Thanks to everyone who reviewed! The suggestions made were taken into account, though I can't think of how to change the unrealistic parts at the moment… Thanks again to Xx Lilies and Flowers xX for betaing this story! And for the idea of this chapter! Other thanks to EmeraldFlower for reviewing every chapter! As for the part in this chapter about the Greek Mythology (apple), I completely made up. I didn't see anything on what happened to the apple after Aphrodite won it so I made something up. Three more chapters to write after this one (including Epilogue)!

I'll be away during February break so I can't update until the beginning of March. I'll do my best to post another chapter by then, but if I don't I'm really sorry! Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians are not owned by me. And all the songs mentioned here are to their copyrighters. I own nothing.
_

Chapter 5:

I couldn't believe it. Didn't the God of the Sea have better things to do like remodel his game room or something other than singing at a concert? Our food arrived at that moment and I dug into my food, avoiding everyone's eyes. After the entrée, Sally ordered some desert, but I refused ice cream as I slouched in my chair pondering the meaning of Poseidon's appearance. He was singing his seventh song by now and a trivial part of my brain wondered if he bribed the host to let him sing for so long.

A hand that tapped me on my shoulder startled me out of my thinking. My heart started to race because I knew who it was without looking. I stared over his right shoulder as I looked up, determined to not meet his eyes.

"May I have a word, outside?" Alton asked. I let my gaze drift around stalling for time. Finally, I nodded, a fresh pain seized me. Annabeth looked at me with a slightly confused look but the feeling directed to me was sympathy.

"What?" I demanded looking at a drop of water that fell from the sky. It had begun to rain.

"You know what. You're avoiding me and not even looking at me," Alton began, "And you aren't giving me a chance to apologize or explain." He seemed to be waiting for acknowledgment, so I steeled myself to reality and the chilly wind as I glared straight into his eyes feeling pain shoot through my veins. Taking that as a conformation, he continued, "Will you let me explain?"

"No, because you lie," I said acidly.

"I can't, I'm the Son of Apollo," he said taking a step closer to me as I backed away, "Please listen. I was play Truth or Dare and my friend dared me to-"

"AND WHY WOULD YOUR FRIEND DO THAT? IF HE KNEW YOU WERE DATING ME?" I screamed. He winced guiltily, "YOU DON'T LIE, BUT DO YOU TELL THE TRUTH?"

"Yes, I do when I say I love you," he whispered gently.

That opened the flood gate. "LOVE? Way to show it, making out with a girl with your SHIRT OFF! NICE JOB!"

"IT WAS A DARE, GET OVER IT!" Alton yelled, losing it. That hurt. Alton never shouted, he was the laugh-it-off kinda person. I turned on my heels and ran back into the ballroom before I could cry. Of course, I just made it to see Poseidon asking Sally to dance. Annabeth was somewhere on the dance floor with Percy.

"Sally, may I have the pleasure?" the God of the Sea asked, his voice soft. I focused my mind on his every word not letting any the hurt I felt show on my face.

She seemed lost for words so I prodded her with my arm "accidentally" as I reached to help myself to fruit. She laughed sheepishly and he took her hand. Unfortunately, they disappeared to the center of the room, so I couldn't see them. And now, I was the only one left at our table. Percy and Annabeth were probably dancing somewhere too.

"Pardon miss, would you like to dance?" a smooth male voice asked as Alton re-entered the room looking thoroughly livid. He glanced at me over to me before storming to another table and sitting down. I ground my teeth together. How did he expect me to believe him? And yet, I still wanted to. Then I noticed that there was a man standing in front of me waiting for my answer to dance.

I glanced at Alton, who was watching me with narrowed eyes and grinned up at the guy who was looking at me. "Of course!" So I took his outstretched hand ignoring the odd feeling that crept through me that screamed: DANGER! Well, that wasn't very smart. Anyways, we walked to the dance floor where a new singer had just taken her position in front of the mic. We were only a few feet away from Poseidon and Sally who were snuggling. I smiled as the music started and my partner twirled me around.

"What is your name?" he asked catching my hand expertly from a twirl and replacing his hand on my waist.

"Cyra, for the stars, you?"

He paused for a few moments before grinning and twirling me around again, "Look's like I'm a part of you. We fit. I'm Leo." For some reason, I felt like he was lying, but it wasn't the earth just the place for lies? That was when I noticed the song that was playing: "Tied Together by a Smile" by Taylor Swift. The second verse had started with "Guess it's true that love is all you wanted". Well, wasn't it true for me? I didn't ponder on the song too long. My partner had gestured for me to follow him to somewhere, so I followed since Alton had just walked toward me. There was something weird in Alton's expression, something like worry, and he was shaking his head furiously at me, but why the hell did I care. So I walked on, following Leo outside. Also NOT A GOOD IDEA! Always trust the Son of Apollo even if you hate him to his guts.

The moment I exit the front doors, I couldn't find Leo at all. Instead, two hellhounds dressed in tuxedos were snarling at me two yards in front of me. Perfect.

Well at least I could take my anger out, right? Wrong. I barely took my whip out when a voice cackled. Then everything snapped together. Dolus is Leo. What in the name of Aphrodite's nail polish did the God of Deception want from me?

"Well, I must say that you are a fair dancer for being only 15 years old," Dolus's voice said from on top of a hellhound. He hopped off as I closely gripped my whip in my bag. The funny thing was, my whip was telling me that Dolus was speaking truth.

"What are you talking about?" I hissed, internally kicking myself for not listening to Alton, "I'm thirteen."

"Oh, no one told you? You were born before you were born. Interesting. Well, I have time so I'll tell you. Remember how Aphrodite won the apple before the Trojan War? Well, she didn't seem to want to eat it. One day, when the Goddess of Love visited Earth, she dropped the golden apple. Eventually, it found its way to the River Styx. Distraught, she ran to Poseidon for help. Why him, I don't know, but he agreed to fish it from the Styx after she had promised him a woman who would love him for eternity. Once she received her apple, she told Poseidon to wait for a girl of the stars to help him. Which would be you." My whip still said that Dolus, of all Gods, was speaking truth.

"That doesn't explain how I'm fifteen," I whispered, intrigued by my own story.

"You can thank me for that. I took you for two years, pretended you never existed. I would have killed you, but for some reason, you survived and escaped. You see, I had –er- affection for Sally. So I waited. Aphrodite is known to be dramatic. And I hate the Big Three. She wasn't going to make Poseidon's love life that easy. She only gave him a taste of Sally. Of course, this is my revenge. You can't really stop me, can you? I intend to kill you right now." There was not one single lie except the fact that he loved Sally. I didn't have any time to think about this though because the hellhounds broke loose and came for me.

Between trying to land a whip on the hellhounds and dodging their fierce teeth, I got hit with something, I'm not sure what exactly that cut my forearm, but it started to bleed. I briefly saw Dolus's wicked grin before he vanished. I have to admit, hellhounds are not stupid. They lunged at me from all directions, forcing me to drop to all fours on several occasions. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the front doors opened and out came Annabeth and Alton armed with their separate weapons. I didn't know where Percy was and it surprised me a little, but I was forced to focus back on my attacker when it swung a paw at me. My left arm was filling numb and for some reason, my whip wasn't connecting with the monster. Quickly fishing out a dagger, I threw it at the beast's muzzle. That worked well. It crumbled to dust in a second. Alton and Annabeth were almost done with their hellhounds, so I retrieve my dagger from dust and found a bandage in my pouch to wrap around my wound that had still not stopped bleeding.

"Here, let me," Alton said coming to my side. As much as I wanted to refuse, he was the son of the God of Medicine. I bit my bottom lip and let him pray over my wound and wrap it gingerly in bandage.

"Thanks," I grumbled, exhausted. I turned to Annabeth who didn't seem to have a hair ruffled on her head. "Let's go back in?"

"Oh yeah, it's almost going to end. Come on!" she led us back inside where the song "So Close" from the Enchanted movie was being sung. I found Poseidon pressing his lips to Sally's during Percy's visit to the boys' room. I heard him whisper "If you change your mind, my castle is always open to you." I turned away feeling a little light-headed. Maybe I should drink some nectar before I sleep tonight I thought. The last notes of the song ended just as Poseidon walked out the door and Percy leaving the bathroom. I couldn't believe that he didn't recognize his father. Sure, Poseidon changed his visage a lot, but still, I thought Percy might have noticed. He seemed quite clueless as everyone gathered belongings. What is wrong, I thought as dark spots appeared in my vision. Taking care to avoid Alton as much as possible, I staggered a few steps toward the exit. Instinctively, I looked at my arm. Shit, that looks terrible. It wasn't red blood that was spilling out now, it was purple. And of course, I faint, everything turning pitch black.

SEMI-CONSCIOUS State:

Well, that's another lesson learnt: Don't dance with strangers. Let me explain how unconsciousness felt: I couldn't see anything but black. I could feel every numb part of my body and couldn't move it. It was not comfortable.

There were times when I could hear some things, but never more than a few words like "deadly-poison", "How is she, Alton" or "maybe Apollo can help her". The next time I think I heard something was a whole conversation between two people. A god and a boy.

"Father, please! Help her," Alton's voice begged.

"Alton, I don't know. It would take quite a bit of my energy to even try. And it might not work. She's so far gone," A giant hand touched my forehead lightly.

"You're immortal, Father," Alton whispered trying to control the shaking of his voice.

Wait. Pause. Stop a second, brain while I address a few questions. First, WHY WAS ALTON CRYING? Shouldn't he be happy that I'm about to die? Second, I couldn't be that far gone if I could hear this conversation right?

"You saved her once from Dolus when she was young. Save her again, for me," Alton implored. There was a pause. "Father! You owe me. You promised that Mom would be safe with you! You promised me that you'll keep her safe, but then why is she with Hades? Please!" I never knew that. Alton and I talked a little about our families at camp, but mainly we just fooled around at the archery range and talked about different sword moves. Apollo seemed to give in because he began to chant something I didn't quite catch. I could feel my hearing getting clouded as I drifted toward unconsciousness again. I felt a strong hand holding mine cold fingers to his face.

"Please Cyra, I'm sorry. I never meant to shout at you or –er- kiss another girl. It was for a dare, I swear. Forgive please. You can yell at me all you want when you wake up, just open your eyes." He voice broke. This was wrong, I thought through the fog in my mind, why was I mad at him in the first place? Even then, I could feel my heart pumping a little faster.

The next thing he did made me like I was definitely dreaming. I felt his warm breath on my face and gently touched his lips to mine. My heart broke all over again to feel his small sigh when his lips left mine. I knew exactly what he was thinking. He didn't believe that I wanted the kiss. I wanted to wake up then and there just so I could apologize for overreacting and feel his gentle lips again. I knew that if I dropped into complete blackness again, I would have to fight hard to come back to reality. Apollo was applying something to my wound that stung, but I didn't care. Gathering what remained of my strength, I squeezed his hand. Unfortunately, I didn't feel his reaction because my senses had shut down again and I was once again, swirling in darkness.