A/N : Hi, happy new year. next chapter within the week hopefully :) bye

We get in the car off a Venice bar, and we wait for the magic… (Chapter 2) [Silena]

"This is going to take a fair bit of time innit…"

"I really wanna head out for a bit.. I can barely feel my legs."

"There's this pizza place on 2nd, Perce have you tried it?"

"Oh hmm no, I don't think so? Silena and I went to the McDonald's across the street last time.."

"Man, you've got to try it... The buratta mushroom pizza is heavenly."

"Wait, who's going to record this if you both leave?"

"Uh Silena could you-"

"I mean yeah, I guess I was with you for most of this bit.."

"Thanks, babe! I'll bring a pizza back for you"

"Carter, do bring me back a pizza too, wont you? I'll be keeping her company."

Uh, check? It's working? Good.

Silena here. I'll leave most of the storytelling to Percy but since he isn't here right now, and I was present for most of this part...

Let's do this?

My mother had a terrible sense of timing. Seeing the light in my room suddenly flicker, I hastened to mentally assure her that it was still an honor to be a daughter of Aphrodite, her patronage was a blessing distinguishing me from the dreg of Olympus yada yada yada…

"But really, Mom?" I asked silently, knowing she was paying attention. Today was the first time I could leave the school campus in months! And mom had taken up a whole hour of the morning with her IM about fashion choices in Paris. At almost any other time, I'd have been happy to talk to her about it. Aphrodite, while not one of the most absentee Olympian parents, wasn't able to spend too much time around her children and any time she did give us was genuinely fun. Still, it was finally over, thank the gods, and mom hadn't needled me about my love life even once. Definitely an improvement. I was thirteen, I didn't like anyone that way, but the Goddess of Love and Sensuality seemed to not get what age-appropriateness was. Anyways, the thing is, I would've really appreciated some extra time to get ready today, which I'd now lost thanks to mom. I guess, in retrospect, that I shouldn't have thanked the gods, because instead of my own reflection in the mirror, my mother's pouty face appeared. I hurriedly looked towards the door to make sure my roommate Sarah wasn't coming in.

Aphrodite was dressed in the same polka dotted tube top she'd been wearing earlier but her appearance had started shifting annoyingly again. She still resembled that one actress I had a crush on and something of her face looked a bit like dad, but it was changing continuously. "Mom, would you stop that? I'm getting ready!" I hated sounding this whiny but with her, you couldn't really reason something out. Aphrodite was (and is) on her own league of emotional and impulsive and I had absolutely no desire to lust after a tree, thank you very much. Her eyes shifted from the light brown of that surfer dude I used to know to a somewhat familiar greenish hue. I couldn't exactly remember who had eyes like that. "Hon, if you'd just let me.." Ugh. "Mom, we have been over this. No divine makeovers. They'll make me stand out too much, I'll probably get dress coded and definitely attract more monsters." She sniffed at the last bit as if the existence of monsters somehow bothered her personally. Gods. I don't know why she didn't talk to Zeus about all demigod lives being in constant danger if she really cared. "But you'd look adorable. You have soo much potential, my dear. You could break so many hearts!" I stared at her. "Right." Why were the gods this capricious? "Not interested, mom. Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment." She'd have to get on the bus by 8. Gods, there was just 15 minutes left. "At least let me do your hair?" Oh well. I didn't have time for conventional styling anyways. "Fine, fine. Thank you, but please be fast." My mother managed to look haughty and pouty at the same time as she set about pointing at me and muttering measurements of something. I dragged the beige cargo pants on and reached for a jacket. The blue denim one would go well, right? "Mom, does this look alright?" She tilted her face to look at me and said "Of course, my dear. You are a demigod of the Tenth Throne of the Dodekathon and you are beautiful." A snap of her fingers accompanied her last word and I blinked, suddenly a bit dizzy.

When I got my bearings again, her face had vanished from my mirror. Right. I took a look at my reflection. She hadn't gone overboard with my hair, thankfully. The short pixie cut looked nice, I had to admit; and though I couldn't see anything different, my blouse-jacket-cargo pants outfit had no right to look as good as it did. Mom really didn't get fitting in, did she? Well, no time to lose. I made a grab for the bag on my bed and checked it had everything I might need for the trip. Ambrosia, nectar, check. The Ziploc bag they were in properly sealed and Mist-shrouded, check. Always keep your miraculous healing food safely on hand. That's Demigodding 101 right there. Oh, and too much of it will make you burn up, literally. Diary for notes, check. Wallet, check. Energy bar, check. Water bottle, check. Camp necklace in another Ziploc bag, check. Right. Was I forgetting something? Well, extra clothes would be nice, but I didn't feel like I had the time-oh. I reached into my previously empty right pocket and felt the Walkman warp itself into existence. Gift from Mom, don't question it. It always returns to me. She gave that to me on my 9th birthday, when she'd claimed me. Besides the usual music playing, it could also get me out of being made into monster chow. She'd added a special heart-shaped button beside the large play one and pressing it could temporarily disorient the target. It didn't last long, but was enough to get away. I'd been initially quite skeptical of it, because my mother's sales pitch for it instead of giving me a regular weapon like other gods had included telling me about exactly how it distracted the target (with all the explicit details you'd expect of the Goddess of sex who had never learnt what keeping it PG meant). Nine-year old me had been slightly traumatized, and also disturbed cause of the favoritism; my cabin had lost campers to monsters because they'd had no divine gift. "Love is a fantastic distraction, my dear" she'd told me with this smile as if we were sharing a scandalous secret. "I can't wait for you to learn that!"

I swung the bag onto my shoulders, ready to head out. Thinking of the campers got me thinking of Percy. I wasn't a satyr (thank the gods, serving Mr. D would be hell), but it really wasn't that difficult to figure out he was a demigod. Guessing his godly parent, though? That was a bit more complicated. Considering the fact that he was alive, I could rule out the Big Three but then… there was something about his eyes. Most of the time, they had this calm sea-green shade but when he'd turned to look at me after facing Derek and those other jerks- I wasn't sure what exactly I saw but the Mist had shifted around his eyes a bit, and for a second I could see a storm brewing within his irises. And then there was the matter of the hellhound. The first day he (literally) crashed into me, I'd actually been planning on making a run for Camp because I'd seen the monster prowling about… I'd been worried about Percy's safety because if I left and it caught his scent he wouldn't know what to do but then it somehow went away on its own? That only happened for demigods of really minor gods who barely had a noticeable scent to monsters.

Oh, I realized suddenly. There he was. I blinked when I realized I'd been staring off into space for too long with my thoughts, holding up the line to get onto the school bus. Probably just nerves, I told myself, but I couldn't shake off the trepidation entirely. More than one demigod in one place always meant trouble. As much as I hated having to look over my shoulder for monsters, it was necessary. Would I be able to protect Percy if we were attacked? I absolutely hated monster-fighting, and not for the first time, wished all demigods could just be claimed and safely sent to Camp by their godly parents. We were all kids at the end of the day. We deserved better, as Luke always kept on saying.

"-you okay?" "Huh?" I asked, confused. Percy was in the seat beside me, staring at me, concerned. You know, I almost told him to be careful before I realized how weird it would seem to him if I told him I was not a fan of field trips in general. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine", I tried for a reassuring smile. "I have an incredibly bad track record with field trips, you know?" Percy said, after a while. "Oh?"

With a brief flash of alarm I wondered if he'd been attacked, before dismissing the idea. Even an uninitiated demigod wouldn't be this clueless about the Greek world after a monster attack.

"Yeah, last year I was at this school, and we went to an aquarium and somehow… ended up inside the aquarium. I don't even know how it was my fault, but they kicked me out after that… and the year before there was this zoo with snakes and I think some of them escaped the enclosure somehow after I went near them? Not sure, got expelled." I blinked at him. The usual demigod experience did involve weird attacks by a variety of Greek monsters, but I'd never heard of someone ending up inside an aquarium tank. Just what had he done? "Okay, just please don't give me an unplanned swim again. Once was more than enough." Percy grinned, his eyes sparkling. "Thanks for the idea!" I shoved his shoulder lightly before taking a look around the bus. Most of the girls from my year were closer to the back, accompanied by the history teacher who was telling them stories of the Revolutionary War. Up front, I saw- wait. "Why's Principal Johnson going with us?" Percy grimaced, turning to see the grim-faced bald man ahead of us. The Principal, while strict, mostly kept to himself, and only told people off if they came near his office. "He didn't say anything, probably wants to get out of the school as much as us." Oh. Odd, but I suppose it wasn't too bad. He wasn't a predator, or a literal monster, so that automatically made him better than my last two principals. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while after that, as the bus went down the highway.

After a while, seeing Percy had managed to dose off, despite the other students chattering away all around us. I shifted in my seat, trying to focus on both Percy and my surroundings. Being a demigod meant constantly looking over your shoulder, which got exhausting real quick. Mom called it "developing a fashion sense for danger" - gods, her metaphors were something else. Still, I had my routines. Check exits: bus door, emergency windows. Scan for threats: that tree could hide a dracaena, that pile of rocks might be a sleeping cyclops... usually it was just my ADHD brain being overactive, but the one time you don't check is the time you end up as monster chow. Being on the road was inherently dangerous for us, and I also had to maintain a "normal" image – which meant no showing surprise when Mist flickered around certain things like that large building in the distance…probably just divine blessings or something – Chiron always said Western Civilization owed much to the gods. Sometimes I envied the year-round campers - at least they didn't have to spend much time doing mortal stuff. A while later I pulled out my Walkman and started listening to some music on the earphones. When I woke up, a tour guide from the park had boarded the bus. I tried to focus on what he was saying, but the details of the "first ever surrender of a British Army unit" wasn't easy to focus on when you had "Did you think that it was something I was gonna do and cry?" roaring in your ears.

Soon after, we reached the national park and I poked Percy awake. While he rubbed his eyes, and the rest of our group got to their feet I quickly used the Mist to fix my hair and makeup. Mom's powers meant I could actually fix it too, but that required a lot more energy and concentration, so I mostly used a simple Mist illusion. While we aren't innately arcane like demigods of Hecate, Aphrodite's children did have an affinity for Mist-based illusions. Mom was clearly allergic to straight answers so I had no idea why, but it was definitely useful. As we entered, I kept an eye out for monsters but didn't see anything. For a war site, the park actually looked peaceful. The guide led us towards the staggering white monument talking about how it had once overlooked the place of the surrender. I saw a small crowd, including Percy by the ridge across from us where there were two lone cannons, painted red. "Well, definitely more interesting than this lecture", I thought and headed that way. "Anything interesting?" I asked Percy, as I reached him. He was prodding at the cannons as if expecting them to move or do something. He shook his head, and said "Not really. The cannons do have cool markings in gold though." Wait, gold? That was odd. "Over here, the ridge is known as the Bemis Heights and overlooking it we have…" Oh, crud. The boring tour guide was coming this way too. I blinked and then remembered what Percy just said. The base did have markings in…. Greek? Oh no. What was- Eta? Greek H, for…My hand brushed the letters and- PING! Hephaestus. H is Hephaestus, my mind supplied, far too late as a clinking noise had already started from the cannon I just touched. The sound of ancient gears grinding against each other filled the air. "Percy, get back!" I yelled, seeing as he was still staring at the now very much moving cannon as if his eyes had betrayed him. He was still holding the other one. The cannon swiveled - actually swiveled - its barrel glowing with an unnatural bronze light. Oh gods, I thought, a trap. Had to be one of Hephaestus's pranks meant for my mother. Percy let go of his cannon just as mine started humming. The sound grew higher and higher until - BOOM! A blast of pure energy shot out, not the regular cannonball I'd expected. The beam hit our bus, and for a moment everything was bathed in blinding yellow light. When my vision cleared, the bus had been transformed into a heap of molten metal, steam rising from the puddle of what used to be seats and windows.

The mortals around us were frozen in shock. Through the Mist, they probably saw something completely different - maybe they thought the bus had caught fire? But Percy... Percy had seen exactly what I had. His face showed confusion, betrayal, and something else... was that recognition? Had he seen something like this before? The school bus was now a steaming mess of molten metal and rubber. Pieces of shattered glass lay on the steaming heap, with the number plate lying pitifully on top of one of the half-melted tires. For a few minutes, no one said anything. Looking back on it, we were all definitely in shock. I only remember Principal Johnson turn my way with an incredulous look and blurting out "I didn't do anything!" at the top of my voice. So, Charmspeak. I think we need to talk about it a bit. It was a rare power of certain children of Aphrodite; it is not exactly magic or mind-control, but more of convincing someone what you said was the indisputable truth. It worked best when you yourself believed what you were saying, and when you managed to imbue genuine emotion in your words. A great example would be me, shocked, scared, and definitely wanting to stay out of trouble. It worked perfectly, really. You've heard people say that words are weapons? In my case it was literal. No one even considered that I'd done anything. Most of the eyes I could see were glazed over from the power of my words. But it wasn't magic, not really. And the only other person near enough to the cannon had been… "I will make arrangements for you to be sent home immediately, Mr Jackson", the principal said. "Your report card will follow next week."

But-he hadn't been the one. "What a freak", someone whispered. No, no, no, I thought. This wasn't fair, I hadn't meant - It hadn't been- I looked at him and Percy's usually sparkling green eyes looked ashen now. I'm sorry, I mouthed. Of course he hadn't been fooled by my Charmspeak. He'd been there when I touched the cannon. He'd seen it respond to me. He looked away, and the simple gesture felt like a blow to my chest. A tear rolled down my eye as someone muttered "expelled again?" and I realized I'd just made everything worse.

Another bus was hired to take us students home while the principal stayed back with Percy, talking to the park authorities about his dangerous mishandling of historical items. I didn't get a chance to talk to Percy again, after that. Sometime later, a dove with mom's multicolored eyes flew by my seat, and I got the feeling my mother was at least slightly remorseful about Hephaestus' trap, which had clearly been meant for her, and not her children. All this time you were just pretending, so much for my happy ending, Avril sang on my earphones.