CHAPTER 8

After having what was presumably the most riddle-filled conversation with a goddess, we were teleported back to the camp and found that it was in the morning (funny thing was, we only talked for about fifteen minutes) and everyone was worried sick looking for us. Leave it to Hera to make Luke so paranoid that he almost punched me in the face because he thought I kidnapped her…again.

Luke asked me, "How is it that you two are always singled out for these appearances?" he sounded a bit jealous.

"That's exactly what we asked Hera," I mumbled, earning a hard nudge in the ribs from Annabeth.

"You two have a lot of explaining to do." Nico said, crossing his arms.

"After breakfast," Annabeth and I said quickly in unison.

After breakfast, we explained from the start, where we met Athena. We explained most of what the goddess told us, omitting things like me requesting for a particular someone and Athena telling us we can't trust anyone. Earlier, when Annabeth and I were walking back, she described it as a calculated risk. Apparently in that way, whoever would betray us wouldn't be on his toes after we told our plan, and we might catch him red-handed. And I stress on the might. Then we got to meeting Hera, the goddess of marriage, and I find her creepy…

FLASHBACK

Hera was seated on a chair in a white room. It seemed as if the divines had a thing for white clean rooms and painting walls with blinding colors. This time I did the right thing and bowed down. Being in the hit list of one goddess was enough for me.

"Rise. You must be awe-stricken, being in the presence of such an audience,"

"Not really." I mumbled in a low voice.

Hera didn't seem to hear me. "I came to give you a warning that there—"

"Is a war coming?" I finished.

"And the enemy is right under our noses. Yes, another goddess already told us." Annabeth said, then she had a confused look.

"So someone beat me to it…" she mused. "What else did she tell you?"

"She said that we were special and had to retrieve the Cornucopia of Amalthea to 'awaken' us, whatever that means." Annabeth said, exhausted.

"I suppose you don't know your abilities then." Hera said, somehow expecting us to not hear.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, more excited than worried.

"Oh, you just continue with your task, my heroes and you should be prepared for any type of danger that lies ahead of you. Chiron should help you manipulate your newfound abilities," Hera said matter-of-factly.

"Oh great. And how are we supposed to find him?" Annabeth asked, clearly annoyed at how people expect us to do things that we don't even understand yet.

"Use the map." Hera said in a 'duh' tone.

"We don't know how to use the map!" Annabeth snapped. It looked like she finally blew her cap, so I gently grabbed her by the shoulders turned her and asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded numbly, then started breathing in and out.

"You're lucky I am patient enough not to char you to cinders. And use your mind, child of Athena, clearly you were left with some clues like a name."

"Calypso." I mumbled. Maybe she could somehow read the map…

"I do have one question for you, heroes. Have you ever wondered what would happen if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"

"A lot of collateral damage?" I guessed.

"They can't exist together," Annabeth said with narrowed eyes, "and what does this have to do with the situation we're in?"

Hera smiled cheekily, "Just keep that in mind you two, as you commence your journey."

"Speaking of that, why have you gods called on only the two of us?" I asked.

Hera rolled her godly eyes at us. "Isn't it obvious? The appropriate question would be 'why would us gods call on only you two'. Join the pieces Annabeth. Again, I'm disappointed with you," it was like the goddess was seriously trying to push Annabeth's buttons. "It's about time you go back now. Or paths will eventually cross, my heroes."

Annabeth's hands curled into fists, "But wait, didn't you appear to Luke and the others, and, might I add, you wrongly accused Percy of killing Poseidon's son?" she raised a brow.

I couldn't believe that I had actually forgotten about that. I shot Hera a glare, waiting for an explanation. The same attraction force pulled me close to Annabeth.

Hera raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't really like black, you know." Then she literally poofed into nothingness and we were back in the woods.

We didn't say exactly everything to the others, because Annabeth kept on getting interrupted the minute she mentioned Calypso.

"Wait, the Calypso?" Leo choked on his drink.

"Oh I missed hanging out with her!" Silena commented, her eyes sparkling as if she found a new person to play dress-up with. Yes, Silena and Calypso used to be tight friends when we were young.

"You're sure we're talking about the same Calypso here?" Luke asked, narrowing his eyes.

"It's Prissy's girl, right? I've never really like her, by the way," Clarisse commented with a growl. Clarisse calls me Prissy, for reasons that are yet to be discovered. Maybe she just didn't like me. I would say the feeling was mutual.

"Well that's because she—" Eddy was going to finish but I hastily interjected, "Yes! It's that Calypso," I turned to Annabeth urging her to continue,

"Am I the only here who doesn't know who Calypso is?" Annabeth asked, somehow feeling left out. Her arms were akimbo.

"Pretty much," Nico nodded.

After Annabeth finished, it was not unanimously agreed that we'd wander to find Calypso. Complaints were raised.

"How are we supposed to trust you, Prissy?"

"I think he's trustworthy, but who I don't trust is Calypso." Beckendorf said.

"Why not?" I asked indignantly.

"Oh you know why, Percy," Beckendorf said with a stern look. I did know why, so I just shut up.

"I think we're all forgetting a really important fact here." Annabeth said loudly enough to get everyone's attention. She raised her hands gesturing that it was her. Of course, Calypso is in Poseidon's kingdom, Aquapolis. So it would be advisable not to be harboring a princess that is the mortal enemy of the kingdom called Aquapolis.

Luke slapped his face with his palms. He must have realized too. Of course there was only one way of making her look different. Everyone was refusing to say it.

"We have to cut your hair," I said, with as much euphemism as I could. She turned to me, wide-eyed.

"What? never!" she grabbed a sword to justify her statement. I never knew a girl could get this crazy even for just pieces of hair, some of which was filthy with twigs.

Luke sighed. "Annabeth…"

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," I grinned, finishing for him.

She put the sword down, and crossed her arms, "Fine."

After about fifteen minutes of total revamp, Silena came out of her tent with a giggle. Thalia and Annabeth came out, she looked… different.

She had got out of the evening dress she'd been wearing all since we had kidnapped her. Now she wore black leather pants, a white tank top, a long-sleeved hooded coat. Oh, and her long flowing blond hair was cut down to curls with ringlets. She looked… really different.

"Stop staring Percy, it's rude," Thalia's snarky voice snapped me out of my reverie.

"I wasn't," I said with an innocent smile.

"Wait, don't you all need to be incognito, so you also have to change." Annabeth complained.

"Well the thing is we have to go back to support Hermes in the war," Clarisse drawled hesitantly. They all knew the oath they vowed.

"But I'm going with you guys," Luke said enthusiastically.

"Me too." Nico said. Why would he want to come with us?

Luke looked perturbed. Annabeth stared down at her footwear. "Until we meet again then. You're dismissed."

"We're not in court, Annabeth." Silena said and hugged her. Beckendorf, the Stolls and Will also bid us farewell. After they disappeared down the horizon, we started our journey to find Calypso, even though she kind of made it clear last time that she did not want to be found.

Of course, first we had to take care of the dozens of empusa we just suddenly happened to bump into.