Percy POV
After we arrived to the man's house he talked with his sister in private about Sharon going to camp. Or at least he thought it was private, not for me. My hell-hound sharp senses let me know he did not trust me at all. I wanted to stop listening to them but my curiosity got the best of me.
I thought back to the moment when I turned seventeen in front of her, she was captivated by my image and bad people could take advantage of her innocence. She needed to be taught about the truth of the real world, that people out there were not like her aunt and father. The world was filled with despicable people and she was not ready for it. I thought back to when I was losing control and hated myself, her poor father would not have been able to stop me and I would have…. I could not even finish the thought.
"Percy, my dad said I would have brothers and sisters there. How does that work? Are they actually my real family?" I turned my attention to Sharon and wondered about that as well. Yes, they were all her real siblings, they all had the essence of their godly parent and that made them family. Their parents gave them a part of their essence, and that was the magical version of their DNA. No, it was even greater than that. Essence actually made them who they are in more than just their physical appearance, it also gave them their same fatal flaws, their strengths, powers and personalities.
"Yes, when I meet other children of Poseidon I can see my father and myself in them. We are all very loyal to our families, quite unpredictable and hard to control. When you see your brothers and sisters you will feel an instant connection to them, you might not like all of them but you will know they are your family and you will probably get to love them all." Sharon looked at me attentively and I could see hope in her eyes. From the looks of it she really wanted a bigger family.
"I'm packed up, are both of you ready?" I turned around to see a shaved Kevin in some jeans, a white shirt with a leather jacket. He carried a duffel bag over his shoulder and held a celestial bronze knife on his left hand. He also looked quite handsome and younger, he could have easily passed for a model in his late twenties. I grabbed my backpack from the sofa and nodded. Sharon grabbed her own duffel bag and put it over her shoulder just like her father.
"Sharon why don't you go ahead and turn on my car, I haven't used it in a few days and the battery might have trouble starting up." He handed her his keys and watched as she went outside to turn on the car. Kevin then looked at me and took a deep breath.
"Percy, I been actor for a few years now and I have gotten pretty good at it. You see, acting is all about lying, it's about making people believe you are something you are not." Shit, he called me out as a liar.
"I know you are hiding something from us, you might think it's for the best and that might be true so I won't question you. I will not ask the whole truth from you because I can see that you are a decent person but don't let your hubris get the best of you." Kevin walked towards the door and closed it behind him. Hubris? Was I really that prideful? Did I really believe that I was better than anyone else? I thought back to the moments when I boasted about myself and felt shame. I had to keep so many things in check now that the personalities of many gods were engraved into me. Athena's pride, Himeros vanity and Hephaestus' self doubt. I already thought I could solve everything myself with my new power, I already considered myself handsome and irresistible by woman and my self doubt made me avoid the mark of Himeros by transforming into a younger body instead of fighting it head on-
"Percy!" I turned to see an irritated Sharon holding the door open and I stepped out of their home. Sharon just locked the door and looked at me waiting.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something and must have lost track of time." I opened the back door of the man's car and put on my seat belt. Sharon rode in the back with me and we drove to the city to take a highway to New York. I spend hours talking to Sharon and I was starting to feel a connection to her. I thought we would have talked all night but Kevin only wanted to drive during the day, so we stayed in a hotel room to rest when it got dark.
Kevin obviously stayed in a room with his daughter and paid a separate room for me. Since he was only a room away I could hear him talking to his daughter, it was all sweet and showed me he really cared for her. It was sweet until I heard him ask Sharon if I made any moves on her and if I did to tell him so that he could ditch me and take her to camp alone. I really felt insulted, I would never deliberately make a move on someone so impressionable just to I could sex them. I wanted to feel angry at Kevin but he was in the right to distrust me so I just mist traveled a few hundred meters away from the building because I wanted to hear no more.
Kevin might have his reasons but I would never do anything to her willingly, I was starting to grow fond of Sharon and not in the sexual way. This fondness was not like with Allie and Clarisse, it was different... like the fondness I felt for Maggie. She was so easy to educate, a very impressionable young girl that always tried to be a good person. Sure, there were little jokes here and there but other than that she was like a daughter.
I was so busy contemplating my current situation I did not notice the goddess of love herself flash behind me. Too late did I smell her perfume but I refused to turn around to look at her, she had the tendency to look like the person I loved the most and that truly scared me. Out of all the Olympians she was the one I feared the most, not because of her raw power but because of her domain.
"Don't worry about finding me irresistible Percy. I too took advice from Hestia and I am in my eight year old form." I sighed in relief and turned around to see a very pretty eight year old girl. Immediately I felt my cheeks flush and I was confused. It must be because an eight year old me would have found her attractive, her matching my age was just working against me. I took a closer look at her and found no desire just mild shyness and some heat in my cheeks.
"I can see that this is really not working. You are as red as a tomato Percy." I felt my cheeks flare up again and I looked away.
"Lady Aphrodite, I think it would be best if you changed back to your regular form." I could sense the power radiating from Aphrodite as transformed back into her regular form.
"Better?" I turned to look at Aphrodite and like magic I was comfortable again. I nodded my head and took another look at her, she was a beautiful woman but I felt nothing for her now. This was the way I liked it.
"Your daughter is safe with me Lady Aphrodite. I will not do anything to her or influence her in anyway for selfish motives. While I am in this form my lust is under control." Aphrodite just smiled but I could see sadness in her eyes.
"Is there something wrong? You pity me don't you?" Aphrodite gave me a look of confusion but shook her head.
"It is not that, I wanted to bring you some news about the camp and the council." This caught my attention. The campers were probably worried about me or even worse thought that Zeus had killed me. I could imagine them all in uproar, they needed to know I was alive and that I will always look out for them. Even after everything that happened I still considered them my family, I was even on the journey to bring them a fellow sister.
"They think that you are dead." I knew it, it was the logical conclusion but why did she have to tell me this herself. It would have been better if I had just shown up at the camp, they would have realized I was alive and that the Olympians would never do something like that.
"And they are happy." What? They are happy that I am dead? This does not make any sense. The feeling of betrayal was overwhelming but I could not blame them. After my little stunt they all feared for their lives. All I felt now was immense sadness and this was a pain that the mark of Himeros could not stop.
"Ever since you left they are all happy and the campers are behaving and working better than ever. They worship us more and thank us for looking out for them. We wanted to correct the rumor but apparently it has worked out for the best. The council reluctantly passed the notion and that means you can't take Sharon back to the camp..." I could not believe what I was hearing but I accepted my fate. I was never going back if that's what the campers really wanted.
It was just so hard to believe, what about Thalia? The Stolls? Nico would know I was alive for sure, all of this things the Olympians would have to do to make sure everyone thought I was dead.
"What about Sharon, she knows I'm alive. She still has so much to learn. She is very naive and I know some campers will try to take advantage of that." Aphrodite looked saddened and sighed.
"Kevin and his sister did a good job raising her to be a good person but they sheltered her too much from the evils of the world. I worry about her too but as a god I cannot interfere much since ancient laws forbid it. You will have to let her know of this and convince her to not say a word about you." I instantly felt sad for her as well. I could only imagine how it must feel to not be allowed to help your own children because you were a god. It was obvious she wanted to help Sharon but could do very little for her, giving Kevin a magical weapon was already too much intrusion and now that I could not guide her into camp things were going to be harder for her.
Suddenly I had an idea but I was not sure if it was going to work. I wondered if I could give Sharon my blessing. Since I was not really a god it would not really be a blessing, more like a part of my soul and power to help guide her. I will give her a part of my essence to ensure she was safe wherever she went.
"Lady Aphrodite, ever since I learned about essence, souls and power I've been wondering if it was possible for someone like me to give out my blessing or something along the lines of it?" The love goddess looked at me and grinned.
"Percy, are you thinking of giving a daughter of mine a part of you?" I thought about it and yes, I wanted to give Sharon a part of me. It will be like my blessing to her so that even when I was not there, I would be looking out for her. She was a good person and she needed to be well armed. She had to know that even thought I was leaving her, I was not leaving her defenseless.
"Yes, I will not be able to take care of her at the camp either and I know there are a few bad people there that will try to take advantage of her. Of course I don't mean it in the sexual way, there are more ways people could try to take advantage of her innocence. I know that if I give her a part of my essence she will inherit some of my skills and knowledge." Aphrodite squinted at me and tilted her head like if she was thinking really hard.
"I actually don't know Percy. I rarely given out my blessing and I am not one of the smartest gods. All that about essence, soul and power has never really been my strong point." Aphrodite looked down in shame and I saw her smile falter. I could not believe what I was hearing. She was an Olympian, one of the strongest gods, truly the god I feared the most yet she was insecure.
"Do you know our of all of the gods on the council you are the one I fear the most?" Aphrodite eyed me curiously and I immediately regretted telling her that. It must have been a moment of weakness or the stupid mark of Himeros.
"You fear me? Why?" I don't know what took control over me but I spilled my secret to the love goddess.
"I… I will do anything for those that I love. My family, my friends, my lover…" Aphrodite eyes widened and she looked very surprised.
"Your power of charm speak is scary, your power to influence feelings of love in people even more. You have seen what the mark of Himeros has done to me, I don't like it one bit. My life with Annabeth and Clarisse went to shit and I believe you had every intention to letting our love happen, I can only imagine what would have been of us if you ever outright hated me." I looked at the floor and I heard Aphrodite walking over to me. I refused to look up at her because I did not know her reaction of what she was going to say so I just kept my head down.
"I only ever wanted to make your love life interesting, make it the best. I wanted you to have the greatest love story of all, one that showed that you went through many hardships and your love still prevailed…" I looked at Aphrodite and understood where she was coming from. Was she saying that if Annabeth and I had stayed together our story would have been the best? Alas, not even Aphrodite can control love itself. Regardless, I was grateful that she wanted me to have a happy ending and smiled at the love goddess.
"You might also want to change your appearance for when you help future demigods. If they go to camp they will probably say that a raven haired boy with sea green eyes helped them to camp. Even if your seven year old form that might arouse some suspicion as you are the only demigod child of Poseidon." As Aphrodite said this I automatically nodded my head but I had no idea of how to do that, it would require a lot of concentration and new powers to change my body, powers I did not have.
"Could you teach me how to do it?" Aphrodite pouted then shook her head.
"Sorry Percy, when I became the love of goddess I naturally got the ability. I never learned how to do that my given power. I can give you my blessing though, it will make it really easy for you to change your appearance at will, especially since you know how to control your essence." I thought about this for a second. I had to be very careful of accepting the blessing of the gods. Hades had made it clear that it would affect me and not always in a positive way.
On the other hand I already had Himeros' blessing. Aphrodite's blessing could not be that much different, I already knew of the consequences and knew to watch out for her fatal flaw. Also Aphrodite was not like Himeros or Nemesis, our conversation felt genuine and I could find no deceit in her words.I was really inclined to trust her, from what I could tell she was not angry at me for tricking Kevin and Sharon, she was also happy that I wanted to give Sharon a part of me to watch over her.
"I would be honored Lady Aphrodite." I did not know what to expect but Aphrodite just walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I felt the small surge of power of power enter my body and noticed there was very little change in me.
"I don't really feel any different…" Aphrodite pouted again, she look quite cute when she did that but I was not attracted to her in any way. At least not while I was in this form.
"My son's blessing must have covered all of my powers. Do you agree?"
"Probably, I do feel a bit stronger but other than that my powers feel the same." That's when I heard her giggle and I just looked at her stupidly.
"You just answered in french Percy. You did not notice I asked you in another language." I was shocked at the revelation. I thought I was speaking in English the whole time, maybe most of her powers were passive for the most part. That was irrelevant though, I needed to know how to change my appearance, that way I will not be recognized.
"How do I change my appearance now? Do I just will my body to transform or infuse it with energy to force a change?" Aphrodite tilted her head and looked to her left.
"I guess you just will it to happen. It always works for me." I tried to transform myself to change but it did not work. I remembered that when I tried to mist travel I had to picture the location i wanted to end up on. Maybe it is similar for all godly abilities. I then started imagining myself with brown hair and gray eyes like Athena. I don't know why I wanted them but they radiated wisdom and I wanted to show that I was smart.
"Those gray eyes don't look any good on you Percy. Let me help you with that." In less than a second Aphrodite poked my forehead and smiled.
"What did you do?" Aphrodite just giggled and created a mirror. I looked at my reflection and became enthralled with my image. I looked beautiful with my kaleidoscope eyes, I slowly touched my face in awe but Aphrodite pulled the mirror away.
"No Percy, your beauty is for others to enjoy not for you." I shook my head trying to shake that feeling away. I can't believe I was seriously doing that, I was a warrior not a model.
"I have to leave soon, but before I leave, your father told me that if you ever need someone to talk to you do not have to be afraid to Iris message him. He will gladly take you into his kingdom, he regrets not being able to help you more." I nodded and thanked him in my head. I had not talked to him for a long time and he must be feeling left out. I was going to make sure I offered him some food next time I had a decent meal.
"You should probably go back to Sharon and Kevin now. I can sense some monsters are after both of your scents and they are getting close." Aphrodite winked at me before flashing away. I have no idea why but I found myself blushing anyways. I really hope that this is only exclusive to her, it would be a shame if my younger form was no longer working.
I focused back on my room and mist traveled there. Aphrodite told me there were monsters nearby and sure enough I started to sense them. I pulled out my escrimas and readied myself. It has been a while since I last killed some monsters and the camp's news were not particularly making me happy. Those monsters sure chose the wrong demigods to go after.