48 Chapter 48 Thanks a lot.
"Live to Olympus in one minute… Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…" A loudspeaker voice boomed.
"It was going to be broadcasted." Mimir finished his train of thought.
"Too bad they'll be seeing nothing." Jakob said with a small smirk before he flew back over to the others, tossing Ares' shield up and catching it. "Besides, saves any of us from taking an... embarrassing ride on that thing."
Annabeth shivered as she saw spiders fall down onto the ride at one point and agreed with him.
"Now, let's get this back to it's owner and be on our way." Jakob said, moving past them to go for the exit, the others soon following.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The God of War was waiting for them in the diner parking lot, leaning on his motorcycle. "Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."
Andromeda glared at him. "You knew it was a trap."
Ares cracked a wicked smirk. "Bet that crippled blacksmith wasn't expecting to catch nobody. A shame you had to get the Aesir to handle things like always, you'd have looked good on TV."
Jakob walked forward and tossed the shield at him, applying enough force that Ares grunted a little and raised an eyebrow at him. "Take your shield. Tell us what you know, give us our transportation and get lost." Jakob growled, having enough of Ares for one day.
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.
"See that truck over there?" he pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas." The kids took one look at the truck and Jakob read the sign. It said: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
Andromeda gave Ares a deadpanned look. "You have got to be kidding me."
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job." He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to him.
Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks of cash, a pouch full of drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos.
Andromeda glared at Ares. "I don't want your lousy – "
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Andromeda his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."
"Hope he washed his hands from stroking himself off before he gave us that." Jakob said, before Annabeth or Grover could stop him. "I hope you used hand sanitizer."
Ares turned his eyeless gaze towards him, the flames in there getting hotter. "I admit you got spunk, kid. I'll give you that. But I think you need to remember that I am a God. So watch yourself."
Jakob smirked. "You're the least impressive of all the Gods I've known, and that includes Aesir, Vanir and Olympian."
Ares's glare was so strong and heated that his sunglasses melted off his eyes. Any lesser person would've wilted under the glare, but Jakob didn't flinch. "You're very lucky I don't turn you into a rodent and crush you, little brat. Otherwise I'd interfere with your little quest of finding the old man's bolt."
Jakob barely blinked. "Noted. Now fuck off and go back to being on top of Aphrodite or something."
The waitress at the diner was looking nervously at Ares, like he was going to hurt them or something.
She even dragged out the fry cook to look. She said something, not that anyone could make out, then the man took out a camera and snapped a photo of the group. Andromeda was thinking about the new headline that might pop up: TWELVE YEAR OLD OUTLAWS BEAT UP DEFENCELESS BIKER.
"You owe me one more thing," Andromeda said as she turned back to Ares and trying to keep her voice in check. "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle the news?" Ares kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."
The ground seemed to almost spin beneath Andromeda. "What do you mean?"
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept." Ares explained.
"Kept. Why?"
"A hostage," Jakob said with a frown. "Trying to convince you of something."
"Brat's right. You take somebody to control somebody else." Ares nodded.
"Nobody's controlling me," Andromeda argued.
The God of War laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
Andromeda balled his fists up. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."
Jakob snorted in amusement.
His now empty sockets were glowing with fire. "We'll meet again, Andromeda Jackson. And you too, Jakob Thorsson. Next time both of you are in a fight, watch your back."
He revved his Harley, then off roared down Delancy Street.
"I swear, he reminds me so much of Modi and I hate that." Jakob growled with annoyance.
"That wasn't smart." Annabeth warned.
"Like I give a shit." Jakob rolled his eyes and started walking towards the truck. "Let's get moving."
"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but…"
He pointed towards the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, the two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.
"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."
They ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind them.
The first thing that hit them was the smell, which, to Jakob, smelt like a collective putrid cloud of animal droppings.
The trailer was dark inside until Andromeda uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals you'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing.
Want to read 20+ chapters ahead from here or just want to support take a visit on my patreon.
Link ---> patreon.com/V22
-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
