Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Note***- This story is boy x boy. Don't like? You don't have to read.

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May 26th

Apollo's POV

Judging by Percy's face when I kicked him out of bed, he wished that we could have delayed leaving until what he would deem a more practical time of day. I knew he wasn't exactly a morning person, but how could I resist waking him at the crack of dawn when it meant that I got to start our quest with an adorably sleepy mini-sea god? Besides, the address wasn't exactly close. It would probably take us till early evening just to get there. I would rather not spend more nights then necessary away from the protection of the camp borders.

No one in the city even gave us a second glance and I was grateful for that. I wasn't in the mood to chat today. I would never admit it to anyone, but I was a bit nervous. The time I'd spent as a mortal had given me a healthy respect for exactly how dangerous our world can be to demigods. Though I supposed that if I had to go on a quest, at least I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend/the hero of Olympus at my side. There were worse people to have at you back when you knew you were embarking on a possibly life-threatening adventure.

A quick conversation at the stables and the two of us were on our way. Other then the incredibly uncomfortable feeling of riding a pegasus and the gut churning nerves I was suffering from, I had to admit it was shaping up to be a good day. The sky was a cloudless blue and the weather was warm. This was going to be a breeze.

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Percy's POV

By the time we stopped for lunch, Apollo's mood seemed better. I didn't mention it since I was sure he'd rather ignore it, but it was obvious that he was nervous. I couldn't really blame him He probably knew better then most demigods exactly how dangerous even the most innocent quest can seem.

I wasn't sure why Aphrodite was helping us so much. I had certainly never heard of a quest delivered the way she had. The closest thing was when Ares told us where he had forgotten his shield, and everyone knew exactly how well that turned out. I briefly wondered if this was going to be the same. Maybe Aphrodite had forgotten her necklace when she was meeting up with the god of War. It would make sense. I cringed at the thought. Hopefully there wouldn't be a fence to jump this time since I didn't have Annabeth with me to save us.

Apollo and I had spent most of last night going over every line and memorizing the drawing of the pendant. We were trying our hardest to figure out a hidden agenda. Even he agreed that she almost certainly had one. If she did though, she had hidden it very well. It would probably be like a prophecy though. We'd only be able to understand it once we completed it.

We got to the town just before dark. We did a quick fly over to check out it out, but we didn't want to panic anyone by landing right in the middle of the street. Instead we flew to a grove of trees about a mile away and landed there.

I smiled when Apollo managed to dismount Porkpie with little more than a grimace. The snickering from pegasus said that they had seen it too.

I patted Blackjacks neck and smiled. "Thanks for the ride you guys."

The black winged horse just shook his head. No problem, boss.

I was tempted to ask them to stick around since we wouldn't be that long in town, but I could see he was tired. Apollo and I could wait till morning to head back so they would have enough time to rest. "We'll see you guys in the morning."

Apollo stepped over after the horses left and grabbed my hand. "Shall we go find that necklace?"

I smiled at the sun god, "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

The closer we got to town though, the more unsettled I felt. I couldn't find a single reason that I felt this way, and maybe that's why. I'd been on quests before. Yet the blue skies, lack of monsters, and supposed ease of our task had me on edge. The sheer normalcy of the town had every alarm in my head firing. It looked like every small town in America that I'd ever heard of. A small corner store, the gas station, there was even a little old lady crossing the street. I couldn't think of any reason why Aphrodite would come here. Looking at it, I couldn't really imagine the goddess of love visiting. I had always imagined that she would be like most of her children, preferring big cities and shopping to sleepy small towns that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

I hoped that I was over reacting, but I'd learned to trust my gut about this kind of thing a long time ago. I found myself holding onto Riptide just a little tighter.

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Apollo's POV

So far my first quest had been… very anticlimactic. I mean, sure, technically my main quest was to kill Python, but all I'd done so far for that was minor training. This quest for Venus was the first real step that I'd taken to get my immortality back. I expected there to be Furies swooping down from the skies to impede my progress, or the Minotaur like Percy faced the first time he even went to Camp Half-Blood. Instead, what I got was an old lady pushing a walker down a deserted road of some no-where town. Not exactly the beginnings of an epic quest. I decided that when the Muses wrote ballads singing about how I bested my ancient foe, I may forget to mention exactly how I convinced the love goddess to give me a lift.

It only took us a few minutes to find the address. I wasn't certain exactly what I was expecting, but a cute little blue house with white shutters wasn't it. I was beginning to think that Aphrodite's friend was likely her newest ex. She tended to get bored with her boyfriends very quickly. Most of them lasted no more than a few weeks.

I shrugged. With nothing better to do, I raised a hand and knocked. There was no answer, but the lights were on. I was just about to knock again, when a scream cut through the air. Percy and I shared a look. That had come from inside. He grabbed the door handle and it turned. I barely had the time to roll my eyes at small town habits, before I was racing after my sea prince. Since his hearing was better then mine, I followed him down the hallway. We ended up in a little bedroom at the back of the house.

An Empusa had cornered a girl between a closet and the wall. The girl had black hair and couldn't have been more than nine, yet she was fearlessly fighting the creature back with a floor lamp. The fiery demigoddess ripped the lamp away from her before turning on the two of us with a snarl. The girl saw her attacker's distraction and used it as an opportunity to grab a cup of water from her nightstand and throw it on the fire demons head.

The Empusa let out an inhuman screech and in the blink of an eye, turned to attack the girl. Before her claws could even make contact though, Percy was across the room and had Riptide buried through her chest. As the creature exploded into a fine gold powder, my attention was caught by something else.

The little girl looked shocked only for a few seconds, before she recovered. Then, she stepped forward and punched Percy in the shoulder.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house."

The son of the sea god grabbed his arm, more out of surprise then pain. "We heard you scream. We came to help."

"I was doing fine on my own. Did you hear me ask you to come help me?"

"Well, no, but…"

She put her hands on her hips and gave Percy the most intense glare a nine-year-old could give. "There is no but, get out of my house or I'll call the police."

I stepped in and tried to defuse the situation. "We didn't mean to interfere. My boyfriend here was just trying to help. This is Percy, and you can call me Fred. What's your name?"

Her glare switched between the two of us like she was trying to decide if telling us would be a good idea or not. After a few seconds she seemed to decide that we weren't a threat. "Rin Wong."

I smiled, "That's a nice name. I have a question for you Rin, that necklace your wearing, did you get that from your mom?"

Her eyes doubled in size and she took a step back, covering the pink mother of pearl pendant. "How did you know that?"

Judging by the stunned look on Percy's face, he'd just figured out the connection as well. "We know her. She sent us here to get you."

Rin gasped. "She did?" I nodded, and she smiled. "Is she here? Am I going to live with her since you killed Mrs. Anderson?"

"Who?"

She pointed to the powder on the ground. "Mrs. Anderson, she's been taking care of me since my dad died. I didn't like her. She seemed pretty and nice to everyone else, but she was mean. She told me today that she had been waiting but she needed to be sure and then her hair caught fire and she attacked me."

Percy and I shared a wince as we filled in the blanks. It wasn't unusual for monsters to disguise themselves as humans when they were trailing a demigod. I wasn't sure how to answer her questions either. I felt a jolt of pain go through me as I started to wonder if any of my kids had ever asked the same questions when someone came to bring them to safety.

The young god smiled and shook his head sadly. "It's complicated. But we're going to bring you somewhere safe from people like her. The people back at camp will be able to explain it better."

Rin frowned at that. It seemed like she didn't trust us completely, which was understandable. We had broken into her house and killed her caretaker. I mentally cringed but I knew that we had no choice. "Rin, have you ever heard of Greek mythology?"

She seemed confused, but she nodded. "Ya, we learned about in school this year. They used to think that the gods made things like lightening, and moved the sun, and made things grow in the spring."

I heard Percy suppress a chuckle when she mentioned the sun and I couldn't help smiling too. "Yes, exactly. Well I think that your mom might be Venus, the goddess of love."

"My daddy always said my mom's name was Aphrodite."

Percy raised an eyebrow at me. I nodded. We may have been sent by Venus, but this little girl was a Greek. "People call her different names. Aphrodite is her real name. You can think of Venus like a nickname."

"Oh," She looked like she was thinking over what we had said. I hope she accepted it at face value because I didn't know how to convince people of my own existence and I wasn't going to kidnap a child. She nodded like she'd come to a decision and looked at us. "Okay."

I had a feeling she didn't really believe us, but if she was willing to come back to camp, someone else could explain things to her better. "Alright then, follow us."

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Hi. Ya… not dead. I have had this chapter done since July. I didnt post it though because I absolutley hated it. I honestly thought it was the worst piece of trash I had ever read. I just reread it again to see if i could salvage any of it and I realized that I no longer think its terrible. So here it is. :-) hopefully I wont make you wait too long for the next one. It's already planned out so if all goes well you'll get it this weekend.