And without further ado, I give you Chapter Four. DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO.

FOUR

'ANNABETH CHASE' POV'

I hate prophesies. All they do is basically tell you, "Hey! You have a chance, don't give up! But if you don't do it right, you might die! K' bye." The one Dare had just proposed wasn't any better than that. I mean, once tasks are complete, souls shall prevail? Really? What tasks? And the next line was even worse; unless one deserts, of which both will fail. One thing was for sure, Percy and I had our work cut out for us. We had to stick together throughout this whole thing, even if he was incredibly annoying at times. And since the prophecy didn't give us any clue as to where to go or what to do, we had to start at the roots. And let's just say the Love Goddess probably wasn't going to be the most understanding of our predicament.

Percy and I caught a taxi ride that headed right to the Empire State Building without so much as a goodbye to our fellow campers. In my defense, I would like to add that Connor and Travis Stoll were headed our way right as we left. It was an awkward ride all the way to Olympus, which can become pretty uncomfortable when you're in New York City. Percy just stared out the window as we accelerated and braked throughout the busy streets, which was extremely out of character coming from him. Usually he'd be jabbering on about how his day was going or how to take down the Minotaur. When we arrived at our destination, I hopped out of the taxi and threw a fifty to the driver.

"Keep the change."

"Thanks Mister!" The middle aged man exclaimed with obvious glee and took off. I looked at Percy, in my body, and nodded in encouragement.

"Let's do this." We marched into the front lobby, not even stopping to talk to the security guard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look at Percy and scramble to press the buzzer that would open the security gates. Being the Architect of Olympus has its perks.

The doors to the extravagant elevators dinged open, and we stepped swiftly through them. Percy jabbed a finger on the button labeled 600. We stood there in awkward silence, only to be interrupted by Eye of the Tiger. Songs like those make me wonder who chooses them.

Ding. The doors slid open, revealing the narrow marble walkway that led up to Olympus, six thousand feet above New York. No matter how often I went there, I could never get over the beauty of the palace of the gods. The snowcapped peak of the mountain peeked out from the tips of the clouds, to reveal the modern day replica of an Ancient Greece city. But now wasn't a time for tourism, we had a job to do.

"Come on." Percy mumbled and we stepped forward, heading straight for Aphrodite's palace in the clouds. Music and laughter spilled out from the terraces and gardens, wood nymphs giggled and pointed at me as I passed, and everyone seemed in a happy mood overall. I ignored them and continued on to the love goddesses palace, dead ahead.

Getting to her mansion was one thing. Getting inside was a different story. You see, as we stepped up to her door, a barricade became evident.

This particular obstacle came in the form of a very handsome man. If I had ever thought Apollo was attractive, I was clearly not in my right mind. The guy was…for lack of a better term, hot. Something about him was familiar, though. I saw glimpses of sea green in his eyes, and then blue, it was hard to tell which color his eyes really were. He had shaggy hair that also kept changing colors. In fact, everything about him seemed to be morphing into my idea of attraction. Immediately, I knew who he was. Eros, the son of Aphrodite and Ares. Also known as Cupid. I studied him more closely. He wore nothing but a pair of jeans and a bow and arrow strung around his bare chest, which I guess is a step up from the diaper. He wasn't looking at me, though. He was looking at Percy, who was currently staring at Eros with a confused look on his face.

"Who're you?" He asked bluntly, making me inwardly sigh. Eros just smiled down at Percy with a spark in his eyes. This can't be good, I thought.

"I am Eros, my darling." He flashed Percy a blinding smile. Percy continued to look confused. "But the real question is who are you?"

"Per- I mean, Annabeth Chase." Percy caught himself before I could reach over and punch him. "We need to see Aphrodite." Percy tried to push past the love god, to no avail.

"Whoa whoa whoa! No one's going anywhere! The goddess of love is not available." Eros was still looking at Percy with that glint in his eyes. I did not like where this was going. We had to come up with a plan to get inside, and fast. By the looks of things, we didn't have much time to sit around and talk all day.

Percy threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "But- "I cut him off and dragged him over to a rosebush. Eros just shrugged and looked at his nails. Percy glared at him, and then looked back at me.

"What are we supposed to do? This guy won't let us through!"

"Shh, listen. I have a plan." I ushered him closer and whispered my plan. At the end of my explanation, he looked disgusted.

"Annabeth! Do you understand how weird that'll be for me?" There was a hint of hysteria in his voice. I grimaced; this was going to be weird for me too.

"It's the only way." I told him sternly. "It'll work…probably." He didn't look reassured, but spun around and marched back to Cupid nonetheless.

'PERCY JACKSON'S POV'

Flirting is not my strongest ability. Not with girls, not with plants, not with cows, not with anything really. And definitely not with guys. I'm just not that kind of person. But Annabeth's plan had flirting at its core, and I would have to do what I had to do, no matter how awkward it made me feel. But let's just get one thing straight; what happens on Olympus stays on Olympus.

Eros was still staring at me in that creepy way that Gabe used to watch my mom. It made me instantly want to slap him in the face, and I don't know if that was just the effects of being a girl influencing me. I swallowed those thoughts and put on a smile, knowing that Eros couldn't possibly resist Annabeth's beautiful smile. Eros face lit up right away, and his eyes didn't leave me. Perfect.

"So…do you like…love?" I said awkwardly. Eros laughed and smiled at me.

"Oh honey, for you, I'd like love every day." I don't know about you, but to me that was the lamest pick-up line in the history of pick-up lines. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth sneak behind Eros. I had to keep him distracted.

"Oh," I tried my best to say it in the girliest way possible. "Well…I need a…a man. A big strong…man?" It came out as more of a question. I smirked at him, hoping to pull off the smile Annabeth flashes at me that makes my legs turn to jelly. Apparently, it worked. Miracles can happen, I guess.

"I'm not a man; I'm much, much more." He flexed his arms and grinned at me suggestively. Oh gods. This was seriously starting to freak me out. Annabeth had better be almost done. I laughed shakily, suddenly really nervous. Eros took a step closer to me and leaned down close to my face. I froze. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't back up because that would tip him off that I was acting. And I couldn't…close the gap because, well, I don't roll that way. But our fates were more important. The sooner Annabeth and I switched back, the sooner I could forget about this whole experience.

Right as I was about to pull in closer, Annabeth burst through Aphrodite's front door. She froze and stared at Eros and me with a weird look on her face. Eros spun around and gasped.

"You weren't supposed to go in there!"

"Let's go Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth grabbed my arm and tugged, hard.

"Gah!" I huffed and nearly tumbled to the ground. Annabeth, with my strong arms, held me up, still running as fast as she could.

WHOOSH! Something whizzed past my head, and it only took me about a second to figure out what it was. It was an arrow, and not your average sharp arrow that can kill you. No, this arrow's tip was in the shape of a heart. Eros was shooting love arrows at us.

"Inside!" I didn't realize we were at the elevator until Annabeth pushed me inside of it.

"No! My love!" Eros shouted right as the doors were about to close. I managed to get in one last word before they dinged shut.

"Hey Eros, we're through!" The hurt look on his face was pure gold.

I thought that was a pretty interesting chapter, didn't you? Review!