"Have you heard?" one of my half-sisters, Althea whispered
"About what?" Malcolm asked, thirsting for gossip
"Mr D's punishment has been cut short!"
"No way!" Vivian, another sister of mine, exclaimed "How did you know?"
"The Aphrodite cabin have been talking about it all day! And he's been looking way too cheerful lately"
"I wonder who our new camp director is"
"Same!" I was about to say something when Rachel poked her head into the cabin
"General meeting" she stated simply
"Where?" I asked
"Half-blood Hill" before I could ask her anything more, she ducked out.
'''''Line break'''''
We all gathered around Half-blood Hill, chattering and whispering guesses about why they called for a meeting. The gods' presence making the guesses even more crazy.
"Ahem" Apollo cleared his throat, gathering our attention "I'm sure you're all curious as to why we called you out here"
"Dionysus' punishment has been cut short" Hermes announced "Which I guess you already know, since someone" he glared at Aphrodite "was unable to keep it in"
Aphrodite giggled and playfully shoved his shoulder "Shut it"
"Moving on!" Dionysus exclaimed glaring at the duo. He looked...different. Like really different. He wasn't pudgy anymore with a beer belly and flushed face, instead he was lithe and slender with a feminine face and his black-purple hair was about waist-length and in an elaborate braid. He was gorgeous. "Chiron will be your new camp director, and you'll be having a new activity director in due time"
"But of course, you need to get him" Apollo added, a playful grin on his face.
"Question" I said, raising my hand to get his attention.
"Shoot"
"What do you mean 'get him'?" I asked, confused
"Well you see..." he turned to Hermes
"He doesn't live on Olympus, he's got his own island that no one can visit without his permission. You are to find his lodgings"
"Who's going?" Chiron asked, his horse tail swishing nervously
"Hmmm...Red help me out" Apollo said, looking helplessly at Rachel
"You can't do anything without me" she teased "Well I'm going, so are the rest of the seven...Nico, Thalia, and...I don't remember..."
"...The name starts with a 'D' right?"
"...Ye..ah"
"Drew!"
"Yes! Her!" Rachel said snapping her fingers "That's about..."
"Ten people in total"
"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked
"Well it isn't exactly a quest" Hermes explained "It's more of a game. The only catch is that if you fail, you get punished. Severely"
"I wouldn't mind getting punished for your sake though" Aphrodite sighed, aa dreamy look crossing her face
"You and your horny ass" Artemis sniffed, shaking her head in amusement
"It's a beautiful horny ass" Aphrodite said, pouting
"Anyway, go pack your things." Apollo instructed, his arm around Rachel's waist "Meet us on Olympus at precisely 4pm" and they disappeared in a swirl of heat.
"Later" Hermes saluted and flew off
Aphrodite and Artemis didn't say anything, they just left bickering in ancient greek.
''''''
We stood in front of the large thrones, surprised to see the gods teasing and messing with each other. There was no sign of any hostility or petty arguments. What happened?
There was also a new addition to the Olympians apparently as there was a new throne there, in the middle of Aphrodite and Apollo. It was a throne made of wood with silver and gold threaded black cushions. The wood was engraved with images of men with children, wolves, fiery birds, winged lions, roaring waves, forests, time, antelopes and gazelles, magic and...heroes.
"Hermes would take you to the island" Zeus said, nodding towards Hermes "He's the only one with a magical artifact that won't question his appearance on the island"
Hermes, with a wide grin on his face, showed us his right hand and on his middle finger was a gold band lined with sky-blue colored gems "I wish you guys luck though, it took me a week to find it, but you're lucky to be getting two weeks to just find it's position"
"You are still allowed to communicate with those outside, but you aren't allowed to share information about the island, am I understood?" for the first time today Poseidon spoke, his eyes cold as he assessed us
"Yes sir, we wouldn't dare" Jason said, we sweatdropped at the sudden relaxed expression on Poseidon's face. I always knew he was bipolar.
"You leave now" all of a sudden, our surroundings changed and we were on our backs on a beautiful sandy beach.
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In front of us was a clear blue sea and behind us was a beautiful forest, that wasn't too dense or clustered together. And from what I could gather, we were alone.
"Where do we start?" Leo asked
All our eyes went to Rachel.
Her eyes were trained on the sky, bright and excited "It's late now, so we'll begin at dawn, tomorrow" she chirped "So we'd better set up camp"
