?as the world caves in?

?percy battles a god?

"Doesn't matter." Ares said with an amused look. "The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus will be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this..."

He pulled out a ski mask, and placed it between the handle bars of his bike, and it turned into a bronze war helmet.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly. Now where was I? Oh yeah, hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" I protested.

He shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

When I see my mom again I'm definitely talking to her about her taste in men.

"You gave me the backpack in Denver. The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no, it's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just kinda morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?" He paused a moment. "Anyway, I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would always return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself? Why send it to Hades?"

Ares seemed lost in a trance. "Why didn't I...yeah...with that kind of firepower..."

He was like that for a few seconds and we all exchanged nervous looks.

Ares face cleared. "I didn't want trouble. Better to have you caught red handed, holding the thing."

"You're lying. Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" Ares fumed. Literally.

"You didn't order the theft. Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

Percy hesitated. "Who said anything about dreams?"

Ares held a smirk, clearly covering something. "Let's get back to the problem at hand. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."

Ares snapped his fingers and the sand exploded at his feet, and a wild boar came out.

Percy stepped forwards. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

Ares laughed. "You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You tan from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes."