodded her head.
"Nya, that's clever." Chloe cheered.
"Wait, will Iris-sama know what they're doing?" Lefiya turned to ask a sulking Loki.
"If she's up in Tenkai managing the rainbows, then yes, she'll know," Loki grumbled, not really caring what this Iris did anymore. She was too busy thinking about something else at the moment.
Eight inches, that shorty must be lying. No way that little rabbit had a greatsword like that.
"Drachma, please. Handing the coin to her Annabeth prayed before throwing it into the rainbow. As the gold coin disappeared into the mist teh image on the rainbow changed. From teh backdrop behind them to the hill at camp half blood, with someone familia standing with their back to them. "Luke" Percy called. "Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
"Luke, my boy." Hermes beamed, happy to see his son-from-another-him.
"It worked!" Lefiya gasped.
Bete looked at her in disbelief. "Did you think that it wouldn't"
Lefiya twiddled her thumbs embarrassingly.
"There was a chance.." She muttered.
"Look at that, there's Luke." Luniore pointed.
"And seems like Annabeth is surprised to see him as well." Mama Mia chuckled.
"We're . . . uh . . . fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean—" "He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"
"Issue with the campers?" Finn stopped writing.
"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?" Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash, speakers blaring. "Chiron had to—what's that noise?"
"Dear heavens, what is that noise?" Reveria quickly covered her ears, trying to stop any more of the godawful music from entering her delicate mind.
"It's awful." Lefiya felt tears start to well up as the music continued to play. "So vulgar."
"I don't know, I kind of like it." Tiona laughed as she bounced along to the music.
"Well, whatever it is, it's too loud for them to hear Luke." Finn frowned.
"I hope that I'M-ing thing they're using doesn't have a timer on it. They're losing valuable information here." Gareth said.
Luke yelled. "I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!" "What?" Grover said. "But—" "Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.
"Ha, look at that little girl running away from her crush. It reminds me of you, May, when you were younger."
"Mama!!" May blushed as she tried to cover her face. Why did Mama have to uncover her shrouded past of mystery? Now no one will ever respect her as a big sister.
Even now those stupid cats are making faces at her.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.
"He's not wrong about that." Welf muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Tsubaki's one eye gleamed under her bangs.
"N-Nothing!"
Percy got to talking with Luke. Talking about the camp, Luke explained that someone had revealed the truth of teh quest, and now campers were taking sides. Ares was now backing Poseidon, with Athena standing by Zeus. Luke likened it to a miniature Trojan War here. In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.
"What the hell are these kids doing? Do they literally have nothing better to do but fight over who is right or wrong during teh fate of the world?" Ryuu sneered.
"They're probably all scared. They all know that a war might break out any day, but none of them can do anything about it even though they're Demigods." Lili shook her head.
"Worse, it's their parents that are gonna be fighting." Tsubaki said.
"I'm surprised that the Ares cabin is standing by Percy," Bell said.
Welf snorted.
"Don't be, that's just how Ares is."
"Welf?" Bell turned to Welf, wondering what he meant.
"Hahh," Welf sighed. He didn't like talking about Ares, but he might as well explain it. "Ares likes to choose the underdogs in a fight. From what I hear from several high-ranking officers, it's because he likes how the underdog fights harder or something. It's stupid, but if Ares joins an alliance, it's mainly because one side is too lopsided."
"Hmm, what I'm wondering, is who leaked the information." Gareth scratched his chin.
"Yeah, what the hell, guy? What's the point? Percy's not even there." Tione said.
"No, but if the camp is in turmoil trying to put out all these little fires, there's less of a chance of anyone catching on to their plans until it's too late," Finn said.
"So your saying-" Riveria eyes widened as she put it together.
"It's a trap."
"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen . . . it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him." "But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly." "That's true,"
"He seems pretty insistent that it's Hades." Finn narrowed his eyes.
Riveria shook her head.
"Not unusual. From what we've heard, it seems like their Hades plays a similar role to our Evilus, so people blaming him for everything seems kind of to par. I still remember all those random reports from back then where people tried to blame every leaky roof and cracked road on some crackpot Evilus scheme. Made everything so much harder to weed out their true acts"
"Yes…but sometimes we found some strange reports tucked in between a few of them that weren't like the others."
Luke said, looking troubled. "Still . . . Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible." We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"Whoa!" Tiona shouted, outraged. "Was he-"
"No, he wouldn't-" Haruhime tried to defend him.
"He seemed pretty sure enough to throw suspicion, though."
"Something's not right. Someone as experienced as this Luke should know never to throw unreliable suspicion during an expedition. That's just asking for a full group collapse." Ottar grunted
Hermes, not wanting to listen to this slander against his maybe-baby son, stood up and tried to calm everyone down.
"Hey guys, calm down. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Look Welf, keep reading; you'll see."
"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never . . . I mean, she's like a little sister to me." I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely.
Hermes sighed.
"There, he's just stressed about troubles at camp. With Dionysus more than likely being no help, Chiron probably has to rely on some of the older campers to pick up the slack. He's not trying to mess with Percy or anything."
"Maybe." Loki frowned. She didn't believe that for a second. No, in fact, she could see Luke's trick a mile away. She just didn't have all the pieces yet. Whether this was a kid's spiteful jealousy rearing its head or something darker, she didn't know.
But for now, she'll let Hermes hold on to this golden image that he's built up of his son. It'll give her more time to work this out anyway.
"Snrk, I think Percy is right, though. Annabeth is not gonna like that Luke called her a little sister, Nya." Anya laughed, elbowing Luniore next to her.
Luniore rolled her eyes; this stupid cat focuses on the wrong things. Though, Luniore felt the edges of her lips twitch upwards, it's not like she's wrong.
Luke, trying to change the conversation, asked Percy about the shows. Not wanting to upset him, Percy said he liked them. As the mist from the hose started to lessen, Luke gave one final warning. "Tell Grover not to worry, nobody gonna get turned into a pine-" But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall. Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile faded.
Now why did Luke seem so concerned that Percy got those shoes, Finn wondered. It was probably nothing, but all the same, it got put into the notes.
"I wonder what they said to them." Yamato asked.
"Doesn't matter, look, the water is sputtering out." Lili said
"Are you kidding me, again!" Mama Mia growled at Luke. "This time he's spreading rumors!"
Hermes shook his head.
"He's just trying to give Grover some encouragement."
"Pretty specific encouragement if you ask me." Gareth frowned; if he didn't know any better if would seem like Luke was trying to cause division between the party members.
Accusations and rumors were the things that killed parties. If someone went around whispering into captains' ears about their party members, they'd be blacklisted by the Guild for trying to recklessly cause division.
Things like that should be handed to the authorities, like the Guild or their Familais Gods, not the Adventurers.
"A pine tree..You don't think?" Lefiya whispered to Ais.
"I…. don't know." Ais shook her head.
Not staying there long, they left to go get some food at a diner. Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?" I said, "We, um, want to order dinner." "You kids have money to pay for it?" Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum.
"These kids are strong, but they're still rookies." Finn chuckled.
Turning to the younger people in the theater, he got into his serious lecture mode.
"Listen up, when you lose your supplies, the first thing you need to worry about is one, getting to safety, and two, finding food and water. Whatever mission you have doesn't matter if you're dead from hunger."
Gareth crossed his arms.
"All the way from the Emporium, they should have been grabbing any supplies they could find and squirreling them away for later. Worst case, they could have begged for money on the train. Now they got nothing and are starving. "
Riveria shook her head.
"Haah, they're still kids. They have this pride in them that stops their brains from ever stooping that low. In their head, they probably thought that everything would be fine as long as they kept moving."
"Well, at the very least, if the owners of this restaurant are as kind as I am, they can take a break washing dishes in the back to pay for their food." Mama Mia grunted.
A rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb. All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather —but leather that looked like . . . well, Caucasian human skin.
For some reason, Welf felt his heart clench looking at the figure outside the window.
Hephaesus frowned. That bike….why does it feel like one of her creations? And worse yet, why does it seem like one of her subpar works, the ones that she uses for people that she hates?
"OOOOO, what's that! That looks so fun!" Tiona started bouncing on her bag chair as she pointed at the black wall.
"Tiona No!" Tione screamed.
"Tiona Yes!"
"But-is that really human skin?!" Lefiya
"I….I don't know." Ais looked wide-eyed at the image. The fire inside of her was moving. Something about that man was stirring the raging flame inside of her.
"Who is this guy, another monster?" Bete growled. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight. His instincts were going haywire just by looking at this guy.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen.
"Another God." Freya glared at the image. His soul enraged her to her very core just by the sight of it. A sickening and brutal sight that made her sick.
A red mountain of rage and bloodlust built on the backs of dead armies and the blood of innocents. And the worst part was that she instinctively knew their Domain. The same one as hers, but twisted in a way that she despised: War.
"But who's this one?" Hermes asked.
"Please, can't you tell by looking at his stupid face?" Loki rolled her eyes. Even if this version was built like he could bench press a bus and not like a pretty boy in big boy armor like theirs, his face was still the same.
That same smug, cruel smirk that made her want to punch his teeth out.
Ouranos shook his head.
"It's not hard to tell by how he's flaunting his Domain everywhere. It's a God of War, and there's only one God of War that's been named so far in this world."
Welf gripped the edges of the book hard. He could feel hands being placed on his shoulder in support, but he wasn't thinking about his Familia or his Goddess right now.
All he could feel was this unyielding rage building up inside of him like a furnace going out of control.
"Ares."
The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before. As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.
"What is he doing?" Hestia frowned. What was he doing to those people? She knew that she didn't have much experience with mortals, but even she knew that they shouldn't be acting like this.
Ouranos gripped the arms of his chair so hard that they creaked under his grip. Surprisingly cause if that chair was made out of regular material, it would have shattered under the strength of Ouranos grip.
"He's using his Arancum on regular humans. With no regard for our laws."
Loki snorted. "Our laws. I'm pretty sure that they're running off different systems than we are over there."
He squeezed into their booth without any invitation, smooshing Annabeth against the window. He waved the waitress off and told her he'd pay. When she didn't move, he looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"
"Dear heavens. He's just as much of a pig over there as he his here." Freya covered her face with a hand and sighed.
"I was kind of hoping since Dionysus was so different that other Gods we knew would be as well. But…he-" Hephaestus shook her head.
"He's the same kind of stupid head as ever." Hesita humfed.
Percy hated this guy. He didn't know why but he felt like he was looking at Gabe's face. He wanted to rip this guy's head off. "Get out of here," he told him. Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is—" The biker raised his hand. "S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
A red haze seemed to cover the theater.
"Grgh, what the hell is wrong with that Bastard!" Tiona stood and screamed at the ceiling.
"Yeah, Ares, why don't you come over here so I can punch your face in." Bete roared.
"Nya, Ares? More like shit-breath." Chloe joined in. Her eyes red with anger.
"Bastard!"
"Huh? Guys, what's going on with you?"
Bell looked around. What was going on? Everyone was getting so angry for no reason. Ok, he got that Ares didn't seem to be a good guy, but that didn't mean everyone needed to lose their mind over him.
Even the older Adventurers were looking like they wanted to start a fight. And that kind of aura coming from the King, Ottar, was pretty scary.
Hestia grabbed Bell's arm and put her finger to her lips.
"Shh, Bell, they're fine. It's the same as with Medusa's charm poison; their minds are being affected by Ares's Arancum through the book. A God of War's Arancum flavored by their Domains brings out the aggression inside of anyone that befalls it."
"Then why aren't I-"
"A-Ah it's because of your pure soul, Bell, but keep quiet. I don't want any of the other Gods figuring that out, especially that snake Loki."
Percy knew who he was. "You're Ares, Clarisse's dad." Ares smiled, happy that Percy knew who he was. Percy asked if this was about Clarisse, but Ares said he didn't care about that. He didn't get involved in his kids' fights. They win or lose on their own.
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing how he raises his kids." Hermes snorted.
"Hehe, I say, that's a good way to raise these brats. Let them sink or swim. You shouldn't be holding their hands for every little thing." Bete, still a bit feral, gave a smirk.
"Bete-" Lefiya, still keeping a semi-level head, tried to interject, but someone beat her to it.
"Raises? He doesn't raise them. He's not even doing anything. It's literally a law for him to stay away from them. And he says he doesn't fight his kids' battle, Phe." Welf spat, "I guarantee that if those laws weren't stopping him, he'd have killed Percy for embarrassing his Familia like that, Clarisse too. Ares does not tolerate weakness."
"Welf" Bell looked sadly at his friend. But before he could say anything, Welf went back to reading.
Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't . . ." Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?" The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
"So…does no one have a problem with what he did to the waitress?" May tried to ask. Everything else this guy did got some kind of response, but not this?
"What? The Drachmas? Hey, at least he paid; even if it's not the right currency, it's still gold. It's fine." Loki shrugged.
Mama Mia laughed and nodded her head.
"Yeah, honestly, in the restaurant industry, those girls probably had to put up with way worse. And those guys weren't even Gods. As long as he's not too handsy and pays well, then he can be as rude as he wants…..Within reason"
"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife." Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"I don't know what this Sparta was, but it must have been similar to Rankai for Ares to love it so much." Hestia shook her head. Any place that Ares loves is obviously not a place for her.
Bell sat up.
"Wait- did he say he needs a favor?"
Ares told them that on his date he accidentally left his shield behind and needed them to get it. Percy, angrily, asked why he didn't get it himself. "Why don't I turn you into prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?"
"He's lying." Welf bit out.
"What? About the date? I mean, sure Ares isn't the prettiest piece of shit in the barn, but he's still a God, I'm sure there are many mortal women willing to sleep with him." Mama Mia raised her eyebrow at Welf.
"What? No," Welf looked at Mama Mia like she was crazy. He's lying about not wanting to go back for his shield."
"How do you know that, Welf-sama?"Lili asked, her fingers digging into her arm as she tried to get a hold on her anger.
"I've known Ares for a long time, remember. Ares is not the type of person to retreat if it makes him look weak, especially not in front of a woman and certainly not by leaving his personal gear behind. He's caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers all to impress a couple of ladies and was once willing to cause a massive retreat cause he forgot to pick up the blade that he left in an inn five days back."
Finn grit his teeth as he looked back at the image of Ares glaring at Percy
"So the question is, why is he giving Percy this little side quest, fully knowing that a war is about to happen?"
He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you." I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"How is Percy not jumping across the table and attacking Ares by now? Even some of our children are starting to foam at the mouth, and they're not even getting the full brunt of Ares ' aura. But Percy, the kid that's barely known about Gods for a week, can still keep his mind straight in front of a God of War. How is he not angry?" Hephaestus looked amazed at how Percy restrained himself.
Hermes chuckled.
"That's his trick." Hermes folded his arms. Looking over at Hephaestus, Hermes smirked. "He's always angry."
"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest." Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see—blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful . . ." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well . . . if I couldn't find it, you got no hope."
Bell flinched back. As just a boy from a small village, Bell has never seen war. He's heard stories about war from his Grandpa. About the dark ages, about how heroes could decimate armies by the hundred, but he's never actually seen it.
After the months that he's spent in Orario, the dangers that he and his friends had endured, watching as bodies from Adventures turn to paste under monsters' feet, he thought he knew what death was.
But looking into Ares' eyes, Bell felt as if he was finally understanding what some of the old villagers used to say. War is hell.
There was no shining beacon in the dark, no hero there to pick up the fallen. Just an endless wave of bodies and fire crashing into each other. Like a force of nature, a grinder for meat.
Bell saw both men and women lose more than their lives; they lost their humanity. Not wanting to die but at the same time not wanting to continue in this hell, the only thing they could do was swing their weapons until something gave.
Bell closed his eyes and turned away. He had seen friends and foes alike die in front of his face; he had faced his own death many times and came out wanting to go back. But this…he couldn't watch this.
Bell was the only one affected by the visions in Ares' eyes. Everyone, even gentle Haru, were to enraged to notice anything else. The Gods were having a difficult time just getting people to remain in their seats.
The only reason why Welf could still read was because of his years under Ares. But even he couldn't hold the anger building up inside him. And honestly, Welf didn't think he wanted to.
"Of course he wants it. That's all Ares ever wants: more and better weapons. All just to kill. Dirting those beautiful pieces with the blood of innocents."
Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath." "You told him Hades stole the bolt?" "Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."
" Interesting," Ouranos said
"Makes you wonder, though, who's framing who," Fels said, unaffected by Ares' aura.
Percy tried to refuse him, but Ares just smirked and said that he had information that he wanted. Information about his mother.
"He's got him," Hestia said sadly.
"That's what I've always hated about Ares. He's this big stupid boar, but if you give him an opening, he knows exactly where to drive the knife." Loki shook her head. Well, at least this cleared up one thing for her. Sally was still alive, just as she thought.
"We can only hope this is as far as Ares machinations extend," Hephaestus said.
He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"Oh, yeah, sure. That sounds real romantic." Hestia rolled her eyes
"Bet you he needs those kinds of places just to pretend he cares." Hephaestus joked.
"Bet you he needs potions to even get it up." Freya snorted.
"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off ?" Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous. Percy thought Ares was gonna attack him for a second, but he just told Percy that he was lucky and left. "Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good." I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
"Kids got a set I'll give him that." Hephaestus nodded, impressed that Percy could stand up to Ares like that.
"Yeah, but all the balls in the world won't save him if a God's coming after him." Loki frowned. She was all for pissing Ares off, but not if she thought he could kill her. There is a time and a place for everything.
And Percy, putting not only himself, but all of his friends as well as the world in danger for one little comeback, was not worth it.
"Well-it'd depend on what God would do, wouldn't it." Hestia twiddled her thumbs.
"Whatever he's got down there, it doesn't erase the fact that he has a point." Hermes shook his head.
Freaky stared down into her wine glass, her hand resting over Ottar's fist, doing her best to keep him steady.
"Yeah, what made Ares retreat and leave his shield."
Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me? Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power—cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.
"It's not a power that you'd expect from a muscled head like him, but somehow it fits him." Loki said.
"Honestly, I just think he got that aspect of war just because his face pisses off everyone that sees it," Hestia said.
Thankfully, they didn't have ot worry about their kids going mad anymore, as the red haze that had filled the theater was already dissipating as Ares drove away. The more advanced members of their Familias were starting to come to it by now.
"Percy wanted to just ignore it, this whole thing stank. But Annabeth and Grover said they couldn't. What could Ares even need their help with he wondered. "Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes." Percy wasn't sure. Ares tried to hide it, but he was sure that he was afraid of something at that waterpark. And he didn't feel like finding out what.
Finn clutched the side of his head, he mind still reeling from feeling anger that intense. "Percy is smart for not wanting to go, not so smart for wanting to go through with it."
"I'd say that blonde bitch is dumber for insulting a God when she's the one always telling the kid not to go slinging names around when they can hear when your talking about them." Bete growled.
Compared to others, Bete was actually doing a lot better. Maybe it was because of his heritage or because he was always on edge, but Bete didn't feel the same headaches that everyone else was feeling, nor did he feel off in any way.
Honestly, if it wasn't for almost divulging into full-on wolf mode, no one might have noticed any difference.
"Nya, It must be scary to live in a world where Gods have infinitely more freedom." Chloe whimpered as she clutched her poor, weak head.
Thankfully, Mama Mia, as a dwarf, could keep a level enough head to hold down the girls from the Hostess, but the whole experience still left them feeling out of sorts. If this is what it was like if Gods had full reign over their powers, then she was fine living in the world that they do now.
"Ehem," Freya glared over at Chloe.
"A-Ah I mean not you guys, obviously! Other Gods! That's what I meant!"
Freya's eyes seemed to harden. Chloe, feeling weak under her gaze, felt her knees start to shake. That is, until a large hand blocked her vision.
"Hah, leave the poor cat alone, -, it's not like she's wrong. Look at how things were during the Dark Ages." Mama Mia laughed, holding her hand up.
"The Dark Ages, Hestia-sama?" Bell asked. Confused by what Mama Mia meant.
Hestia looked awkward, but felt like she should explain.
"Back then, when Heaven's laws were much less strict, the Gods many up in Tenkai would love to mess with mortals down below. They couldn't do it very often, maybe every few decades or so. But they'd give them misfortune, send beasts and disasters in the form of tests, even once putting out a challenge that caused an entire war. The only thing they couldn't do, unlike this world, was actively target individuals. They could only focus their Aracnum on an area and never in a way that deliberately harmed mortals."
Welf frowned. Much less strict she said. And yet a God could still reign over an entire kingdom and bring war and destruction to whoever they wanted.
Things might have been worse then, but things were still bad now.
At night they came to an old Waterpark, Waterland. An old rundown place that barely anyone visited. "If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like." "Percy,"
"Weird-looking place for a date." May huffed. If her date took her to a place like this, she'd leave him right then.
"I don't know, I bet it looks a lot nicer during the day."Syr smiled, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah, it's a whole park for water; what isn't fun about that." Tiona laughed.
"Sure, I can agree it looks fun, but aren't dates supposed to be romantic," Tione said, taking a peek at Finn.
"No, they're supposed to be good for you." Hermes shook his head.
Asfi raised her eyebrow at her God.
"What?"
"Dates, like the vegetables…badum-tsh"
"....."
"...."
Asfi sighed and shook her head.
"Idiot."
Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful." "Why? I thought you hated Ares." "He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental." "You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added. "Who is she? Echidna?" "No, Aphrodite,"
"Aphrodite!" The Gods perked up.
"That's a surprise." Hermes scratched his chin.
"Wonder if they got the same relationship here?" Loki asked.
"Nah, I talked to her once. She practically hates the guy. Says, he ruined some romance with an elf she was betting on or something." Hephaestus shook her head.
Freya sneered.
"Aphrodite? That old used handbag?"
Hestia sighed.
"Freya, can't you be nice?"
"Please, that unstylish piece of vapid foam is an embarrassment to the very concept of love."
"To be fair, do you get along with any God of Love?" Loki asked her. "First Ishtar, now Aphrodite, I'm beginning to think Gods of Love just don't love each other."
Freya narrowed her eyes at Loki.
"....You think you're funny, don't you?"
"Occasionally."
Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love." "I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus?"
A record scratch sounded through the theater. Welf felt like rubbing his eyes. What did he just read?
"What?" Hestia sat up.
"Married?" Hephaestus whispered.
She was married to someone. To a woman, Aphrodite. A-And….she's cheating on her.
Hephaestus felt a small prick in her heart.
"What's your point?" he asked. "Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. After getting in to the park Annabeth saw a git shop, with close in the window. Percy tried to stop her but Annabeth wasn't listening. Going in she came out with new clothes, a bag and soem other supplies. Looking at Grover Percy shrugged his shoulders and went into the store with him. Once they had all knew clothes they went looking for the ride Ares was on.
"Well, look at that, we got ourselves a fledgling thief on our hands." Hermes awkwardly tried to joke. Trying to change the subject away from the power bomb that was just thrown into their laps.
Asfi elbowed him in the side and whispered to him.
"Hermes-sama, now is not the time for jokes."
Hephaestus heard them and tried to wave it off.
"I-It's fine, I….I know that our worlds are not the same. I don't even really like women like that. It, it's just hard to hear, I guess. But I'm fine."
"Hephaestus-sama.." Tsubaki tried to hold her hand, but Hephaestus pulled away.
"No, really, guys, I'm fine. Though I've never been married before, I've had a few relationships that ended on a sour note, so this doesn't surprise me. Really, I think I'm just shocked that I got married in another world. And to Aphrodite of all people."
Hephaestus tried to laugh as she discreetly rubbed her face, hiding her building tears.
Welf gripped the book harder. Harder than even when Ares showed up. Who could ever do this to one of the best Goddesses in the entire world? What kind of uncaring monster would just … leave someone like that.
"Hehe, true. You could do worlds better than that, used pink doll. It's her misfortune to lose a great Goddess like yourself," Freya gave a small smile to Hephaestus.
"....Thanks, Freya."
Loki crossed her arms as she tried to imagine something.
"Though I am curious how it is that you got married in this world and not ours. What was so different that it changed your life so drastically?"
"I think we're about to find out."
"So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?" "That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Threethousand-year-old gossip." "What about Aphrodite's husband?" "Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?" "She likes bikers." "Whatever." "Hephaestus knows?" "Oh sure,"
"Wait, hold on…Hephaestus is a man in that world!" Loki jumped up, shocked.
Out of all the Gods that they've seen. The friends and not-so-friends that they've known and how they've changed this was by far the biggest surprise of them all.
"I guess it makes more sense that he married Aphrodite then, doesn't it?" Hermes joked, nudging Asfi.
Everyone else was too stunned to speak. Hephaestus, the Goddess of Blacksmithing, was now a man? No one knew what to do, to say.
Bang
Welf slammed the book down.
"Stop, none of that matters. They just said that Zeus threw Hephaestus-sama from Heaven just because he wasn't handsome? What the hell!!"
Hephaestus, never having seen Welf this upset, was thrown off for a second.
"Welf-"
"No, Hephaestus-sama, I'm mad. They threw you- him from the Heavens casue of how he looked and made him crippled. That's what Annabeth said, right!?"
"-That's enough-"
"And then, when he finally finds himself a wife, it's to someone that doesn't know how to appreciate the beautiful art that they make, only that they themselves aren't beautiful. So she leaves him all alone just so that she can be with the most vile, cruelest God ever. How could they do that to Hephaestus-sama, to you! How could they do that to the women that I-"
Finally, Hephaestus couldn't take it anymore and screamed.
"WELF!!"
Welf stood huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath. Looking over at his former Goddess, he saw her try to hide her tears behind a smile.
"That's enough, it's fine. It's not me."
Hephaestus felt everyone's eyes on her. They could tell she was sad; I mean, duh, she was practically crying at this point. But Hephaestus was too caught up in her thoughts to care.
You know, this entire time the Gods had been trying to figure out what the turning point was, the split in their stories. What made this world so different than the one that they knew.
And while she still didn't know why the world was like this, she felt like this was her turning point. The main difference in their lives.
The Gods were born, not made.
That Hephaestus was actually born to parents unlike her, who was made by the Heavens. How do Godly parents or the very Heavens themselves make deformed beings? She didn't know. All she knew was that being made deformed and being born deformed were two very different things.
You know, when she first learned that these world's Gods were birthed and not made, she had allowed herself for a second to imagine what it would have been like to have parents.
To have people in your life that loved you the very second that you came into this world, instead of being alone, hating the way that you looked and how it drove everyone away from you.
To have people, who, from the very beginning, were supposed to love and protect you without you needing to work for it.
She had felt jealous, wanting that kind of life instead of the years of loneliness that had been her beginning.
But now….now she wasn't so sure that's what she wanted anymore. At least when she was created, she was made as she was now. Fully formed, adult woman, able to defend herself against the hate and ridicule.
What about him? What did he have?
The Hephaestus of that world was not born to loving parents. At least, not like the parents that she saw in Orario. No, he had been birthed Gods, and not just any Gods. The two most arrogant, selfish, shallow, superficial Gods in Heaven.
She remembered Zeus and Hera back when they ruled Orario. And if they were anything like the ones that she knew, then she pitied any child that they had.
There was nothing wrong with Hephaestus, but because he wasn't beautiful like Zeus, he was thrown out. Cast down the mountain, with Hera probably standing by doing nothing.
As a baby, he couldn't have been able to defend himself. He wouldn't have been able to fly or teleport or even harden his body with Arcanum to protect himself from the fall. For even born as a God, babies were weak and vulnerable.
From that fall, he became a cripple unable to heal himself. And through years of staying crippled, as well as the stain of being cast out of their Tenkai, that status would have been branded into his very being. Becoming part of his Divine identity.
And the very cherry on top. When he finally clawed his way back up the mountain, what did he get? A marriage to a superficial Goddess that didn't love him, that cheated on him because he wasn't pretty.
No, he wasn't her. Hephaestus thought, and though she felt sorry for him. She had no right to cry for him. That wasn't her life, she was the one that was blessed.
Hephaestus looked out over all of her friends and children. Wiping away her tears, she waved Welf on.
She was done crying already.
Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like . . ." She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that." In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding.
"I guess that explains the weird meeting place." Lunoire tried to lighten the mood.
May shook her head.
"Yeah, but who knew Hephaestus could be so vicious? He actually caught Aphrodite and Ares in a net, then hung them out for the Gods to laugh at. How did he walk away from that? Cause I know Ares wouldn't let something like that go."
"His weapons," Welf said darkly. "Ares values his weapons; it's the one thing that he will never try to cut corners on. They are his greatest pride as well as his weakness. It's why he wants me so bad."
Tsubaki nodded.
"If Ares wants the best weapons as well as top-notch maintenance, then he needs to take them to Hephaestus-sama."
Hestia, looking a little white in the face, leaned over towards Hephaestus.
"Pshh, hey Hephy."
"Hah… what, Hestia."
"D-Do you really… have a golden net to catch Gods?"
Hephaestus looked at Hestia in surprise.
"What no-well-" Stopping, Hephaestus thought about it for a second "Yes, I made some plans for a Heavenly net, but I never made it. The plans are still up in Tenkai, and I won't be able to make them unless I go back."
Hestia wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"Oh, thank heavens."
Image if Hephaestus actually had that net, she'd tire Hestia up and force her to never stop working to pay off that ridiculous debt that she had.
"What was that?"
"Nothin"
They finally made their to the ride. At the bottom of a massive pool their was an empty boat and a golden shield inside. "This is too easy," I said. "So we just walk down there and get it?" Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue. "There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder . . ."
"That letter-" Hephaestus leaned forward.
"What is it, Hephaestus-sama?" Tsubaki asked.
"It looks like an H."
Loki tilted her head to the side
"H, it looks more like an N"
"It looks nice…" Welf whispered.
"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?" He sniffed the wind. "Nothing." "Nothing—like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?" Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."
"Always excuses from the weak. Dumbass wants to be this big bad Searcher, well, why didn't he train his nose, huh?" Bete snarled.
Percy nodded, telling Grover to stay back and support from the air he turned to Annabeth "Annabeth, come with me—" "Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red. "What's the problem now?" I demanded. "Me, go with you to the . . . the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?" "Who's going to see you?"
"What, what's wrong?" Tiona asked, confused. What was wrong with Annabeth?
"Hah, girl, why are you getting embarrassed during an important quest?" Mama Mia sighed.
Riveria narrowed her eyes.
"Not only that, but she's refusing to give her teammate back up during a high-stress situation just because she's afraid that they might be seen together? Ridiculous, if I had seen that I would have sat that girl down for one of my special lessons."
"Hmph."
"What, Gareth?" Riveria asked.
"Oh nothing, I just seem to remember a young noble elf high off her own gas that she refused to even walk side by side with this young handsome dwarf into the dungeon."
"W-What did you just say! I was not high off my own ga- that thing. I was a beautiful noble princess; that was how I was raised. A-And furthermore, I wasn't standing away because you were a dwarf, I was doing it cause I was a mage and you were the front liner. It had nothing to do with our races, you stupid old dwarf."
"Please, I still remember what you said when we first met. 'You peasants feel honored to even stand in my noble-' "
Riveria jumped from her seat in a blush and stared, smacking Gareth with her hands.
"AHH! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up, you stupid dwarf!"
Lefiya covered her mouth with her hand.
"Wow, to think Lady Riveria used to be so…"
"Bitchy?" Bete suggested.
Lefiya looked towards Bete in a deadpan gaze.
"Hautghy, I was going to say Haughty, Mr. Bete."
But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated.
"Got that right." Garth chuckled as he fended off the crazy elf attacking him.
"Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.
"Here, here." Syr jokingly cheered along with the other girls.
When they got to the boat, Percy noticed a pink scarf next to the shield. Picking it up he fairly smelled a scent of roses and something else. For a second, he wanted to get a closer smell, figure out what that second note was. He brought the scarf up to his face-
A pink haze started to fill the room, but before any of the Gods could try to warn their kids, it disappeared.
Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
"Dammit, he's got charmed by Aphrodite's Arcanum." Loki snapped her fingers. If only Annabeth had held off a second more, they could have seen something funny, both there and here.
Well, not like it didn't affect them here.
"Tione- dammit, she smelled it in too much! Gareth, hold her down!"
"FFFIIIIINNNN!!!"
Percy reached for the shield next, but when he lifted it a golden wire snapped. "Wait," Annabeth said. "Too late." "There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap." Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.
"No!"
"What?!"
"Who would put a trap there?"
"Who do you think?"
"Dammit, Eta, H" Finn cursed. He finally got it.
Grover called to them but more wires were starting to spread as cameras began to start up. They couldn't get out of the pool fast enough.
"Dump stupid girl so proud being a daughter of a Goddess of wisdom but can't handle critical thinking." Bete cursed Annabeth. She's so smart but can't even spot a simple trap like that.
Especially when they knew that there was something there that Ares was afraid of.
"It's the Golden net. It's my Golden net." Hephaestus muttered in a daze.
"What, Hephaestus, are you sure?" Hestia asked.
"Yes, I can tell how it was made and who made it. We have a few differences in design, but there is no way I wouldn't know my own work."
"They need to get out of there quickly; if that net can hold the Gods, then there is no way they are getting out of there. Certainly not in time for the solstice." Hermes looked serious for a second.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute . . . Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight . . ." "Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"
"At least she admits it."
Reveria shushed Bete.
"Hush, Bete. Loki-sama, what does she mean by broadcasting to Olympus?"
"How the hell should I know? It's probrall-"
Hephaestus cut in.
"Those statutes work off the same basic principle as those phones, except this is like capturing an image and sending it off elsewhere."
"Which in this case means Olympus for all the Gods to see." Finn realized.
"Yes."
Then things got worse. From the edges, bronze eight-legged machines started to pour into the pool. Annabeth froze up as she stuttered. Percy tried to get her to calm down but it wasn't working. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods. Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard.
"Now what the hell is it. What's wrong, little girl, scared of a couple of spiders?" Bete threw his hands up into the air.
Lefiya twirled a piece of her hair between her fingers.
"U-Uh I-I'm scared of spiders."
Aiz held her hand and smiled at her.
"That's… fine Lefiya; everyone …is scared of something."
"Maybe, but the way Annabeth is acting is going way further than just being scared. It's like she's being paralyzed just by the sight of them." Finn looked at the black wall in suspicion.
Loki glared at the machines.
"Well, I hope Percy can do something, cause he's right. Those spiders were made to strip the clothes off Divine skin. Against mortals, they'll strip their skin itself."
"S-Strip, Hephaestus, what kind of perverse thing did you make!?" Hestia blushed as she looked at Hephaestus.
Hephaestus grew red in the face at Hestia's accusation.
"Pever- There is nothing perverse about those spiders! They were created to humiliate and shame, not whatever you're thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter, Hestia. Not everyone is as sick as you."
"S-Sick!!"
"Well, just keep reading." Bell whispered.
Welf nodded; he felt like this wasn't the time to watch two Goddesses get into a fight.
The timer was going off on the cameras as the spiders got closer. Annabeth was still catatonic, so Percy turned to Grover. Telling him to find the on switch for the ride, Percy thought they could ride out of here on teh boat. But it was taking too long, and Grover couldn't find the button.
"Godammit, he's up there to support them, and yet he can't even do that." Bete glared at Grover. Time after time, this weakling proved to him that he should have never set foot on this quest.
"Finn, what do you think they should do." Riveria asked.
"I don't know." Finn shook his head. "If they had some skills or magic, they might be able to fight off those machines, but with the net fully deployed, they can't escape. Their only option is to hold off the spiders as much as they can before Grover finds the right switch."
"....I give them ten seconds," Loki said. Any longer than that and they're a goner.
Percy was out of time. There was only one thing he could do now. Closing his eyes Peryc reached for that same feeling that he felt when Clarisse attacked him. Feeling that full in his gut Peryc brought it forward. Feeling like he was dragging the ocean to him, water burst from the pipe of Water Land just as the camera started rolling. The spiders were swept away, and Percy and Annabeth were carried in the boat by the water.
"WOOO! He did it!" Everyone cheered.
Haruhime hugged Yamato as Tiona hugged her sister.
Even the Gods were cheering.
"How much water is that?" Finn couldn't believe his eyes.
"That must be like half a lake of water," Riveria said, amazed. While nothing like any of her nine spells, what Percy was more like a spell.
There was no verbal component, no aiming or preparation. He just commanded the water, and it came.
Was- Was this the power of a Demigod?
The only problem left was that the gates were still closed. Percy tried to get Annabeth up. But Annabeth stopped him. She told him ot follow her lead as she knew when to jump. And as the boat got closer to the gate, Annabeth finally screamed. "Now." Using the force of the waves to bust them, they cleared the fence, only to be caught by Grover in the air. Behind them, the boat got mulched by the force of the waves. They were safe now.
"Look at that, the girl was finally useful." Bete rolled his eyes. Finally, he thought.
"That girl is definitely smart. I doubt even I would have known the correct moment to jump from that boat." Finn nodded his head.
"Finn, you would have been fine." Riveria rolled her eyes.
"Now, yes, but when I was younger. Maybe not."
Getting up, Percy noticed that the cameras were still on them. Waving them off, he said, "Shows over, good night." And he guessed that worked because they shut off the next moment. Grabbing the shield from his back Peryc turned away from the Water park.. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."
Welf let the book fall from his hands. Looking up, Welf let out a deep breath.
"Finally, finished." That was the most intense, anger-inducing hour of his life.
Seeing how stressed Welf was, Hestia turned to the other Gods. "Let's take five for a moment."
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Happy Halloween everyone. Remember to stay safe at night and be kind to everyone. No matter who they are or what their beliefs are.
Halloween is the night for children's to dress up and have fun so lets not have out adult problems bring their holiday down.
(Just to be clear I'm not calling anyone out, but with how things have been this last few years it best to just remined everyone that the holidays should not be a time fore any drama. I'm not trying to be preachy just wanting to have a nice holiday with my family)