Tidal Wave (Luke Castellan)

The Ride

 After we'd gotten off of the train in Denver, it was time to start walking. We were all very hungry since we hadn't eaten since the night before but we didn't have any money left. All of the mortal money we'd gotten from Medusa's was used up and drachmas weren't going to work at any diner. So we had to just keep walking and waiting for some stroke of luck.

"I'm starting to think this quest might be harder than we thought," Percy suddenly spoke up.

I gave him an 'are you serious' look. Grover and Annabeth just raised their eyebrows at him.

"So I'm the last one to figure this out," he realized.

"Yeah, pretty much," Grover said.

"Great."

Something roared in the distance behind us. I glanced back, "A motorcycle is coming."
As they got closer, we ducked behind a concrete barrier. Annabeth hadn't said much since we'd found Percy which was not normal for her. I'd tried to get some sort of answer as to why out of her a few times but she kept on shrugging me off. It seems I wasn't the only one to notice.

"Why have you been acting so weird? I thought we weren't doing that anymore," Percy asked as we sat behind the barricade.

"I'm not," Annabeth said.

"Yes you are... wait a minute. Is it because we hugged? Because that's totally a thing that friends do," Percy said, slightly turning his body to her.

If I could permanently roll my eyes, I would. He did not seriously just reach that conclusion just because Annabeth was being quiet. By the look on Grover's face, he was feeling the same way I was.

"That's not...whatever," Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"No seriously. It doesn't have to be a thing that you hugged me," Percy pushed.

"I saw the Fates cut a string," Annabeth blurted out to shut him up.

My face snapped towards her, "You what? Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I didn't want to freak anyone out."

I ran a hand down my face as Grover groaned, "This is not good."

"What does that mean? They just cut a string right?" Percy asked.

"When the Fates cut a string, that means someone is going to die. One of us is going to die," Annabeth explained as the motorcycle stopped behind us.

I gestured for everyone to quiet down so maybe the motorcycle would pass by us. We didn't get so lucky.

"Do you kids need some help?" a deep voice called out.

We all peaked over the barricade as Grover asked, "Beg pardon?"

"I asked if you needed some help."

"Nope," Grover looked over at the rest of us, "No, we're good. Appreciate you asking though. So long."

"You don't seem too good," the guy said. He seemed vaguely familiar to me for some reason.

"We don't want anything from you," Annabeth said.

The guy chuckled, "Are you sure? Because you guys are so behind schedule." We all stood up and faced him as he continued, "I mean, summer solstice is just a few days away and as much as I'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, I feel like maybe I want to give you a hand."

War? This was Ares, wasn't it? Annabeth confirmed my thoughts out loud.

"You must be Athena's kid," Ares observed, "Always got to be the wisest one in the bunch."