𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒 - luke castellan.

xvi, burgers with a god

b u r g e r s  w i t h  a  g o d
venus.

━━━━━━━

"Need some help?" A masculine voice asked. They slowly peeked out from the roadblocks.

"Beg pardon?" Grover asked as the man stared at them with a blank face.

"I asked if you could use some help." He repeated.

"Nope. No. We're good. Appreciate you asking, though. So long," Grover said and then they hid again.

"You don't seem too good." The man spoke.

"We don't want anything from you," Annabeth said after peeking out.

"You sure?" The man laughed, "Because you guys are so behind schedule," Venus froze and they shared a look and stood up.

"I mean, the summer solstice is just a few days away. And as much as I'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, I feel like, maybe, I wanna give you a hand," The man said, his most mostly directed towards Annabeth, Percy, and Grover.

"Cousin?" Percy repeated.

"Ares," Annabeth said and Venus's eyes widened. No, no, no, meeting my mother's lover was NOT on my quest list.

"You must be Athena's kid. Always gotta be the wisest in the bunch. And you must be Aphrodite's," Ares said and Vebnus cringed.

"Why would you help us?" Annabeth asked, "How do you even know what we're doing out here?"

"Because I'm doing exactly the same thing as you," Ares said, "Zeus sent all of his kids out looking for the master bolt, too,"

"Listen, dummies, I'm hungry. There's a halfway decent diner up the road. If you want my help, you'll meet me there. But don't dawdle," He said, "Won't wait forever," He said and then went off.

"That's my cousin?" Percy asked.

"Let's not go. I would rather jump off of Athena's temple than sit in a diner with my mother's one of many lovers," Venus said.

"What kind of family is this?" Percy asked, weirded out.

"Come on," Annabeth said, grabbing Venus's hand who whined.

They walked inside the diner and looked around for the God of War when they heard laughter. They turned around and saw him laughing at something on his phone. 

"Guess this is the right place," Percy said. They walked towards him, making him look at them.

"Just give me a second, I'm starting a fight on Twitter," He said as the four of them squeezed in on one bench. 

"What's Twitter?" Venus asked, whispering to Percy. Venus didn't know much about technology as she grew up in orphanages and then at camp. She didn't care to learn about it. Reading books were enough entertainment.

"It's an app where people share opinions and then get dragged for it," Percy explained.

"Nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight," Ares said, typing on his phone. "Ah, okay, done."

"So your quest..." he sighed, "is going to fail. Ask me how I know it,"

"It isn't going to fail," Percy said.

"Sure it is," Ares scoffed. "For starters," he said and showed them a video on his phone.

A man with a mustache and a funny face sat on the couch, "Percy was always troubled, but I never thought he was capable of something like this," The man, emotionally.

"Who- who's that?" Grover asked.

"My stepdad. What's he doing?" Percy asked as a reporter spoke in the video of the destruction of the Arch.

"Wait for it," Ares said.

"... you believe he may also have something to do with your wife's disappearance?" The reporter asked Percy's stepdad.

"A kid that messed up? What wouldn't he do?" He asked.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Dude, your stepdad is a jerk," Venus mumbled.

"Wild, right?" Ares chuckled. "The FBI is already spreading your picture around." The teens stared at him, not finding it funny.

"It's Camaro. I really- we really loved that car," Gabe Ugliano said. "so much."

"I'm gonna kill him," Percy said. 

"I knew I was gonna like you," Ares said, "But safe to say, the chances of you four idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L. A without getting arrested are slim to none."

"Why are you sitting here then?" Annabeth asked. "If you're supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn't you be out there looking for it?"

"Hm. There's no fear in you, is there?" Ares asked to which Annabeth shook her head.

Venus was quiet. Cause she knew if she said something, it wouldn't be good and she really didn't want her mother to be upset and curse her for being rude to Ares. 

"Doesn't matter. Whether the bolt's retrieved or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon," Ares said and the teens shared a look. 

"No. The Oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn't be a war," Percy said.

"Is that what she said? Or is that what Chiron said she meant?" Ares asked. Percy looked around, uncomfortable. "Yeah."

"You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before I was born," Why even were you? "my grandpa Kronos, ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate." He finished.

By the time, he finished. Venus was staring at him with a frown. She had heard the story from Luke and yet it made no sense after hearing it again.

"Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family," Ares said and laughed. "My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war."

He takes a moment to contain his happiness and Venus is still thinking about how she wants to jump from Athena's temple. "Isn't that great?" He asked to which Venus slowly shook her head.