RED ¹ / Percy Jackson !

23

ARES

I LEANED AGAINST MY MOTORCYCLE,WATCHING AS PERCY AND HIS FRIENDS APPROACHED ME.

"Hey,kid,"I grinned smugly."You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me," Percy said. "You stole the helm and the master bolt."

"Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols ofpower-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."

"Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding 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 ..."

I took out the ski cap and placed it between the handlebars of the bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.x

"The Helm of Darkness." Grover gasped.

"Exactly." I nodded."Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

 "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no,"I said."It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"Percy seemed taken aback by me knowing this piece of information."Anyway," I continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades.... Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way-no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" Percy said. "Why send it to Hades?"

"Why didn't I ... yeah ... with that kind of firepower ..."

"I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding thething."

"You're lying," Percy said. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from my sunglasses.

"You didn't order the theft," Percy guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

"Who said anything about dreams?"

"Wait a minute," I stopped,my gaze going over all the brats that were in front of me. The gaze then followed towards a woman I've never seen before. " Where's Aresa?"

"Oh,you mean Viviane?" Blake Hurtlig asked,anger in her eyes. She took out a pearl and showed it to me."She had one of these. Exchanged it for Percy's mother."

"You can always visit her, If Hades lets you in after what you just did,that is." Percy said. "Maybe she won't want to look at you anymore, after all , you are a thief. Nobody wants a thief for a father."

"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. I'll take care of my daughter later. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."