The group was sound asleep on the train. Except Danny, who was waiting for this exact moment. He carefully took Ellie off his shoulder and put her head on the place he was just sitting on. Phantom walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. It was a very stinky place, which is surprising, because they are usually horribly smelly. Phantom took out a list of paper and a pen he 'borrowed' from conductor. He put the list on the wall, to have anything to lean on. After writing the letter with his straight lines, Danny put it inside the envelope and closed it, before scribing an address.

Fright Knight

Infinite Realms

Quadrant 5

Royal Castle

Fright Knight's chambers

LORD PHANTOM

When he finished writing, Danny raised his hand with the letter and it disappeared in green flame. He finally went to sleep.

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, their train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. They hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and that sure 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?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered through downtown for about half an hour. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere they turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at them, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

Finally they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They veered toward the stall farthest from the street, and Danny said Ellie to look out for police cars. They were four adolescent teenagers and six years old hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure they were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"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 have a quarter," Danny tossed Grover a quarter, which he caught with his palms.

"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?" Percy asked.

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"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."

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"

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."

"How about imaginaaation," Danny longed the last word, slowly moving his hands in a half circle.

Soon enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to Danny. "Drachma, please."

"I don't have any. Percy does."

Percy handed it over.

She raised the coin over her head. "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 they were looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. They 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!" Percy called.

He turned, eyes wide. It felt like he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except they could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "And Annabeth with Danny, 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. "We thought...I mean..."

"We need Chiron," Danny interrupted.

"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?"

"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?" Suddenly Ellie tugged Danny's pants. He looked down at her.

"There is a car comin'!" She pointed towards the road.

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.

"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. "Danny, come on!"

"What?" Phantom said. "But..."

"Come on!" she ordered.

Danny muttered something about girls being harder to understand than Skulker at the end of parties, causing Ellie to giggle, and followed Annabeth.

The guy went out of his Lincoln, closing the door behind him loudly. The guy wasn't strong apparently, and was wearing clothes which could be charactized only as eye-tearing. Mumbling melody under his nose, he picked up the nozzle and paid for it.

"Excuse me, sir, can you low the music?" Annabeth yelled over the loud sound. The guy heard her surprisingly and turned to her.

"What?"

"She said, shut down the music!" Danny shouted.

"Where did you get earplugs?" Her question was unanswered. The guy huffed in response.

"I listen whatever I want, kids. This is Dumpty Humpty, you can't just shut them down."

"Then just low. IT. DOWN," Annabeth shouted annoyed.

"Nah," the man shrugged, returning back to washing.

"Sir, are you aware that loud sounds are damaging your health?" Danny asked, causing the guy to raise his eyebrow, "Let me tell you then. Loud sounds have a bad influence on your brain cells, especially this kind. They die as the time goes, and worst of all, some people even got cancer because of it."

The guy shrugged again. He either didn't care about cancer, or didn't believe Phantom's story, "Look, maybe..."

With a neutral expression on his face, the guy turned the nuzzle to the kids and they were covered in water.

"That's it, I'm going to kill him," Danny said calmly, before grabbing the guy by his shirt, making him yelp in surprise, "I'm not going to repeat twice. Get. Lost."

"Or what?" The guy suddenly felt something ice cold against his throat.

"Or I will repaint your car," Phantom said nonchalantly.

"Danny, you can't kill him!" He freed his grip on the whimpering man with a pout.

"Lucky you," he said dryly. The man got up weakly and got inside the car, before driving away as fast as he could.

Phantom only shrugged.

"That was effective, wasn't it?"

"Well..." she looked where the man had gone, "yes it was."

Danny turned and went back to the others, but Annabeth stayed where she stood. He asked her the reason.

"Just go," she answered sharply, and then a bulb appeared above Phantom's head as he grinned evilly.

"Ooh, don't want to be soaked in water in front of Luke, huh?" She reddened, making him laugh, "Fine then." He returned during the middle of the conversation.

"We can't help much from here, I'm afraid," Luke said, "but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master 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."

"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."

Percy and Luke were both silent, while Danny and Ellie crossed their hands, until Luke seemed to realize 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."

Danny wondered if Annabeth would like that description. Percy and Grover glanced at Danny, and the last one's eyes widened.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, I learned about all this stuff not long before ya."

"Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good," Luke said.

"Oh ... uh, yeah!" Percy tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

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

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 Grover, it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if you just..."

But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing.

"Come on, guys, let's find some dinner," Danny said.

A few minutes later, the group were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner," Percy said.

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

Grover's lower lip quivered. Danny hoped he wouldn't start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger. Ellie looked up at her father, who 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.

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.

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 if Danny hadn't faced Pariah, he would think that that guy had the cruelest, most brutal face in all worlds, and wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, Danny felt like he'd seen his face somewhere before.

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 the kids again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into their 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 Danny and Percy, who were sitting nearby. They couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in Percy's stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. He wanted to hit a wall. He wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was? Danny's expression was calm. He felt the same emotions, but Clockwork taught him how to subdue them.

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

"What's it to you?"

Annabeth's eyes flashed him 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?"

"Ares himself decided to feed us with dinner," Danny answered sarcastically, earning a horrified looks from Annabeth and Grover.

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, little brother. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it," Danny shrugged.

"Probably. That's cool. 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."

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food-cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes. Ellie was the only one to start eating eagerly.

Ares handed the waitress 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?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

"You can't do that," Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

"Actually, I'm with Ares on this. It can be helpful sometimes," Danny shrugged.

Ares laughed. "Yeah, seen what you did with that guy on a carwash. Though, I don't know where you took the weapon from, nor do I care. The world around is dangerous, weapon should be always by your side. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you kids to do me a favor."

"What favor could we do for a god?"

"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. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Do I even want to know why you had a date in an abandoned water park?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy asked.

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

"Speaking of, Phantom," Ares turned to Danny, "We ALL are curious about what happened with Echidna and her brat. She looked like she was hit with Helm of Darkness at the head," he laughed. Danny shrugged again.

"Nah, just killed her mutt, and threatened to throw her into the Abiss, nothing much," Ares narrowed his eyes.

"If you think I'm an idiot then you are mistaken, brat. If it was nothing, why was it hidden from Big Guy?"

"What?" Everyone asked, shocked, even Danny, but he was acting, of course. It sounded very natural, however, he is a politician, after all.

"You want to say you don't know?"

"Not a clue," Danny crossed his hands, now playing offended, "Look, I don't know why the fight was hidden. And about your offer, we're not interested. We've already got a quest."

Ares's fiery eyes made him see blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield, not that he hadn't seen that before, "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. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you kids got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give Jackson the benefit of the doubt," he looked at Percy, "Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"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."

"Thanks," Percy 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."

"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?" Danny asked. "Something scared off the God of war?"

Ares bared his teeth. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.

"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'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

"Not good," Grover said, once Ares was gone, "Ares sought you out, guys. This is not good."

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

"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."

He looked down at his cheeseburger, "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Danny tapped his temple, "Ares has strength, but brutal force isn't always the way out. Maybe Sphinx..."

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

Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other. Danny narrowed his eyes at the place where Ares' bike had once been. He wasn't telling them something.

Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time they found the water park.

"He wasn't kidding when he said abandoned," Danny said dryly, after looking at the sign WAT R A D.

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.

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

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

"Why? I thought you hated Ares."

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."

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

"Who is she? Echidna?" Danny turned to the side, shaking in uncontrolable laughter, while Ellie grimaced.

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

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

"You want to say that all of them are hundred percents honest and never cheat on each other?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Oh." Percy 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. "You guys coming?"

Danny suddenly grabbed Percy and Annabeth by their hands and in a blink carried them over the fence. He floated up again to see how Ellie was doing and smiled proudly at the sight. She was slowly rising in the air.

"You are doing very well, sweetie," Danny commented, before she beamed at him brightly. Suddenly Ellie fell a bit lower with a surprised yelp. Danny already put his hands under her to prevent her from falling, but she quickly steadied herself with an adorable determined look on her face. With another effort Ellie flew over the fence and landed on her feet.

"Good job, Ellie," Danny ruffled her hair, once he landed as well. He then noticed that the others stared at him. His shoulders sank, "Hey, surely I...DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" He suddenly pointed his finger at the sky, before lighting struck him again. Danny groaned in annoyance, "Let's go," he said.

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was AnkleBiterIsland, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

No monsters came to get them. Nothing made the slightest noise.

"Huh, funny thing, they sold snowballs in waterpark," Danny said, in a blink appearing behind the counter of local souvenir shop, "No surprise this place was out of money," he dug deeper inside, while Ellie was shaking snowball, "Oh, guys, found fresh clothes!"

"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just..."

"Watch me," Annabeth said.

She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks from Danny's hands 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 of them became walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. "So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, to keep his mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told him.

"Three-thousand-year-old gossip," Danny added.

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. 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."

"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 them was an empty pool. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from them, 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!

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. Danny wanted to hurl from the amount of pink. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

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

Danny wasn't so optimistical. Something felt off to him, it can't be that simple. No signs of monsters, and their prize lying right in front of them. His thoughts were interrupted by Grover's one single phrase.

"Sure. But what could go wrong?" Phantom threw him a murderous glare and his eyes glowed brighter. Others hadn't noticed that.

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

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

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

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

"Who's going to see you?" But his face was burning now, too. "Fine," Percy told her. "I'll do it myself." But when he started down the side of the pool, she followed him, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

"Hey, Daddy," Danny looked where his daughter was. She was pointing at one of the Cupids nearby, "what's this sign?" Elder Phantom looked closely.

"This is greek letter 'Eta'," he answered with a smile. Ellie was confused.

"Eta?"

"Yeah, it's the same as English 'H'..." His eyes widened in a flash, before he dissappeared and appeared right in front of Annabeth and Percy, making them jump back in surprise, "Don't. Move," he ordered sharply.

"Wha..."

Danny's hand started emitting bright green light. He started to look around, before his eyes settled on one certain place, "A tripwire. It's a trap."

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth realized, "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares!"

"And he in turn sent us to be caught instead of them," Percy said angrily. Danny nodded.

"Yep," he said before grinning widely, "Let me," he raised his hand and the shield flew into his hand Captain America style.

"Couldn't you do this sooner?"

"Nah, I'm lazy bloke," Danny shrugged, before his grin gained wicked note, but everyone turned away, so it was left unnoticed. He is about to teach his nephew a lesson.

The war god was waiting for them in the diner parking lot. He didn't look happy.

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

"Yep," Danny answered, "Though you don't seem satisfied," he asked with a smirk, "Sad that the trap didn't work?" Annabeth and Grover caught their breath, "It wasn't so hard to defuse."

Ares' face brightened a liiitle bit, "Bet that crippled blacksmith will be surprised."

Ares grabbed the shield from Danny's hands and spun 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 eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

"You're kidding," Percy said.

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 us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.

"I don't want your lousy..."

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

Danny looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served them dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt them. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of them.

"You owe me one more thing," Percy told Ares, trying to keep his voice level. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

"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."

"Kept. Why?"

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

"Nobody's controlling me."

He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

"You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed, "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.

"You know what, I like this guy," Danny said. Everyone looked at him like he was insane.

"What?!" He shrugged.

"Why, we have a lot in common."

"You don't," Percy said confused. Phantom turned to him.

"Unlike him, I keep my urges under control. You have never seen me angry. THAT'S what you want to get away from as fast as possible. And Percy, while I don't care much, you better think twice before insulting Ares."

"I don't care."

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god." Annabeth said, "You too, Danny. Why did you lie to him about disarming the trap?" Phantom grinned evilly.

"Just imagine their faces when THEY will realize that."

"Are you insane?!"

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

He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, 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.

-Olympus-

"The Solstice is approaching, Poseidon!" Zeus said.

It was yet another meeting on the Olympus. And yet another time it was just an empty arguing. Mostly between two. Why the others were present was still a mystery. Aphrodite and Ares were absent, but that didn't bother anyone besides Hephaestus.

"You still blame my son for that?! Yours is the one who gives more suspicions!" Poseidon responded, "Or maybe you hid him on purpose?!"

"I told you I don't know what happened! And for the last time HE IS NOT MINE!" His voice boomed in the end. Not only Poseidon, but all the others didn't believe that. He was too much of a player.

"Oh, really? The flight he had earlier proves completely opposite!"

Suddenly the doors opened and Hermes ran inside.

"Guys, I might have found something interesting!"

"What is it?" Zeus asked annoyed, but at the same time grateful to get away from the conversation about that pesky brat. He was about to be disappointed.

"Well, your 'not son' writes interesting letters," he took out a piece of parchment.