Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXXVIII: we Confront the Lord of Pigs

We eventually got picked up by the Coast Guard, who dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier. I got the feeling that they really wanted to question us, but the aftermath of the earthquake meant they had to immediately respond to another call. Which worked out splendidly for us, because I had no idea how we were going to explain how four kids, one of them barefooted after Percy gave Grover his shoes to hide the satyr's hooves, had ended up stranded in the middle of the bay.

We stumbled across the beach, having no idea what to do now. Percy looked absolutely furious, more than I had ever seen him get.

"So, we got fooled." I concluded.

"I don't believe it!" Annabeth exclaimed.
"We went all that way-"

"It was a trick." Percy interrupted.
"A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey!"

"You get it, don't you?"

Annabeth sighed, dropping her gaze slightly.

"Yeah. I get it."

"Well I don't!" Grover complained.
"Would somebody-"

"Percy, about your mom... I am so sorry." I interrupted, placing what I hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He ignored me though, jaw clenched in anger as we continued marching down the beach.

"The prophecy was right. 'You shall go west and face the god who has turned'." he said.
"But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war between the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helmet, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

Grover shook his head, still not fully understanding.

"But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

Looking forward and seeing the biker clothes and the smug grin on his scarred face, the answer suddenly became obvious. After all, what god would have his power increased the most if there were to be a worldwide conflict like a war between the gods?

"Yeah, I wonder who." I said sarcastically as we walked towards Ares.

The god of war in question was leaning against his bike, looking exactly as he had the other times we had seen him. The only difference was that this time he had an aluminum baseball bat resting on his shoulder. Looking at him, I felt the usual surge of anger I did when in his presence. However, as we approached him I felt something else, as if we were being watched. But when I glanced around, I found no one. So now we also had that to deal with.

"Hey kid." Ares greeted, sending Percy a sneer.
"You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me!" Percy accused.
"You stole the helmet and the master bolt."

"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 hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

I doubted that. Clarisse might be a lot of things, a bully being one of them. But she was not a thief.

"Doesn't matter." Ares said, dismissing Percy's questions.
"The point is, kid, 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's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."

Ares proceeded to pull out a black ski cap from one of his pockets. It looked perfectly normal, but considering it was in the possession of a god, I doubted that was the case. My suspicions were confirmed when Ares placed it on the handlebar of the bike, turning it into a scary looking black helmet.