"Drew, darling."
Drew opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in a garden. Sitting on a marble bench was a woman. She was beautiful, with silky black hair tied in a braid and brown eyes. In one hand was a parasol, shading her from the sun.
"Mom?"
"Yes, my dear. I am Aphrodite."
"But why...?"
"You have been struggling with love, recently, have you not?"
"I..."
"Don't be afraid to admit it, Drew. Eros hits everyone hard at least at one point in their lives."
"But Mom, I can't do it again."
"Of course you can. Your heart has been too hard of late. Love is the only thing that can fix it for you."
"But...don't you believe in breaking hearts?"
"Of course I do. It's quite fun. But Drew, the most fun is in allowing yourself the freedom to have your heart broken."
"I don't understand."
"You've been building a wall around your heart, believing that it will make you happier. But no one is happier when they don't allow themselves to live. To be hurt. Love is going to hurt, Drew dear. It takes you lower than you've ever been before. But it also takes you much, much higher. You just have to find someone who gives you more highs than lows."
"But what if I don't want to go high?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Now, I am going to send you on a quest-"
"But-"
"Don't interrupt. I am going to send you on a quest, and you had better find love by the end."
"Are you...ordering me to love someone?"
"Of course, I am. I'm Aphrodite. Now, goodnight, darling."
"But..."
The scene disappeared, and Drew found herself sitting up in the Zeus cabin.
Two dreams in one night. She groaned and lay back down.
A quest...she'd never been on a quest before, and honestly she never really wanted to. For some reason, danger and death weren't that appealing to her.
She absently wondered what the quest was going to be, but then she decided it didn't matter. Right now, she needed to get some sleep.
She woke up early the next morning. Jason was already gone, his bedroll neatly rolled up and put away. Percy, on the other hand, was lying on his side, drooling.
Drew shook her head in amusement, before turning to clean up her bed. She was having trouble processing all that had happened last night. Piper wanted to be her friend, Jason saved her from the harpies, and Aphrodite wanted her to go on a quest.
It didn't make sense. Each thing was odd enough by themselves, but why would they all be happening at once? Was Piper right? Had she changed that dramatically because of Reyna? Well, not just Reyna. Drew was pretty sure losing control of her cabin helped a bit too, both as a loosening of responsibility and as a check in her pride.
The door swung open, and Annabeth stepped inside. She glanced around, assessing the situation, then looked at Drew, "What are you doing in here?"
"It's...complicated," Drew finished rolling up the sleeping bag and tossed it down next to Percy, standing up, "I should go."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Did Percy stay here all night?"
"Yeah." Annabeth always made her feel uncomfortable. "You know, had to follow the opposite gender rule."
"But why?"
"I need to get back to my cabin. You can talk to Percy, when he wakes up," Drew hurried out of the cabin.
When she reached the Aphrodite cabin, she walked in quickly, not making eye contact with anyone, making a beeline for the shower, which, thankfully, was unoccupied.
Some breakfast, a couple classes, lunch, and a few more classes later, she still was avoiding everyone. Opting to train against a dummy rather than one of her own siblings.
Frank ended up helping her with archery, mostly because he was afraid otherwise she would take someone's eye out. Though, of course, he was way too nice to actually say that.
"No, you have to pull the string all the way back to your ear."
Drew tried. Funny how she could practice archery for so long and still fail so miserably.
"Fine, you can pull it back to your cheek. Then look along the line of the arrow, where the tip of the arrow is pointing is where it's going to fly." He adjusted her aim by a fraction of an inch. "Good. Now release the string."
Drew obeyed, but the arrow still landed a foot short of the target.
"Hmm. Maybe if you lifted the bow higher..."
"I don't think so," Drew dropped the bow and sat down in the grass. "I'm just not very good at aiming."
"But with practice-"
"Nah. I've practiced for years. But let's see you do it."
"Me?"
"Yeah, this is a practice session for everyone."
"Okay..." Frank picked up the bow and nocked an arrow onto it with the skill of a master. He raised it, and after only a moment to aim, he let it fly. It hit right on target.
Drew clapped. "The children if Apollo would be proud."
Frank blushed, "Well, I'm not sure I'm as good as they are."
"Definitely as good as, you might even be better, I'm not sure."
"Thanks."
