Ray of Sunshine

11

We were in Apollo's Palace on Olympus. He just couldn't stop kissing me. He kept giving me all these cute compliments. I got a little overwhelmed. We sat on the luxe sofa in his palace. Well, he sat and I lay on the sofa, my head in his lap. He was playing with my hair. 'I have to continue my quest now, Apollo,' I said, breaking the silence. He sighed. 'Will you be careful?' I nodded. 'You still have to ask me that, after all this time?' I asked him. 'Always,' He said. I smiled and kissed him. 'I'll be fine, Apollo!' I wanted to leave. I wanted to ask Zeus to transport me back to my friends. 'Wait! I almost forgot to give you your birthday gift!' Apollo said. 'Am I seventeen already?' I asked, pretty shocked. 'Yes, It is your birthday.' He smiled and gave me something he had hidden behind his back. I unwrapped the paper and it revealed a golden bow with a silver quiver. "It's from Artemis and me actually. The quiver is enchanted, so that you never run out of arrows. I looked at him shocked. "You shouldn't have-" I started to say "Please take it! Artemis will think I didn't give it to you! It will be drama!" I laughed about his behavior, but nodded. I pulled back to string of my new bow. "What shall I call it? Skywalker, Solo..." I thought about it. "I know! I will call it Scout. As a memory," I said smiling. "I have to go back to Zeus to ask him to teleport me, and to say goodbye." Apollo kissed me one last time and I walked outside, back to the the throne room.

A cloud of pink suddenly surrounded me. "Aphrodite," I mumbled. Out of the blue I wore a short chiton, with a very pretty thunderbolt pin. I liked it. Somehow, I recognized it. I didn't know from where. The chiton came to my knees, so I would be able to fight with it. On my head there was a golden tiara. I couldn't possibly fight with that. My hair was braided in a fishtail. Aphrodite stepped out of the pink cloud and smiled. She was really pretty. No, pretty isn't the right word. She was knock-out gorgeous, beautiful, handsome, precious, everything. I think she had dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes, with a caramel colored skin, but she might as well have had pitch-black hair, ice-blue eyes and a snow-white skin. Or Dark skin, dark hair and black eyes. I really don't remember. "Good afternoon, Diana raya. Don't you worry, this is only part of my personal gift to you. Hermes will bring you the rest. Happy birthday," She said. "I also have something to give you, punk," Ares, who apparently walked with Aphrodite (hm-mm), said. He grabbed my hand. I felt power streaming through my bloodstream, up to my neurons. "You've been blessed. You are now able to use any weapon under any circumstance, at any time," Ares said. He and Aphrodite both walked away. It was a weird meeting.

I walked to the throne room and spotted Zeus and Hera. "Hello, my lord and lady," I said, a bit awkward. "Hello child, what is it you want?" Hera asked. "I was on a quest before everything..." I made a wide gesture with my hands to Zeus and the entire throne room. "This... and..." then I made a gesture to the sun. "that weird stuff... happened to me. I wish to rejoin my quest mates: Achilles, Rose, Tamara and... Wait. That's it." Hera nodded. "I'll send you back, Daughter. Remember to go to Memphis. There you will find Hestia's flame." She put her hand on my head and transported me back to the camp.

Rose spotted me first. "Raya! Where were you?! We were worried sick about you! and what is up with these new clothes?" She looked angry. I understood, but I couldn't handle that right now. "I know where Hestia is and where Achilles friend is." Achilles rolled with his eyes, but said nothing. Rose lifted an eyebrow. "Where?" "Memphis, we have to walk to Memphis." Tamara groaned and pulled open her mouth. "Or, dare I say. Walking to the same place that train would have brought us, if it wasn't for our favorite demigods." I groaned as well. "We have to leave as fast as possible. Break up camp," I said. "Wow, miss Grace is back to commanding officer?" Rose said. I rolled my eyes "Rose, just stop it! What has gotten into you. My gods." Rose looked extremely angry. "Well, while you were making out with Apollo and doing Hades knows what, we were here mourning about Scout and we were worried sick about you! We thought we lost you as well! You can't just come back and act like nothing happened!" She yelled. I was taken aback by her words, but I felt anger as well. "Well, Rose, if you're going to act like this I don't need you on this quest! I wish you died instead of Scout, Scout wasn't worth it to die, you are!" I yelled back. "Guys! Stop it! This isn't like you two!" Tamara yelled. The wind was howling and plants were growing around my ankles. I saw Achilles holding a frying pan and everything went black.