CHAPTER SIXTEEN - WE PICK A FIGHT

Ares was waiting for us in the diner parking lot, leaning against his motorcycle.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

"No thanks to you," I mumbled under my breath. Annabeth looked at me through the corner of her eye, flashing me a warning.

Percy was no better. "You knew it was a trap," he said.

The war god sneered. "So did your little friend here." He pointed an accusatory finger at me.

I was about to snap back a response, but Percy beat me to it. He slung an arm around my shoulders and said, "Avalon is bound by the Fates to not say anything about our quest. You, however, are not."

Percy gave me a small smile, which I gratefully returned. Having him stick up for me gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest. That didn't happen very often, especially since only a few days ago, he believed the exact opposite of his previous statement.

Ares gave Percy a wicked grin. "Whatever. Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

Percy shoved the god's shield into his arms. "You're a jerk."

Annabeth, Grover, and I caught our breath, waiting for Ares to turn Percy into a hamster.

Instead, he just spun his shield in the air. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back, and pointed to a nearby eighteen-wheeler parked on the other side of the street. "See that truck over there? That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

I looked over at the truck, and read the sign on the back, which, thankfully, was reverse-printed white on black, something I could easily make out with my dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

Percy looked baffled. "You're kidding."

Ares snapped his fingers, and the back doors of the truck swung open. "Free wide west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He tossed a blue nylon backpack at Percy. I peeked inside. Fresh clothes for the four of us, twenty dollars in cash, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.

Percy closed the pack roughly, and looked back up at the god. "I don't want your lousy—"

"Thank you, Lord Ares," I said, elbowing Percy sharply in the ribs. "Thanks a lot."

He gritted his teeth, but kept his mouth shut. I knew that he didn't want any generosities from Ares, but refusing a gift from a god is a deadly insult. Nevertheless, Percy swung the backpack across his shoulders.

I looked back at the diner, and my friend followed my gaze. The waitress from before was watching our exchange with Ares, and dragged the fry cook out of the kitchen for a second opinion. After a quick conversation, the cook brought out a disposable camera, and snapped a picture of the five of us, mine and Percy's faces in full view.

Wonderful. That was the second picture that we were starring in.

Percy shook it off and stared at Ares. "You owe me one more thing. You promised me information about my mother."

Ares sat astride his motorcycle. "Maybe I should just let little miss sunshine tell you," he mused.

I clenched my fists. "You know very well that I can't disclose that information, Lord Ares."

The war god grunted in response. "You sure you can handle the news?" He said to Percy, and kick-started his bike. "She's not dead."

Percy looked like he was about to pass out. I held out a cautious hand, in case he stumbled, but he righted himself quickly. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphoses. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept," Percy mumbled. "Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control someone else."

"Nobody's controlling me."

Ares let out a bark of laughter. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

Percy's face went rigid. I placed a hand on his shoulder, to try to calm him down, but he shrugged me off. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

Ares's smile was wiped from his face. Hot wind rushed past me and my friends, making my lips crack from the heat. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

He revved his bike for good measure, and then took off down Delancy Street, disappearing in a gust of wind.

Annabeth let out a long breath. "That was not smart, Percy," she warned.

"I don't care."

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."

"Unfortunately, Annabeth," I sighed, "Percy is just that kind of person."

Percy gave me a funny look, but I raised an eyebrow at him, daring to correct me. He didn't.

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but..."

He pointed to the diner. Two guys were at the register paying their check, decked out in uniforms that matched the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."

It wasn't a stretch limo, or even just a simple sedan, but I was ready to get out of Denver. I pulled Percy by the hand across the street, Annabeth and Grover following closely behind. We climbed in the back of the eighteen-wheeler, closing the doors behind us.

*

For a semester in college, I volunteered at a cat shelter. I took care of twenty-six feral cats that were rescued from the Grand Canyon, and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, I also found out that semester, that I was severely allergic to cats. I couldn't be in the shelter for more than an hour at a time.

So when I walked into the truck, I immediately sneezed. I felt Percy jump beside me, since he couldn't see anything.

I rummaged in my backpack until I found a small, keychain-sized flashlight. I clicked it on, and gave my friends a sheepish grin. "Sorry," I said. "I'm allergic to cats."

Reinforcing my point, I nodded towards the albino lion in the cage closest to me. In the other cages, there was a zebra, and an antelope. The zebra's mane was matted with chewed gum, and the antelope had a silver nylon balloon tied on one of its antlers.

The lion was pacing around in a cramped space, on soiled blankets, with a bag of turnips thrown in front of him. His ribs were prominent through his white fur. The zebra and antelope both had Styrofoam trays of hamburger meat in their cages.

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled.

"So much for humane zoo transport," I hissed. I was ready to jump out of the truck with Grover, and help beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, but the engine roared to life, and the eighteen-wheeler lurched to a start, causing me to lose my balance and fall onto a feed sack.

I found a water jug and refilled the animal's bowls, while Percy used his sword to switch out the food from the cages. Grover and Annabeth worked together to cut the balloon off of the antelope's horn. After having Grover promise the animals that we would help more in the morning, we settled in for the night.

Annabeth cracked open our bag of Oreos, and offered me one, which I gladly took. At least Ares gave us good cookies.

"Hey," Annabeth said, gaining mine and Percy's attention. "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, guys."

"That's okay," Percy said.

"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway," she said, turning to me, "I owe you, Avalon. Thanks for the warning."

"Hey, we're a team, yeah?" I said, nudging her shoulder with my own. "Like the Three Musketeers, but with four of us, and better."

Annabeth, Percy, and Grover all laughed at that.

Percy looked at me, and asked, "So why did you freeze up?"

"Hm? Oh, I just really hate spiders. Always have. That's one of the reasons that I thought I was a child of Athena, at first," I said. I looked at Annabeth, and gave her a small smile. "With that and my slightly-unhealthy obsession with books, I thought for sure I was your half-sister."

Annabeth beamed at me. "A reasonable deduction. You would have been a cool sibling, Avalon."

"Thanks."

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and then Annabeth took a deep breath.

"In the Iris message..." she began. "Did Luke really say nothing?"

Percy hesitated, trying to think about how to answer. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

Grover let out a mournful bray, his back still towards us. "I should've told you the truth from the beginning. I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

I placed a hand on Grover's shoulder. "You're not a failure. We couldn't have possibly made it this far without you," I said. Grover looked over his shoulder at me and gave me a sad smile.

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus," Percy said. When Grover didn't respond with confirmation, he took that as a yes. "And the two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp..." He looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"

Annabeth set down an uneaten Oreo. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were...amazing monster fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

Grover let out another sad bleat. "I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp. Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought...I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker..."

"Stop it," Annabeth ordered. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably. "Even the Council of Cloven Elders said her death was my fault."

"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" Percy said. "That's not fair."

"Percy's right," I told our friend. "Annabeth wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. The council is wrong."

Grover sniffled, curling further away from us. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy. Not to mention you two, Av and Annabeth. You two are extremely powerful."

"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted, though I could tell that Grover's power remark made her feel good, as she was trying hard to hide her smile. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other satyr who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."

She aimed to kick Percy in the shin, but her mark fell short and she hit me instead. I hissed in pain. She had a lot of leg-power.

"Yeah," Percy said quickly, to avoid being kicked for real this time. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan, just like Avalon said."

Grover let out a satisfied sigh. We waited for him to reply, but his breathing just kept getting heavier, until he was snoring.

"How does he do that?" Percy asked.

Annabeth let out a small laugh. "I don't know. But that was really a nice thing you told him."

"I meant it."

We rode in silence for a few minutes, until Percy shifted his weight and looked at me expectantly, his eyes doing that baby-seal thing he always did when he wanted help with his homework.

I took my magic purse off of my shoulder and feigned interest in it, tracing the Greek lettering on the leather with my finger. "Yes?" I asked Percy, without looking up.

"Why doesn't Luke like you?" He demanded.

I dropped my purse in surprise, and it hit the bottom of the truck with a loud thud. Annabeth looked over at me, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen you guys exchange even a 'hello' since the day you met, which was pretty hostile to begin with," he explained. "On Half-Blood Hill, when he brought me the shoes, he completely ignored you. Same with the Iris message. And it seems like every time he's brought into the conversation, you tense up."

"Plus," Annabeth added. "Don't think that I didn't notice that you left Luke out when you were talking to Grover."

I huffed in response, and picked up my purse from the truck floor. "There isn't much to tell. I don't like him, he doesn't like me. End of story."

"But why?" Percy asked.

"There's just something about him..." I pressed my fingers to my temples, as if trying to coax the knowledge out of my head. "It has something to do with the story, with your story, but I can't remember what." I sighed, and curled up next to Grover on the turnip sacks. "All I know is that I don't trust him. Maybe it just has to do with our parentage. You know, how Hermes stole my father's cattle, but then got away with it because he gave Apollo the lyre. Maybe there's just this trust problem between the two groups of demigods now."

But I knew that that wasn't it. I just didn't know what it was.

I was about to fall asleep, but Percy's voice snapped me back to consciousness, which was surprising, since it was extremely soft. "My mother," he said. "She's really not dead?"

I looked over at my best friend. His face was neutral, but his eyes showed the truth. They were broken, but full of hope.

"Really," I whispered. "Hades holds her hostage. To give you a reason to go down to the Underworld."

Okay, so maybe that was a little white lie. But I couldn't tell him the whole truth, otherwise he would figure out that Hades didn't have what Percy was looking for.

Percy seemed to buy my fib, however. The last thing I saw before I drifted off to sleep was Percy, watching Annabeth as she fiddled with her beaded necklace.

*

I dreamt that I was in a cavern, with a maze of tunnels. The air smelled musty and like dead animals, which made my stomach lurch. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out objects on the ground, unmistakably bones, but from what, I didn't know.

I didn't recognize this place. I was about to call out when I heard a voice that sounded just like Annabeth's, maybe a bit younger, cry out "Luke! This way!"

A boy, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, ran past me, without even giving me a second glance. I stumbled backwards in surprise, but not because he almost ran me over. It was because the boy that ran past me was Luke, but shorter, and with no scar. It was amazing how different he looked without the claw mark marring his face.

He disappeared in the dark. A few seconds later, I heard him yell "Thalia, help!" Except, it came from the opposite direction from which he ran. A girl with black, spiky hair and startling ice-blue eyes hobbled out from a passageway that I hadn't noticed before. She was carrying a spear, and a shield that had the face of Medusa engraved in the gold. It was so realistic I found myself averting my eyes and cowering in fear that the demon had found me again.

The daughter of Zeus followed the voice down the hall. I ran along with her, trying to figure out where I was. This was unlike any dream I had had before.

Finally, Thalia emerged from the maze into a massive underground cave. Stalactites and stalagmites jutted from the ceiling and floor. In the middle of the cave was a massive cauldron, like the kind you would see in old Disney movies, where the wicked witch would always brew her potions.

Hanging from their ankles, above the cauldron, were Grover and Luke. They were struggling to get untied, and their mouths were gagged, to keep them from crying out. Thalia ran to them, tugging on the ropes and trying to free them. Luke was shaking his head, his eyes wide with fear.

"What is it?" Thalia asked.

But it was too late. A shadow loomed across the cavern wall, covering her with darkness. Her shoulders tensed up, and the daughter of Zeus slowly turned around to face her attacker. The giant towered over us, it's one massive eye gleaming with hunger.

"Three down, one to go," the Cyclopes sneered. He raised a massive fist and hit Thalia across the head, knocking her out instantly.

*

I bolted upright, shaking. The Cyclopes' voice still rang in my ears. Annabeth was on my right, looking at me with concern.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

I nodded, trying to get my bearings. I was in a truck, a zoo transport truck. My nose was itching like crazy from the lion fur, and my eyes hurt. Grover was just starting to wake. I could feel the truck slowing down, before coming to a complete stop.

"Oh no," I whispered, and clicked off my flashlight. How it managed to stay on all night, I'll never know. "They're coming back here!"

Grover acted first. He sat up and turned to Percy, who was still asleep, though it looked restless. The satyr started to shake his shoulder. A few moments later, Percy awoke, violently.

"The truck's stopped," Grover said to him. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed. She whipped out her Yankees cap, put it on, and vanished.

Percy grabbed my arm and pulled me down behind a pile of feed sacks, with Grover quickly following. Unfortunately, they were the feed sacks that were right next to the lion. Fur immediately went up my nose and started clouding my sinuses.

The trailer doors swung open bringing sunlight and the desert heat. If I wasn't scared of sneezing again, I would have taken a deep breath. Desert air brought memories of my old home.

"Man!" One of the truckers said. He was big, with small, beady eyes and a squashed nose resembling an old tomato. "I wish I hauled appliances." He ran a hand through his greasy hair and climbed inside the truck, toting a water jug.

Pouring some water in the animal's dishes, he stopped in front of the lion's cage, less than three feet from us. "You hot, big boy?" he asked the feline, and then threw the rest of the water in the lion's face.

The lion roared and shook his mane, causing more fur to dislodge from his body and spiral towards us. My eyes were burning now, and I could feel a sneeze creeping its way up my throat.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said, waving a dismissive hand as he turned to the other animals.

Grover's eyes had a dangerous gleam to them. I covered my nose and mouth with my hands to keep me from sneezing, but it was counter-productive, as my hands were coated with lion fur from resting them on the feed sacks.

I ducked down farther, blocking my view of the man, and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to will my allergies away.