Sorry it took me forever to update this story. It was a little challenging and I wasn't sure about a few things. Please enjoy it and don't say anything negative. If you do, I will insult you back.

Disclaimer: DON'T OWN!

Chapter 8

Hera's POV

I was about to get up from my throne to find my husband when Lucas came running in.

"Athena and Zeus are fighting again!" he exclaimed. All of the gods and goddesses got up. Percy was starting to get up when I was passing them.

"Stay," I said, trying my best to command them. They looked at me as if I was crazy. "It's best for you all to stay. It's too dangerous. I would not accept it if any of you were harmed due to my idiot husband's actions."

"Why would you care?" Thalia asked, having that defiant look in her eyes that her father gave me at times.

"You are the chosen people for this quest," I explained.

"Still, I don't get why you care," Percy said. Thalia seemed a bit Percy beat her to it.

"Because Jinx is my daughter," I said, feeling tears welling up. I didn't let them flow though. they would think that I was weak or faking. I had to remain the be'otch they thought I was. "She's the only one who has made me truly proud."

"How so?" Annabeth asked, looking a bit pale. I handed her a bucket that i quickly conquered up and handed it to her. "Thanks."

I waited until after she threw up. "She helps others with her powers for good and always fixes her mistakes that she occasionally makes," I explained. The only god left was Hermes because he knew better than to leave his step-mother behind. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to talk to my husband."

I walked away before they could say anything. As I passed Hermes, I asked, "Could you stay behind to make sure they don't try to see what's happening?"

"Sure Hera," he said, patting me on the shoulder as I walked out the doors and rushed to Athena's house, where there were green lights exploding over the roof.

When I reached the house, I was the roof was gone and Zeus and Athena were glaring at each other.

"What's going on here?" I asked them.

"Athena doesn't want Annabeth to go even though Annabeth understands the risks," Zeus mumbled.

"So you got violent because of it?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yes," Athena said, looking at me. "What would you do if you could prevent your daughter from getting in danger?"

That stung, but I didn't retort rudely. "I would let her do what she wanted," I replied. "It's her life, not mine."

Athena looked at me suspiciously. "You have plenty experience with that," she said, hitting a nerve. Luckily Zeus took me and held me tight.

"Stop picking on her," he said. "She's finally accepted you guys as my children and her's through marriage. So what if one of the children I had with her screwed up? Mistakes happen and I know you've made a few yourself."

That shut her up, but she still look at me with that knowing look. I couldn't let her tell all of the gods and goddesses of Olympus my secret. I had to, just not yet.

When we finally returned, Hermes was sitting with Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, Piper, and Grover and seemed to be telling them jokes.

"We're back!" Zeus said happily, holding my hand and leading me to our thrones. Hermes stood up and headed to his throne.

"Thank you Hermes," I said, stopping him before he could sit down.

"No problem," he said as he gently pushed past me to his throne. With that out of the way, I went ahead and sat down.

"Well, we all know why you are here," Athena said, addressing our guests. "Our oracle will be here shortly. Until then, you can ask us any questions."

Instead of the silence we were expecting, Piper raised her hand.

"Yes Piper?" Aphrodite asked her daughter.

"Who was the last one to see Jinx?" she asked.

"I was," Lucas answered. We all knew that, they were married and were constantly with each other.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Annabeth asked.

"We had just finished a nice dinner and movie when she said she wanted to take a walk by herself to clear her thoughts," he replied. "I tried to talk her into staying or at least let me go with her, but she insisted she had to do it herself. She did let me walk with her to the end of our driveway before she sent me back into the house to check on our newest lost goddess to make sure she was comfortable. Before she left, she gave me a kiss and told me she loved me. I should have known she saw what was coming."

I was shocked. I didn't know that Jinx had willingly walked into her kidnapper's arms. She could have had back-up but she decided to go alone. Sometimes my daughter worries me.

"Are you absolutely sure that's what happened?" Percy asked. I've never been more grateful for his questions than I did at that moment.

"Yes," Lucas said harshly. "I never forget a moment or conversation with my wife."

"When you say you should've known known she knew what was coming, what do you mean?" Grover asked. "I mean, she can read and control minds, but she can't see the future."

"Well, she could have either read her kidnapper's mind from the house before she started her walk or she could have seen a vision of the future while looking into Elizabeth's mind during her visit with her," Lucas explained.

"Oh, well those two possibilities make sense," Grover said, blushing.

"It was a good question Grover," Artemis said. "Don't feel embarrassed."

"Thank you Lady Artemis," Grover said, blushing more. The stupid satyr still had his crush on her. At least he knew that she wasn't available and was in more love with Juniper.

"Is that all of your questions?" I asked, really wanting some silence.

"Yes, that is all," Thalia said cooly. We had only enjoyed a moment of silence when Tanya ran in. Tanya was the oracle's daughter and assistant. She had dark blonde-brown hair and brown eyes that always reminded me of dark chocolate. She was funny, but had the most serious face in the world. She was also a really good friend of Jinx's and a daughter of Apollo. Since she was Jinx's friend and the daughter of a highly important oracle, she had been granted an immortal life just as her mother and siblings were. She may help her mother, but she lived in Jinx and Lucas's castle.

"What's wrong Tanya?" Lucas asked, concerned. Tanya was like a daughter to him.

"My mom," she said, shaking. "She...she collapsed."

Apollo rushed to the room his beloved. Everyone was pretty sure that she was his wife on Olympus, but no one knew for sure.

The rest of us were still, not knowing what to do. Only Apollo could really do anything.

"You sure she collapsed Tanya?" Aphrodite finally asked. That snapped us out of our trances.

"I'm positive," Tanya said with an edge in her voice. "I've never seen this happen to her."

Athena was about to ask one of her smart questions when Apollo slowly walked in.

Artemis jumped up and ran to him. "Is she okay?" she asked, giving him a hug.

"No, she's not okay," Apollo shouted, pushing his twin away. "She's not responding to anything. She might be..."

"Dead," Thalia said, finishing the sentence. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy enough to say that out loud in front of Apollo.

"Are you crazy?" Athena asked her, upset.

"It's fine Athena," Apollo said. He looked at Thalia and gave her a small smile. "She's at least brave enough to look at the hardest possibility."

"But it's impossible," Zeus said.

"How so?" Apollo asked, hopefully.

"She's immortal," Zeus said as if it was obvious. "She can't die."

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"As much as that is true, it's still possible someone took her soul out of her body and is holding it," I said suddenly. Everyone looked at me as if accusing me. "I'm not saying that I did it, but it is possible. I have...seen it happen."

Athena snorted. "More like you did it," she said.

"I'll admit, I did it once," I said, blushing slightly. "Hercules got in a fight with his wife one day and as a punishment, I took his soul until I thought he learned that his wife truly does love him. I swear I only had it for five minutes."

"I remember that," Zeus said, shaking his head.

Everyone turned their attention away from me and onto who would want our oracle's soul. I was glad for that so I could quietly slip away. Only Hermes seemed to notice and got up to follow me.

"There's something you're hiding from us," he said when we were a couple buildings away from the meeting hall.

"I've had my soul taken," I said quietly, not looking up.

"That's not possible," Hermes said, shocked. "You've always been around."

"This was before Zeus and I even started dating, so way before you," I said, crying a little.

"Why have you never told us this?" Hermes asked, a bit upset.

"No one would understand," I said, looking at him. "You can't tell anyone Hermes. I need to, and I will at the right moment."

"Do you swear?" he asked, doubting me.

"I swear," I said, wiping my tears and standing straighter. "We should get back and join them."

"Yes, we should," he said, holding his arm out.

I took his arm and we walked to the meeting hall in silence. When we got there, I turned towards Hermes.

"Thank you for caring," I said, pecking his cheek.

"Any time Mother," he replied, giving me a quick hug and making me smile. We entered the meeting hall to get in the middle of a shouting match.

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