"Chiron I want to do something different, something… new." I took a deep breath and felt as young as I looked when I left. "I want to hold a concert tonight. As a good bye gift to the campers."
"Where are you going?" He asked, concern filling his eyes.
"I'm going home for a while, then I'm going to join Artemis in the Hunt. She said that she'd feel better with me there, and I think I'm going to join her for a while. You never know, I may come back to camp once in a while." I smiled at him and stood up, finishing the card game.
"We will arrange a stage and a place for you. We'll do it in the place of the camp fire." I smiled, hugged him, and ran out of the door.
"THANKS CHIRON!" I shouted over my shoulder, and ran into a tree, immediately being transported to my home, the shadow realm, and I ran through the underworld to my uncle's palace. "Persephone! I need you!" She came running through the halls, quickly followed by Hades; who looked confused at hearing my voice.
"Irene! Again, it's been so long! I thought you were DEAD. Where have you been?!" She asked in a motherly way. I hugged her tightly and then hugged my uncle, who didn't really hug back, just felt a bit cold and froze up.
"You…" he cleared his throat. "You grew up." He looked awkward. I laughed and hugged him tighter.
"I grew up half-dead. A joy, isn't it, uncle?" I smiled, and twirled in a circle. "Anyway, Persephone, I was wondering if you'd come and play in a farewell concert at camp with me, on the keyboard. I have your old one from when we used to play together at home, I'm going to get Apollo and Thalia to play too. If Ares will play on the guitar too, then we make a perfect band." I grinned and she nodded. I threw her a punk-style dress, and winked. She laughed, and left the room. Hades just looked awkward, so I kissed him on the cheek and bid him farewell, turning, trying to hide my smirk. I then showed my true form and appeared on Olympus, in the middle of Apollo's room. He was in a towel, just coming out of the shower-room. I covered my eyes and turned away, making a disgusted face.
"Hello there… who are you?" He looked at me, impressed that I got into his room.
"Okay, number one – no flirting, it's weird, two – yuck, and three – I teleported, idiot, not shut up and put some clothes on!" There was a bright flash of gold and he stood there with a clean white shirt and jeans on.
"So… you never answered my question, who are you?" He seemed to still be checking me out. I made another face and slapped him across the face, leaving an angry red mark.
"I'm one of your sisters, that's disgusting, Apollo, Artemis would be ashamed of you." I rolled my eyes and looked at my clothes, I was wearing a short white dress that was embroidered with sliver flowers. "Ah…" I sighed. "It's me, Apollo, Zephire. I grew up, didn't I?" I raised an eyebrow. His eyes widened at the realisation and he hugged me tightly, spinning me around.
"You're alive!" He grinned putting me on the floor, taking my wrist and pulling me towards the throne room. "Everyone must know!" He pulled me through to the doors and pushed them open, looking in, the only others in the room were Zeus; arguing with Hera, Poseidon taking a video of them and Aphrodite was checking herself in the mirror. Apollo cleared his throat and the four of them looked up at us.
"Apollo, why are you pulling a poor girl with you again, I thought we talked about this!" Hera hissed at the Sun God.
"It's not what you think this time. It's a special someone to everyone on Olympus and in the Underworld. I wish for you all to re-meet Irene Hemera, or as we call her Zephire." He pushed me a little and I stumbled in front of him, grinning like an idiot.
"Hey dad, uncle Poseidon, Aunt Hera, and Diti." I grinned sheepishly and bowed low to my father, then standing up straight and watching carefully as my dress swirled and changed into a long chiffon dress with Greek symbols crafted into the belt, reading "Των αστέρων και των σκιών, που συνέχουν το φως και το σκοτάδι." (meaning: Of stars and of shadows, binding together light and darkness) My hair pinned itself up in Greek curls and a circlet formed into my hair. "Είμαι πίσω!" (I'm back) I grinned, Aphrodite grinned, squealed, then hugged me. "Χαίρομαι που σε βλέπω εγώ, Αφροδίτη!" (Good to see you Aphrodite!)
"It's good to see you too, Irene!" She let go of me, and studied my looks. "You are looking… GOOD." She exclaimed, studying what I was wearing, and how I had grown. "I would be no wonder if many boys went after you, asking for a date." She grinned and folded her arms. "But there's some work to do, I hear you're holding a concert. I want to dress you up for it!" She squealed, and started to rant about shoes, clothes, dresses, skirts, and the others, I rolled my eyes and stepped away for a second.
"And that reminds me, Apollo, would you help me out tonight with the music on the drums?" I asked, smiling at him. He nodded and then ran off to find some clothes. "BE CASUAL AS POSSIBLE AND LOOK A LITTLE PUNK IF YOU CAN!" I shouted after him, giggling.
"I think we've found a match for our little girl." Aphrodite winked at me, and then walked back to her throne, and flashed away. I sighed.
"I don't like him, and he's my sort-of brother anyway, gross."
"Well me and Hera were brother and sister, and we're married."
"Don't remind me." I sighed, walking back towards the entrance. "I'll see you around, and come and watch the show if you want to, it'll be a night to remember." I winked and shut the door behind me, going off to find Ares, and then Artemis, to see Thalia. You see, Thalia quit the hunt a while ago, and still serves Artemis in the hunt, but more as an official, checks up on things, stays behind the lines mostly. This is because Thalia likes this guy, and he likes her, so they started dating with permission of Artemis, and so she gave up her immortality for him, but she wanted to still help out, so she stays behind the lines, healing and sorting out the bows, creating arrows, etc. And Ares will probably be riding around LA or something, just looking for a fight to happen. I rolled my eyes and went off in search for him. It took several hours of Shadows searching, but they eventually tracked him down and I teleported to him.
"Yo, Ares. How are you, brother?" I asked, leaning on the door of the garage next to his bike.
"I've been better, and you have been too." He grunted, finishing off polishing his other few bikes.
"I was wondering if you'd play electric guitar at this concert tonight, the campers will be watching and some Gods said they'd show up too, so…" He nodded, I grinned and hugged him.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed, flashing out, and re-appearing in a camp of silvery tents a moment later. A girl with silvery-blond hair came running up to me, a bow notched in her arrow, I used the shadows to knock the bow out of her hand and walked towards the tent of Artemis' that I knew so well.
"Artemis, dear, your sister is here. Hey! That rhymed, oh gods, I'm turning into Apollo!" I groaned, and threw my head back in disgust.
"Irene! It's good to see you, Apollo warned me that you were coming. He said something about a band and a concert, and Thalia. So I called her over, she'll be here in a few minutes." Her moon-coloured eyes, scanned the entrance for a minute, then turned back to me and smiled, she's here. I'll give you two some privacy!" She winked and left the tent, nodding her head to Thalia as she went.
"Hello?" Thalia asked when she saw me, not knowing who I was.
"Hey Thals." I grinned at her, and motioned for her to sit. "So, I think you're wondering who I am and what I'm doing here. Well, I'm here to ask you to join a one night only band with me, Apollo, Ares and Persephone. And to your second question, it's me, Irene. But I grew up, so I wasn't expecting you to recognise me anyway." I smiled, and she hugged me after realising who I was.
"Of course, I'll be playing guitar, and I'll be there at 6 to get ready, I believe it starts at eight? I heard Apollo mention it to Artemis, and then she turned him into a Jack lope and he ran away cursing under his breath for not warning her that he was coming to the MAIDEN camp." She laughed. "I suppose Aphrodite has offered to dress us up?"
"She demanded, not offered, and yes, she will be there doing us all pretty for the event." I smiled at her. "I'll see you later, come to the Zephire cabin at six and don't let anyone know why. They have no idea what's happening tonight, they'll see when they go to dinner and there's a random stage in the middle of the pavillion." I grinned again, and ran into the side of the building, melting into the shadows as I passed. By the time I had travelled all the way across the world, from China (what the hell where they doing there?) to Camp Half-Blood it was half-five and I had to run to see Chiron, and then run to my cabin, where I was met by Apollo, disguised as a teenage boy, and Persephone, disguised as a teenage girl. I smiled at my small family, and let them into my cabin, where Ares was already there with Aphrodite… let's just say that we had to wait a little while before they noticed that we were here…awkward. Then Thalia came through the door apologising that she was late, and we warned her that she was lucky that she came later than the rest of us. I smiled at her, and Aphrodite did Apollo first, seeing as Ares was all ready for the concert. She then moved onto Thalia, and dressed her in a short top that said 'PUNK' and a vest underneath with a pain of black skinny jeans that clung to her things, and tightly. She smiled, stood up and Aphrodite forced me into the chair, changing my hair, painting my nails, and then she dressed me in a blue-black dress that fell just above my knees and a pair of revealing tights. I sighed and stood up, letting Persephone sit down. Aphrodite did her hair up neatly and dressed her in a prom-style dres that had a purple top and a black netted skirt. Aphrodite giggled at the sight of us, then disappeared in the smell of cheap perfume and sweets. I looked at us, then made the instruments come out of thin air, and appear in their hands, except for the keyboard and the drums, but a pair of fingerless gloves and a pair of drumsticks.
"Let's go rock this camp." I giggled at Apollo's subtleness.
"Yes, let's rock this camp." I agreed, leaving my cabin, and walking to the pavillion, where people stood and bowed towards the obvious gods around me, I rolled my eyes and walked up to the stage and started doing some music tests and I did a voice check, there was a wolf-whistle from somewhere in the crowd, so I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out like the mature girl that I am. I tapped the microphone once the campers were done with their dinner.
"Okay, hey guys. Not many of you know me right now, but trust me, hear me out and most of you'll remember what you're missing. Okay, so who was here during the Titan war?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. Half the camp raised their hands, and the gods in the corner did too. I laughed. "Well, dad, we all know that you were there!" I shook my head. "I know that Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, the Stolls, Katie, Nico, Thalia and so many others were there. So this song is dedicated to you, and thanks… And it's also dedicated to an old friend of mine who was only evil because he was ignored by his dad, so here it goes. The others just seemed to know which song I was thinking of, because they started to play the opening to 'Little Lion Man' by Mumford and Sons. I sung the song, and at the end I felt tears spring to my eyes. "Thanks, guys, and I know that you all know who I'm talking about when I say an old friend… I mean Luke Castellen. I used to love him like a brother, and so did Annabeth and Thalia…" I trailed off, looking at her with pain in my eyes, she was turned away. "Anyway… I recently came back to camp, and all of you are now like, WHAT? CAME BACK? WHEN WAS SHE HERE? Well actually it was a while ago… A long while ago, while I was away… I was dying, but it's okay, because my IDIOT of a brother fixed me up, and now I'm good to come back, so… Now the question of who I am, but right after these songs." I winked at the crowd and the groaned. I nodded to the guys and they started to play 'My Life Would Suck Without You' by Kelly Clarkson. When the song finished, I looked towards Nico di Angelo, the boy I once had something with, I looked away, embarrased that I was thinking of him like that again, NO, he has a girlfriend, Irene, shut up. He's happy now. Then we sung 'Starry Eyed' by Ellie Goulding (I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes at the fact that it's STARRY eyed. I laughed inwardly when Apollo chose that song.) "Okay, now I'm going to answer your questions, but don't freak out.. Okay. So, I'd like to bring the rest of the Olympians, who are hiding in the corner on stage, to show you where I belong." The rest of my family came up on the stage and I sighed, letting the Greek influence us and change the other Gods into our usual attire (Mine being my Underworld clothes, obviously). Even Hades was here, huh, what do you know. He actually likes music. My hair pinned up, and I let myself become the young little girl I was when I met the others, being a lot like Artemis in this. I stood next to my sister and clasped her hand. "You all know me like this, hopefully. And if you don't, it's nice to meet you knew campers. I'm Zephire, Goddess of Stars and Shadows. But please, like my friends and family, call me Irene Hemera, my mortal cover. I loved this camp with all my heart, and I'm leaving again tomorrow. To all the oldies here, Annabeth, Percy, Nico, Clarisse, Thalia, Stolls, Katie, Pollux, Will, All you others; this may be our last time seeing each other, for a long while at least. I'm moving away, with the Gods. I'm becoming who I was born to me, a Goddess, I'm going to grow up, get married, and I'm sending my kids here, because it would be cool for them, to hang out my friend's kids. And I'm quite sad to announce that I'm not getting married for a while, to all of you Aphrodite girls who are wondering. I am joining the hunt for a while, before becoming anyone of importance, and Annabeth, Percy, when you get married, you can't keep me away. Same with you di Angelo, if you dare not invite me to your wedding, I'll ban you from coming through my realm, and I'll send you to China again. So, enjoy your time with each other, guys, because I love you all, and I wanted to say goodbye before I go. One last song then, and then I'm gonna talk to my friends before going off and adventuring the world." I nodded to the others, my family kissed me, said they'll see my later, and everyone looked away as they became their true form, excpet for the band, and travelled home. I changed back to being older again, and changed my clothes back to the way they were. The last song we sung was 'The Cave' by Mumford and Sons. "Thanks guys, and goodnight." I said goodbye to the toehr Gods and let them go home. I sighed and walked off stage, immediately getting pulled to the side and getting hugged the life out of me by Annabeth.
"Why didn't you tell us that it was you?!" She exclaimed, hitting my arm, I winced.
"I was embarrased that I was away so long, and I was a little upset, so I'm leaving again. To sort things out, if you know what I mean." I smiled at her.
"We'll still contact you, and we'll come and see you." She smiled at me, and moved to the side, so I could hug my two cousins (Percy and Nico).
"Ah, good to see my two little cousins, who I ave missed so much!" I cried out, hugging them closer.
"We've missed you too!" The exclaimed together, then burst out laughing.
"So, Percy, the rules. Look after Annabeth, love her with your whole heart, and invite me to the wedding. Di Angelo, your rules. Never let your girl go, keep her safe, love her, and care for her, and if I know you well enough, never EVER leave her behind." The two boys gulped, nodded and walked to Annabeth, then there was someone who surprised me. "Clarrisse?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.
"That's right, sunshine. I've grown to like you, and I'm gonna miss you too." She gave me a quick hug, a salute and then joined the rest of her campers. I smiled after her. He conversation with the Stolls just consisted of a hi, hug and bye. I never really got close to them, I was going to be seeing Thalia with the Hunters, so I didn't have to say goodbye there, and then there was a few campers that I recognised. I smiled, and waved to them, before shadow travelling home. It was going to be a while before I saw them again, and little did I know that the next time I was going to see them was at my own wedding.