Annabeth took a deep breath. "It's Jason's quest," she announced, "so it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to tradition, he may choose any two companions."

Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm not helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."

"It's connected," Piper blurted out, not sure how she got the courage. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance—it's all connected."

"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"

Piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn't.

Annabeth saved her. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end—by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."

"It says who I pick," Jason agreed. " The forge and dove shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vul—Hephaestus."

Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry. "If you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling overland. You'll need air transport."

Piper was about to call out that Jason could fly. But then she thought better of it. That was for Jason to tell them, and he wasn't volunteering the information. Maybe he figured he'd freaked them out enough for one night.

"The flying chariot's broken," Nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."

She didn't sound enthusiastic.

Then Leo stood up. He'd been so quiet, Piper had almost forgotten he was there, which was totally not like Leo.

"It's me," he said.

His cabinmates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.

"No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!"

Jason studied him for a moment. Piper was sure he was going to tell Leo no. Then he smiled. "We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."

"Yes!" Leo pumped his fist.

"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."

"Oh." Suddenly Leo didn't look so excited. Then he remembered everyone was watching. "I mean … Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

Annabeth nodded. "Then, Jason, you only need to choose the third quest member. The dove—"

"Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours."

Piper's hands clenched. She stepped forward. "No."

Drew rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Dumpster girl. Back off."

"I had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this."

"Anyone can have a vision," Drew said.

"You were just at the right place at the right time." She turned to Jason. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things …" She looked at Leo in disdain. "Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."

The campers started murmuring about how Drew was pretty persuasive. Piper could see Drew winning them over. Even Chiron was scratching his beard, like Drew's participation suddenly made sense to him.

"Well …" Annabeth said. "Given the wording of the prophecy—"

"No!" Piper's own voice sounded strange in her ears—more insistent, richer in tone. "I'm supposed to go."

Then the weirdest thing happened. Everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, Piper's point of view made sense too.

Drew looked around, incredulous. Even some of her own campers were nodding.

"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"

Piper tried to respond, but her confidence started to wane. What could she offer? She wasn't a fighter, or a planner, or a fixer. She had no skills except getting into trouble and occasionally convincing people to do stupid things.

Plus, she was a liar. She needed to go on this quest for reasons that went way beyond Jason—and if she did go, she'd end up betraying everyone there. She heard that voice from the dream: Do our bidding, and you may walk away alive. How could she make a choice like that—between helping her father and helping Jason?

"Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."

Suddenly there was collective gasp. Everyone stared at Piper like she'd just exploded.

She wondered what she'd done wrong. Then she realized there was a reddish glow around her.

"What?" she demanded.

She looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo. Then she looked down and yelped.

Her clothes … what in the world was she wearing? She despised dresses. She didn't own a dress. But now she was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a V-neck so low it was totally embarrassing. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair …

"Oh, god," she said. "What's happened?"

A stunned Annabeth pointed at Piper's dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a golden cord. Piper didn't want to draw it. She was afraid of what she would see. But her curiosity won out. She unsheathed Katoptris and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. Her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder.

She even wore makeup, better than Piper would ever know how to do herself—subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colors in her eyes.

She was...she was...

"Beautiful," Jason exclaimed. "Piper, you … you're a knockout."

Under different circumstances, that would've been the happiest moment of her life. But now everyone was staring at her like she was a freak. Drew's face was full of horror and revulsion. "No!" she cried. "Not possible!"

"This isn't me," Piper protested. "I—don't understand."

Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example.

"Hail, Piper McLean," Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral "Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

Ω

During all of this (except for when Jason called her a knockout, she kind of zoned out there) Piper's eyes scanned the crowd frantically, looking for some support in what was turning into a non-stop nightmare. Her unexpected salvation came from the girl from the Ares cabin… who was sitting at her spot glaring, arms folded. Finally, Clarisse stood up. She was the only one who didn't kneel. Piper might have appreciated the gesture if the bigger girl didn't look so… angry and disappointed.

"Yeah, I think Drew should still go."

That was it. No preamble or dancing around it. And everyone had a different reaction to the blunt nomination.

Some, like Chiron and Annabeth, had the same 'what on earth-?' dazed expressions, like someone suggested they cut down a tree with a fish. They couldn't wrap their heads around anyone but the glowing girl going on a quest, and Piper felt a little sorry for them.

Others were more immediately vocal, which was a whole lot more embarrassing. Apparently this girl Clarisse had a reputation for being tough, because a whole mob of new McLean-fans weren't brave enough to tear her apart. They clearly wanted to though and they were shouting some pretty nasty things.

Then there was Drew's posse, who were giggling and squealing like morons again, surprised that someone was still standing up for their leader. Surprised, and that seemed to bother Drew, but very happy. If their giggles measured happy, anyway, they always seemed to be giggling over something.

But for someone who no one was being nominated for a great honor, Drew was looking like Clarisse had announced a death sentence. It was a far cry from how smug she was initially. It made Piper think that she and Drew had a history that-

-but Chiron had gotten everyone to settle down again and was speaking to Clarisse. "If Aphrodite has picked this time to claim her child then-"

"Then she's just doing what the gods are supposed to do." Clarisse refuted. She kept her arms crossed, defiant. "The gods and goddesses are supposed to claim kids at thirteen now, and she's what? Fifteen, sixteen-?"

"Be that as it is, that the goddess chose this moment and place is clearly as sign-"

"I'm not saying it isn't a sign, just that she shouldn't be the one to go on the quest."

"Clarisse, to go against the will of the gods-"

"What, like Percy did in the quest to save Artemis? Or when it was my quest to get the Golden Fleece?" Now Clarisse had her fists planted firmly at her hips, glaring. "The gods aren't always right."

There was a sudden clap of thunder, which was weird since there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"Yeah yeah," Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Fine, some ofthe gods aren't always right."

Now Chiron just looked frustrated. "Clarisse, we can't dismiss this as a coincidence."

"So what if it isn't? You can't tell me you're okay with sending an untrained half-blood on a quest, sir. She hasn't even been here for one day!" Clarisse shot Piper a look that made her recoil and the new bracelets jangled annoyingly on her arms, giving her another reason to hate this stupid blessing or whatever.

In truth, she missed most of the argument between Clarisse and Chiron. That she was supposed to accept that she was this… this Cherokee Barbie Princess? No way.

Of all the goddesses (and some gods, because she knew enough about myths to know… nevermind) Aphrodite was the one she least expected, or wanted, to be her parent. This was some sort of nightmare. A sparkly nightmare where she was a princess, ready to be chained to the rocks for monsters.

Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but judging by how absolutely livid people were it wasn't too far.

"-why would Aphrodite claim her now and give her blessing unless it was important?"

"Claiming and a blessing at the same time, that has to be a sign-"

"It's overcompensating." Clarisse snapped. "Aphrodite was supposed to claim her kids over twelve, she's what, fourteen-?"

Sixteen, Piper thought to herself but didn't have the nerve to speak up. The muscular girl seemed set against her for some reason and she wasn't going to try to speak up against her. Maybe she used up all her courage volunteering for the Quest? The one she had to go on, her father needed her, she would keep having the dreams if she didn't go… And what about Jason? With Leo and that snob Drew? None of this was right.

"But she can charmspeak!"

"So can Drew and she's been here longer, she's trained!"

"Percy didn't need to train and he was twelve on his first Quest-!"

And now Annabeth interrupted. "I don't think anyone is claiming that Piper is the same case as Percy, and the situation was completely different. It was a matter of life or death when the Master Bolt was captured."

"It's a matter of life or death here too, isn't it?" Piper demanded, thinking of her father and the giant with fire and scales. "I… I mean aren't all Quests?"

"Not necessarily." And now Chiron was frowning too. "We train campers here to make certain they are properly prepared for a Quest, and sending someone who just arrived at Camp is highly irregular-"

"-and unfair!" A camper with stringy brown hair called out.

"It doesn't matter what's fair, the main thing is Drew has been trained and Piper hasn't." Clarisse snapped. "Both have charmspeak, apparently, both are children of Aphrodite, both have the goddess backing them-"

"What-?"

"Fine, I assume Aphrodite cares about Drew just as much as she does Piper," Clarisse amended, rolling her eyes. "They're both her daughters and she should love them equally."

That was met with catcalls, boos, and sullen muttering. Even Clarisse didn't look like she was buying that as a reason. Beneath the scorn, Piper did see something very obvious in every face present around the campfire; even if they didn't believe the sappiness, they all wished it was true.

It was actually really, really sad.

Piper also noticed it was making people rethink their support for her. So pity was beginning to take a backseat to panic. "No, I really really need to go on this Quest-"

"Why?" The glare just intensified as Clarisse insisted. "Give a reason why. And don't say it's because of love."

"Well it…" Her father, the scales, flames, deep voice and threats… "it sort of is-"

"Absolutely not."

Between Piper's fumbling and Clarisse's aggressive denials, people start objecting yet again. Some were booing, the Aphrodite cabin especially outraged by the dismissal of love as a valid reason to risk life and limb. Others were agreeing, citing people that Piper hadn't ever heard of before, sometimes with respect and sometimes with scorn.

Through all this madness, Drew said nothing. Piper thought she'd be excited to have this much support, but if she wasn't mistaken, Drew (her sister, it was hard to think of her like that!) was looking rather queasy. There wasn't any other word for it.

Eventually it was Chiron who got sick of the bickering going on for so long, exasperated enough to give a significant look to Jason, who looked tousled and confused by the sudden debate. It was adorable. The clap of thunder that had everyone on their knees clutching their ears, filling their vision with white-spots? Definitely wasn't.

"Alright," Chiron sighed, standing closer to the campfire that was dwindling down, now a weird… fuchsia color. "Yes, it is… at first glance, unwise to send off an unprepared child of Aphrodite on a Quest when the prophecy could refer to one better trained. But by that same logic, Leo would also have to stay-"

"What-?!"

"-wait, what about Jason?"

"… that's right, what about him?!"

"He hasn't trained!"

If Chiron looked uncomfortable before, it was even worse now. "Everyone, settle down, please."

"Chiron, what's going on?" Annabeth frowned, puzzled. She didn't pursue further when Chiron gave her a look, but a close enough look hinted that Annabeth's tongue was poking at the side of her cheek. It may have been a stretch, but Piper was sure that her dad made the same face when he was thinking hard about something very important… or frustrating.

All the while, Drew still said nothing.

"I assure you all, Jason is trained, and even if he were not he is the only legacy of Zeus." It was an odd word, 'legacy', and Chiron frowned when he said it. Like he let something slip. "Going against Prophecy can bring worse trouble. Jason has to go on the Quest, and as he was already found with Leo Valdez and Piper-"

"-then we should stay with them." Piper quickly interjected. "It's a sign, otherwise I'd have been claimed earlier or-"

"It doesn't matter." Now Clarisse was pacing. "It's like Chiron said… the gods wouldn't have sent us three new people and then demand a Quest unless it was important. So far though, Jason is the only one who needs to go. Leo and Piper? I don't care if Piper has a blessing, being pretty, being in love, it doesn't matter when a monster is spitting fire at you."

"-or acid." The scrawny brown-haired kid muttered. Later, after asking around, Piper found out he was a son of Eris. It really did explain why everyone was glaring at him. Though the 'acid' comment seemed to touch on a lot of nerves...

After a while, and a murderous glare, Clarisse nodded. "Exactly. Unless they can figure out why they're more qualified then Campers that have been here for years, training, then we can't send Leo or…?"

"… Seriously?" Wasn't like she actually wanted fame, but Piper was pretty sure her name was thrown around more today than it was her entire time at Wilderness Camp. "Piper?"

"Exactly," Clarisse nodded. "Unless you can prove why you should go instead of true, and not just because you're prettier-"

"-wait, I'm not…"

"-you sorta are." A blond with braces shyly points out, before panicking and looking to Drew. "Because of the Blessing, that helps…"

But all the while, Drew said nothing.

And now Piper was totally certain that it was because of Clarisse. She couldn't figure out why though.

"I am loathed to admit it," dusting off her knees and standing up, Annabeth was looking over Piper (new bracelets and hairdo and all) critically. "And I mean loathed, for too many reasons to list, but Clarisse has a point; Drew is the more logical choice and it doesn't make sense."

"But-!"

"Isn't this my choice?" Jason interrupted. "Can't I decide if Piper should go? And… well, yeah she hasn't been trained, but she deserves a chance… but…"

'This was it,' Piper thought, 'he's standing up for me, he wants me to got with him be with him'. But Jason said nothing further, just trailing off weakly. It made her feel more ridiculous than this stupid sudden makeover did.

"It would be fair to give them a shot, get to know the Camp and prove themselves. If Piper and Leo," Annabeth nodded to Leo, to show he wasn't forgotten (Piper had totally forgotten him, but she didn't feel too guilty, judging by their looks a lot of people had). "manage to prove themselves before Jason has to leave, then they should definitely go with him on the Quest to… save Hera."

"Wait, when do we leave?" Leo quickly asked, looking nervous.

"After tomorrow… Hera might get offended if we wait longer. And then there's the possibility of her being in real danger." Wasn't hard to tell that Annabeth sounded a bit more hopeful toward the end there. Wait, day after tomorrow-!

"Wait, how can we-" Piper felt her throat constrict in panic. "What are we supposed to do to prove we can go in less than two days?!"

"Everyone, it is obscenely late, well past bedtime." Chiron reminded, waving his arms. Campers grumbled but filed away, leaving Piper's question unanswered, no matter how frantically she waved her arms with the stupid jangling bracelets.

And Drew walked like a zombie, Clarisse whispering something to her as she past. Piper didn't take time to try to make sense of it.

"… well," Leo finally managed, looking to Jason with a grin. "'Knockout'. The best you can come up with is 'knockout'?"

"Dude-"

"No, seriously, are you from the 'fifties? Are we going to crash a sock hop next?"

"Shut up Leo."

"Yeah…" Piper couldn't make sense of what just happened. "Please shut up."

yeah, I finally managed to post this! It will be my most ambitious work to date!

The bold has been taken almost directly from "The Lost Hero", which of course I do not own. Seemed a good place to start the story.

This AU will feature new characters, but mostly minor characters at Camp Halfblood, appearances from new gods, new monsters, new pairings and new dangers.

Hope you all will enjoy!