The Lightning Thief: Apollo's Daughter

I Back Talk a God

Skyler's POV

We had stopped at a diner just outside of Nashville. We all sat in silence, looking at the menus the waitress had placed in front of us. "Are you four ready to order yet?" The middle-aged waitress asked, looking slightly annoyed seeing as all we've ordered was water which is free... 

"Uh...No... we need a bit more time," Percy said, pretending to look over his menu still.

"Do you kids even have the money to pay?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum floor. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger. I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress but was stopped by a chair being pulled up to our table and a large muscular man sitting down. "It's on me." He said.

This man 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, In some weird way, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from my best guess of many fights.

This man looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?" He pointed at her, and she stiffened, turning as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen. The man looked down at me, though I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades. Who did this guy think he was?

He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're that sunny haiku reading twats kid, huh?"

I glared up at the man, my blood felt hot and I honestly wanted to punch this man in the face. "You wanna say that again?" I asked, pointing a finger at him.

"Skye--" Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. 

The man 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, don't you little lady?"

"Ares, god of war," I said, keeping my eyes trained on the red glass shielding the god's eyes.

Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there were only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, kid," Ares said before looking at Percy. "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? What I'm here for--" He leaned forward on the table a bit. "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.  

She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."

Ares pulled out his knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?" The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

"You can't do that," I told Ares, my hand slamming onto the table in front of me. "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, girl? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition." He said, turning his attention away from me and back towards Percy who was in the middle of eating a cheeseburger. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?"

"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."