Mark of Athena Ch. 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any of the characters in these combined series. I wish I did, but I don't.

Piper

The next morning I woke up when it was still dark outside. Not by choice, of course. No, I was up before the sun because the strangers in my cabin were knocking things around and talking and just being loud and obnoxious in general.

I pretended to still be asleep until all of the other girls were gone. This was, thankfully, a very short wait. It was obvious that they did not sort campers by their godly parent; If I was in the Aphrodite/Venus cabin I would have been waiting for, at least, an hour.

As soon as the room was cleared out, I got out of bed and pulled out my small backpack. I promptly dumped it out on the bed. My clothes supply was pathetic, I realized sadly. I had never really cared untill now. I was about to spend a day 'hanging out' with Jason and the only jeans I owned featured an ugly rip across, various other little tears, and a faded grass stain on the butt. I briefly considered borrowing something from Annabeth, but I knew her clothes were not exactly her top priority either; Her jeans were probably torn worse than mine. I sighed, but pulled on my worn jeans, and changed into my Orange Camp-Half-Blood t-shirt.

"You aren't wearing that are you?" A voice questioned incredulously.

I whirled around, annoyed with my rude intruder, "I don't recall asking" I froze, too mystified by the gorgeous woman standing in front of me.

"Is that any way to greet your mother?" She looked amused.

I bowed my head and hoped that that was enough respect. My back already hurt from sleeping on that slab of rock that passed for a bed at this dumb camp.

"Hello, Lady Aphrodite," I greeted as sweetly as I could manage.

She smiled a smile that would have put every celebrity I had ever seen to shame and spoke to me in a voice like bells, "Rise, my daughter."

She ran her manicured fingers through my hair softly, "I expect that this," She gestured to my apparel, "Is some kind of cruel joke on your mother," She said skeptically.

I shrugged, "It's all I have," I explained.

"You remind me of another daughter of mine," She mused as she pulled a white boox out of thin air. It had a baby pink bow wrpped around it, and it sparkled lightly against the light.

"Who," I asked curiously.

"Cinderella," She answered and waved her hand ddismissively.

My eyes opened me and my mother urged me to open the small box that she had all but shoved in my hands.

I quickly untied the ribbon and tugged off the top of the box. Inside a pretty white skirt and a pink off-the-shoulder top were folded perfectly. I scowled.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I am not one of your stupid, shallow daughters." I snapped, suudenly angry. I dropped the box onto my bed as if it had burnt my hands.

Aphrodite's crystal blue eyes flashed angrily, "You are my daughter whether you like it, or not. And not all of my daughters are stupid and shallow."She defended.

I scoffed, "Name one, besides me," I demanded.

This seemed to upset her, "I came here because you called out to me, and I will not stand here and listen to you insult my children. As for examples, why don't you ask Annabeth Chase or Percy Jackson about Silena Beaureguard?"

I closed my eyes, and then she was gone, as well as her designer clothes.

A second later the door burst open to Annabeth, who was grinning like a little kid.

"Why so happy?" I asked.

Annabeth flashed around with her hand clutched to her chest and her eyes wide to find me sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Gods! You scared the Hades out of me!" She practically screamed.

"Why so happy?" I asked again.

She laughed, "Why would I not be happy? I have my Percy back." She grinned and grabbed my hand before pulling me out of the room.

Percy was waiting for us outside, watching a couple of the younger boys coming back from breakfast dump water on each other. Just before one boy finished dumping the rest of his water bottle on the other, his water suddenly changed directions and splashed him in the face. The other boy laughed until his water jumped out of the bottle and did the same thing.

Annabeth smacked Percy on the back of his head. He pulled her to his side by her waist in return, and planted a happy kiss on her cheek in return.

I pretended to gag, and Percy laughed.

"A daughter of Aphrodite disgusted by PDA. That is something that I haven't seen before." Annabeth laughed.

I chuckled, "I am the rare exception."

"I believe it," He laughed.

"Okay, you two. It's time to go eat. We can finish this when I have food in front of me." Annabeth said with a smile.

Percy nodded furiously and pulled Annabeth forward with the arm still wrapped around her waist. I shrugged and followed them to the cafeteria.

Percy quickly led us to an empty table. We all sat down, and no one said aything.

"Who is Silena?" I blurted before I could even think about it.

As soon as I saw their shocked expressions, I knew I had said the wrong thing.

"Why do you ask?" Percy asked rigidly.

I froze, "It's no big deal if you don't want to tell me," I told him, my cheeks flushing.

"No," Annabeth spoke up, "You should know. " She took a deep breathe and continued, "Silena was an Aphrodite. She was also one of my best friends. " Annabeth paused and a small tear slid down her cheek. Percy wiped if away softly.

"Silena was a spy for the Titans. They planted her in our camp to tell them all of our strategies and plans. But Silena loved Camp Half-Blood. And there was not a person that met Silena that didn't love her-not even Clarisse. Then she fell in love with a Hepheastus boy named Charles Beckendorf.

"On one mission to destroy a Titan ship, everything went wrong and we lost Beckendorf. Silena was crushed. She stopped spying for the Titans and fought with us, and died in battle. Silena is a hero, and one of the main reasons Camp Half-Blood survived." Annabeth trailed off. Percy squeazed her hand.

I exhaled slowly, attempting to take it all in. I was not expecting that, at all. The only hint that she was from the same universe as my other sisters was that she seemed extremely influenced over her love for the people around her.

"Was she..." I couldn't think of a way to say it without sounding superficial. But she seemed so different than any other Aphrodite girl. I had to know if she was different in that way.

Percy

"Silena was gorgeous." I blurted, understanding instantly what Piper was asking.

I looked at Annabeth who just nodded in agreement. I knew Annabeth wouldn't get mad that I said Silena was gorgeous. It was true. Besides, Annabeth was prettier.

"Silena was one of the most beautiful girls I have ever met." I continued, "And I have met some really beautiful girls," I winked at Annabeth who punched my arm playfully.

I thought idly about all the beautiful girls I had known. Annabeth, obviously. Aphrodite. Silena. And one person that I would never tell Annabeth about: Calypso. My time on her island had forever branded her perfect face into my mind.

I shook the thoughts out of my mind and turned to the girls, "We should eat. I'm starved."

The girls nodded and we all got up and grabbed some food. When we sat back down Reyna, who I had not even noticed was in the Dining Hall, stood up, dictating the full attention of every person.

"To every camper, I am sure you are all well aware that our seven heroes are leaving after lunch. All campers are encouraged to see them off at that time." she looked at us, "Good luck, heroes." Then she sat down.

"Great," Piper mumbled sarcastically, "They are going to 'see us off'."

"What's wrong with that, Pipes?" Jason asked, appearing out of nowhere, a wide grin playing at his lips.

He put his hand on Piper's shoulder and leaned in to talk to her.

"Will you have breakfast with me? I promised we would hang out today."

A smile lit up Piper's pretty faceas she nodded coolly and picked up her plate, mumbling a 'see you guys later' as she left, holding Jason's hand.

I chuckled and turned to Annabeth, "You finished eating?"

She nodded, pushing her empty plate aside, "Yep," She popped the 'p' at the end.

"Have you already packed your things?"

She rolled her eyes, "I only brought one extra outfit and some pj's." As soon as she said it, her eyes widened and her hand flew to cover her mouth as if she expected it to open itself and betray her again.

I grinned hugely, "We are going to Camp Half-Blood." I guessed.

Annabeth frowned, "Don't be ridiculous, Percy. Why would we possibly go back to camp?"

She really thought I was that dumb?

"Maybe to drop off the other campers you brought here." I stated, with atriumphant smile.

Annabeth's face fell, "It was supposed to be a surprise," She frowned, "Are you happy?" she asked randomly, referring to going back to camp, I assumed.

I took her hands, "I am thrilled. As long as we don't leave you here."

She scoffed, "You wouldn't survive ten minutes," She joked.

"Yeah," I allowed, "Probably not."

AN: Not my best. Eh, what can you do? Review! No flames, please. Love always, Jess.