Hi before everyone kills me read the chapter, then read my reasons for not updating in five months. Thanks!

"I bet it was one of those soft gods." Ares said loudly looking towards Demeter, Aphrodite, Hermes and Hephaestus. In turn they each turned at him while everyone else rolled their eyes. Grover, Annabeth, and Percy stiffened their laughs by coughing slightly before Grover started to read.

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car,

"And you didn't die?" Thalia questioned referring to Percy's eating habits. "Oh trust me, I was about to."

somewhere in Kansas.

Jason, Piper, and Percy all shivered.

We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."
"We can't use phones, right?"
"I'm not talking about phones."

"How else do you communicate?" A roman questioned.

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

"All those damn references to the sea." Annabeth muttered to herself. Percy heard and laughed quietly, "As I said before it flows in my veins."

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"Yeah what are you doing?"

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."
I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.

"Your screwed." Leo stated.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."
"What are you talking about?"
He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?" Gwen asked.

"Instant messaging?"

Percy smiled at Gwen, "Welcome to the Percy-think like club." "I think you meant think like Percy Seaweed brain." "Nope I'm pretty sure my ways right." Annabeth facepalmed after that.

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" All the romans complained at the same time while the Greeks shrugged their shoulders.

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"

"When you put it that way..." "It sounds stupid." Connor finished for his brother.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.
Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."

I handed it over.
She raised the coin over her head.

"Why did you hold over your head? It still works if you toss it." Nico question and Annabeth shrugged.

"O goddess, accept our offering."
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.
"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy- haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.
"Luke!" I called.

The older campers all groaned quietly.

He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.
"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face.

Everyone was looking at Annabeth amused until she turned and glared at them. The only one still raising his eyebrows acussently was Percy. He was immune to her glares, put not her fist. And that's what he got. In the face. Everyone started howling with laughter, loudest was Hercules.

"We thought-Chiron-I mean-"
"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"Like he cared." Said person grumbled to himself while his girlfriend cuddled into his side.

"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"
Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Men." Artemis and Thalia said at the same time rolling their eyes. "Hey what makes you assume it was men, what if it was girls?" Hermes questioned. "If it was girls they would probably be blasting out Madonna." Artemis pointed out.

"Chiron had to-what's that noise?" Luke yelled.
"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"
"What?" Grover said. "But-"
"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

"Life tip: Never ignore Annabeth's orders." Percy said very seriously, "Or else you get a, ahem, fist in the face." Everyone laughed until they saw Annabeth nodding.

Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi,

"And now the Oracle is a girl." Will pointed out quietly.

then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.
I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff.

"Wonder who leaked it." Clarisse fumed.

We're still not sure how-probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound.

All the veteran campers glared at the book.

Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

Zeus glared at the gods who were mentioned taking Poseidon side. "Dad chill," Apollo cut in, "it hasn't even happened yet." That didn't help with the glare problem.

I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything. In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy

Artemis looked pointedly at Hermes.

arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."
I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him, to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off.
"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt.

Hades didn't even bother wasting his breath.

He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."
"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."
"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."

Zeus redirected his glare the Hades, who rolled his eyes. Athena on the other time narrowed her eyes at the book then to her daughter. All the older campers gritted their teeth, "I wish I hit him with a hairbrush then." Rachel spat.

We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth.

Once again the king of the gods redirected his gaze.

She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

"Not to her!" Aphrodite sang out while Annabeth rolled her eyes blushing slightly.

I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.

"What did you do?" Frank questioned. "That's one secret I'll never tell." "She punched a guy six feet tall and knocked him out cold." "Wow Grover there goes all the mystery." Annabeth said laughing while everyone stared at her in shock. "Look at the, my girlfriend the badass." Percy said whistling in appreciation.

"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."
"Oh ... uh, yeah!" I tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"

"Apparently your a good liar."

The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.
"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just-"

Thalia groaned.

But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall.
Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin. "Come on, let's find some dinner."
A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

"How are you going to pay? Oh wait nevermind. Forgot the chapter name.." Leo trailed off awkwardly while everyone else was laughing.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"
I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.

I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

Everyone turned the Ares. "What were you saying about a weak god?" Hephaestus questioned. Ares turned and glared at him while the Romans looked at Percy. "You weren't lying when you said you meet him before." One finally said. "Well duh!"

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.

Everyone turned slightly green at description. Are smiled with pride for a brief moment before turning to his sword and acting uninterested while cleaning it.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and 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, I guess, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.

Some people made the connection while the others stared at the book in confusion.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me."

You could tell Ares was confused by his own actions but he still didn't look away from his sword.

He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.
He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"
He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.
The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?

"He tends to have that effect on everyone." Athena said with distaste.

He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"

I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my step dad, Gabe. I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"

Everyone raised an eyebrow at Percy, Ares and Hercules included. Even if you learnt about god a week ago you no never to talk back to them.

Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is-"
The biker 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, little cousin?"

"Godly families are too confusing." Percy said shaking his head. Hercules and Zeus shared a look before rolling their eyes.

Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.

"Oh."

"You're Clarisse's dad," I said. "Ares, god of war."
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."
"She was asking for it."
"Probably. That's cool.

Clarisse rolled her eyes, "Thanks dad."

I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for-I heard you were in town. I got a

little proposition for you."

All the god shook their heads figuring that was the reason for the god's presence.

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 huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

Many of the gods glared at the god, who was still cleaning his sword. Apparently it was filthy.

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Hera looked pointedly at Ares, as if to say see even he know that.

Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor could I do for a god?"

"Pretty much everything."

"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.

Hephaestus turned and glared at Aphrodite and Ares.

We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"
The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.
"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?"

Everyone snorted. "He already proved he's not."

He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

Hercule smiled, finally someone saw through the fraud.

I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was causing my anger.

"Why isn't it right now?" Katie asked. "When all the gods are together they balance and cancel out each others powers." Athena answered.

He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see-blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry.

Hearing that Zeus moved a bit farther away from his son.

"Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

Hades turned and glared at him.

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

Everyone else joined Hades.

"Thanks," I grumbled.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."
"We're doing fine on our own."
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

Aphrodite stopped glaring at Ares, she couldn't even stand the sight of him, her husband on the other hand...

"My mom?"

He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"
Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.

Hephaestus nodded his head in approval.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am.

"I will give you that including your the one that makes them rude." Demeter said.

I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."
After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance,

"Which one was it?" Reyna asked. Annabeth answered, "I think it was a trance but I'm not positive."

because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone. I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expressions told me otherwise.
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."

"Not good at all."

I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me?

"He better not be." Poseidon grumbled

Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power-cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.

"See Ares that's why no one likes you." Hermes joked, all he got in return a glare.

"It's probably some kind of trick," I said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

"I don't think defying a God is smart." Jason stated. Everyone nodded their head but Percy who shrugged.

"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."

"Yeah been there, done that don't want to do it again thank you." Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear while she laughed.

I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

Ares was about to say something when a straight but smug look from Athena cut him off.

"But this water park ... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

"Nothing good." Jake said smiling at his dad.

Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.
Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."
The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

"I personally like the Wat rad better." Percy in a terrible British accent which earned laughs and an eye roll. (And you can guess which person that was.)

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"Oh joy." Piper said sarcastically.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

"Hey!"

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."

"Yeah!"

"Why? I thought you hated Ares."
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."

"Yea-HEY!" "Shut up Aphrodite!"

"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.

"Who is she? Echidna?"

"No." Artemis said before Aphrodite could say anything else.

"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."

Aphrodite gave a little nod of approval towards Grover.

"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."

Said god sent a pointed look towards his wife.

"What's your point?" he asked.
"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.
He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing.

"Did you really plan that all?" Leo asked fascinated. Grover looked over confused, "Of course." He answered sarcasticly. "Wow that must have taken forever because you would have to plan for different heights and-" He cut off with Calypso whispering something in his ear while everyone else laughed. He turned bright red after Calypso leaning away giggling, "Oh... um just kidding he was being sarcastic..."

"You guys coming?"
Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.
The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.

"That's a first."

We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of- "Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me."

"Oh sass!" Travis said snapping his hands in a z formation.

She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

"Sounds okay until you put it like that."

We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the grow-ing dark, "they have a thing going?"

All the gods snorted.

"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The black-smith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers."

"Whatever."

"You just enjoyed ticking me off didn't you?" Annabeth said laughing. Percy blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck, "It not like it was intentonal." "Don't worry I'm bugging you seawees brain." She said kissing his cheek.

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ..."

She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."

In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding.

It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

All the boys groaned at the thought.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

"Why am I not shocked Aphrodite would be there?" Hermes whispered to Apollo.

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," I said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."

At once most of the gods paled knowing what they were getting into.

"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"

He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."

"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

Jason looked at Percy and said, "Low blow dude." Percy winced, "So

Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.

"You didn't have to you." "Well I kind of did, I mean you did decide to take a high dive." He joked. "But still."

"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."

Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"A lot." Everyone answered.

"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"

"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.

"What's the problem now?" I demanded.

"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"

Thalia groaned, "Really Annabeth." She blushed and hide her face in her boyfriends shoulder.

"Who's going to see you?" But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated.

"Tell me about it." All the guys said while the girls smacked their shoulders.

"Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf.

"Oh great."

I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Why?

"I was wondering the same thing." Achilles said.

Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.

"And the world makes sense again." Theseus said ignoring the two glares he got.

I picked up the scarf.

"Oh don't do that." Perseus warned.

It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable-rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Thank you." Perseus said to Annabeth

"Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."

"What?"

"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."

The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble.

"Oh no!"

My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.

"Double oh no!"

"Wait," Annabeth said.

"Too late."

"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."

Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.

"Triple oh no!" "Shut up Leo"

Grover yelled, "Guys!"

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"You know what," Hermes said, looking at Hephaestus, "I'm with Leo on this one, oh no!"

"We have to get out," I said.

"Duh!" Annabeth said.

I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.

"Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.

"Gods does anything go right on this quest?" Thalia asked. Annabeth, Percy, and Grover looked at each other, and turned away smiling.

The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."

Every god turned and looked at Hephaestus in a really? expression.

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

"Fish boy does that by himself." Hercules whispered to Octavian, who snickered to himself.

We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.

Annabeth screamed.

It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.

"Here we go." Nico whispered, laughing as all the Athena kids paled, and started to squirm. At the same time Leo said, "I'm confused."

"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"

"Oh that makes sense."

I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.

"Stupid Arachne." Annabeth whispered and then shook from the memories. Percy tightened his grip on her.

The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods.

"No!" A little first year camper squeaked in fear.

Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.

The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe.

"This is not going to end well." Achilles said closing his eyes as if that would magically make the story get better.

Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.

Think, I told myself. Think.

"Like him thinking would make a difference." Hercules said not too quietly and got a lot of glares in return.

The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.

"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.

Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?

Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"But-"

"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there.

Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.

"Five, four-"

Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.

Everyone was now on the edge of their seats.

I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.

"Two, one, zero!"

Water exploded out of the pipes.

"YEAH!" Everyone cheered.

It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.

Hephaestus looked away from the book, knowing how long each of those spiders take to make.

Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.

"Great." Jason said sarcastically.

But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I willed it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness.

Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.

"Now that was a cute couple!" Aphrodite squealed losing concern for the story for a few seconds.

Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.

"Finally!" Piper cheered.

If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade-one submerged, the other cracked in half.

"I take back my previous statement."

"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.

"Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane.

"So nothing out of the ordinary." Travis said smirking.

As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool.

"That not actually a bad plan." Malcolm said surprised.

Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer.

"On my mark," I said.

"No! On my mark!"

"What?"

"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"

"Fine.'" I shouted. "On your mark!"

Everyone laughed slightly.

She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"

Crack!

Annabeth was right.

"Anything new?" Annabeth asked. "Nope nothing at all." Percy replied smiling down at her.

If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into the gates. She got us maximum lift.

Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.

"Oh gods."

Something grabbed me from behind.

Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"

Grover!

"Yeah Grover!" Everyone cheered.

In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum.

"It will slow you down though." Athena said in relief.

"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"

We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.

We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale.

Everyone laughed while Grover turned a deep red.

Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on my arm.

Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.

A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.

"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"

Everyone started killing themselves laughing. "Oh gods Perce, you have guts!" Apollo said rolling on the floor laughing.

The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good.

Annabeth looked at Percy with a raised eyebrow, "That what you thought about, our ratings?" Percy laughed and shrugged.

I hated being teased. I hated being tricked. And I had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."

All the veterans from Camp Half-Blood turned to look at Ares and said, "You're screwed." In perfect sync. For a split second the war god looked slightly scared before he rolled his eyes and looked the opposite way. "The chapter's over, who's reading next?" Grover asked. "I guess I will." Rachel volunteered after no one else did.

We take a zebra to Vegas.

Okay so here goes the explaining part. So I really don't know what happened, I guess I just panicked thinking on how much I promised to complete and my brilliant mind decided the best way to work it out is to ignore it. And then my computer had to get fixed, but at the time I was still ignoring my panicking. Finally June came around am I finally figured out I still really want to continue this story, but first I had to get through my nine exams. But anyway I'm back and I have all summer to complete this story. I am hopping I update at least one every two weeks now, but I am truly sorry for making everyone wait.

And now time for response to everyone's reviews. (And thanks so much for the 240 reviews! 3)

I'mAgentCaliforniaSuckIt: I really don't know who said "Cookies!" But it was someone for the story. So you can decide who it was.

JustAnotherFan15: Don't worry I will have the old heroes warm up to Percy, (They are already, slightly...) And I will try to make them talk more too so you don't forget them! ;)

GryffindorkofOz: You should definitely expect more updates. :)

LaughingLadybug: I thought that all the old heroes should be there for every story so that way they don't just join and become extremely confused.

The Undying Will: I don't know what that is so no.

Nocturnal Storyteller: Don't worry I am! ;)

D: Confused my your comment but okay?

Dianne: I really worded my self wrong. I originally didn't like Nico being gay because of him and Will. I thought that Will was like nineteen and Nico was eleven, so I found it extremely creepy. But then I read a Solangelo fic and I really loved them. So I now regret saying tht so much so I promise I will go back and fix that chapter (If I can) and I will also be adding some Solangelo into the story. (just not yet) But I am so sorry I came across as such a Bitch, it was never my intention.

Me: Thanks!

GrammerJew: I did not know that fact so that probably explains why Perseus refers to him as his half brother. And since I didn't know that from the start I am going to keep them only half brother.

D: I don't know who Bellerophon is so can't add him. And I wanted Octavian there because I feel he could add evem more to the story because he already hates Percy.

Chise Sakamoto: I added it in there for you ;)

Tovelevin: I am not sure yet if I will do the rest of the series (right now I kind of want to) But I will not be doing the lost heroes one, as I don't really like two of the three main characters but I might so some parts of the Heroes of Olympus.

likethebossiam: The twist was Percy feeling all the pain/the old heroes. But there might be even more ;)

PercabethOTP996: I think I will be, but I'm not a hundred percent sure yet. And I'm in the year of the dragon if you can figure out my age ;)

TheUnicornNarwhale: First off awesome name, and second off I'm think about but I'm not sure (Lol I don't even know if I have mentioned it before)

Leylisfriends2000: Yeah um sorry about the wait...

awestruck 2409: Yeah don't think my absence is okay anymore...

Also Happy Canada Day! 3 3