Supremely embarrassed as to my obvious lack of cooking skills, and my accidental view of Luke naked, we walked for the first couple of minutes in silence. Luckily, Luke was able to grab a few things before making his escape from the house, including clothing and a bottle of water. However, he had managed to just shove them all in his backpack, which was an immediate beacon towards the fact that technically we were skipping school.

We could not stay silent for long though. While we had decided earlier that the next destination was my house, getting there was another issue. I was well aware that the school day had just ended. It was hence unwise to take the bus again, as we may be spotted by someone who knew us. The train was out as well. I decided to break the silence, and get his opinion on the matter. "Um… So how did you propose we get to my house?"

He sighed, and to this day I am not sure if it was because of the question or just me in general. Hoping it was the former. "We will have to walk, unless you have no problems with hitchhiking?" he said, without looking at me.

I knew I had to apologise about the events earlier, if we were to have any sort of good connection with one another. "Look, about earlier, I am truly sorry about not knocking. If I had known…"

He interrupted, "It's not that. It's…" He sighed, and I knew that I had done something that really bugged him. He looked down on the floor and told me, "…it's the house. Now my mother is going to come home and find all that mess and smoke that we left behind, and she will have to deal with it. She is a great person, Elena, but she works so hard, and I didn't want to leave anymore behind. Especially since I will now be gone."

Now that I understood, I smiled and comforted him. "She is a strong woman Luke, and she has a very caring son. She can deal with it. And, when we make it to Camp Half-blood, I will make sure that you can see her again. Besides, she knows where we are going. I may or may not have left her a note, telling her why you won't come home anytime soon, but that you love her and will miss her." I did indeed write that note while being supremely bored, knowing that he would probably forget himself.

Luke smiled brightly at me, and gave me a hug, silently communicating to me how much it all means to him. I returned the hug, overjoyed that he forgave me, and that my crush was hugging me. However, my stupid brain was soon starting to imagine certain scenarios that could be occurring, making me blush in embarrassment. Thanks Aphrodite! (Not)

We soon broke it off, and continued to walk in the direction of our house, our spirits lifted. However, when I noticed a pass-byer look at us strangely, I noticed an immediate problem that in truth the two of us had even forgotten to consider.

We were glowing.

My white aura and Luke's red one were unnatural to say the least. In fact, it was a beacon that singled us out as the unhuman variety. On the bus we were lucky: the amount of sunlight and phone light that was inside made our glows seem far more natural. However, out here on the road we had no protection and no cover. I knew we had to get away from the public eye as soon as possible, so I dragged a surprised Luke into cover. Luckily, we were walking right next to a small park. We hid in the trees as best we could.

"What was that for?" asked Luke, out of breath after completing a sprint he didn't know he was participating in. I immediately shushed him, as he was speaking in a voice that was too loud for hiding.

"We glow, remember? We have to find a way to get rid of it, or at least dim it, before somebody gets a little too curious." I shuddered, not liking where my imagination was taking me. Luke's eyes widened as he too realised the issues that this fact may present to us.

"Oh, crap. How did we not think of this before?" He looked at me, and I looked back, trying to hold back my imagination of what could happen under the cover to trees. Oh, Aphrodite, I don't know if what you gave me was a blessing or a curse. I still haven't decided.

Thankfully, I had also been blessed by Athena, and that meant that my problem solving skills had increased. That would have been nice to have in all of those maths tests, but no matter now that I don't have to take them anymore. Score!

This superbly intelligent mind suddenly clicked something in place, and out of my own control I grabbed for the jewel. As soon as I touched it, I told it to do something in Ancient Greek. I do not remember what I said, but I know that it meant "Take away aura". The jewel glowed green for about a second, and then our aura's were gone, and I was back in control of my own body.

Luke, gobsmacked at what had just occurred, asked, "How did you do that!"

I, on the other hand, was supremely worried at the lack of control I had during these proceedings. "I don't know. Must have something to do with the blessings." I smiled weakly, hoping I had convinced him that I was fine, but he saw right through me. I could tell by his look. However, he chose not to mention it, which I was hugely thankful for.

Now that we looked normal, or at least as normal as everyone else, we once again set out on our trip towards my house. We had resigned ourselves to walking, and did indeed for the next five minutes, until I noticed two broken bikes that were left on the grass outside the owner's house. These bikes were in a horrible condition: the first bike was in two separate pieces, and the second one had a missing chain and a bent tire. Luke didn't give them a second glance, but my repair blessings went into overdrive, calculating what I needed to do and what tools I needed to have. Telling Luke to wait, I got to work.

To weld the two pieces of bike together, I willed flames to come out of my hands. While I freaked out about being on fire internally, externally I was calm, and melted the metal just enough to attach the two pieces together. With the first bike fixed, I focused my attention on the second. To fix the tire I removed my all-purpose-weapon ring off my finger and willed it to become a massive battering club, like the ones you see ogres use on TV. The only difference was that mine was metal, and the spikes were diamonds. Although I looked at it admiringly from a beauty perspective, my mechanical mind saw it as the strongest tool that existed, and used it to wack the tire back into the proper shape. Satisfied, I moved onto the chain. To create one, I tore up pieces of grass and linked them together in a chain shape. Once it was the proper length, I used the power of the jewel to turn the grass into metal, focusing and giving it the simple command in Ancient Greek, "transform". I then proceeded to thread it through the tire and attach it to the two wheels. After having completed the job, I looked at my audience, hoping to get the deserved recognition.

What I saw made me stop dead in my tracks. In those few seconds of holding gazes I saw myself in that exact moment. Crazed. A psychotic look in my eyes. An aura of fire surrounding me, my eyes that held flames. I looked like what I had always pictures as the devil: wreathed in flame with a dangerous and unhinged quality about it. A monster.

With a cry I took back control, averting my eyes from Luke's and the monster that I knew I would see in them. I knew that I was immensely close to freaking out, to losing all control. It was just too much. However, the thought of seeing my house again kept me at bay. Not even looking at Luke, as I knew he would now be afraid of me, I picked up the nearest bike and began to ride, knowing that Luke was right behind me, hearing his pedals move. And I did not stop once to rest, knowing what thoughts would crop up if I did.

At the time I did not know what Luke thought. But I do now. After seeing the power that I held, and the way I reacted, he was concerned that I would do something stupid. And he was not wrong. But he also felt a closer bond to me: he knew my deepest and darkest issues that I was experiencing, and he was determined to help. After all, he reasoned, she really is the most beautiful and powerful woman he had ever met. And he would follow me anywhere. Because he knew what I needed, to become what I was born to be. The gods had told him in his dreams every night, even if he was too small to understand why.

'She needed to learn control. And she needed to learn it fast.'