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chapter xvi. ( the lightning thief ) ❝ the sea does not bow ❞
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ARES WAITED FOR US ON HIS MOTORCYCLE. Dacked in his black leather duster, his sunglasses and a baseball bat propped over his shoulder. At the sight of him, Percy clenched his fists. Annabeth shook her head, "I don't believe it," she whispered beside me. "We went all that way—"
"It was a trick," Percy said, I could hear his voice crack – from either leaving his mother behind or from the anger that radiated from him at the very glance of the God of war, or perhaps both. "A strategy worth of Athena." He had given his shoes to Grover, so he now stood barefoot on the sand.
"Hey," Annabeth warned.
Percy turned to both of us, "You guys get it, don't you?"
Annabeth's anger faltered, and she gave a numb nod. I pressed my lips together and dropped my eyes. "Yeah, we get it."
Grover stared at Ares as we stopped a few yards from him. "Well, I don't! How could he have ..." He didn't finish his sentence.
I felt horrible – I promised Percy we would save his mother, and yet I let him leave her in the Underworld in Hades's grasp. "Percy ..." I could feel my throat tighten, a sob rising up. "I'm sorry about your mother ... I'm so sorry ..."
Percy ignored me, shaking his head. I could see the tears in the corner of his eyes as he forced them back, swallowing hard. "The Prophecy was right." He said. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want a war between the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's Master Bolt and Hades' Helmet and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."
In the back of my mind, I thought, 'You shall fail to save what matters most in the end.' The guilt bubbled up in my stomach. That line referred to Percy's mother, and if I had stayed, we may have saved her and Percy would have his mother back. My gaze landed on Ares once again, and I started to burn with anger.
When we reached him, he stood up from where he leaned against his motorcycle, the headlights creating a circle of red sand around him. "Hey, kid," he seemed genuinely pleased to see Percy. "You were supposed to die."
"You tricked me," the son of Poseidon's eyes flashed with anger. "You stole the helmet and the master bolt."
