Hello again! So this is another one of the longer chapters, because there was just so much I needed to fit in. The rest of what was supposed to be here might be in the next chapter, but I've got orientation tommorow so it might be a little slow in getting up. If you want to see what the girls' dresses looked like in real life, the links are on my profile page!

I'm debating wether to make a one-shot of Mira and Apollo's night at the club. If you have an opinion on the matter, tell me about it in a review! Thanks again :D

Disclaimer-I don't own the Percy Jackson franchise or Rick Riordan.

Mira's POV

There was so much to do, so many people to talk to, so many illegal items that needed to be obtained, and I had so little time, so I decided to gather up some help, and call upon the three best resources I had-Connor and Travis Stoll, and Matthey Barra. The later was the 'Mattey' that Tyson had run to talk to the first time we'd met. He was a son of Hephaestus, but I'd swear he had a little Hermes in him the way he always helped the Stolls with any and all of their plans and pranks.

So as we were leaving dinner the night I re-met Apollo, I grabbed the three of them and yanked them into the shadows.

"Foursome?"

"Gods, Connor-is that all you ever think about?

"Pshh, no…"

"He's lying."

"Guys! Listen!"

They turned their attention to me.

"I need your help with…something."

The glint in their eyes was perfectly mischievous.

For the next half an hour we were all whispers and secrets and plans to make tomorrow night the best party Olympus had ever seen.

"…sneak into the drinks?"

"…to take Chiron out of…"

"Something that stimulates the…"

"…steal some of the Aphrodite kids' love potions and…"

Curfew was about to strike when we finally went to our cabins. I was staying in the Hermes cabin anyway, so at least I wouldn't be walking into the cabin alone. After changing, I plopped into my bunk, which was the upper one next to where Travis and Connor slept. Then, under the cover of darkness, we passed notes that solidifies tomorrow's plan.

Are the invites ready?

Mattey's making them right now and will send them first thing tomorrow morning.

And the escape plan?

Mattey's gonna work his part tomorrow and I just need to…acquire a few things.

So we should be good?

Perfect

This is a pretty amazing plan. It's big, it's complicated, and it's going to piss off at least ten people. I think I love you.

Love you too. :P Who else could help me pull this off? Now go to sleep, I'm tired and we've got a lot of work for tomorrow.

Yes, ma'am.

Your wish is my command!

Do you have a pair of sock I can borrow?

Or some toothpaste?

GOODNIGHT

I crumpled the paper into a ball and put it under my pillow when Connor threw it back asking for my underwear. Then, since he was the one next to me on the top bunk, he leaned over the head board and whispered to me.

"I take it that's no?"

I gave him a nice punch to the jaw that shut him up until the next morning.

They woke up bright and early, and they unfortunately took me with them. By the time we had all gotten ready, every kid in their cabin over fourteen had these nifty little devices in their hands that shot an invitation out at them, and when they read it, it disappeared. We got ours when we walked outside. Mine was just a pair of wings that settled into my open palm and sang me the information. The Stolls' were twin stacks of money with the information carved in copperplate onto the bills. I gave them both victorious high-fives. Phase One complete.

It really amazed me Mattey could do with metal.

So the invitations had been sent, read, and then destroyed. On to Phase Two-preparations to bust everyone out of camp and get to Olympus. Dionysius was up on Olympus already, helping Apollo prepare for the party, since we was, well, the god of parties, so all we had to do was take care of Chiron, and we would be good to go. Argus was a different story, but he couldn't talk, so he wouldn't be able to spill.

We skipped most of our real lessons for that day in preparation. I was going around, collecting tux sizes, dress sizes, color preferences, shoe sizes, lists of any makeup and jewelry that certain people just had to have, so I was all over the place for the morning. Mattey was in the middle of creating an electromagnetic pulse generator that would disable the harpies for the night, since we had to leave after curfew. The Stolls were going to lure Argus into the woods by saying that there was a hydra there, and then trap him in an electricity-riddled cage that would turn off at dawn.

In the meantime, I had to go shopping.

By the time I had collected everyone's preferences, it was nearly noon and time for Phase Three to begin.

"Chiron?" I walked over to him with Annabeth, Rachel and Juniper flanking me. He turned and looked at us. "Can we talk to you in private?"

Now he looked worried. "Of course, girls."

When we were away from everyone else, it was time for me to put on a show. I began wringing my hands and glancing all around, fidgeting and not staying still, acting nervous and concerned for something.

"We need to go into the city to buy stuff."

"Now, girls, you know I can't let you do that."

"No, you don't understand!" I let tears well up in my eyes. "It's a personal issue."

"I think you're right-I don't understand."

"It's a feminine issue." I tried to make motions with my hands, but he stopped me with a flush in his cheeks.

And at that, he got it, and agreed to let the four of us go into the city to buy products.

"That was awesome! How did you know it was going to work?"

"Because there is nothing that skives men out more, no matter how long they've been alive. They just want to get off the subject, and will pretty much let us do whatever we want."

We cackled together, and I saw our four threads glow for a moment and when the light subsided, there were thin, thin strands connecting us. I smiled, we grabbed some real clothes, not just the camp T-shirts and jeans, and we loaded up into the bus, driven by Argus. Halfway to the city, and I sent a memo to the Stolls and Mattey via a mechanical messenger pigeon, telling them that we were almost there, and they needed to get a move on obtaining the items while we had Argus away from camp. They replied with an affirmative, and then they pigeon flew out the window and combusted.

We had changed in the van, and now we looked normal, at least, but I had no idea what Juniper would look like to the mortals.

Argus dropped us off at a shopping, and we told him to go back to camp, since we would be a while, and once he was out of eyesight we sprinted for the nearest taxi cab.

"Saks Fifth Avenue, please."

The cabbie looked at me without belief, but I just stared back, and he drove on with the smell of coffee and cigarettes surrounding his head.

"Mira...we can't afford that. Well, Rachel can, but Juniper and I…we just don't have that kind of money." Annabeth looked worried, but I patted her on the shoulder and whipped out a credit card.

"Don't worry. I've got it covered."

Her eyes widened. "Is that your parents'? Won't they get mad if you use it?" Then confusion ripped across her features. "Wait, who are your parents? You've never mentioned them."

"I've been living in foster cares since the day I was born. Like The Fates said-my mother died young. I've been moved from house to house across this country so many times, I've probably lived in very state. Hawaii is beautiful this time of year."

Everyone's face darkened. They had grown up with at least one parent. I had grown up with many.

"Oh, gods. I'm sorry. That must've seemed so rude. I swear I didn't know."

"Seriously, it's okay. They all hated me-I was the 'problem child' of the system- and I hated them. I caused trouble, and destruction seemed to follow me around. This," I held up the credit card. "Is my most recent foster home's. They're stoners, though, so they won't even notice the missing money. The government won't notice it either, because they have a tendency to spend a lot in one place."

Silence followed my speech.

"Ever been to Vegas?"

For the rest of the ride there, I recommended places to go, things to do, and delicacies from all over the world (one of my families loved to travel). By the time we got to Saks, they were so filled with culture I thought they were going to burst.

"Rachel, you should do the talking. People are bound to recognize your name, and then we'll get helped easier."

So she went up to the front desk, did her 'I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, now do what I say' act, and we were ushered into a luxurious dressing room with couches, end tables and a chandelier.

"This is awesome…" Juniper, who wasn't much for society but determined to get a dress for Grover's sake, was amazed at the niceties they had there.

A blonde attendant of about nineteen with a sense about her that almost seemed out of place, came in and offered us assistance. She asked us what colors and styles we liked.

"Green. Anything green. And it needs to be loose!"

"Nothing too flashy. In a neutral color, like brown or gray."

"Something very dark blue; something that goes with my hair."

"Anything and everything, please!"

She smiled at us, and went to retrieve our dresses.

Juniper fell in love with the first one she tried on. It was a very, very pale green, loose, with a low neckline and tiered ruffles, and it looked great against her skin. Rachel found hers pretty quick as well, but it was far different. It was a deep blue, ruffled on the top and tighter on the bottom, cinched with a thin belt. It was obvious that she had shopped her before and, even though she was all eco-friendly, she liked indulging her feminine side as well.

Annabeth was a different story. We forced her into dress after dress, all in neutrals, nothing that was too flashy or too bold, and she looked great in all of them, but she couldn't be satisfied. I thought we were going to have to just buy one for her without her liking it, but after fifty dresses and her going invisible twice, she finally found one she liked. It was one the attendant had brought in, and I'd assumed it was for me since it was so not what she asked for.

It was sleeved, and longer than what Juniper and Rachel had gotten, but it was cinched at the waist, and it was greenish-blue leopard spotted. It looked almost like the sea, and then I saw why she liked it so much, even if she didn't-it reminded her of Percy, so she stepped out of her comfort zone to be closer to him when she wore it.

"Damn, girl. That's some impressive dressage you've got there!"

"I never would have expected to like it but…where did it come from, anyway?"

The attendant waved from the background of the mirror. "Me! I had a feeling you would like it."

There was definitely something different about her. I stared at her for a bit, squinted my eyes, scrunched my face up and examined her thread, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Mira! Your turn!"

And so it was.

I ended up liking a bright pink bandage dress with a cut out back and an interesting halter top.

"Well…maybe you shouldn't get that."

Annabeth and Rachel looked at each other guiltily.

"Why not?"

"Aphrodite." Was I imagining it, or did I see the attendant suddenly go very, very still? "Red and pink are sort of her colors. She might feel upstaged or get mad at you, and you really don't want that."

"Aphrodite?" I laughed at them, and I saw the attendant stiffen even more. "She's the most beautiful woman that has ever, or will ever, live. No one can upstage a person that attractive."

The attendant smiled at me through the mirror, and then I finally got it.

"Hello, Lady Aphrodite."

She giggled at the looks on the other girls' faces as they turned and stared at her. "Oh, I just had to come and help you with this! Using all your resources to sneak out of camp to attend a party of the gods? What better place for me to help then when you went shopping? And trust me, Annabeth-Percy will love that dress. And Grover will love yours," She winked at Juniper "And tonight, Nico and Apollo will both suddenly have a burning desire for the color pink." I blushed, and my face started to match my dress.

We all just sort of gaped at her. The goddess of love was here with us, in Saks, of her own will, helping us pick out dresses for our oh-so illegal escape to Olympus.

I took that fact and ran with it.

She helped us pick out shoes, accessories, jewelry, dresses for the other girls, suits for the guys, perfumes, undergarments, and even some extra stuff that we didn't feel we deserved. The whole time we were giggling and gossiping, Annabeth and Juniper dishing about their respective boys, everyone trying to get Rachel to renounce her virginity as the Oracle, and everyone getting me to just talk.

In the end, Aphrodite paid for everything with a swipe of a hot pink credit card, which was good, because the total ended up being more than $50,000. We thanked her over and over again, but we could tell she just liked to shop.

She drove us to camp, but not into it, because we technically weren't supposed to be out at all. Right before she left she hugged us all, which pretty much shocked the Styx out of us, and she giggled mischievously.

"I gave you all a gift!"

We glanced at our bags, trying to tell her that this was gift enough, but she went on.

"Well for one, the clothes, but for two!" She squealed with delight. "I blessed you!"

None of us quite got it. "So we'll be forever loved…?" Annabeth inquired.

"Oh, no! It's much more simple than that. When you need to, you can call a boy's name and he'll come to you! Now, I can't make sure that he'll do what you want, but he will always come find you, wherever he is! Just concentrate really hard, and he'll come! Good luck!"

She disappeared with a wave, a smile, a puff of pink smoke, and the strong scent of perfume.

"Well…" I turned to the rest of the girls. "This makes getting back into camp a lot easier. We don't have to worry about Argus, because he should be in the woods by now, and we don't have to worry about Chiron because the Stolls and Mattey have just caused a giant explosion, and the only thing worrisome is other young campers!"

"So what are we going to do?"

Juniper, who was still unfamiliar with the outside world, just wanted to get back to her tree, realized she could just poof back, and she did, leaving three of us.

I smirked at Annabeth and Rachel. "Shadow-travel."

"I really hope this blessing thing works!"

I laughed, concentrated really, really hard, and said "Nico."

It was as if I whispered it and shouted it all at the same time. The trees stirred, the ground trembled, and for a moment, there was silence. Then he appeared out of the shadows next to us, looking dazed and confused.

"Mira..?"

"Hi! We need your help."

Once I explained everything to him, amidst some very odd looks, he agreed to help, and grabbed as many bags as possible while Rachel, also stuffed with bags, clung to his arm. He came back empty-handed, then loaded up again, this time with Annabeth, dropped her off, and came back for me. There were maybe five bags left, and those contained only my close friends' clothes.

He held out his arm with a flourish. "All aboard, madam."

I grabbed it without hesitation. "Where to?"

"Hermes cabin, please."

There was this amazing feeling of nothingness, and then we were in the dark of the cabin. "Whoa."

"Pretty cool, right?"

I grinned at him. "Like I said before-neat trick."

He laughed at that, and then in the silence we realized that we were alone in the cabin. I shuffled my feet and settled the bags down around me, an intense, awkward heat rising through me. Looking at him, I guessed that he was in the same way, but I couldn't be sure.

"Well, uh, I've got to go."

"Sure, sure."

He began to step back into the shadows, preparing to move to his own cabin.

"Wait!"

He stopped short, his eyes whirling. "Uh, thanks."

"Welcome."

Then he stepped into the dark, and he was gone.

"Gods, Mira, get a grip on yourself. You have plans. Stick to them." I shook my head, and prepared for Phase Four.

Time to knock out Chiron.

I know you think I'm going to say we did some uber-godly special thing to knock him out, but we didn't. We roofied him. I went to see him in the Big House at around four, and I offered him a tray of brownies as forgiveness for my…incident with Apollo. He smiled and thanked me; automatically eating a few just while I was in the room.

What can I say? My brownies were amazing.

He would be knocked out for a good twenty-two hours. I'd put enough Rohypnol in those brownies to knock out a horse.

Get it? Horse? Centaur?

No? Never mind…

Once he was out, all we had left to do was get dressed and ready and 'obtain' enough vehicles to bring us to the Empire State building.

Phase Five would be pulled off by the Stolls and Mattey once we got to Olympus, using love potions, heavy duty alcohol they swiped from Dionysius cabin, and some sort of transmitter thing that poked the part of our brain that lets us have fun with an imaginary cattle prod.

It was going to be a night to remember.

Just so long as we weren't drunk enough to forget.

Remember to review! XD