Agodda

Chapter Five

Chapter Five - Aden

Pyralis, Kate, and I were sitting in the new Aphrodite cabin after dinner -- thanks Hephaestus kids. I was sitting at one of the other Aphrodite girls's makeup desks and staring at my hair. I turned around and looked at Pyralis and Kate. "My hair isn't really pink is it?"

Kate looked at me. "Get over it dude, it's pink. Move on."

Pyralis just stared. "You dyed your hair?"

"No!" I said quickly.

"Oh," she said. She looked at me as if she knew how I felt, then I remembered how her was had some strange coloring, too. I stood up and started walking to where Kate was sitting on her bed.

Suddenly the door burst open. Standing in front of us was a large shadowy figure. I grasped my twig in my pocket and stared at the figure. I wanted to say something heroic like, "Watch out, I have a weapon!" but all that came out was, "I have a twig . . ."

Kate and Pyralis stared in astonishment. The shadowy figure changed shape and began to become more clear. "Holy Zeus, it's you!" I said as I realized who I was looking at, Aphrodite -- my mom.

Next to me, Pyralis whispered, "It's her."

Aphrodite pretty much invited herself in and stared us all down from head to toe. A large smile spread across her beautiful face. "It's you! Oh, I can't believe how much you've grown!" She looked at Kate, "Why, you've turned into such a fine young woman! Your hair is so beautiful! And your eyes, oh, you've got such beautiful eyes!" Kate just stood there. I could tell she was trying not to take too much pride in the compliments from her -- our -- mom.

Aphrodite looked at me, "Oh, you're such a handsome young man! Oh, I remember when you were just a little boy, a quiet one at that. Yep, you were the mild child. Oh, your eyes are so beautiful, too!" I tried to accept her compliments gracefully, beautiful wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. "You look so much like your father -- in a good way."

"About our father--" I started, but Aphrodite cut me off.

"Hush, honey, Mommy's talking." Mom moved on to Pyralis. "My, aren't you . . . pretty. You're like an exact replica of your father only . . . better looking!" I could tell Pyralis was disappointed. Though I knew Aphrodite didn't mean to insult her or let her down. "Let's talk about boys!" Aphrodite said happily. She looked at me, "Or girls."

"Um, Aphrodite -- Mom -- who is our father?" I asked curiously. I was also hoping she would forget about the whole 'girls' thing.

"That's what I've come here to talk to you about." Aphrodite soon looked serious, "I have so much to say and so little time has been allowed to say it."

"Start by answering our question," Pyralis said.

"Your father is . . . One of a kind, actually . . ."

She was stalling. "Please, just tell us who he is," Kate said anxiously.

"Um, your father isn't exactly mortal . . ."

"Who is he?" We all blurted out together.

"Prometheus. Your father is Prometheus." If I was a cartoon character I would have had the face of a cartoon guy seeing a beautiful girl. Not that I saw a girl I liked, that's not the point! My eyes felt like they were bugging out -- my jaw dropping to the floor, though not literally.

"What?! Prometheus. The Firebringer. The Titan of Forethought is our father?!" I said astonished.

"That's not all. You may notice you have powers different than the other kids of mine." She looked at Pyralis. "You make fire, you control fire, and you see glimpses of the visions you can't explain, correct?" Pyralis nodded.

She looked at me, "You make fire, you control fire -- though I must say you definitely need to practice that --, and you can charmspeak -- though not as powerfully, can you not?" I nodded. Wow, she knew a lot.

She looked lastly at Kate. "You make people fall in love -- even if only temporarily --, and you can charmspeak, true or false?"

"True," Kate said dumbfounded.

"Well, you can all do more than that. Each of you was given a special blessing from a god or goddess at birth. I must say I do not know who gave who what. It could be something tiny or something powerful. You must each figure out your blessing and learn how to control it before it is too late." Aphrodite froze for a moment, something flashing through her mind. "I must go. My time with you is up. I have said too much!" And with that, she disappeared.

I looked at Pyralis and Kate, but they weren't dressed like they were earlier. They each had the blessing of Aphrodite. They were both wearing makeup, their hair was perfect. They were each wearing a somewhat Greek dress and sandals. Wow, they looked gorgeous. If they weren't my sisters I would . . . No. Don't go there. I realized they were both staring at me and trying to hide a smile.

I looked in the mirror. My hair was also perfect. Thankfully, I didn't have any makeup on, that'd be weird. I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a Greek chiton and some sandals. "Great!" I exclaimed grumpily, "A man dress!"

Pyralis looked at me and let her laughter out. "Man? Ha!"

I tried to mess up my hair or something, but it kept remaining perfect. "How long will this last?"

Pyralis answered, "Just a couple days." I wondered how she knew that but let it go.

"If you need me, I won't be leaving this cabin till my dress is no more," I said. The girls laughed. I wasn't trying to be funny, yet they found it hysterical. I let them laugh, though. I had more important things to think about.