Andromeda told him pretty much everything, excluding the dreams. She tried to tell him about it, but Jakob kept glaring at her the moment she opened her mouth about it. They kept talking and they didn't realize how long they talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine. One minute left it seems.
"I wish I could be there," Luke told them. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen… it had to be Hades who took the bolt. 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." Andromeda recalled.
"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still… Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anyone else sneak into the throne room and steal the Master Bolt? You'd have to be invisible."
They fell into silence. Jakob paused at the notion, then stared at Luke disbelievingly. He realized what he'd said.
"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never… I mean, she's like a little sister to me."
'She might not be happy to hear that.' Jakob thought, knowing Annabeth had a crush on Luke.
In the stall next to the demigods, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.
"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!" Andromeda said, failing at sounding convincing. "Yeah, they've come in handy."
"Really?" he grinned. "They fit and everything?"
The water shut off. The mist began to evaporate.
"Well, take care of yourselves out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better next time! Nobody will turn into a pine tree if he just –"
The mist was gone, and Luke's image faded into nothing. They were alone as Grover and Annabeth came back laughing from around the corner, but stopped when they saw both boys' faces. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, guys? What did Luke say?"
"Not much," Andromeda lied, sharing a look with Jakob. "Come on, let's find some dinner."
As Annabeth and Grover walked on, Andromeda hung back with jakob.
"Why didn't you let me tell him about my dreams?" She muttered to him.
"I don't trust Luke." Jakob revealed, much to her surprise and shock. "Something about him makes me feel unease... like when there's a monster nearby that has to be dealt with. I trust my instincts, they've never let me down."
A few minutes later, the questers were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner.
All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.
Finally a waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"
Andromeda said, "We want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
"… Got enough," Jakob said, after checking the money he had. He had to be careful; he didn't want to waste carelessly at all.
Suddenly a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant pulled up to the curb.
Jakob immediately thought the rider was compensating for something.
All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlights 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.
The guy on the bike looked like someone who'd beat up bears when bored. 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 cruellest, most brutal face you'd ever seen – handsome, one could say, but wicked – with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.
The weird thing was, Andromeda felt like she'd seen his face somewhere before. Even Jakob felt the same... and he's never met this man, but he knew he was a god.
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 someone had just pressed the rewind on her brain. She asked them again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into the booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth and Grover against the window.
Jakob could feel a desire to get angry, to feel the rage within build but he curbed it down, narrowing his eyes at the man across from him.
The man 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 towards the kitchen.
The biker looked at Andromeda and Jakob . You couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in Andromeda's stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. She wanted to hit a wall. She wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?
Jakob just stared with sharp eyes, fists clenching and unclenching time and tie again.
The man gave a twisted grin. "So, you're old Seaweed's kid, eh?" He said to Andromeda then looked at Jakob with his grin widening. "And you... you're the bigger talk of town. The Son of Thor himself."
"And you're Ares, the God of War." Jakob said calmly as he stared the Olympian God of War down.
Ares chuckled and mockingly bowed somewhat. "I know, an honour to meet me. More than that peace-loving excuse of a God of War you've got."
"Ares? Clarisse's dad?" Andromeda realized.
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature explosions.
"That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear." Ares said, looking at Andromeda.
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