CH.27 Hephaestus Will

After everybody woke up Annabeth and Grover had a little freak out about Ares seeking me and Percy out. Percy wanted to ignore Ares but Annabeth gave him a good reason not to and so now here we are.

WATERLAND.

That was what the sign for the water park Grover told us, its no wonder they ran out of business I mean that has to be the most generic name for a waterpark that I have ever seen.

It was currently evening and Apollo was finishing his daily drive before letting his sister take control, the front of the water park was padlocked but I just broke it with my shadow and we strolled inside.

Inside the waterpark were huge dries waterslides and tubes with pipes circled everywhere, leading to empty pools, old tickets, and advertisements around the asphalt, with night coming it gave the place a sad and creepy vibe.

"if Ares brings his girlfriend here for a dare, I hate to see what she looks like," Percy said looking at barbed wires.

"Percy!, be more respectful" Annabeth warned.

"why? I thought you hated Ares" Percy said.

"he's still a god and his girlfriend is very temperamental," Annabeth said.

'and a cheating whore' I thought.

"you don't want to insult her looks," Grover said.

cause that all she got' I thought and chuckled.

"who is she? Echidna?" Percy asked.

"no Aphrodite, goddess of love," Grover said a little dreamily.

'goddess of love my ass, she more like the goddess of sluts as she's the biggest one, I mean how do you call yourself the goddess of love if you don't even love your husband and cheat on him with everyone' I thought.

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

"she is," I said sounding annoyed.

"what's your point," Grover said making Percy shut up sensing that this topic is a no-no.

When we got far enough into the water park Annabeth found a souvenir shop " clothes, fresh clothes" Annabeth practically yelled.

"Yeah, but you can't just-" Percy was about to say but Annabeth interrupted him.

"watch me," she said and then proceeded to snatch an entire row of clothes from the racks and disappeared into the changing rooms. A few minutes later she came out in a land flower sprint shorts, a big red Waterland t-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over where shoulders with more goodies inside.

"what the heck," Grover said and went to change, I followed along, and soon all of us were decked walking around with advertisements for an abandoned water park. After looking for a while we finally found the tunnel of love.

"so Ares and Aphrodite, they have a thing going on?" Percy asked.

' wow this kid needs to read up on mythology, I know it's had because of dyslexia but it gets easier' I thought.

"that's old gossip Percy, three-thousand-year-old gossips," Annabeth said.

"what about her husband," Percy said.

"well you know, Hephaestus, the god of 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?" Annabeth said making me want to hug Hephaestus.

That man has had a hard life the fact that he hasn't gone off means he must have a will unlike no one has seen before.

"she likes bikers," Percy said.

"whatever" Annabeth replied.

"Hephaestus knows?" Percy asked.

"oh sure. he caught them together once, I meant 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 an out of the way place like…" Annabeth said and looked around " like this".

The tunnel of love soon came up it had a sign that wrote THRILL RIDE O LOVE: THIS NOT YOUR PARENTS TUNEL OF LOVE.

"guys look," Grover said pointing at the bottom of the pool, there was a pink and two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted over it all, in the left seat glinting in the fading light was Ares's bronze shield.

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

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest cupid statue " there's a Greek letter here, Eta I wonder…." Annabeth said and started thinking.

As soon as Annabeth said that I knew what was going on but I kept my mouth shut.

"Grover, you smell any monsters," Percy asked.

"Nothing," Grover said after smelling the air.

"nothing like at the arch and you did smell echidna nothing or really nothing?" Percy asked.

"I told you it was the underground" Grover said looking hurt.

"okay I'm sorry, I'm going down there," Percy said.

"ill go with you," Grover said not sounding enthusiastic about it.

"no, 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". Percy said.

"sure but what could go wrong," Grover said puffing his chest.

"I don't know just a felling Adrian come wi-" Percy was going to say but I interrupted him.

"Nah go with Annabeth it's a love ride after all, hehe," I said and started walking away.

"Are you kidding!" Annabeth yelled for my amusement

"ill be waiting at the front entrance, looking out for potential enemies" I said and left.

the reason why I left is that I know nothing bad will happen because as soon as Annabeth said Eta I knew it was a trap made by Hephaestus, as Eta is H. it most likely going to embarrass them, of course, I could have gotten the shield without setting off the trap but where's the fun in that.

"sight, this body is seriously affecting my judgment," I said and waited.

Soon, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth came back looking pissed, I just laughed.