Finally, another chapter. Not much action in this chapter. It really only takes place in the span of maybe a few hours. Anyway, hopefully more excitement in the next chapter or so.

Chapter 7

"Pucker," Eri said as she picked up a lip gloss from her extensive collection. She had chosen a slightly pink tinted one. Izzy, as commanded, puckered, a little too much. "Okay, not that much, you look like a duck."

Izzy's face slackened. Eri had already threatened to stop with Izzy's make-over once. She didn't want it to happen again. "How do you want me to pucker?"

She was sitting on the counter in the bathroom. Char was going through her clothes, making alterations on certain items. Eri had brought all her makeup over from her cabin, as she learned that Izzy owned none. And then there was Trixie, who had come looking for Izzy when the daughter of two demigods hadn't showed for lunch. Upon discovering the three in the Hermes cabin, she decided she'd 'supervise' as the only actual child of Hermes. Really, she was trying to convince Izzy out of the make-over.

"Not like a mallard," Trixie said. She was testing Eri's nail polish on her nails, as long as she was there. So far she had seven different colors on her nails, and wasn't near halfway through looking at the colors.

"Just, relax your lips," Eri said, rolling her light blue eyes at Trixie's remarks. "And lightly pucker." Izzy did as Eri instructed, keeping her lips relaxed as she slightly puckered her lips. Eri lightly brushed the gloss on Izzy's lips.

"You think that it needs to be tinted?" Trixie asked.

"Sonny likes pink lips." Eri said.

"I should have known what this was about," Trixie said.

"You don't approve?" Eri asked, grabbing a tissue. She handed it to Izzy. "Blot lightly."

"I never said that," Trixie said as Izzy blotted. "But do you really think Sonny can handle four girls?"

"Sonny can handle twenty if he wanted to," Char said from the next room over. "Izzy, you're so thin and your stomach is so flat, so I'm going turn all these camp shirts into crop tops, okay?"

"Okay," Izzy said, the idea really more just glossing over her head.

"And I'm going to take off the cuffs of the sleeves, and do something about the crew neck cuts," Char added. She peeked her head in. "What would you think about a belly piercing?"

"What, no," Izzy shook her head. "My parents would kill me… never mind them, Addy would kill me."

"It's weird," Trixie said. "You'd think that Addy would be the wild child between the two of you, but wasn't she disappointed that you were drinking last night?"

Izzy nodded. "Yeah, our father and Uncle Conner let her be pretty independent, so she's into parties and doing wild things, but she doesn't drink and will never do drugs, and doesn't like any body piercings besides the ears."

"And your mom kept you on a tighter leash," Eri asked. "Making you need to act out?"

"What, no, it's not like that," Izzy said with desperation. "I don't act out… I just… I don't know. It didn't seem like a bad idea last night. Anyway, everyone was doing it."

"That's true," Eri said. She smiled and clapped Izzy on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll build your tolerance."

Izzy looked down. She wasn't sure if hanging with Char and Eri… and probably Leiko was necessarily a good idea. They were a few years older, and she knew Addy wouldn't approve. After all, Izzy did have Trixie to spend time with, and Addy seemed to have made a few friends their age as well.

"Now, to really do something with this hair," Eri said. "It's so long, but you don't really spend time on it, do you?"

"I guess not," Izzy said.

"Char, I need the scissors," Eri called. "We're giving this girl layers."

Trixie snorted. "Are you qualified to cut her hair?"

"I am studying to be a beautician," Eri said. "Thank you very much. I'm more qualified here than anyone else." She turned back to Izzy. "Okay, kid, you need to get off the counter. We need a chair."

"There aren't any chairs in here," Trixie said. "Too many beds for chairs."

"The Athena cabin has swivel chairs," Char said.

"On it," Trixie said and slipped off the counter and out the door within two seconds.

"What's she doing?" Izzy asked, furrowing her brow.

"Stealing one," Char said. "It's what those kids do, you know."

"Yeah, I hear that your father and uncle were famous for what they pulled while here," Eri said to Izzy.

"I remembered their names from when I first arrived," Char said. She smiled. "You have the same bunk I had when I first arrived here."

"You stayed in this bunk?" Izzy asked, confused.

"I was here for a few weeks before I was claimed," Char said. "Unclaimed campers stay in the Hermes cabin."

"How long ago was that?" Izzy asked, interest growing in her.

"About five years ago," Char said. She walked into the bathroom and held up a shirt. She had cut it pretty short. "Like it?"

Izzy was a little shocked. She nodded anyway. "Yeah, it looks great."

Char smiled. "Okay, I need you to tell me which pants I can and can't cut."

"Pants?" Izzy asked.

"Well, your only shorts are rather longish," Char said. "Unless I can cut those, but I don't want to butcher your favorite jeans."

"Oh, um, I think there are a pair in there that are bootcut," Izzy said. "Frayed at the bottom."

"Or, you could steal from your sister," Eri said. "What, with all her shorts and skirts from her Aphrodite blessing." She smiled at the younger girl. "You know, you could ask for a blessing as well."

"Oh, no, they did that to her because they figured she would hate it," Izzy said. "Which she does. They'd figure I would want it and do something to make me less pretty."

"They can't," Char said, chuckling.

"Well, unless they took a sword to your face, but that would get them into serious trouble," Eri said. "But, magically, they can only improve looks."

"Well, I guess it's a slight relief," Izzy said.

After lunch, Addy was getting a little worried about her sister, but she joined Alex at the arena to watch the Ares practice time. All of Sloan's siblings were still congratulating, and then challenging him to duals, all of which Sloan was winning. Of course, after his win against Sonny, Sloan had built a little fan club of his own of Aphrodite girls.

"So, I guess I did him a favor," Addy said. "By being an idiot last night and him having to step in to save my butt, he's got a flock of DOAs after him now."

"What guy wouldn't want that?" Alex questioned, as several of the girls cheered as Sloan defeated yet another of his older brothers. As there were no more challengers, he instructed his siblings to all pick up a weapon, for some practice in movements and techniques.

Watching the whole cabin move as one, each carrying a sword, was fascinating to Addy. She had thought that the whole Ares cabin was a bunch of block-heads that just liked to hit things with weapons, but watching them as they simply practiced and moved slowly, with precision and strength, reminded her of people in Tai Chi. Clearly, working with a sword wasn't just swinging wildly, it was an art.

"Oh, look at Sloan's muscles," one Aphrodite girl said with a high pitched voice.

"And how graceful he is," another said.

"And how he's at least three years younger than either of you," Addy threw her own statement, imitating their high-pitched voices.

The Aphrodite girls all glared at her, before turning back to watch the boys again. It was a few minutes later that Sloan released them all to each chose a partner to practice sparing some more. He, however, turned toward the stands and made his way up to Addy and Alex. "So, what, I'm like the entertainment here now?" he asked, taking a drink from his water bottle.

"Apparently," Addy said. "Anyway, I figured it be good to watch some better fighters practice to see what I'm doing wrong." She cocked her head. "Why don't you ever do the slow movements with me?"

"Because those are advanced techniques that you couldn't hope to accomplish in a million years," Sloan said. But then he nodded. "I guess I could help you with your beginners techniques slowly."

"Hey, so, I've decided to make a morning star," Alex said. "What do you think? Want to add that to your collection?"

Sloan smiled at her. "Yeah, that'd make a few shield shatter," he said.

Alex smiled. "Good, cause I've already begun," she said. "Now, I'm going to go finish it." And just like that, she was off.

"Okay, and now I think it's about time you get to your next activity with your cabin," Sloan said to Addy, offering a hand to help her stand. Of course, he pulled her up a little too hard, and because she was still unpracticed in heels that she now had to wear because of the DOAs, she fell forward against Sloan with a small, "oomph." She blushed a moment before standing up straight.

"Sorry about that," Addy said, looping a strand of her long hair behind an ear.

"Wha-" Sloan was entranced for a moment, before he shook his head. "Oh, no, it's not your fault," Sloan said. He looked a little jittery.

She heard a little bicker from the Aphrodite girls, and suddenly, she shrank an inch. She looked down to see pants with holes in the knees, sneakers on her feet, and a slightly baggy Camp shirt. She reached up to find her hair was shorter again, and it even felt a little messy. Her face felt light, like it was make-up free. She smiled brightly, but didn't let it show to the girls how glad she was to be herself again.

"Let's get your sword," Sloan said to Addy. "You've still got a lot of work to catch up with your swordplay."

The girls sighed as Addy jumped down the bleachers, taking two at a time. "I've got to get my sword," she said, and turned toward her cabin, running now that she wasn't in heels, but her own sneakers. She wasn't as fast as Izzy, she never would be and she knew that, but it was still nice to be able to run without tripping over herself with every step.

However, just as she reached the cabin areas, the Hermes cabin opened and Char walked out with three girls in tow. Addy immediately recognized Trixie, who was nice but just only. One girl was a blonde she could only recall seeing around. It took her a moment, however, to realize that the last was her own sister.

"Oh, well, look at you," Char said. "That blessing didn't last long at all, now did it?"

"Blessing, that was a curse," Addy said. "I swear, I almost sprained my ankle every five steps." She allowed her eyes to travel over her sister. "Been making up your own little blessing-curse?"

"It's natural," Izzy said, her cheeks reddening.

"Your eyelashes are not that long naturally," Addy said. She poked at Izzy's side, where her stomach was showing quite a bit. Izzy flinched a bit. "Seriously, Iz? What is this about?"

"Well, everyone was giving you so much attention," Izzy said, her eyes traveling down. "I just wanted a little of my own."

"She wants Sonny to see her," Trixie said. Izzy frowned and gave her a look. "What, it's true."

"Seriously? He's sort of a deuche," Addy said.

Eri's eyes widened. "You take that back! Just because he's not interested in you doesn't give you the right to lie about him."

Addy narrowed her eyes. In an effort to not hurt her sister, she didn't bring up what the archery contest had really been about. "I'm just getting my sword," she said. She turned to Izzy. "Really, Iz, you don't need him. He's probably too old for you anyway."

"But..." Izzy allowed the words to fade from her mouth looking at her sister.

Addy turned and walked to her own cabin. Throwing the door open, however, she found Sonny and Leiko, Sonny pulling a shoe on and Leiko brushing out some of her long black hair. The senior Demeter camper wasn't wearing a shirt, just a flowered yellow bra.

"Oh, whoa... don't need to see that," Addy said, averting her eyes.

Sonny's blue eyes looked at her, still studying her, while Leiko grabbed a shirt and pulled it on quickly. "Oh, Addy, your blessing is gone."

"Yeah, thank gods," Addy said walking to her bunk and grabbing her sword, strapping on a belt and slipping the sword in its scabbards. "Oh, and Sonny, your little band of merry followers were just leaving the Hermes cabin."

"Oh, Char and Eri?" Leiko asked, her eyes lighting up a bit. She smiled and began bounding out of the cabin.

"You know," Sonny said standing up and approaching her. "That blessing didn't really change how you look. It didn't change your body or face, just how you dressed it up." He leaned close to her. "The option of private lessons is still available."

"Do I seriously have to turn you down again?" Addy asked. "N-O." She shook her head. "It's not going to happen." She put her hands on her hips. She looked down for a moment. "Why are you showing interest in my and not Izzy?"

Sonny chuckled a bit. "Seriously? I could have her in a second, so why would I waste my time. Sometimes, I like a challenge."

"Well, unless you plan to rape me, you're on an impossible task," Addy said. She grabbed her sunglasses, glad that she hadn't grabbed them while under the blessing or they'd have been turned girly.

"Good thing I've accomplished an impossible quest before," Sonny said. "I killed the Manticore." He smirked as if that would make him more attractive.

"My parents were both heads of cabins during the Second Titan war," Addy said. "I met Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase at my parents second wedding, along with their daughter Bianca and son Luke, adorable though powerless as of yet. They have done much more than you have, so consider me unimpressed."

Sonny backed out of the cabin, his eyes still on her. "I will have you by the end of the summer," he said. "Trust me on this."

"Oh, I didn't realize you were an oracle as well," Addy said. She pushed past him and out of the cabin. She was running late and knew Sloan would wonder where she was. However, Char, Leiko, Eri, and now Izzy were waiting for Sonny not more than ten feet away. She heard him greet them all, and glanced over, to see he had his arms around Izzy and Eri, appraising Izzy's new look. She sighed, not knowing what to do for her sister.

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