Hey my guys- not as interesting a chapter as some but hey, some stuff has to happen that's not as fun after all, and we'll get to some good old fashioned fighting soon- and I'm slowly approaching the angsty chapter so that should be real fun to write- I'll let y'all know.
Replies:
Guest: I will say nothing to giveaway who the grandmother and the daughter are I'm afraid, that will be discovered fairly soon- in the minific actually.
Undeath9087: Clearly we are very similar- I both laugh evilly and cry as I write some of this stuff, I just love the angst- sure I love the eventual comfort too but the pain is so much fun to write- and dealing with the after effects because once again I say these kids need some fucking therapy stat. And yeah, he won't even be pretending to be a friend if he does come back, he'd still be a straight up batshit insane bastard who is just eternally obsessed.
Drizzle: I can't really say either way because of spoilers- sorry!
PJ Fan 285: Unless there's too many I do try to answer reviews even if I sometimes can't cover everything they've said or asked about- and don't worry about asking about them being married- Alabaster would undoubtedly see it that way, and it was his body so he actually kinda has a strong argument for it there. Which is funny to me because the only ones who really know what happened in the throne room who are alive and not gods are Luke and Ethan. And not all of the gods realised what happened- Zeus and Ares for example. And Poseidon's just totally in denial, so barely anyone even knows about it but Alabaster would just be like- Nope, nope she's mine now. My wife, mine.

Piper dreamed that she was on the Wilderness School dorm roof.

The desert night was cold, but she'd brought blankets, and with Jason next to her, she didn't need any more warmth.

The air smelled of sage and burning mesquite. On the horizon, the Spring Mountains loomed like jagged black teeth, the dim glow of Las Vegas behind them.

The stars were so bright, Piper had been afraid they wouldn't be able to see the meteor shower. She didn't want Jason to think she'd dragged him up here on false pretenses. (Even though her pretenses had been totally false. ) But the meteors did not disappoint. One streaked across the sky almost every minute—a line of white, yellow, or blue fire. Piper was sure her Grandpa Tom would have some Cherokee myth to explain them, but at the moment she was busy creating her own story.

Jason took her hand—finally—and pointed as two meteors skipped across the atmosphere and formed a cross.

"Wow," he said. "I can't believe Leo didn't want to see this. "

"Actually, I didn't invite him," Piper said casually.

Jason smiled. "Oh, yeah?"

"Mm-hmm. You ever feel like three would be a crowd?"

"Yeah," Jason admitted. "Like right now. You know how much trouble we'd get in if we got caught up here?"

"Oh, I'd make up something," Piper said. "I can be very persuasive. So you want to dance, or what?"

He laughed. His eyes were amazing, and his smile was even better in the starlight. "With no music. At night. On a rooftop. Sounds dangerous. "

"I'm a dangerous girl. "

"That, I can believe. "

He stood and offered her his hand. They slow danced a few steps, but it quickly turned into a kiss. Piper almost couldn't kiss him again, because she was too busy smiling.

Then her dream changed—or maybe she was dead in the Underworld—because she found herself back in Medea's department store.

"Please let this be a dream," she murmured, "and not my eternal punishment. Am I dead?"

"No, dear," said a woman's honey-sweet voice. "No punishment."

Piper turned, afraid she'd see Medea, but a different woman stood next to her, browsing through the fifty-percent-off rack.

The woman was gorgeous—shoulder-length hair, a graceful neck, perfect features, and an amazing figure tucked into jeans and a snowy white top.
Piper had seen her share of actresses—most of her dad's dates were knockout beautiful—but this lady was different. She was elegant without trying, fashionable without effort, stunning without makeup. After seeing Aeolus with his silly face-lifts and cosmetics, Piper thought this woman looked even more astonishing. There was nothing artificial about her.

Yet as Piper watched, the woman's appearance changed. Piper couldn't decide the color of her eyes, or the exact color of her hair. The woman became more and more beautiful, as if her image were aligning itself to Piper's thoughts—getting as close as possible to Piper's ideal of beauty.

"Aphrodite," Piper said. "Mom?"

The goddess smiled. "You're only dreaming, my sweet. If anyone wonders, I wasn't here. Okay?"

"I—" Piper wanted to ask a thousand questions, but they all crowded together in her head. And- Leo had said his dad had reached out to him in a dream hadn't he? So this wasn't too weird.

Aphrodite held up a turquoise dress. Piper thought it looked awesome, but the goddess made a face. "This isn't my color, is it? Pity, it's cute. Medea really does have some lovely things here. "

"This—this building exploded," Piper stammered. "I saw it. I caused it."

"Yes," Aphrodite agreed. "I suppose that's why everything's on sale. Just a memory, now. And I'm sorry to pull you out of your other dream. Much more pleasant, I know. "

Piper's face burned. She didn't know whether she was more angry or embarrassed, but mostly she felt hollow with disappointment. "It wasn't real. It never even happened. So why do I remember it so vividly?"

Aphrodite smiled sadly. "Because you are my daughter, Piper. You see possibilities much more vividly than others. You see what could be. And it still might be—don't give up. Unfortunately—" The goddess gestured around the department store. "You have other trials to face, first. Medea will be back, along with many other enemies. The Doors of Death have opened."

"What do you mean?"

Aphrodite winked at her. "You're a smart one, Piper. You know. "

A cold feeling settled over her. "Gaea. She's managed to open a new entrance from the Underworld. She's letting the dead escape back into the world." that wasn't shocking exactly but it wasn't a nice feeling.

"Mmm. And not just any dead. The worst, the most powerful, the ones most likely to hate the gods. And the monsters too- most unfortunate for you young Demigods- they'll just reform almost immediately."

"Yes. Gaea, has a special relationship with Tartarus, the spirit of the pit. " Aphrodite held up a gold sequinned top. "No … this would make me look ridiculous."

Piper laughed uneasily. "You? You can't look anything but perfect, right?"

"You're sweet," Aphrodite said. "But beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself—avoid trying to be something you're not. For a goddess, that's especially hard. We can change so easily."

"My dad thought you were perfect. " Piper's voice quavered. "He never got over you. "

Aphrodite's gaze became distant. "Yes … Tristan. Oh, he was amazing. So gentle and kind, funny and handsome. Yet he had so much sadness inside. I admit I don't always have the best taste- some of my childrens parents- well- they're not so good. You've met your sister after all, she told you about her father. But your father. He was wonderful."

"Could we please not talk about him in the past tense?"

"I'm sorry, dear. I didn't want to leave your father, of course. It's always so hard, but it was for the best. If he had realized who I actually was—"

"Wait—he didn't know you were a goddess?"

"Of course not. " Aphrodite sounded offended. "I wouldn't do that to him. For most mortals, that's simply too hard to accept. It can ruin their lives! Ask your friend Jason—lovely boy, by the way. His poor mother was destroyed when she found out she'd fallen in love with Zeus. No, it was much better Tristan believed that I was a mortal woman who left him without explanation. Better a bittersweet memory than an immortal, unattainable goddess. Which brings me to an important matter …" She opened her hand and showed Piper a glowing glass vial of pink liquid. "This is one of Medea's kinder mixtures. It erases only recent memories. When you save your father, if you can save him, you should give him this. "

Piper couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You want me to dope my dad? You want me to make him forget what he's been through?"

Aphrodite held up the vial. The liquid cast a pink glow over her face. "Your father acts confident, Piper, but he walks a fine line between two worlds. He's worked his whole life to deny the old stories about gods and spirits, yet he fears those stories might be real. He fears that he's shut off an important part of himself, and someday it will destroy him. Now he's been captured by a giant. He's living a nightmare. Even if he survives … if he has to spend the rest of his life with those memories, knowing that gods and spirits walk the earth, it will shatter him. That's what our enemy hopes for. She will break him, and thus break your spirit. "

Piper wanted to shout that Aphrodite was wrong. Her dad was the strongest person she knew. Piper would never take his memories the way Hera had taken Jason's.

But somehow she couldn't stay angry with Aphrodite. She remembered what her dad had said months ago, at the beach at Big Sur: If I really believed in Ghost Country, or animal spirits, or Greek gods. . . I don't think I could sleep at night. I'd always be looking for somebody to blame.

Now Piper wanted someone to blame, too. She wondered if Leo and Jason ever felt like that.

Well, she knew who she'd blame for now. "This is all Gaea's fault."

Aphrodite pursed her lips. She moved to the next rack, which held battered armor and ripped togas, but Aphrodite looked through them as if they were designer outfits. "You have a strong will," she mused. "I'm never given much credit among the gods. My children are laughed at. They're dismissed as conceited and shallow. "

"Drew acts like that sometimes but there's more too her. Right?"

Aphrodite laughed. "Granted. Perhaps I'm conceited and shallow, too, sometimes. A girl has to indulge. Oh, this is nice. " She picked up a burned and stained bronze breastplate and held it up for Piper to see. "No?"

"No," Piper said, shaking her head. "Mom I-"

"Patience, my sweet," the goddess said. "My point is that love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love."

Piper pulled out her dagger and studied its reflective blade. "Like Helen starting the Trojan War?"

"Ah, Katoptris. " Aphrodite smiled. "I'm glad you found it. I get so much flack for that war, but honestly, Paris and Helen were a cute couple. And the heroes of that war are immortal now—at least in the memories of men. Love is powerful, Piper. It can bring even the gods to their knees- and recently the Titans- though perhaps love isn't quite the best word for that little mess- though in the end it was love, sibling love, that motivated the choice that had to be made. In any case I told this to my son Aeneas when he escaped from Troy. He thought he had failed. He thought he was a loser! But he travelled to Italy—"

"And became the forebear of Rome."

"Exactly. You see, Piper, my children can be quite powerful. You can be quite powerful, because my lineage is unique. I am closer to the beginning of creation than any other Olympian. "

Piper struggled to remember about Aphrodite's birth. "Didn't you … rise from the sea? Standing on a seashell?"

The goddess laughed. "That painter Botticelli had quite an imagination. I never stood on a seashell, thank you very much. But yes, I rose from the sea. The first beings to rise from Chaos were the Earth and Sky—Gaea and Ouranos. When their son the Titan Kronos killed Ouranos—"

"By chopping him to pieces with a scythe," Piper remembered.

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. "Yes. The pieces of Ouranos fell into the sea. His immortal essence created sea foam. And from that foam—"

"You were born. I remember now. So you're—"

"The last child of Ouranos, who was greater than the gods or the Titans. So, in a strange way, I'm the eldest Olympian god. As I said, love is a powerful force. And you, my daughter, are much more than a pretty face. That's why you're one of the seven. Though I only know who four of the seven are." the goddess kept her eyes on the rack of tattered armor. "Gaea is dangerous Piper. She has slumbered for eons, but she is slowly waking. Even asleep, she is powerful, but once she wakes … we will be doomed. You must defeat the giants before that happens, and lull Gaea back into her slumber. Otherwise the rebellion has only begun. The dead will continue to rise. Monsters will regenerate with even greater speed. The giants will lay waste to the birthplace of the gods. And if they do that, all civilization will burn. "

"All of this- it feels crazy."

"Do not underestimate her," Aphrodite warned. "She is a cruel deity. She orchestrated Ouranos's death. She gave Kronos the sickle and urged him to kill his own father. While the Titans ruled the world, she slumbered in peace. But when the gods overthrew them, Gaea woke again in all her anger and gave birth to a new race—the giants—to destroy Olympus once and for all. "

"And it's happening again," Piper said. "The rise of the giants. "

Aphrodite nodded. "Now you know. What will you do?"

"Me?" Piper clenched her fists. "What am I supposed to do? Put on a pretty dress and sweet-talk Gaea into going back to sleep?"

"I wish that would work," Aphrodite said. "But no, you will have to find your own strengths, and fight for what you love. Like my favored ones, Helen and Paris. Like my son Aeneas. "

"Helen and Paris died," Piper said.

"And Aeneas became a hero," the goddess countered. "The first great hero of Rome. The result will depend on you, Piper, but I will tell you this: The seven greatest demigods must be gathered to defeat the giants, and that effort will not succeed without you. When the two sides meet … you will be the mediator. You will determine whether there is friendship or bloodshed."

"What two sides?"

Piper's vision began to dim.

"You must wake soon, my child," said the goddess. "I do not always agree with Hera, but she's taken a bold risk, and I agree it must be done. Zeus has kept the two sides apart for too long. Only together will you have the power to save Olympus. Now, wake, and I hope you like the clothes I picked out. "

"What clothes?" Piper demanded, but the dream faded to black.