Chapter 4: The Lovely Storm
Thalia took us to the camp and sat us down around a large camp fire.
When we got there a girl with auburn hair and silvery eyes approached us.
Everyone seemed to bow.
I kind of looked foolish being the only one who didn't bow, so when she approached me I gave a quick bow.
"Greetings Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Noel, and Juliet," she said.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" I asked.
Thalia and Annabeth both had a look of horror on their faces.
"I am Lady Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and Hunt," she replied.
"Holy Hera, I'm so sorry Lady Artemis, I meant no disrespect," I said.
"It's alright my dear, please sit," she said.
We told her of our quest and why we were at their campsite.
The three boys were given a tent for themselves and went to pitch it away from the Hunters which Annabeth and I were staying with.
As we ate, I noticed a girl in the corner with long golden hair and perfect skin. I walked over towards her and noticed that it was Spencer, the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Spencer?"
"Juliet!" she said standing up quickly. "What are you doing here?"
"Um, we needed to speak with Thalia," I replied. "Why are you here? I thought Aphrodite hated Artemis and the Hunters."
"Hate is a strong word," she reminded me. "More like strongly dislikes."
"Yeah whatever," I replied.
"Well, after you guys left, I looked at the Hunter flyer I had gotten the last time the Hunters were at the camp and I was sick of men," Spencer said.
I was shocked to hear that a daughter of Aphrodite was sick on men.
"It's wonderful," she added. "I'm so happy. You and Annabeth should join then we could be sisters forever!"
"Spencer, I'm on a quest to save a boy," I said.
"And let me guess you've already fought a monster?"
I nodded.
"Well, it's only going to get worse and more difficult," she said. "By the way, is Percy here?"
"Yeah, he's in the tent far away from us," I said.
"Oh, I was just wondering," she said.
That night, one of the hunter's, a nymph, made me some herbal tea to help me sleep.
I was so tired that I didn't dream, or when I woke I couldn't remember it.
The next morning as we sat around talking, the wind started to pick up and became a pinkish color.
A woman with flawless skin, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes stood before us.
"Oh snap," Spencer said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"My mother."
"Aphrodite, what did I do to deserve this pleasure?" asked Artemis.
"You recruited my daughter!"
"She chose of her own free will," Artemis replied.
I looked at Spencer, who seemed a bit different. She didn't have the same glow as she did last night.
Aphrodite looked at Spencer and me.
"Yes, she did," she said with a sly grin on her face.
"I knew there must be a reason you joined and it was all for love," she said hugging Spencer. "That's my girl. Now look at my other beautiful daughter, risking everything for true love, how romantic!"
"Other daughter?" Spencer said. "Where?"
My jaw dropped. It couldn't be, there must be a mistake or something….I couldn't be the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Juliet, of course!" she said hugging me.
"Aphrodite, I mean Mom, I can't breathe," I replied.
She let go and smiled at us.
"Two little heartbreakers," she sighed.
Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Noel had a shocked look on their faces. Even the hunters were shocked.
Aphrodite created a pink heart made of smoke and set it above me before it disappeared.
"Why did you claim me before?" I asked. "I mean, most kids go to camp at twelve or thirteen."
"Sweetie, you were a tomboy and since you dad didn't know that much, who by the way is still good looking, I figure you were safe and then when you met Luke at the café and told the harpy she need better night cream, I was like 'That's my girl!' I wanted to come down and claim you instead of sending a sign," she said. "And I have a gift for you."
She pulled out a golden colored whip from the middle of nowhere and handed it to me.
"Thanks," I told her.
"Put it around your neck," she said.
I did as she said and the whip shrunk to a golden necklace with the words "heartbreaker" on it.
"You're welcome," she said. "Now, good luck on your quest my dear," she told me.
"Oh and Percy, I told you I'd make it difficult for you," she said as she disappeared into a pink blur.
"Well," Thalia said. "I didn't see that one coming."
After that as the Hunters packed up, we talked with Thalia.
"Thalia, do you have anything of Luke's?" I asked. She grabbed her bag and pulled out a necklace with different things on it. I had seen several at camp half-blood and all of the symbols matched Annabeth's necklace except for three of them.
"It was Luke's," she said handing it to me. "Chiron gave it to me after Luke died. Luke was wearing that day."
As I looked at it, I saw Greek letters on the back that matched the ones on the baseball.
I muttered the words and it produced another cloudy marble.
"Here," I said handing it back to Thalia. "We got what we needed."
She stuck the necklace back into her bag and hugged me.
"Luke is very lucky to have a friend like you," she whispered.
As we left the camp, a girl in a pink t-shirt and designer jeans came running after us.
"Wait up you guys!" she called.
"Spencer?" Percy said. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I quit being a hunter," she said.
"But the only way to do that is to.." Annabeth said.
"I found a loophole, and Mom got me off," Spencer replied. "So where are we going?" she asked.
Something seemed off with her, like she was lying, but I didn't want to start anything with my new sister.
"WE are going to San Francisco and YOU are going back to camp," Annabeth snapped.
"Why can't I go?"
"Because the prophecy said five demigods not five demigods and a harlot," Annabeth replied.
The girls sat and bickered for a good five minutes before I broke it up.
"Guys!" I said. "Stop it now!"
They both huffed and Spencer rolled her eyes.
"Percy, your dad made horse right?"
He nodded.
"Can you call a Pegasus to pick up Spencer, I mean my sister?"
"Sure, I can try asking dad" he said.
He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer to his dad.
Mom, I prayed help this all not to be for nothing.
Within a matter of minutes, our prayers were answered.
A solid white Pegasus appeared and landed beside us.
"Percy, tell him to take Spencer to camp and nowhere else or else he becomes glitter glue," I said embracing my inner huntress.
"He says okay, just don't make threats," Percy replied.
"Well, we all know how alluring Aphrodite's daughters are," Annabeth replied.
"Spencer, let Chiron know, that we are okay," I said changing the subject.
"Fine, be careful, sis," Spencer said as she took off. "Bye Percy," she added blowing him a kiss.
"Okay, I think that's enough love for me," I said.
"Even though you are the daughter of the goddess of love?" Nico asked.
"I forgot about that," I replied sarcastically.