Aphrodite's Big News

Getting back into the Camp schedule was easier than I thought. I woke up around the same time as I would for school, but that was mostly because the Stoll brothers had arrived at camp and they were early birds. They tended to prank anyone in the Hermes cabin who were still asleep by 9 O'clock. I didn't really want to end up like the last person that was pranked by them.

I woke up early and helped the Nymphs with making food and cleaning. Then I would eat breakfast with Luke and the rest of the Hermes cabin. After that I would take archery with the Apollo kids where I would see Will Solace, my blond companion who liked making flirtations toward me in order to annoy his brother Lee and my brother Luke. I knew he didn't like me like that and I knew that I didn't feel anything toward him. After archery was Greek and History, where we perfected our Greek and learned everything, and I mean everything about the Gods. Its weird to think about the Gods as higher beings, that's why I thought of them as family.

Enough sentiments, Luke might call me soft.

Lunch came after that and I lavished the camp food that tasted a million times better than that Gods awful school lunch. After that I'd hang out with my group of demigod-lings as I liked to call them until the sun would set.

I went to visit Percy every Thursday afternoon and on Fridays I would stay over and leave on Saturday night. It was nice to see my half-brother, even if he didn't know we were related. Yet.

But the best news of the summer came one camp afternoon.

"Alex!" someone yelled and I turned around to see Annabeth running toward me, Her face was glimmering with joy. She stopped before she crashed into me.

"Yes?" I asked with a tilt of my head. That's when I noticed the paper in Annabeth's hand. She waved it in my face and i grabbed it and read it.

Dear Anna-kins

Don't kill me for giving you that name okay? How are things in America? God I miss it. British school is so boring and I have to worry about monsters coming after me. In good news, Mom bought me some books in Greek. I think sometimes she forgets that her step-daughter is a demigod and not normal at a ll.

Enough about me, how are you? How's Alex? Is Will still flirting with her to annoy Luke? Is Clarisse still pulverizing newbies?

Keep me updated!

p.s Lavender and I are coming to camp very soon! Hehe

Love your OLDER sister, Hermione

"No freaking way" I said in shock. Hermione was coming to camp! I hadn't seen her in like years, okay maybe its had been a few months.

"My thoughts exactly" Annabeth said as she sat down next to me with a 'plop' noise, I smiled widely,

"I can't wait!"

"Wait for what?" two British voices said and Annabeth and I turned around in shock to see Hermione and Lavender standing there smirking.

"Eeeh!" I screamed as I stood up and tackled Hermione into a hug, I saw Annabeth hug Lavender much more calmly but maybe that was because they weren't as close.

Once I let go of Hermione, Annabeth hugged her. When they parted, Annabeth turned to Hermione and Lavender.

"I've got to go, Luke's teaching sword fighting today and I promised I'd be there." Annabeth said as her face became flushed and she turned to look at Hermione. "We'll catch up later, okay?"

Hermione nodded and Annabeth gave her one last hug before she skipped away eagerly.

Lavender sighed dramatically. "I'm glad she's gone. I have to tell you two something and I don't think Annabeth would appreciate it if I just told her to leave"

We both turned to her. "What's going on?" I asked her.

Lavender looked around, making sure no one would hear us, "My mother came to me in a dream"

We looked at her, it wasn't rare that a god would visit their child in a dream. The Gods used dreams to communicate with their children, seeing as they had no other way or choice.

"And..?" Hermione asked confused.

Lavender gave her an annoyed look. "My mother said that she's going to announce something very important on Friday!"

I looked at Hermione, who looked just as shocked as I. Aphrodite was going to announce something? What the hell?

"Do you know what she's going to announce?" I asked and Lavender shook her head.

"Mother said it was a surprise although she did say that she wanted to meet us in the forest tomorrow at noon, apparently she has something very important to tell us"

I was utterly shocked and confused. Aphrodite and I had a good relationship due to the fact that I was best friends with her daughter and she was one of the only mother figures I had.

"Well then I guess we'll have to sneak out into the forest tomorrow" Hermione said with a glint in her eyes and I held in a groan. Hermione was best friends with the Stoll brothers and she'd take any opportunity to cause mischief.

"How are we suppose to do that exactly? The forest is forbidden, you know that and how are we suppose to sneak Alex out when Luke literally watches her every move" Lavender whispered.

'You can leave that to me" Hermione said with a smirk and I had a feeling that life was about to get much more complicated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TGTCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day came just as quickly as I expected and I couldn't help but feel unnerved. One of camp's and Luke's biggest rules was not to go into the woods unless it was for capture the flag.

I sat on the grass, watching Luke's class in the Arena, from a far. I was waiting for Hermione's signal. She came to me earlier saying "When you see my signal, run into the forest."

I heard footsteps and then someone sat next to me. I turned and saw it was Lavender. "How exactly are we suppose to know if its her signal?"She asked.

"She said we'd just know" I said and at that exact moment a giant explosion was heard.

"I think that's her signal!" Lavender said as we stood up. I grabbed her hand and began to run.

"Ya think!" I said sarcastically as we began to run deeper into the woods.

We stopped when we realized we had no idea where we were. It was rather dark and the trees were gigantic. I felt likes something was watching me and the small noises didn't help my paranoia. It made me feel vulnerable, something I hated.

"L-Lav where exactly are we suppose to meet your mom?" I panted out.

"She..said she'd guide us there"Lavender panted out, she was just as breathless. I took a look around and realized we had ran pretty far.

"I wonder how" A voice suddenly said behind us and Lavender screamed as I grabbed my necklace and turned it into a sword. I pointed my sword at the person before I realized it was Hermione. I lowered my sword to the ground.

She raised an eyebrow at Lavender. "You do realized that you just gave away our position to every monster near by and that the people at camp probably heard, meaning they'll know we're missing"

Lavender blushed. "Well sorry! Maybe if you weren't sneaking up on me like a creep we wouldn't have this problem!"

I rolled my eyes, "Ladies you're both pretty, now shut up. Lav, your mom said she'd guide us to her, but how?"

Lavender's eyebrows furrowed, "She said to wait for a sign..like that"

She pointed behind us and we saw a white dove. It glowed and I felt something in me stir. The dove wasn't really there, I could tell but it still looked so majestic.

"A dove...that's your mother's scared animal isn't it?" Hermione said as she got a bit closer.

"Yeah, I think we should follow it" Lav said as she got closer. The dove backed up a bit as if waiting for us to follow it.

"Alright. We stay together and weapons out" I said taking charge. Lav pulled out her poisonous knives and Hermione pulled out her twin daggers.

We follows the dove to a secluded area that looked close to camp, yet far enough that they wouldn't be able to hear or see us. It felt wrong, my senses and instincts were telling me that something wasn't right. I kept my guard up as we stopped and looked around.

Where the hell was Aphrodite?

"Are you sure your mom said today Lav?" Hermione said as she turned to Lavender. Lavender made an angry noise, "Yes! She said noon today! Mother where are you!"

There was a crunch of leaves behind us. I turned around quickly. I looked around but I saw nothing. Something inside me told me that there was something there I just couldn't see it.

"M-Mother?" Lavender said with a slight tremble.

Out of the shadows appeared a wild hellhound. I stared in shock but I quickly recovered, it's just one hellhound Alex, you can take it on, you've done it before.

That was before 3 more appeared. Well crap, we're screwed.

I turned to Hermione and Lavender and saw the fear on their faces. They had never actually fought a moster before and I cursed inwardly.

I backed up so I was back to back with both of them.

"Lavender. Hermione. I know this is scary and both of you have never done this but you need to listen to me. Its going to be okay. Use the skills Chiron and Luke have taught us and remember we have each others backs"

They nodded and I breathed in.Three, two, one.

"Go!"

I charged at the beast and wondered why they were attacking me. I was under uncle Hades's claim. Every creature knew that I was under his protection and that attacking me would lead to their death.

I decided to focus on fighting when the hellhound scratched me, tearing my skin open a bit. I swore loudly.

I looked around. There was a close water supply near by but I wasn't inexperienced when it came to using my father's abilities. I rolled my eyes and dodged its teeth.

I swung my sword and it made a long cut. The hellhound howled and I took that moment to slice it in half.

I breathed in as I was covered in golden dust. I sneezed and turned quickly to see how Herman and Lav were doing.

Hermione was helping Lav with the hellhound attacking her. Hermione must've finished off hers considering she was covered in golden dust. Well done Herman.

I rushed over just as Lavender killed the hellhound.

I sighed in relief before it happened.

Lavender was standing happily before something in the shadows jumped at her. She screamed and I ran but it was too late

The hellhound was ready to kill Lavender when it dissolved into dust. I gasped.

"Well this certainly took a turn for the worst" A lovely voice said behind us and I turned to see Aphrodite leaning on a tree behind us.

Lady Aphrodite was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her beauty depended on the beholder but to me she always looked stunning. In my eyes she had fiery red hair and the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. She looked like my mother who I had only seen once. Uncle Hades had permitted me from seeing her until I was 11 but once I saw her, just for a few seconds before she disappeared.

Hermione had a thoughtful look on her face. She seemed to be connecting the dots before she turned to Aphrodite angrily.

"Y-You were testing us!" She screeched. I winced, Hermione sure does have a pair of lungs.

Aphrodite gave her a blinding smile, "Of course!"

I stared at Aphrodite as if she had grown three heads.

"W-what! Why? You could've gotten us killed." I asked astonished.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Alex, I wouldn't have actually let anything happen to you guys. Hades and Athena would kill me if I did"

I smirked. Uncle Hades was very protective of me. It was such a mystery to all the other Gods. They had always wondered why Uncle Hades loved and cared for me so much when he seemed to despise the rest of his family.

"Still why did you do this? I think I'll have nightmares for weeks" Lavender stated firmly. I noticed then that she was still shaking.

Aphrodite gave Lavander a sympathetic smile before she looked at all of us with a firm look on her face.

"I needed to test you three in order to see if you were the right choices. You see, something of mine has gone missing, thanks to the man hater and Hermione's mother and I need you three to retrieve it"

I stared at Aphrodite, did she just offer us a quest?

Hermione spluttered, "I can understand why Artemis would be mad at you, but my mother?"

Aphrodite scoffed, "Your mother is still mad that Paris chose me"

I chuckled as Hermione made a small noise of indignation.

"We'll accept your quest, or well I will." I said and looked over to Lavender and Hermione.

"I'm in." Lavender said with a smile toward her mother.

Hermione rolled her grey eyes, "I'm in, someone needs to be the brains in this operation"

I playfully glared at Hermione. Aphrodite clapped her perfectly manicured hands.

"Good. Now instead of announcing it tomorrow, I'll do it now!"

"Wh-!" I began before we were covered in a bright light and my entire world went white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TGTCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the light dimmed down and I could finally see I noticed I was in front of everyone from Camp.

I blinked in shock and turned to Hermione and Lavender who looked just as shocked. My friend looked at me in shock and worry.

"Alex!" Someone screamed and I saw Luke run to me and before I knew it, I was being hugged tightly by him.

I breathed in happily and hugged him back. The familiar scent of grass and sweat seemed to calm me down. How odd.

"Lady Aphrodite" Chiron said. Oh yeah Aphrodite was with us. Luke pulled away and turned to look at Aphrodite. I flinched when I saw the coldness in his eyes. I hated seeing him like that, his face firm in anger with eyes that held no emotion in them.

Luke had a dislike for the Gods and no doubt he thought Aphrodite was responsible for my disappearance and any wounds he would later find on me.

I saw the entire camp staring at us and Aphrodite. The Aphrodite cabin were looking at their mother with disbelief and sadness, no doubt this was the first time they had ever seen their mother.

Aphrodite smiled at her children before turning to Chiron.

"Hello Chiron. I'm here to announce something. Alexandria, Hermione and Lavender will be going on a quest to retrieve something of mine. They will leave tomorrow morning"

The camp dissolved into chatter as everyone began to walk away. They only walked away when Chiron gave them a look and coughed. The Aphrodite cabin was reluctant to leave but they did when Aphrodite gave them a stern look. Chiron swallowed and turned to us.

"Very well, girls follow me. We need to pack some stuff for your quest and one of you must visit the oracle."

Aphrodite smiled at us before she disappeared in a bright pink light.

I followed Chiron and turned back to see Luke looking at me with a look of betrayal. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and continued to walk with Lavender and Hermione.

A tear fell down my cheek as I prepared myself for my first quest.

It all begins now.

(A/N) Ahh its been so long. I'm so sorry my kitties. My cousin died and then school happened. I hope you understand. But I have updated now! Hope you like the chapter.

Also can anyone help me come up with a prophecy? The trio will be looking for one of Aphrodite's most prized position and it has too do with them facing their flaws/insecurities. If you come up with a prophecy that I can use I will allow you to pick an idea for a oneshot or maybe even have your character in the story.

Otherwise Happy Thanksgiving for my American readers and I'll see you next time! I'm thankful for all of you, love you guys. Review if you want or if you liked it.