GGAAAHHH!

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(Me freaking out again.)

EIGHTY-ONE reviews? EIGHTY-ONE FLIPPIN' REVIEWS!?

I love you guys. (::) (::)

And, also...

HOUSE. OF. FREAKING. HADES.

I read the Son of Sobek ebook version leak. It tells us absolutely nothing except that the demigods have just made themselves some new enemies! I. NEED. MORE. INFO. THAN. THAT. WE. ALREADY. KNOW. EVERYONE. HATES. THE DEMIGODS.

RICK. YOU. TROLLER.

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AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Piper

No one spoke. No one moved. No one did anything but stare at Rachel.

"Rachel," said Chiron, snapping the tension in two. "What do you suppose those lines mean?"

"Well, the first verse is pretty self-explanatory," the girl explained. "I believe the series of events starts with some pretty wicked and strong magic, used when someone from the future came here—to the past—and changed something involving lost heroes. The 'lost heroes' part becomes clearer in the second verse, when it says 'the Romans are missing their role model, the person we Greeks should have exchanged'. I don't know what that means, but apparently those 'exchanged' people are the lost heroes, maybe because they were switched involuntarily. Maybe? I don't know. The goddess of marriage mentioned is for sure Hera, she being the only goddess of marriage around, and she being reluctant is probably what was altered from original time."

Piper waited for someone to yell, "That's crazy!" or, "You're insane!" or, "Finally the pressure of being an oracle cracked her. C'mon, guys, let's go get a soda." But no one did. Perhaps they were all used to crazy prophesies like this?

Wow. Demigods are weird.

"The third verse probably means that the occurrence is inevitable, but the result isn't. A child of Hephaestus and of Aphrodite must work together to change their 'persuasive rate'. I believe persuasive rate could mean"—here Rachel paused to wince—"a charmspeaker."

"A charmspeaker?" someone in the crowd demanded, standing up. It was Drew. "Well, I'm the only charmspeaker in camp. Does that mean I'm supposed to be a part of this prophecy?"

Rachel was still wincing. "With a son or daughter of Hephaestus, yes," she finished.

Drew sighed and looked down at her perfectly manicured nails in boredom. "What would you guys do without me?" she said. She turned toward the area of where the Hephaestus kids sat and looked among them as if she were deciding whom she could work with. "Nyssa," she decided, probably choosing the girl who she found the least revolting.

"Not so fast," said a voice from nowhere. Demigods were instantly on their feet and had their weapons pulled out, ready to fight.

The voice laughed. "Sorry, I just love doing that." A woman walked to the campfire where Rachel and Chiron stood. She was probably the most amazing person Piper had ever seen. She looked old enough to be a college student, with dark brown curls cascading past her shoulders, flawless skin, super-cute ripped skinny jeans, and a loose flower-patterned tank top. She belonged in one of those weight-losing magazines, Piper thought. Or on a runway, or in a music video, or…

Piper's thoughts trailed off.

"Mom?" Drew asked weakly. Apparently Piper wasn't the only one swayed by this person.

"Yes yes, hi, Drew, honey," the woman said. She looked around at the campers. "It was such a long time since I've been here," she said, clasping her hands together in joy. Then she seemed to notice the weapons. "Oh, you can put those away now, dears."

The demigods did, sitting back down reluctantly. Aphrodite looked around expectantly. "What, no kneeling?" she demanded. "I'm a goddess, you worthless human, people, creature-thingies. Now kneel before me!" She pointed at the ground as if ordering around a very disobedient puppy.

The demigods stood up again and knelt.

"I am here to bestow some godly wisdom upon you here today," Aphrodite continued, her anger on the demigods' lack of respect disintegrating as quickly as it had come. "It's... oh, wait, I got a text." The goddess pulled out a cell phone from her back pocket. "It's from Ares," she whispered to the closest person standing next to her, who just happened to be Rachel. Aphrodite performed some speed-texting for about minute or two, the demigods just kneeling there in an awkward silence.

Finally Aphrodite seemed to notice they were still there. g2g she tapped quickly, kissed her fingers and placed them on the screen, sent the message, and returned her phone to her pocket. "Now, where was I…? Oh, yeah, silly me!" She laughed. None of t he demigods were amused. "There's this war coming up, and it's really, really bad, but unfortunately no one knows about it 'cause Hera didn't do something! Yay! What was that? I don't know and don't care, it's not my job." Aphrodite looked around at the demigods. "Oh, you can get up now," she half-snapped, her sudden change of mood overcoming her once again. The half-bloods thankfully got up from their kneeling positions and sat back down.

"And, whatever, but Zeus sent me to send this message, even though we're not supposed to come in contact with the demigods and supposed to stay quiet or whatever because of this upcoming war. And since I'm so mystical, I'll warn you guys that the real great prophecy isn't the one Redhead over here just said." She gestured Rachel with a curt cock of the head in the oracle's direction.

Aphrodite was about to continue when she stopped, thinking to herself. "But of course it wouldn't be the next great prophecy, the prophecy is the seven half-bloods thing, to storm or fire the world must fall and what-not, but you guys wouldn't know that, and—" She shook her head. "Anyway, once you get rid of this prophecy—" she pointed at Rachel again "—you get rid of your problem, and... wait. But what about the... never mind. Hera deals with that. Oh, look, I got another text!"

"Deals with what!?" Piper demanded without really meaning to. Aphrodite froze pulling out her phone to stare blankly at the girl, as did the rest of the campers. All her Hermes buddies scooted away from her as if she had suddenly received a contagious plague they didn't want to catch. Aphrodite gestured to Piper for her walk up to the front. She knew she was in trouble.

Piper wrung her hands and shakily stood up. Aphrodite gestured for her to walk over again, and Piper did. She wondered if she could make a run for it; Aphrodite was obviously not the brightest goddess in the Greek world. But she decided against it. She was still a goddess.

Aphrodite cupped Piper's face in her hands so that she could have a good look at her. "My, my, my," she said in a soft voice no one was expecting. (Outrage, yes. A slap, yes. A fun session of turn-the-demigod-scum-into-a-feathery-chicken-and- then-feed-it-to-some-weird-monster-with-a-gazillio n-teeth, yes. But this? Absolutely not.) "You look just like your father," she continued.

"My—My dad?" Piper choked.

"He was such a fine lad," said Aphrodite, pouting at the memory. "I really do miss him."

"My—My dad?" Piper choked out again. "You knew my dad?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Well, of course I would know your father. If I didn't, you probably wouldn't be here right now!" She laughed, letting go of Piper's face.

Piper's expression changed dramatically. "You—You're my mom?" she squeaked, taking a few steps back away from the woman.

Aphrodite stopped laughing abruptly. "Well it was kind of obvious after a while," she said scornfully, pulling out her phone again. "Have a look at this." She scrolled through her hundreds of contacts, and there, right in the M section, stood Piper's father's name—Tristan McLean.

"He was so cute," Aphrodite said, taking back the phone and staring at his picture a little while. "Then he grew up to be handsome. And successful." She turned the phone off. "Good luck, Piper," she said, patting her daughter on the shoulder and smiling at her.

Then she turned to Chiron.

"AND YOU SAID I WOULDN'T CLAIM HER!" she yelled. "WHO'S YELLING NOW, HORSE!?"

Then Aphrodite disappeared in a flash of stunning light, leaving everyone to gap at Piper.

"No. Freaking. Way," said Drew.

Piper sighed. "My thoughts exactly," she muttered.

YAY! Piper was finally claimed! (It's about time too.)

A few more days, guys. A few more days and FINALLY school will be over.

Now, some reviews!

-o-O-o-

CrazyChick: I try. I really, really do. And thank you.

TheColorsOfTheRainbow: OHMIGODS I LOVED YOUR STORY! And crying is good! It means you are a good enough writer that your story somehow found its way into the reader's heart. Inform me when chappie six is up, because I don't have an account on that particular website. (But have you actually seen someone being bullied like that?)

slenderniece: (::) (::) COOKIES! (::) (::) (And, WHAT? The freaking SEVENTH!?)

Gabsters: WHAT!? THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MAY!? What is wrong with these schools?!

DEDEBUG9: Ugh, I'm excited too. And thank you!

DAUGHTER-OF-APOLLO: tttttttthank you!

Guest: Between great and good...so awesome?

-o-O-o-

And...REVIEW! If we ever hit a hundred, I'll... ...I'll... DEDICATE THE CHAPTER IT LANDS ON TO THE HUNDREDTH REVIEWER! So REVIEW! And, also, I'll, uh...GIVE THEM A BUNCH OF VIRTUAL COOKIES!

NOTHING GETS BETTER THAN THAT!

(And, remember, I don't own HoO!)