When we reached the restaurant, Ares was already waiting outside. "Took you long enough." he grumbled before he threw us a blue backpack while the Shield on my back, his shield, dissipated in white glowing mist.
Annabeth cought it. "Here's a little gift for the journey. Over there..." he said, pointing towards a zoo transport. "... is your ticket to Los Angeles. It's the furthest I can help you without ruffling dear old dad's feathers."
We hurried along and hid in the back but not before I threw Ares one last look. Our eyes met in the side mirror of his Harley Davidson like motorcycle. The glow behind his shades was now more intense than before. He drove off, not acknowledging it.
The truck belonging to Kindness International and declared as Humane Zoo Transport, atleast that's what was written on the side, began to move while we were hidden in the back. It was pretty dark inside, with no source of lighting.
For a moment it remained as such but after a second I extended my sword, the celestial bronze providing enough light for us to see the animals that were being transported.
All of them were in cages, most to small for them to even move in. There was a small variety of races between feline, canine, equine and avian. To our luck there weren't any reptiles inside or Grover would have freaked out. He did have an irrational fear of crocodiles and oversized reptiles. I'm not telling him about the actually size of some of the creatures that live in the Forgotten lake, that's for sure.
Each of the animals was extremely starved, from the lion and the wolf even to the bird and zebra, you could count each of their ribs with the little light we had and didn't even have to look that hard. There was no doubt in my mind that in proper lighting, they would probably look like death had come to collect them but didn't actually finish the job. Nothing against Thanatos, he's still my favourit hugger.
There was food in each cage but not a single one of the trays was actually meant for them, not a single one. Which was alarming in itself since even a bling chicken would eventually find corn. A nice way of saying even idiots get somethings right, even by accident. But these guys so bad at their job, or just that hateful, that they would probably just blow the damnd chicken up with dynamite instead of giving it some corn.
Me and Grover decided to help the animals, while Annabeth was loudly proclaiming that this was a stupid idea and that we were risking her life for no reason. "Let them starve, thats what they get for letting themselves be captured." she even said at some point and honestly, I regretted having thought we could maybe actually be friends after the amusement park, but no. She had to go and ruin that by saying something as stupid as that.
" Then go and hide in the back, owlhead. We're taking care of them wreather you like it, or not." I hissed while breaking the lock on the lions cage open.
"Annabeth, just sit back and if anything actually happens, you have our permission to say, I told you so, as often as you want." Grover said calmly, even though I saw him forcing himself to smile while doing so.
The cages were opened, food was switched and then we helped each animal get or swallow their food. I took care of the lion, wolve and zebra while Grover tried to take care of the bird. It was a peregrine falcon that almost appeared tame if we didnt know that it was actively starved.
"Leave me be, boy. I can eat on my own." came a voice, weak from hunger but carrying a rare form of pride, one born from known what one was born to do and taking pride in it. I looked around, wondering where it had come from since the zebra, the only animal I had any actual business understanding, was very obviously female and the voice just now was undeniably male and aged.
My gaze wandered to the wolve, who was currently licking, to weak to actually open it's mouth, a bloody steak.
"Don't ignore me, boy." the same voice came, this time much closer than I had thought. It was the lion, who I was currently stuffing another steak down its throat while moving it's Jaws for it.
"Huh, well that's new. Hey Grover, do you know of any legend about my father that would explain why I suddenly speak lion?" I asked, ignoring what the lion had said while still moving it's jaw. But he didn't notice and Annabeth was for some reason fast asleep. Why does she sleep that much? It certainly not my doing, that much I know.
The lion tried to stand up, trying to make me stop but I was already done. It didn't succeed and flopped down.
I moved on to help the wolve, atleast one creature in here that didn't feel annoyed while I helped it. A small "Thank you" was what I got in return. It didn't surprise me as much as the lion did as I already knew that I was able to talk to them, on one hand because of the Rivers Child, one of whichs heads was canine in nature and therefore able to talk the same. On the other hand because I had already talked to the wolves and hell hounds that had come to be under my protection in the Home-Dimension. It's voice was so weak that it almost melted my heart. The zebra was next. Atleast this one didn't need as much help as the others did, I just had to hold up it's food tray with one hand while I lifted it's head with the other. This one too, spoke but what it said almost sounded like it was part of a cult. "Thank you, child of the lord." I mean, it wasn't wrong but still. Child of the Lord? Nah, that's not a title I was willing to go by. It made me sound like the messiah.
Eventually the truck came to a slow halt, the drivers stepping out to take a break and to give the animals new food. We hid in the back while we also grabbed Annabeth and pulled her sleeping body behind a sheet of metal.
"Oh, look Jay. They finally became so hungry that they actually ate what we gave them."
"Huh, seems so. Well, then let's get them something nice to eat, though I hope the zebra doesn't die before we arrive in Los Angeles." And after about an hour where we sat waiting in the dark, the doors were opened again trays with burgers were thrown in, uncaring where they landed and then they were closed again. We heard the men's laughter as they walked alongside the transporter, entered the driver's cabin and started the vehicle.
Grover and I got out from behind the sheet and sorted the food after the animals dietary restrictions. The animals, none of which were hungry, left their cages and trotted towards us. Grover soon had a sleeping falcon in his lap, showing him it's front. And soon had my hands full with both the lion and the wolve, both resting their heads on my lap while their bodies were payed out on the sides. They fell asleep soon after, tired from this amount of movement. The zebra had kept its distance at first but eventually snuck closer and laid it's head on my feet. I could now confidently say that I had my entire lower body covered by all three of them and my limbs soon fell asleep under their collective weight.
We began to talk, about both nothing and everything and then Grover asked the question I knew he had been holding back.
"What did you do to those robots back there? I know that nothing you ever did up until know even showed you were able to do that and let me be honest for a bit. Percy, I think you need to come clean with me here because I am getting very annoyed with the constant secrets I find out the hard way." so explained.
"Grover, like I already told you before I am not as human as I let on. However there are some things if left out of my previous explanations. I belong to a type of semi divine subcategory of monster that, much like demigods, become more powerful with age. That's not the end of it though. I also have an ability, that allows me to grow stronger with every nightmare I suffer through. It can show itself in different ways and the nightmares can range from obvious to hidden horror. From being stabbed and tortured to having to see your entire family die before you and being forced to live on. That is the origin of some of my powers. The other is something I can't tell you about, not because I don't trust you, but because it would erase me from existence if I did. I can however, tell you what I can do right now. If you want to, that is."
Grover, kudos to him, stayed silent and listened to me as I explained both the nightmares and my current powers in greater detail. He didn't show a hint of distrust or that he didn't believe me.
"... And then there are some skills I have access to. Usually there are more but I am restricted to three right now. The one you saw before was Forge. It allows me to melt and form material, not necessarily inorganic, and make something new with it. Theoraticly speaking I could have used the robot and formed it into a new but different one on the spot but I decided to keep the metal for the future. Then I have a skill, one I can't really tell you about right now since it's more of a trumph card. The last one allows me to hide my more inhuman features and disguise myself as a human. And no, Grover. It isn't just the mist. Right now I am as human as can be."
"Thats a lot to take in. Anything you forgot before I have a breakdown?"
"Well, I do have some more skills, but they to are currently best kept secret."
"Why?"
"Because I used one of them to do something that might get me smited if anyone spills the tea."
"Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not."
"Then keep it to yourself. Anything else?"
"We might have an easier time getting into the Underworld than expected and also, I might have lied during our little game of 2 truths and a lie."
"Am I going to find out something devastating about you from someone that isn't you?"
"Quite likely."
"Last time I ask. Anything else?"
"I... um. I might have lied about the prophecy."
"YOU WHAT!"