LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

After much deliberation, I have decided the winner for the Summer award – I know, not the best time seeing as Summer has just fallen into hell, but you know... anyway, the winner is... toe walker! Toe plays piano, french horn, mellaphone (still trying to work out what that is) and sings, and tries really hard with all those instruments. I play guitar and that is hard enough, so I have no idea how toe does it... so toe walker wins! Yay!

Anyway, next we have Veronica's wisdom award. Are you smart? Are you strategic? Do you have good insight? Are you patient, clever and determined? If you have the brain of Vea, remember to tell me in the reviews and you could win the award!

Now, back to Chicago, where Veronica and Toby encounter an old flying foe, a new romantic goddess, and the true identity of their godly foe. OH MY GODS!

-Silverhand9028

Veronica's POV

Aphrodite was, with the exception of Mr D, the first god I had seen. You'd think being the goddess of love, we'd have to go through an emotional and challenging test just to speak with her. But no. She was waiting in 'Arrivals' of O'Hare airport, waving around a big sign that said 'Camp Half-Blood'.

I could tell it was Aphrodite straightaway. She had Lilly's sparkling eyes and wavy hair, although it kept changing, from chocolate brown, to midnight black, to beach blonde. Her make-up flickered constantly through all my favourite shades: scarlet and rose and amber. Toby – I have no idea what he was seeing, but he was drooling like a dog and grinning absent-mindedly. Gross.

"Hello my dears!" Aphrodite waved with a beautifully manicured hand. "You three look delightful!"
Three?
Then I turned and remembered Aston was there, swaggering proudly in his slim-cut chinos and designer jacket.

Aphrodite, who's look had settled with blonde princess curls and hot pink lipstick, smiled.

"Now, I hear you three are searching for some prophecy items, right?" she asked us, after she beckoned us over.

"Yeah," said Toby. "Well, actually, us two. There are four more. And Aston's just here to see mommy, I guess."

Aphrodite looked at Toby with disdain. She smiled at Aston. "Tobias Vin, the six and three must form the nine, remember?"
Toby didn't seem angry at being called by his full name, but I guess being super-attractive does a lot for you. "What does that mean?" he asked.

I gasped in recognition. "The iris-message! Matt Mirage had a dream, saying 'The six and three must form the nine, then the traitors shall decline'. It's a message."

"Of course it is," giggled Aphrodite, "you are the six – well, five now – and the three are Aston, Magenta and Jack!

"But they're the traitors!" I argued. "Magenta, she attacked us, and then they let a hellhound into camp, because-"

I paused.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'five now'. There's still six of us, isn't there? Isn't there..."

Aphrodite looked at me pitifully. "Summer Song was doing a heroic deed. The shoes turned against her."
I gasped in horror. "Summer... no... not Summer... anyone but Summer..."

Tears fell from my eyes. Toby looked at his feet, to sad to speak.

I looked up. "What do you mean, the shoes turned against her?"
"She used Tom's winged shoes. They went haywire. She fell into Tartarus."
"And there's no way our lord is letting her out!" cackled a familiar voice.

I looked up and gasped in horror. Around us, people were screaming, yelling 'rabid chickens!' and running. Aphrodite clicked her fingers and everybody in the room instantly froze.

Up above us, great wings flapped and an evil grin bared down on us.

"Miss Avia," I snarled, taking my sword.

The monstrous harpy that once taught me music flapped down.

"Hello godlings. Ah, Tobias, I see you've grown," she giggled monstrously. "Ah, and you must be Aston. The one with the pretty hair right?"
Aston grabbed his spear, then subtly adjusted his haircut.

"Are you not dead yet?" I groaned.

The harpy giggled wickedly, flapping her wings. "Haha, ignorant godlings. Still haven't worked it out." Her eyes glinted and she leant in. "That's what killed Summer."
That did it. I swung my sword at her, but she flew up onto the ceiling, cackling and cawing.

"What do you mean?" I hollered, pointing my sword up at her.

Aphrodite placed a hand on my shoulder. "Your friend was going to go down into Tartarus, but that's the problem. The enemy isn't Chronos. Magenta, Jack and my son here are trying to harness his power only for one reason. You see, Chronos is benign."
"What?" asked Toby.

"It means peaceful," I explained.

"His power can help defeat your true enemy. The one being raised by the real traitor."
"Magenta's not a traitor? Aw, I wanted to get to beat her up," whined Toby.

"Of course not!" Aston yelled. "We have been telling you all along, you know!"
"Who is the real traitor?" I inquired.
"That I cannot tell you, for the true enemy has shrouded them in dark mist. But I can see this evil god. A naturally twisted force, dark and powerful. The primordial god of T-"
"Time?" I asked.

"No," Aston glared at me.

"What's primordial?" asked Toby.

"It means the god is a personified concept present at the dawn of time and they embody a certain object, period or other concept."

"You lost me at 'god'," Toby interrupted.

"Shut up Toby! Anyway, examples include Erebus who is darkness, Aether who is light and godly air, Tartarus who is the deity of the pit of Tartarus-"
I froze.

"Oh my gods, that's it isn't it? The primordial deity of Tartarus! That's it! That's what happened to Summer. She didn't fall – Tartarus dragged her in! That's why monsters like Miss Avia keep coming back – monsters go to Tartarus when they die, and he keeps sending them back to us!"
"Speaking of Miss Avia... where is she?" cut in Toby.

We looked up and saw no trace of our harpy music teacher.

"Here!" yelled a voice.

The most beautiful person I have ever seen walked towards me. His face kept shifting just like Aphrodite's – only in it I saw all my crushes. I saw Harry Styles, then Leonardo DiCaprio. Then he was Alex, the boy who gave me my first kiss. Then he was Brad, the handsome high schooler who once winked at me. Then, his face settled to a beautiful mix of all of them. His eyes were gorgeously seductive, as dark as cocoa. His hair was sandy blonde, his mouth a cool smile and his body perfect.

He was dressed like some kind of teen model – a tight, low-cut top, displaying some amazing abs (don't judge me!) and cool jeans and trainers. However, there was a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder, and a bow in his hand. In the other, he held a feather.

"I caught your teacher trying to fly away, only to swoop back in for a surprise attack. So, I just clicked my fingers and she... well, disappeared!" he laughed in a voice as rich as melting chocolate. "I took this little thing as a spoil of war."

He turned to see me standing open-mouthed, staring at his face.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he winked, then took my hand and kissed it lightly. "I am Eros, son of Aphrodite."
Despite his charms, something in me clicked. "You're Eros!" I screamed. "You have the arrows of love!"

He pointed to his quiver. "These? Ah yes, I just shoot them and people are all over each other. You should have seen what happened to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. My finest work, I like to think."

Then, something happened that astounded me. Aston stepped forward and said: "I believe we're brothers. May I have the arrows."
Eros unhanded his quiver and passed it to Aston.

He then said: "Care for a ride?"

Beautiful, white-feathered wings sprouted from his bag.

Aston grinned as Eros grabbed him round the waist, and, with a flew flaps of his wings, soared out of the airport.

"Bye boys!" called Aphrodite. "Mommy loves you!"

Wow, if I was her daughter I would die of embarrassment.

"What?" fumed Toby. "That little rat! He stole our arrows! That was our prophecy! What does he want them for?"
"I cannot tell you," Aphrodite spread her arms, "but you have to work together. The six and the three must form a nine – that's you six joining with Magenta, Jack and Aston."
"But we're the six! We need that, the bow of moonlight and the arrows of love, to form a weapon at the throne of steel!"

"I can't help you with that. We gods can't directly interfere, remember. But do what you must. Join up with Leon, Lilly and Tom. The prophecy always has a way of working out, you see."

Aphrodite clicked her fingers, as the people suddenly became unfroze. The goddess winked at us, then disappeared.

"Well, two rather unhelpful love gods, if I do say so myself," I murmured.

"We've just arrived in Chicago, now we have to leave again," Toby sighed, "and I didn't even get to try any deep-dish Chicago pizzas."

Lief's (formerly Unknown Person's) POV

Ha ha ha...

The Summer girl is trapped in Tartarus. Drove her into my master's lair. And who'd suspect a little satyr like me, eh? Ha! Now, to release the chaos-monger. I have a feeling these guys won't be leaving as soon as they think. Time to release a load of bull... don't feel sad about Summer, you two... you'll be joining her momentarily. Now, to drive them to hell – literally!

Lief has a nasty surprise in store!

Remember, wise ones, to send in your intellectual answers to why YOU should be the one to win Veronica's Wisdom award!

-Silverhand9028