章節 16: The War God
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, their train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. They hadn't taken a shower in days (well, Percy did, kinda), and they were sure that was obvious. Albert was so defeated in this shameful state that he barely said anything at all. He managed to buy them toothbrushes and dental cream before leaving Denver while the others were busy with something after he had to Charmspeak the guy at the store to not call the police on on them, but he paid for everything!
"Let's try to contact Chiron, again," Annabeth suggested. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit thing."
"We really can't use phones ?" Percy asked in annoyance. "I always wanted one."
"You know I'm not talking about phones," The girl replied rolling her eyes, "Plus, why would you even need a phone?"
Percy shot her an unreadable look and turned away, he was in a mood. Albert knew Annabeth had gone into Camp Half-Blood very young, and she knew very little about the mortal's world common sense, he found some of the things she said fascinating at times.
They wandered through downtown for about half an hour. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis according to Percy. Everywhere they turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at them in disdain, like colossal tidal waves about to crash into the city.
Finally, they found a random empty do-it-yourself car wash. The group veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping their eyes and ears open for patrol cars. It couldn't look weird for others, after all, they were four young adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car or any adult to supervise them in sight; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good. In any way, Albert wasn't above speaking any of them away when the literal fate of the world (or at least a huge part of it) depended on it!
"What exactly are we doing anyway?" Percy asked out loud as Grover took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents," He grumbled out loud. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"
"Don't look at me. The dining car wiped me out," She stated almost too quickly, she then added casually, "I am not the rich kid here though."
"Subtle as ever," Albert rolled his eyes, "No, I don't have enough with me to buy that Grover. We need money for the rest of our quest. I could call my father, but it wouldn't be of any use. I don't have a credit card that works in this country and we would become a lighthouse for monsters just by making a call."
"Point taken," The girl conceded.
Percy fished his last bit of pocket change and passed Grover a quarter with a helpless expression, which left him with two nickels and some drachmas from Medusa's place. He even asked if they couldn't just sell one of them, after all, it was solid gold, but Annabeth shot his idea down, Albert supported her point by asking him how he planned to explain how exactly he came about Ancient Gold Coins in the middle of Kansas.
"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."
"No need, I brought Medusa's crystal," Annabeth argued.
"Why didn't you say anything then?!"
"You didn't ask!"
"Now, now, no fighting!" Albert stated. "Things aren't good as they are, no need to make it worse because of something stupid like this."
"We are doing the Instant messaging thing?" Percy asked excitedly. "I didn't get to see the first time!"
"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."
"Who is Iris? You can summon a goddess with a crystal?" Percy looked at the crystal with a skeptical look. "Last time took us an entire ritual and difficult words to recite like witches."
"Not the same," Albert sighed. "The situation was very different. By the way, Iris is an important goddess for you to know about, Fishboy. She is often considered the daughter of the Titan Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra. Thaumas is a sea god, while Electra is one of the sea nymphs, making Iris... a second-generation deity associated with the sea. As the personification of the rainbow, Iris is said to have traveled swiftly between the heavens and earth, primarily serving as a messenger for the Olympian gods and goddesses."
"I will keep that in mind," Percy said listening carefully. "Thank you by the way."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the transparent crystal and broke into colors. Annabeth held her palm out to Albert. "Drachma, please."
He huffed and handed it over, it was one he stole from Medusa so he was fine with giving it away.
Annabeth raised the coin over her head. "Oh, goddess, accept our offering." She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer, "Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then it changed and they were looking through the Mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. They seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.
Albert narrowed his eyes and sighed heavily in his heart. Why did the annoying bad guy have to look so cool? Couldn't he just be ugly like Echidna? It would be easier to dislike him.
"Luke!" Percy called out excitement.
The guy turned, eyes wide. Albert could swear he was standing three feet in front of them through a screen of mist, except they could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow. This will never not be weird, Albert thought to himself in resignation.
"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
"Nice to see you too, darling!" Albert said with a bright smile that did not reach his eyes.
"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—!"
"Chiron is down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers," He then made a face and smirked, "Am I 'darling' now? Not you said that day," He then shook his head playfully and turned back to Annabeth, "Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"
"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 with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop, what an obnoxious thing to do, Albert thought darkly. He loved hip-hop though, just not mannerless people. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.
"Chiron had to—what's that noise?" Luke yelled as he frowned at the sheer volume.
"I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on. No! Albert, I need you!"
"What?" Grover said. "But—"
"I don't want to go," Albert raised his hands in defense, after further thought he said, "I am trying to be responsible when dealing with situations. You know what the philosopher said... with great powers come great responsibilities!"
"No philosopher ever said that!" The girl argued scornfully.
"Really, I heard it somewhere!"
"It's from Spider-Man," Percy interjected.
"Grover! Give Percy the crystal and come on!" She ordered in irritation.
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi, and then he handed the boy the crystal and followed Annabeth. The boy readjusted the hose so Percy could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus–Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how—probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is openly backing Zeus."
"Err..." Albert groaned, even his mother was taking sides. At least she chose Poseidon instead of Zeus though. He would never fight on Zeus' side if he could help it. The guy is a trainwreck and makes sure to make the lives of everyone in Olympus a never-ending mess.
Percy shuddered at Luke's words. In the next stall, they heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other pretty heatedly, and then the music's volume decreased drastically.
"So what's your status?" Luke asked them. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you, some weird things are happening here too, but he refuses to say anything to us campers, even satyrs and the nymphs are quiet, pretending nothing is going on."
Percy started to tell him pretty much everything, including his dreams, but as he was about to say things about the ritual Albert held his hand in a way Luke wouldn't notice and he tightened his grip, enough for Percy to look at him startled, he did this when he tried talking about Echidna too. Albert shot him a warning look that the other boy caught up quickly, but still looked confused as to why he was doing that.
It was painful to see how Percy was obviously feeling so good to see Luke. Albert made no further interventions. They didn't realize how long this talk had taken until Albert took notice of just how much time the others were taking and he tried to recall if was supposed to happen around this time of the quest only to feel terrible as he remembered was about to happen or at least it should happen. He felt like his stomach was filled with ice cubes.
"I wish I could be there," Luke told Percy. "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."
I bet you do, Albert thought rather amused by this guy's lack of shame. This way he could sabotage the quest without much trouble and probably get rid of Percy when the right opportunity came.
"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly," Percy argued back.
"That's true," 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."
Shameless, how utterly shameless. Albert wondered if Annabeth thought something similar of him when he was trying to manipulate Echidna. They were both silent until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"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."
"Annabeth is too smart for doing such a foolish thing," Albert dryly commented.
"Yeah, she would never do that," Percy agreed vehemently nodding.
Albert and Percy were both wondering if Annabeth would like the description Luke had used to refer to her. In the stall next to them, the music finally stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.
"You'd two better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, Percy, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."
"Yes, he can't take those ugly things off," Albert said sighing heavily as he shamelessly lied. "He is so attached to those things that Annabeth turned jealous. She might be thinking he's trying to steal you from her."
"Oh . . . uh, yeah!" Percy stuttered and blushed in embarrassment tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."
"Really?" Luke grinned at that. "They fit and everything?"
"Yeah, yeah, aren't you talking already?" Albert asked rather impatiently. "We need to go see if those two are still in one piece!"
"Well, it's a pleasure to see you again too, darling." Luke casually added with an amused tone. "Take care of yourself out there in Denver, Percy" Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—!"
The call was finally over and the Mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. The two boys were alone in a humid, wet, empty car wash stall. Percy shot him an inquisitive look.
"What?" Albert asked defensively. "He wouldn't stop talking! Why does that guy talk so much? Who does he think he is? The Prince to your Cinderella?!"
Percy turned red as a tomato as he looked at him in disbelief. The boy was quiet for a moment and asked, "You were jealous of him?"
Albert choked on air.
Just then Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Albert was still bewildered and oddly embarrassed. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," Percy lied, his stomach protested loudly as it was as empty as a Big Three cabin. "Come on, let's find some dinner, guys."
A few minutes later, the group was sitting at a booth in a shady gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were talking loudly while eating greasy burgers with a questionable look and drinking malts and sodas. Finally, the waitress came over to them.
She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well? Can I help you with anything?"
Percy said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?" The waitress asked rather obviously skeptical of them.
Grover's lower lip quivered visibly. the poor thing was a satyr, eating was a great part of their existence, he would always snack on things, but it had been a while since he got a proper meal. Perc was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger. Albert was hungry too, he was willing to go for the questionable burgers even, but he missed home-cooked meals.
Percy resorted to trying to come up with a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb. Albert sighed heavily, he felt like he had aged a decade in the last few days.
All conversations in the diner stopped at the same time. 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. How tacky, the boy thought to himself, also sincerely hoping it was anything but human skin.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for MAMA. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt, 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— handsome, I guess, but wicked, twisted way—with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. It was what most of them had in mind while they looked at the guy.
A certain demigod boy was deeply wondering about his mother's taste in partners.
As the tall man walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people around them 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 as if nothing had happened. The waitress blinked as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked them again, "You kids have money to pay for it or not?"
The biker said casually, "It's on me." He slid into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window. Albert was on the other side with Percy, basically facing the guy.
The tall guy looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him and almost drolling really, and said impatiently, "Why are you still here?" He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen like a scared mouse in front of an evil cat.
The biker looked at them. They couldn't see his eyes behind Scott Summers' red-colored glasses, but bad feelings were aroused next to this person. Anger, resentment, bitterness, all the problematic ones. Albert felt Percy's uncomfortably as if the boy was ready to hit a wall or to pick a fight with somebody. Percy looked at the guy with a haughty challenging expression as if he was ready to punch those horrible glasses off his face.
The guy gave him a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
Percy looked as if he wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?!"
Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is—"
"He is Lord Ares, Jackson," Albert answered in a calm and collected tone, much to his own surprise since he had a temper lately. "He is the God of War. Lord Ares presides over all aspects of warfare, including combat, battle strategy, and the martial spirit. He is often invoked by warriors seeking strength and victory in battle, as well as by leaders and generals seeking divine favor in military campaigns. He is also the reason why you are so worked up. Snap out of it!"
"You biker raised an eyebrow at Albert and grunted as if he had ruined the fun, before glancing at Percy again, "You're no fun for one of her children. S'okay, I don't mind a little attitude. As long as he remembers who's the boss? Right, little cousin?"
Immediately a look of realization appeared on Percy's face.
"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said, barely managing to keep the critique off his tone.
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk and I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."
"She was asking for it."
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know?" Ares stated. "What I'm here for—I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."
The waitress came back with heaping trays of food— cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes. Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. Albert did not look surprised, for some reason this was a very Ares thing for him to do.
The waitress 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. No wonder why he isn't popular, they all thought. He was a bully really. The God of War resorted to petty intimidation tactics against mortals. Maybe he is hot in his true form? Albert wondered quietly. It would make more sense, otherwise he didn't understand the appeal at all. His mom must have a really weird taste in partners.
"You can't do that," Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife! Aren't you like a god or something?"
Ares laughed, loudly so, obnoxiously loudly so. "Are you kidding?! I love this country. Best place since Sparta I say. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should, everybody does here. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked almost annoyed.
"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little . . . date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
"Girlfriend?" Albert echoed out loud, looking surprised, but not too much. "You mean my mother? Is that what you two are to each other?"
Ares looked at him with a smirk, "I should have expected you to notice, she talks about you a lot these days."
Percy didn't seem to give a shit for their exchange and interjected sharply, "Why don't you go back and get it yourself ?"
The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter and so did the air inside the place, it became drier too.
"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it." Ares stated matter-of-factly, "A god is allowing you to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."
What an asshole, Albert thought.
He made up his mind, he did not like Ares at all. He also didn't exactly like Athena either or Zeus. There was just something particularly aggravating about his pettiness and childish antics. He wondered if he liked his mom too, he wasn't sure about it to be honest. The little he knew about her mythology was rather worrying and disappointing, but she did show up for him when he called. He pushed this annoying thought aside, this was probably Ares' presence affecting his mind.
"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest."
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things they didn't want to see—blood 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. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back, you know? After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
This made everyone in the group look at him in surprise.
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Albert asked.
"Sure, of course. 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, demigods," Ares explained looking even more smug than before.
"Thanks?" Percy grumbled.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."
"We're doing fine on our own."
"Yeah, right," The God of War shot them a casual disdainful look. "No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
"My mom?" Percy looked at him in shock.
Ares grinned at his reaction, "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west of Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked with a smirk of his own. "Something scared you off?"
Ares bared his teeth, but they all had seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. The similarity was uncanny, but there was something false about it, almost like he was nervous. He must have really been scared off by my stepdad, Albert thought a bit amused, but not really. His 'stepfather' was another wild card on the board.
"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."
After that, Ares was gone, he disappeared in the blink of an eye. It felt like they might've thought up the conversation and it had all been a dream, but the expression in each and every one of them said otherwise.
"Not good, not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is really not good!"
Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power—cranking up the passions so badly, that they clouded your ability to think. Just like me, Albert realized in bitterness. Ares and Aphrodite shared this power, like him they also manipulated other's emotions.
"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy said in annoyance. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."
"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."
Percy stared down at his cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth suggested. "Ares has raw strength. That's all he has really. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."
"But this water park . . . he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"
Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other, but they noticed how Albert was calm and looking serious like he did at the Gateway Ark. Percy noticed this too.
"What do you know?" Percy asked almost like a desperate puppy, oddly polite for someone who was about to punch the God of War a minute ago.
"You definitely know something," Grover added with arms crossed over his chest.
Annabeth said, "I am with then, spit it out."
Albert made the mental note to hide his expressions better next time, the others were getting sharper, "Isn't it obvious? There is only one thing that could scare a God nowadays. Another God. There is another God at that park, one who does not like that guy."
"Oh, shit!"
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