There was a slight pause before Bia continued. "And what about you, hun?"

Eirene crouched down and examined all the kind of pastries they had. She had no idea what any of them were, she'd never tried such beautiful-looking food. "Connor, how much was what you—?"

She turned to Connor and found that he was frozen in a sort of awkward position, crouching down with his finger pointed at the pastries and his mouth half-open. She called out his name again, but no reaction. Looking to Andrew she found that he was also frozen; his arms crossed and his face turned towards the ceiling. Thinking they were playing a prank on her she went over to poke and prod them but was taken aback when her eye drifted to the street and she saw that even the cars were frozen on the road. Without hesitation she threw up her ring and caught her sword, turning it to the only other person who was still moving; Bia.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Eirene demanded.

The girl gestured to her nametag. "I'm Bia," She smiled and moved away from the counter, her apron melting away to be replaced by white and gold ancient Greek clothing. "And I guess you could say I'm your sister."

The word 'sister' didn't even register with Eirene, she didn't known any and Zeus hadn't brought her into the world with one. She swung her sword at Bia who caught it with one hand.

In shock, Eirene retracted her sword.

"On normal circumstances I would destroy you for trying to kill me, but these aren't normal circumstances." She made a gesture with her finger and a chair came forward and scooped up Eirene, bringing her to a table. Bia slid into the chair next to her. "I'm here to inform and help you, sister to sister. I've frozen time so your quest won't be interrupted, aren't you grateful?"

"I don't have a sister," She snapped.

"Oh but you do, and four of them in total: Zelus: goddess of Zeal, Kratos: goddess of power, Nike: goddess of victory, and Me. Goddess of force. You see our mother Styx was married to the titan: Pallas."

Eirene wasn't sure how to digest this information. She'd never heard or read of it, it was news to her and she wasn't sure whether to trust someone who'd she'd just met; especially with her history of strangers. "Why don't I know any of this? How do I know you're telling the truth?" But even as she asked the latter question she looked into Bia's amber eyes and felt a warmth genuine aura radiating from it, calming her down and making her believe that whoever this goddess was, she'd only contacted her with good intention.

"Because the fact that the river even had a goddess is restricted information; discussed only among certain gods," and then her expression looked somewhat ashamed. "Zeus shields your existence from all the gods when he first created you, because he feared if others knew they would target you."

Eirene was taken aback. "Why did he think that?"

"Because of us; my siblings and I. When we found out our mother had asked him to create a vessel for the river instead of just turning over the responsibility to us, we were jealous; infuriated. We hated you, and we sought out to destroy you. And when Zeus found out of our plans, he shielded you from the gods in fear they would try to do the same."

Eirene felt a wave of nausea overcome her, and started to shield away from Bia. Why was she telling her all of this? And was it really a safe idea to be sitting in a time-lock with someone who'd just admitted they hated her?

Bia felt her drawing back and placed a gentle hand on hers. "Please don't be afraid, it's important for you to know everything," She sighed and resumed. "You were undetectable to us for years, until you entered camp half-blood; it was removed because you were protected. We finally saw you, and we knew who you were. My siblings wanted to strike immediately but as I watched you, I realized that you weren't the arrogant, self-absorbed weakling I thought you'd be. You were quiet and humble, powerful but a little awkward. And I took a liking to you," She smiled.

"So I tried to convince my siblings to stop, that destroying you would serve no purpose. But they didn't listen; they were blinded with pride and power and had leaped with joy when you were released to go on a quest. Have you noticed? The amount of upper-level demons that have been attacking you as of late?"

Eirene nodded, thinking back to the three that had already tried to kill her. She was used to fighting off monsters, but in her runaway days would fight off an average of three in a day. But in just a few hours she had fought off three, and they had all been very powerful ones at that.

Bia summoned miniature versions of the monsters Eirene had already defeated. "The Manticore, the head fury, and even the Lamia are all upper level demons who don't usually spend their time trying to annoy demigods. But by the orders of my siblings, they've attacked you." They've been collecting and lining up the most powerful monsters they can muster to try and kill you." The mini monsters disappeared and She locked eyes with Eirene, who found the intense stare of her amber eyes intimidating. "I can't make them stop attacking, but I can tell you which ones they have planned for you and how to kill them."

And so she told her, she told her about the Chimera, and how the only way to kill it was to cut off all three of its head at the same time. She told her of the Orthrus, the meaner brother of Cerberus and that because of its two heads it had two hearts, so to kill it you'd need to penetrate both. Bia then told her about how she had heard whispers of a Hydra, and the way to kill the beast was to cut off one of its seven heads, dip your sword in its blood, and then cut off the rest of the heads. And she told her of the Minotaur, how it's very simple to kill with a stab anywhere in the chest region, but that it would be best to remove its horns before the kill. She even told her of the monsters her siblings had not summoned, but to be weary of them if she were to wonder into their territory; The Panes, a tribe of nature spirits nothing like the giggling nymphs at camp half-blood, but very brutal and cruel creatures when they feel like their forest is being threatened.

"And the sirens, beautiful but deadly creatures of the sea, known to lure even the wisest of fishermen to their watery graves; it will be hard to block out their music, and even looking at them can hypnotize men." A smirk appeared on her face as she looked to both Connor and Andrew. "Yes, men can be seduced in the easiest of ways. Which one have you lured into your den?"

It took Eirene a second to figure out what Bia was talking about, and that she may have even been talking about—that. Her cheeks turned rosy and she shook her head in every direction. "No, I—we don't have romantic feelings towards each other."

Bia smiled, sliding out of her seat. "'We' takes two to tango. Who's the lucky dancer?"

Eirene continued to shake her head but Bia was already out of her seat and going over to the two guys. "Neither of them, we're just on a quest."

"So you're telling me that you're…what's the mortal term? 'Just friends' with these men?" She laughed, shaking her head. "A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other...Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever. And you can thank Aphrodite for that lovely little gift." She crouched to look at Connor and stood on her tippy toes to reach Andrew's eyelevel. "A gift I think you've already received."