A/N- HEY GUYS! JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY BOTH ME AND MY FRIEND ANANYA. WELL , WE WROTE THIS. SO, READ, REVIEW AND FOLLOW!
A Quest For Love.
Percy's POV
Man! I feel bad for Frank. After many days of hard persuading, Frank finally got Hazel to go for a long walk. Well Hazel wouldn't actually mind for the walk if she wasn't scared. Scared of what? Well remember Hazels curse? And how Hades said a descendent of Poseidon would break it? That guy was Frank. Don't ask me how he broke it! I have no clue. It's just a secret between them and they did not want to tell about it to anyone. Not even me. Hazel still had a feeling that if she gets too involved in emotions (for instance, love and happiness in this case), her curse would return. She felt that Rubies and diamonds would pop out of the ground like how it used to happen before. She still couldn't believe the fact that her curse was gone.
Back to what happened. Hazel finally accepted. After the war with Gaia I thought the gods were done with kidnapping us demigods.
But apparently, that wasn't the case.
When Frank was about to meet Hazel in the Garden of Bacchus – KABOOM! – Aphrodite abducts Hazel. First they kidnap me and now Hazel. After all that persuasion on Hazel for a walk, Frank basically got nothing but a piece of paper lying on the ground where Hazel was supposed to be. It was a note written by Aphrodite. Well it was clear because there was a dove`s feather on that note. It just read:
Dear Frank Zhang,
I`ll make it simple. Go get the token of love from the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and you can have your true love Hazel back. Keep loving!
Love,
LOVE
Frank informed me about this and as soon as possible he came to camp half-blood. He was really angry on Aphrodite. I was a little pleased though. Not that I wanted Hazel to get kidnapped! I was just relieved that it wasn't Apollo who kidnapped her. I was pretty sure he would write some weird 'haiku' in his note which we would never understand and GODS FORBID! I was in no mood to hear or even read his `haikus'. They were really annoying.
Frank was a little, Okay! A LOT confused on what this 'token of love' was. When we went to the Aphrodite cabin to ask Piper about it, her siblings said that she went on a walk with Jason. So we asked them what the token of love was. They just said that the heard the name somewhere. So we waited in there for almost an hour waiting for Piper and when I say I had a tough time in there, I mean it.
Finally Piper and Jason came. "Do you know what the token of love is?" Frank asked.
"yeah of course! All the Aphrodite kids know!" I and Frank just looked at Piper`s siblings. Some of them were snickering while some gave me looks that said 'what? You thought only Hermes kids can fool?' great! Just great!
"So what is this token of love?" Frank asked again.
"Well, token of love is this heart shaped thing which was a gift to Ares by Aphrodite. Ares lost the gift and a daughter of Aphrodite was sent on a quest to find it. People say she found it but she never returned from the quest to find out though. The token of love glows with different colors. It glows unusually with kaleidoscopic colors just like the eyes of my mother. Why do you ask?"She replied and asked. I and Frank told her what happened. After telling her, her cheeks turned red. "I am sorry for what my mom did. It`s really embarrassing."
"it isn't your fault. It`s your mom who did it. RIGHT guys?" Jason said, the last part glaring at us.
"Yeah Piper, Jason`s right!" I said glaring back at Jason. He didn't need to glare at me. It was really not Piper`s fault. I would have said the same thing even if Jason did not glare at me.
"However, thanks Piper!" Frank said as we walked out of the Aphrodite cabin.
"We must meet Annab-"
"Hey Seaweed brain. Thinking about me?" Annabeth asked as she came near us.
"You wish" I said back. She gave me an exasperated look.
"Ok! I accept. We were just going to come to your cabin."
"For what?" We told her what happened. She just kept listening and took it all in.
"Ok, and why do you need me?"
"Well, it`s simple. We want you to give us tips or come with us to the quest.
"Um, sorry, but Percy when did going to Lotus Hotel and Casino become a quest and you decided to tag along with me?" Frank asked.
"Just now…?" it sounded more like a question.
"How do you bear him Annabeth?" Frank asked sighing and turning to Annabeth .
"Believe me. I have NO idea how." Annabeth said. I pouted.
"Anyways, Frank, you said that Aphrodite wanted you to go to Lotus Hotel and Casino, right?"
"Right".
"And Piper said a girl went in search of the token of love, found it but never returned, right?"
"Yup"
"That`s it!"
"What`s it?"
" Seaweed brain! It means if we find the girl, we find the token"
"How?"
"See, If you put things together and use the microscopic brain of yours, you will understand. According to Piper the girl found the token but didn't return and Aphrodite wanted you to go to Lotus Hotel. This means that the girl went into Lotus Hotel and Casino and that the reason she did not return!"
"Right! So we just walk into the Hotel, find the girl with kaleidoscopic eyes that has something which glows unusually with her. Simple!" I said. Annabeth gave me this super sweet smile which was a little too sweet. I gulped. This was the calm before the storm.
"Percy dear, can you shadow travel or 'mist / vapor' travel?" she asked with her super sweet voice, batting her eyes and emphasizing the words 'mist' and 'vapor'. The calm.
"No, Why?"
"THEN HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GO All THE WAY TO VEGAS? BY WALKING?" she shouted knocking my ears out. The storm.
"We will tell Argus to drop us near the bus stop and then we will take a bus to Vegas." I said
"PERCY! WE ARE AT ONE END OF USA WHILE VEGAS IS IN THE OTHER! IT WILL TAKE US ALMOST 2 DAYS IF WE GO IN A CAR ITSELF AND DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GO IN A BUS? AND IT IS ALSO EXPENSIVE!" she had a point. I began to think again.
"Percy stop using your brain too much. It will just get heated up and then blast"
"I got it! Frank can turn into a bird while you and me can go on blackjack.
"Percy, DID YOU FORGET THAT ITS REALLY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO SIT ON BLACKJACK AND THAT BLACKJACK IS ANGRY ON YOU FOR NOT GIVING IT DONUTS FOR 2 FULL WEEKS?" she had a point, again.
"Ok, Frank can turn into a big bird our something and carry us there."
"DO YOU FREAKING THINK I AM AN HELICOPTER OR SOME KIND OF A TELEPORTER? I AM A HUMAN DAMN IT! Well, half-human BUT STILL. I CAN`T CARRY BOTH ANNABETH AND YOU ALL THE WAY TILL VEGAS" Wow Frank has his father`s anger after all.
"Ok, then I will IM Nico and tell him to come here and shadow travel us there."
"NO!" Annabeth and Frank shouted.
"Why?"
"Because Nico is scared of lotus hotel and casino remember? Lived almost 60 years in there? He will never accept to take us there and to increase the problem by screaming his heads off by knowing the fact that Hazel is kidnapped and to top it off, is at Lotus Hotel and Casino. the place he hates the most." Frank said.
"Right" I said dropping the idea of coming up with an idea to go to Vegas.
"Shadow travel... Got it!" Annabeth said
"What?" Frank asked.
" Let`s go with Mrs. O'leary. I know she doesn't have enough energy to shadow travel. Because I shadow travelled on him a while ago, but we can give it a try." Annabeth said.
"Where did you go to?" I asked.
"That's not what the point is lets go now" Annabeth said as we ran towards the arena as Mrs. O`leary was resting there. Then we got onto the hell hound who was very upset that she had to shadow travel but obliged to hep. I gave the directions and we traveled off.
After fighting 7 drachnes, a hydra and 3 hell hounds, we reached Lotus hotel and Casino. How did we have to fight when we Shadow traveled? Throw the blame on Annabeth. As she shadow traveled with Mrs. O`leary to 'god-and-the-hell-hound-knows-where', my 'dog' was exhausted. So while traveling, it was drained out of its energy so we got dropped down by the dog. Luckily we stopped at the outskirts of Vegas and we had to go to the casino by road and that was when we got attacked.
But the fight with the hell hounds was fun. After sometime when the fight started, the hell hounds got confused. Reason? Well as Mrs. O'leary was a hel lhound and it was fighting too (though a bit slowly as it was tired), the other hell hounds got confused thinking who was with us and who against us. To increase the confusion, Frank too turned into a hell hound. That made the hell hounds a lot more confused. So confused that one hell hound killed another hell hound thinking it was Mrs. O`leary. It was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. I and Annabeth started laughing so badly that if it was not for Frank to kill the last hell hound on time, I would have got a deep gash in my thigh.
Ok, Where was I? yeah! We were right in front of Lotus Hotel and Casino. Just looking at it sent shivers down my spine. I had my share of experience in here and so did Annabeth. It was fun in there, but once I got out of that place, I got to know I missed 5 DAYS of my life. You may think it good to live longer but believe me when you are a demigod, you might want to reconsider. And the feeling you get when you get to know you missed some days of your life… I bet only a coma patient can understand this.
Looking at it also reminded me of Nico. I wish he was here now. No one is more scared of this Casino than him. I can't blame him. If I missed almost 60 years of my life when I was thinking I was just at some hotel for a few days, I would be scared of that place too. If he was here, his expression would be so full of horrid that if I upload the photo of his in that expression in Facebook, I would get a bazzilion likes.
With those happy thoughts in my mind, We made our way into the Hotel.
"Hello sir, how may I help you?" I guy asked me as soon as we entered. He was the same man that greeted me few years ago and he looked like he didn't age at all! WHOA!
"No thanks, we will find our way in here" Annabeth said, clearly annoyed by the fact he didn't address her.
"Well then, take these cards for your assistance" he said handing out 3 cards that looked like the cards he gave us long back.
"No thanks" Annabeth said, again.
"Bu-"
"NO!" He gave us 'the evil eye' look and left. We walked forward till we reached the Casino and then we halted.
" Ok, let`s divide and search. Percy, you go-" Annabeth started her master plan but I cut it. "No need to search, I found it" I said as I saw a glowing pendent which looked exactly like how Piper described it. But the problem was-
"You found it? Ok then tell us where it is" giving that exasperated look. I could simply get the token of love if it was on the table or something but the problem was… the problem was, a girl was wearing that as a pendent to her necklace. The token of love was the pendent. How do I get it? Wait, Piper said she`s an Aphrodite girl… that `s it! I got an Idea!
"I will get it" I said answering Annabeth`s previous question.
"How?" Frank asked.
"I got an idea."
"Oh! NOOOO!" both Frank and Annabeth shouted.
"What happened?" I asked concerned.
"This happened!" they said pointing towards me and my brain.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"You got an idea and you are going to use that idea seaweed brain! That is what has and is going to happen!" Annabeth said.
"It`s the End of the World!" Frank shouted. I just showed my tongue at them and started walking towards the girl with the pendent. As I turned to walk I heard a hard laugh from Frank and Annabeth just said "REAL MATURE PERCY!, REAL MATURE". I just ignored it and walked off. I started to set my hair and dust my shirt to remove any dust on it. Now the real problem starts. I just wish Annabeth doesn't kill me for what I am going to do.
"Hi! I'm Percy and you are?" I seductively asked the girl with the token of love. She was too busy looking into the mirror but she just looked at me once and went back to her 'busy work'. I didn't know there was a game in which you keep looking into the mirror but apparently, this game exists. Suddenly her eyes widened and she gave me a double-over. She stopped setting her hair and batted her eye lashes at me. She had eyes which looked beautiful. Not as beautiful as Annabeth`s though. She had eyes like Aphrodite. She was the daughter of Aphrodite. Her features are supposed to look good. But Annabeth`s mother is Athena. There is no rule that she should look beautiful but still, those startling grey eyes, that soft curly hair, her dazzling smile, the way her eyes…. Sorry, ADHD, got diverted.
"Oh! Hi, I`m… Magenta… Magenta Emerald" She said. She looked like she was trying to remember her name.
"Hey sweetheart. You look so beautiful! Why are you showing your beauty to that mirror? You can show it to me, you know?" I said. Yes! I know I am horrible! I was flirting with Magenta. But that was the only way to get her to give me the token of love. I glanced in the direction of Annabeth and Frank. Annabeth was muttering something and she looked like she could go one on one against Kronos and win with ease. Frank looked scared and kept looking between me and Annabeth. Maybe that's because Annabeth was cursing me like crazy and Frank was checking whether those curses came true. Well, they could hear what I was speaking with Magenta so they must be thinking my brain had got haywire. But one thing was clear. They understood my plan. The reason i can be sure of that is, Annabeth didn't look like she was hurt or couldn't believe what was happening. She looked like she was angry on me for my dumb and useless ideas. Hey, my plan isn't that bad, is it?
"Oh Percy, you can call me Maggie!" She said in a really sweet voice.
"I am a son of Poseidon. You must be a daughter of Aphrodite. You are so beautiful, I am sure of it" I said.
"OH Percy! That is so sweet! I am the daughter of Aphrodite!" she replied. I actually expected her to get shocked when I told her who`s son I was, but she looked like it was no big deal to her.
"That is why you look as gorgeous and beautiful as a just flowered rose!" I said, trying to flirt. I swear I could see steam coming out through Annabeth`s ears when I glanced in her direction. Frank now looked as pale as Nico.
"Flirting doesn't come naturally to you, does it?" Maggie asked. I heard someone smirk and say "No it doesn`t" I will let you guess who said that. Maggie continued "You are talking to the daughter of love. I know who flirts and who loves. For what do you need me?" she asked in her normal tone, which was a bit cold. Maybe she saw me keep glancing at Annabeth. I sighed in relief as I didn`t need to flirt anymore.
"Thank the gods, Magenta. I was getting sick of flirting. Annabeth would want to kill me if I continued this." I said. I saw Annabeth and Frank nod furiously.
"Annabeth?" Maggie asked as I waved to Annabeth and Frank and signaled them to come here.
"Yeah Annabeth. My gir- Ouch!" I shouted as Annabeth slapped me on the back of my head.
"Was this your idea?" She asked.
"Yes, I know it was dumb but now it over. Now back to where I left. Annabeth, this is Magenta and Magenta, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend. i said rubbing the back of my head.
"Your what?" Magenta asked.
"My G-I-R-L-F-R-I-E-N-D" I repeated clearly. Annabeth and Magenta looked at each other in Disgust. Why does it look like they both are jealous? I left that thought.
"Ok, Magenta , here`s the thing. Frank here," I said pointing towards him "Needs your necklace. Well, actually the pendent."
"Why?" she asked still looking disgusted.
"Well your pendent is none other than the token of love, the gift of Aphrodite to Ares." As soon as I said token of love, a look of realization crossed her face. Like she was trying to remember the Quest she went on Years ago. I told her what happened and why we needed her Pendent.
Annabeth`s POV
Oh my Gods! I want to kill Percy. He gets dumb ideas, true, but this… this exceeds his dumbness. This was the dumbest ideas he ever got! And this girl, Magenta actually likes Percy. When Percy told her I was his girlfriend she looked jealous, that was when I looked at her in disgust and she returned me with a similar look on her face.
When we told her why we need her pendent and what all happened, this was what she said.
"Poor Frank, I am really sorry for what my mom did!" She didn't look sorry.
"Look Magenta, he needs it! Otherwise your mom wouldn't release Hazel" I said, trying to explain.
"By the way, how is Hazel related to him? His sister? I am pretty sure she isn't his girlfriend. He looks too weird and clumsy to have a girlfriend" She said and that was it. I lost my cool. She got on my bad side.
"MISS MAGENTA EMERALD! Daughter of the DUMBEST goddess EVER! aka Aphrodite. PLEASE! Stop your looking good shit! You are a daughter of love and you must be knowing that beauty is not everything. I never saw such mean Aphrodite girls at camp, except maybe Drew.
"Annabeth! Chill! I will talk to her wait!" Percy said, cooling me down and turned towards Magenta to speak.
Percy`s POV
After controlling Annabeth`s temper, I tuned to Magenta and started speaking.
"Look Magenta, Annabeth`s right. We have never seen such mean Aphrodite kids as you, again Drew is an exception. But I don`t understand how Piper and Silena are your half-sisters."
"Half...Half-Sister?" Magenta asked confused. I looked at her confused.
"Did you ever come to camp?" I asked.
"What camp?"
"Camp Half-Blood?"
"Camp what?"
"H-a-l-f-B-l-o-o-d. A camp for Halfbloods like us! When did Aphrodite give you the quest to find the token of love?"
"Well, she suddenly appeared at my home 9 days ago and told me she needs me to find the token of love. I found it 4 days ago."She said. Whoa! This means she has been in here for almost 4 days! She has been here for a long time!
"That`s why you do not know about Camp half-blood. Well, Camp is the safest place…" And I started explaining her about camp. While I was telling her about Camp, I kept thinking about how much time we spent in here. I couldn't help but also keep glancing at Frank. He looked eager to get that Token and of course get Hazel back. While all this was happening the other kids in the casino acted like nothing was happening around them. Whenever i looked at them i felt dizzy and wanted to play a game. Just one game. But whenever my eyes looked a bit dreamy, Annabeth started explaining Maggie from where i stopped as she secretly squeezed my hand which was tangled with hers. she squeezed it hard enough to stop feeling dizzy and start explaining from where I stopped explaining. It was really difficult to control myself. Annabeth had self control and she kept staring at Maggie so as not to look around and start feeling dizzy, Frank on the other hand kept staring at Maggie`s pendent so even he didnt need to look around. That left me alone with my problem. My ADHD was right now, my difficulty`s best friend. By the time I completed explaining, I was pretty sure a week would have passed in the real world.
"So, even I can come to this camp?" Maggie asked, after explaining.
"Yes"
"Then can I me-Ah!" She screamed as Frank did exactly was I feared he was going to do. He caught the pendent aka the token of love and pulled it. The chain broke and the pendent came out. But then came the real problem. Pendent fell on the ground and… Broke! All of us gasped and stared at it like gaia was going to come out of the broken token. (haha! its rhyming, coincidence.)
"WHAT THE HAD-" Annabeth started shouting but stopped when she saw a pink silhouette of Aphrodite come out of the Token of Love.
"Thank god, Frank Zhang, I thought you would never get the idea of breaking it" Before I could ask why she wanted that thing to break she turned to us.
"OH! The talk on Olympus! Here they are! Percabeth!" She then turned to me."You ,my dear, are a perfect example of love. Did you know that I made my daughter try to divert you from Annabeth? Magenta does not know that of course, but as I expected Perseus, your love is eternal, you would never leave Annabeth. That is the reason I am strongest around you. Your love life is so interesting. I have millions of channels in my Hephaestus TV, but believe me, your channel aka the 'Percabeth' channel is what I watch the most" there is a channel named Percabeth? On me and Annabeth? Wow! The Olympians keep a good eye on the demigods."
"Happy to know we entertain you a lot." I muttered. She just ignored me. Frank was looking around frantically as if he was searching for Hazel, which, in fact, was true.
Aphrodite turned to Magenta and continued speaking "Oh! Magenta! You have done a very good job! And you are really beautiful! I`m so proud of you!"
"Sorry to interrupt your interesting and of course very important conversation but may I know Lady Aphrodite, what 'achievement' of pride, your daughter has done that you say that your proud of your daughter here? Is it being the rudest Aphrodite child ever? Or is it trying to steal my boyfriend from me?"Annabeth asked in a mock sweet tone.
I think gods have no proper sense of humor because Aphrodite didn't get the sarcasm in it. She actually answered Annabeth`s question.
"Well, of course the answer is trying to steal Perseus from you! Do you know that I was the one who made Magenta rude? Magenta is actually very sweet and kind. To much kindness can lead to disasters. That`s the reason I had to make her rude, but she became a little too rude. I am going to undo it right away" And as soon as she said that, she snapped her hands. Suddenly Magenta blinked. That`s it, nothing else happened. Aphrodite snapped, Magenta blinked, and she became the real Magenta she was supposed to be. Maggie`s disgusted look turned into a shy smiling one and she had a sorry look on her face.
"Well, that's done! Everything is over Ta! Ta!" She said as she started to vanish.
"Where is Hazel?" Frank screamed at the vanishing Aphrodite, taking care not to look at her as she was in her godly form.
"Don't worry, everything is gonna be alright!" Aphrodite said before vanishing. And then suddenly we were surrounded by pink smoke or you could say perfume. the smell was really intoxicating. When the 'perfume' cleared we noticed that we were right in front of Zeus`s Fist at Camp Half-Blood. Even Magenta was with us. Maybe Aphrodite wanted Magenta to come out of the casino. And then my eyes widened and so did Annabeth`s. It was because a girl came out of thin air, literally, and… and kissed Frank.
Frank`s POV
As soon as Aphrodite started speaking I kept looking around thinking that Hazel would appear, but no. After all, it is Aphrodite I am talking about. She was the one who kidnapped Hazel. I shouldn't have expected her to come out of the Token of Love with Hazel, but I still kept searching. When Aphrodite was about to leave, I almost looked at her godly form but controlled myself and asked where Hazel was.
I was scared at the moment when Aphrodite disappeared. I was even more scared when pink dust surrounded me. But what scared me the most was, the sudden feeling of soft lips against mine. I was shocked and I panicked for a second or two but then I joined and returned the kiss. Why? Because I knew those lips. Because I remembered the strawberry and chocolate taste of those lips. Because I recognized the cinnamon scent of the girl with those lips. Because I realized who the girl in front of me was. Because it was the girl I love. Because the girl was Hazel Lavesque.
A/N- GUYS! I GOT ONLY VERY LESS REVIEWS! PLZZZZZZZ REVIEW! I WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS STORY IS AND HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT! PLZZZZZZZZ REVIEW, PLZZZ, PLZZZ, PLZZZZ
-A/N- SO HOW WAS IT? HOW WAS THE ENDING? BY THE WAY, THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY ME AND MY FRIEND (I AM TELLING THIS AGAIN, I KNOW) PLZZ DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW. BY THE WAY, TO ALL THOSE WHO READ MY OTHER STORY, 'AT GOODE HIGH', YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR MORE 20 DAYS FOR A NEW CHAPTER. I KNOW, I AM CRUEL, BUT I CANT HELP IT. EXAMS ARE STARTING FROM TUESDAY AND WILL CONTINUE OF 2 WEEKS. SO,WISH ME LUCK! AND SORRY AGAIN! READ,REVIEW AND FOLLOW! BYE…