AN: Yeah, I'm doing an Author's Note. Amazing. Well, thanks to my Percy, I'm home sick today. (He got sick and then I got it. * sigh * All I did was hug him, I swear.) So I figured I may as well write. Sorry my writing's been so sporadic, but here I am. I'll let Annabeth take it from here. (:

15

If I haven't said it enough, I couldn't believe I was hanging out with Aphrodite. Of all the gods and goddesses who could have come to help me, it was her.

I was having more fun than I'd had in this whole crappy stupid quest whatever thing.

Despite the fact that we were still trudging through the forest, stopping occasionally to eat-though now the food was good, as Aphrodite could just make food appear. The joys of being a goddess-we talked the whole time, about everything. I'd never opened up to anyone like this. I guess wise remarks can come from the most unlikely places.

I had gained a new appreciation for Aphrodite. Her children are still preps, sorry.

We talked mostly about Percy, and surprisingly it didn't make my heart hurt anymore than it did already. Well, at first it was painful, but I became accustomed to saying his name again without a jolt of pain like a dagger of ice piercing through my heart. The capacity to love that Aphrodite had given me was turning into a scary thing.

She gave me updates on where they were. She said something had happened, and they were now much farther away. I fell when she said this, not because I tripped, but because I was abruptly very weak and my legs just gave away from under me. I couldn't believe something had happened that could draw him farther away.

"It's okay, Annabeth. They're merely gaining another, powerful member of their team." I knew by now that I could trust her. She helped me up, and in that moment realized how horrible I looked.

"My gods, Annabeth, what have you been doing, wallowing in mud?" I looked down at myself and realized how this must look to her. I was wearing olive green cargo shorts, like her's. I had a white t-shirt-well it started out white, now it was brown-with silver Greek writing that said something like "I love Artemis." The Hunters had just handed Thalia and I whatever they had. Apparently Apollo had made a couple hundred of these in 1983, and they'd never really caught on. The girls were eager to dispose of them whenever an opportunity arose-they knew I was coming back, didn't they?

Anyway, I was caked with dirt from head to toe. My white sneakers were dirt colored. The left one was slit in the front, exposing my toes as my sock had also worn through. The right was getting there-just beginning to slit open. My hair stuck out in about twenty different directions. Its usual blond had been died brown with streaks of green-dirt and moss. One of my earrings was missing. The only thing still perfectly in-tact was my Camp Half-Blood necklace.

I was standing with the goddess of beauty and I looked like a wreck. Somehow, I didn't feel… uncomfortable. I knew most girls would have felt horrible. I guess I'd gotten so used to her that her radiance didn't make me feel lower than dirt like it did most girls. I was very comfortable with her now, actually.

"Hmm…" she said, clearly thinking. I suddenly realized she'd probably put me in some insanely low-cut top, and short shorts. Well, I was pretty much right.

She snapped her fingers, and I felt 100 times better. It was like she'd magically given me a shower. I was clean again! My hair was curly and light blond like it should be. It smelled like vanilla and strawberries. My skin smelled like flowers. I was wearing dark cut-off denim shorts, and a blue low-cut polo like her's, with thin silver stripes. I was slightly annoyed, but she was the only other being for miles, so I figured I could live with this. Besides, it was about a million degrees in this forest. These were clean clothes-I would live.

Realizing it was late, we made camp for the night. Well, she did, snapping her fingers. A pink tent appeared, with pink sleeping bags. A fire started. I sat on a log by the fire, looking at my clothes. The shirt was soft, the shorts amazingly comfortable for how tight they were. I laughed at that. Me, in short shorts. What was the world coming to?

I looked around, listened to the crickets. It seemed to suddenly go dark until it was black as pitch, save for a circle about five feet in diameter around the fire, which glowed yellow and red and orange, faintly pink at the edges. I laughed again-myself amidst all this pink. I was suddenly very thankful for the blue shirt-she knew me.

"Aphrodite?" I said quietly, careful to stare into the fire and not at her face. "Yes, Annabeth?" I stared in wonder at the fire, thinking, I am camping with a goddess. The goddess of beauty. Why? "How long until we find Percy?"

She thought for a moment.

"A month at the most." I sighed. That was longer than Thalia and I had calculated.

"As I said," she began, reading my thoughts. "They were sidetracked. But now that Poseidon has joined them-"Poseidon?" I asked. A powerful member. A god. Poseidon-of course!

"Yes," she sighed. She hadn't meant to tell me. "It will be much faster than that," she said, staring into the fire, clearly deep in thought. I hadn't noticed, but she'd changed back into her Greek tunic.

"Hmm…" she was thinking hard again. "Ten days." My heart jumped. Ten more days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days.

My mind was swimming with incoherent thoughts, now. I ate in silence, not even noticing what I was eating. Soon, thank you Aphrodite, I was asleep, dreaming of seeing Percy again, running to him, being wrapped in his arms. That was where I belonged-in Percy's arms. It was safe and comfortable and warm and where I would always want to be, forever and ever and ever.

I couldn't wait to return.