Chapter 26: The Art of Persuasion

"Who would be riding a limousine through the desert?" Bianca asked.

"The question you should really be asking is why are they here?" I suggested bitterly.

Bianca looked like she was going to say something about my comment, but she lost her voice when a rather large figure stepped out of the limousine. I recognized Ares almost immediately. I indirectly met his Roman counterpart, Mars once too at a heated War Game. The God of War wore a black biker leather jacket—the kind that screams trouble—and heavy combat boots decorated with an assortment of knives. Strapped along his military vest and camouflage pants were various weapons, but the one that stuck out to me the most was the humongous rifle swung across his back. Ares lifted his shades leisurely to reveal molten fiery eyes, the color of boiling blood.

A surge of anger washed over me as my blood began to pound in my ears. Who does this guy think he is interrupting our quest? Here he is walking around in his shades while we're trying to save the world again. Why is he here? A thought occurred to me: This doesn't seem like me. As much as I don't like gods, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't go off the rails this quickly.

Is this what it feels like to be in the direct vicinity of Ares? I took a deep breath to temper my rage. I cannot afford to start a fight with the War God, especially with a deadline as dire as the Winter Solstice.

Ares raised an eyebrow and glanced at me curiously. What for, I have yet to find out. The War God didn't comment.

I glanced at the others to see how they were faring with Ares' fiery aura. Needless to say, they weren't handling their anger issues very well either. A few sparks of electricity crackled along Thalia's fists as she death glared Ares, Percy looked to be having an eternal war with himself as he gave his famous wolf glare, Annabeth fixed her cold calculating gaze on the war god as if expecting a fight, Grover looked tense as he stared at the new guest quietly, Zoe's eyes seemed to burn with a silent fury, and Bianca's nails dug through both my jackets as she death gripped my shoulders. Perhaps she was using me as her rock to keep her from doing anything too impulsive.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here! Seven people on a five person quest!" Ares laughed mockingly. "You guys are in quite a predicament," the War God gazed directly at me. "Especially you."

I couldn't help but agree. The color drained from my face as I willed myself to stare Ares dead in the eye.

"What do you want, Lord Ares?" Percy seemed to have trouble biting back an insult.

"What do I want?" Ares' expression darkened. "A rematch," he then shrugged. "But it's not about what I want. It's about what she wants. No, Sea Spawn, I won't be getting into any fights today. Not in the company of my lady."

"And who would that lady be, Lord Ares?" Thalia questioned with gritted teeth.

"Aphrodite," Annabeth answered matter-of-fact. "The Goddess of Love and Beauty. She's in the limousine isn't she?"

"Well, if it isn't Owl Head's daughter! I see you, Sea Spawn, and Underwear are on another quest. Fancy seeing you again! Yes, my lovely girlfriend is in the limousine, and a pretty woman like her doesn't want to be kept waiting, so I'll get straight to the point: She wishes to see Sea Spawn and the newbie, Nico di Angelo."

I couldn't suppress a sigh. What is it with gods giving me strange pep talks lately? I thought that was supposed to happen for Percy since he is the Savior of Olympus, after all. I mean, I know I'm supposed to save civilization from itself, but they don't know that.

Regardless, I'm going to have to meet the mother of Cupid when I could be using this precious time to brainstorm a way to save my sister. The last thing I need at the moment is love advice.

But of course, this is probably in Aphrodite's best interest, not my own.

I was about to make my way into the limousine, but Bianca interrupted the exchange. "Time out," she said. "I am not about to let my little brother get into a limousine without knowing the details. What is going on?" The daughter of Hades demanded as her grip on my shoulders tightened.

"If you're worried about your little brother and friend possibly experiencing gruesome deaths in that limousine, well… as long as they behave, the chat should—unfortunately—go smoothly," Ares informed us. His inferno shaded eyes locked on me, and for a moment I could imagine him brainstorming all the most terrifying ways war and bloodlust invented to kill me. He smirked, as if reading my thoughts—which I have no doubt he has. "Now, would you two care for some persuasion, or are you punks gonna behave?"

Percy made a move to lunge at the aggravating God, but Annabeth held him back. "That's okay," she replied, her voice sharper and colder than a dagger of ice. "They can find their way just fine."

I grabbed Percy's forearm and dragged him like a hyperactive puppy on a leash into the limousine, careful to avoid Ares' vicinity. As my hand hovered over the door handle, I tried to shove the fact that I'm about to get love advice with my former crush into the locked space in the back of my mind. But I guess that's kind of hard to do when you're in the audience of a love goddess. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves and clicked the handle open, reluctantly stepping inside.

The inside of the limousine is more spacious than it seems. It was filled with coffee-colored leather seats, engraved glasses lining the inner compartments, tinted windows to hide away from the harsh sun, and a pungent flowery smell —roses, I think—filled the air. Right smack in the middle of the seating, Aphrodite was perched like a queen, regarding us curiously with her ever-changing eyes. She smiled flirtatiously and crossed her legs under her eye-catching ruby red dress.

"Ah, Percy Jackson! Nico di Angelo! Please," she gestured to the seats across from her. "Take a seat."

Percy and I exchanged identical looks of suspicion, but relented and stepped further inside.

"Close the door behind you," Aphrodite commanded in her airy, enchanting voice.

We closed the door.

Percy took the seat next to the door on the right side, while I sat on the left. I shifted all the way into the shady corner seat, the farthest seat the limousine could offer from the rest of the company. I dimly wondered if I could engulf myself in the shadows so much, Aphrodite might not notice me. No, that definitely wouldn't work.

I've learned from experience that love has a nasty way of rooting out even the most concealed people.

"Now," Aphrodite clapped her hands together anxiously. "Shall we begin our meeting?" She didn't wait for an answer as she turned to a sweating Percy. "Perseus, dear. Have you given any thought about your love life?"

Percy frowned and gave her a Did you seriously just ask that? look. "Percy," the Son of Posiedon automatically corrected. "And no," he shook his head. "It's kind of hard to think about your love life when monsters are constantly trying to kill you, you know?"

"Oh, there's always time to think about love," the goddess said. Suddenly her wavy auburn hair morphed into blond ringlets and her sparkling jade green eyes took on a lighter shade of steel grey. In mere seconds, the Goddess of Love morphed her features into that of a certain daughter of Athena. None other than Annabeth Chase.

If it wasn't obvious to Percy who his crush was then, it is now.

Percy's deep blush almost made me smirk, but then Aphrodite turned to me. I stared in alluring horror as her blond ringlets transformed into sun-kissed tresses. Her newly formed hair seemed to radiate a sunlight entirely of its own. Her freckled complexion took on a darker tone of bronze—the kind of surfer glow that's natural and can't be faked. I studied the high cheekbones, slightly upturned nose, and blinding smile that held more warmth and content than hot chocolate. But the feature that really stuck out to me were the eyes.

I gazed at the piercing irises, mesmerized as the blue shifted in a thousand shades of the bluest skies. I knew I could stare into these eyes for hours, forever wondering which shade would come next in the unpredictable pattern. With a start, I realized these were the kinds of eyes that could stare into me too, slowly but surely crumbling down my impenetrable walls to read my every thought, emotion, and even my secrets. The thought of this was both terrifying and enthralling.

A couple things suddenly occurred to me: 1) I'm blushing with an open mouth that refuses to close. 2) I am having a mental breakdown as I'm staring at Aphrodite's suspiciously spot-on assessment of my friend, Will Solace. And 3) Percy and Aphrodite are watching me very closely.

In conclusion, I am more screwed than I was before. This is turning out to be exactly what I expected—an absolute train wreck.

No, this is even worse—it's a collision course.

I averted my gaze and attempted to collect myself. I slouched in the jacket, allowing its fuzzy fur to swallow me whole from this embarrassment, and fixing my eyes to the blank seat in front of me. I counted to ten, trying to calm myself down before I accidentally shadow travel to China… again. I could feel Percy's probing eyes on me, though I ignored it and refused to answer any silent questions he may have.

The less he knows, the better.

"Well, that was a very illuminating exercise. I'm ecstatic with the results I received," Aphrodite gazed at us, this time through a rainbow of captivating kaleidoscope eyes. Piper's eyes. She smiled coyly, as if she knew some life-changing thing that we didn't know about ourselves. "I must say, I'm rather intrigued by both of your tastes. It's very rare to find people who are attracted to their complete opposites, but for you two it works. Now," her demeanor switched from flirty to cunning in seconds. "do you two understand why you are here?"

Percy side-glanced me, but I didn't return the favor as I kept my gaze fixed firmly on the coffee brown leather seats. Percy gave up at the fruitless task of grasping my attention and turned back to Aphrodite, frowning. "No, should we?"

"Of course not. Love can be a complicated ordeal," I noticed Aphrodite glanced at me out of the corner of my eye when she said this. "However, I have decided to bring a… unique aspect of yourselves into light. Something you would not have realized otherwise," the Goddess of Love's eyes shined deviously in the dim lighting. "You two have soulmates."

My eyes widened. I have a soulmate?

As if reading my mind, Aphrodite confirmed it with another sly smile. "Indeed, you do."

The better question is: Who is my soulmate?

Percy frowned. "Okay, 1) that's a thing? 2) If what you're saying is true, then who are our soulmates?"

Aphrodite's laugh was tantalizing. "Well, not knowing is half the fun! And yes, soulmates do exist, but they are extremely rare. In fact, most people never meet their soulmates. However, you two have already met them."

"We've met them?!" Percy exclaimed.

"Indeed, you have," Aphrodite answered with a giggle.

Gods, as if my life couldn't be more complicated, now I have a soulmate I have to deal with. Is this Fate's way of punishing me for time traveling and screwing up the timeline? Probably, I wouldn't put it past them. Let it be known I did not time travel on purpose. I had no say in the matter.

A thought occurred to me. "Why us?" I backtracked a little, seeing as the Goddess and my cousin probably can't follow my train of thought. "I mean, I know most people haven't met their soulmates, but as a goddess, you went out of your way just to tell us something that probably wouldn't have mattered anyway? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you're here just to tell us we have soulmates. I think you have something to gain out of this."

Aphrodite raised a delicate eyebrow questioningly. "Well, you aren't wrong. Everyone on Olympus is expecting great things out of Perseus, but they don't know what to think of you, Nico di Angelo. I certainly didn't come here just to see the Son of Poseidon himself. So tell me," she leaned over in my direction almost threateningly. "what do I have to gain from this?"

What does she have to gain from this? As I stared into the eyes of Love itself, I racked my brain for the answer. I thought about the conversation we had. I thought about what she said about our reactions to her "exercise."

Wait, that's it.

"The sport," I guessed. "You like to see reactions. You like to see change. Because in your eternally mundane, predictable life, mortals always end up surprising you. You just can't get enough of it. You play with people's lives, their perceptions, even their attraction. You fall in love with mortals, if only for a day because you long for romantic resumption. You long for change. Heroes are the perfect experiments. In some sick, twisted way, you enjoy watching our tragedies unfold—you enjoy creating them. We have something that you can only yearn for."

"I'm a goddess, boy. What could you possibly have that I do not?" Aphrodite asked. The strange thing was, I only heard curiosity in her voice—no malice whatsoever. I found this reaction odd as I might as well be slapping her in the face at this point with what I'm getting to.

"Mortality," I replied. "Mortality is what makes our lives precious. It's what makes the moments count. But to you, it's what makes our love have substance. With this substance, it brings a new meaning to love. And with this new meaning of love comes a love story you've never heard of before. To you, Percy and I simply have love stories waiting to unfold."

"I must say, Nico di Angelo, I am impressed with your insightfulness. It's not everyday you come across someone who can guess the deepest desire of a goddess. Yes," the Love Goddess admitted. "I have a notion you and Perseus will have interesting love stories," she then shrugged at our callous reactions. "But really, can you blame me for wanting a new story to read? My relationship with Ares and all the come and go relationships with men can get so… boring. I'm always interested in new material to read. And you two… your stories will be interesting indeed."

"I disagree," I said coldly. "I refuse to have anything to do with romantic love. It's nothing but sweet poison that slowly kills you from the inside until there's nothing left. It's an illusion of security and stability that leaves your heart shattering from the inside out. I will be involved in no such thing."

"Oh, you and I both know that's not the whole story," Aphrodite said as she smirked knowingly. "However, I do admire you for moving on. That really was a hopeless crush. I can sense my son's… persuasion on you. He can be a bit much, but his intentions were in the right place."

I frowned. "He might as well have been mentally torturing me with what he did. I wouldn't exactly call his method 'a bit much,'" I said coldly.

"Love can take many forms, Nico. There is no easy path. Although some forms can be cruel and heart rending, there is no denying that you can learn from every heartbreak and mistake you make or experience. Love is a lesson that must be taught one way or another. And you, Nico di Angelo, still have a lot to learn."

I death glared her in response, testing my boundaries to see how far I could go before Aphrodite smites me. Deep down, I knew she was right. I couldn't ignore love then, and I doubt I can ignore it now. Whatever the future may hold, I can almost guarantee the biggest challenge will involve some form of romantic love—something I think no one, not even a child of Aphrodite can be ready for.

Percy, who has been silently watching the exchange unfold, said, "So, I'm guessing you aren't going to tell us what you have in mind for our love lives?"

Aphrodite smirked vivaciously. "That would be spoiling the surprise."

I have a terrible premonition this surprise would be far from pleasant.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. I'll make sure your love life is engraved in the stones of history for all of time," she let out a wistful sigh. "Just like Helen and Paris. Oh I absolutely loved them as a couple, don't you agree?" She didn't wait for our input. "Really, I'll make sure you and Nico have a memorable run," she glanced at me directly. "I can't promise it won't be a tragedy."

That unsettled me more than I'd like to admit.

"Well, anyway, remember what I told you, boys. Good luck on your quest. I hope we have a lovely chat some other time," Aphrodite said with sickening sweet smile that rubbed me the wrong way. "Close the door behind you."

A/N:

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating in a while. I promise I'm not ghosting you or anything haha. I've been working on a sequel to my other story, Interrogational Therapy. It's not even close to being finished, but when I'm done, you might want to check it out. Anyway, this chapter was really a present to the Percabeth and Solangelo fans out there. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Tell me what you think in the comments.