Bella was expecting the campers to be relieved that the day had finally come and they could be restored to their former glory. A little bit of interest, at the very least. Not the words that followed:
"Who cares?"
Bella was thrown. "What?" she said in shock.
"I don't care. We don't care. Before your little curse, sister," the camper who had first spoken responded, "we were already not respected. We were loved, well-liked, but certainly not respected."
The Aphrodite camper who had spoken was the oldest in the cabin, not including Bella of course. His name was Nathan, and he was a couple years younger than Bella. She hadn't really talked to him much- he was already at camp when she came, and there was a weird relationship between campers that arrived earlier, but were younger than the older campers who arrived later.
"Sure, you may have not been completely respected, but it is surely better than lying in bed and doing nothing all day!" Bella exclaimed.
"You do know that I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for you! Well, actually, this is all for one of your siblings who is in danger and may very well expose the demigod world to a group whose minds can't be wiped by the Mist!" At that point Bella was shouting.
"Why choose us?" another camper shouted. "I'm sure the Ares cabin could easily complete the task." Before
"Because," Bella hissed, "thanks to Nemesis, I am now a goddess, albeit a minor one. I cannot interfere in the lives of demigods, but I still can give out quests. The gods don't want Nemesis to make any more gods or goddesses like herself, and so my godly status is a guarded secret. Therefore, I can only give you the quests, since you are my siblings by ichor, and that is not a breach of secret."
Nathan arched an eyebrow. "And why should we take on this quest? The Aphrodite cabin is not affected by monsters, so whatever this 'group' is, they won't be able to track us down by following the monsters."
"The group has other means of doing things," Bella said. "With a single word they summon you right to them, and with two more they can kill you." She almost shuddered. With the current leadership of the Ministry of Magic and the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the order to exterminate the demigods (and maybe even the gods, somehow) would certainly be given.
"Can't you just blow the group up, since you're apparently a goddess?" a camper suggested.
"I am betting that they are under surveillance by Hecate, and when she wonders why a good chunk of them disappeared, she'll trace it back to me, which means that she'll find out that I am goddess blessed by Nemesis, which means the secret is out." Bella said. "So no, I can't blast them into oblivion."
"Alright," sighed Nathan, "we're doing the quest. How many people are needed?"
"Three, including me," said Bella. "I know I can't participate in quests, but I'll be helping you as much as I can, by giving information. The quest itself is just a simple break-in and springing a prisoner- that's your sibling that's been keeping the secret, if you can't tell already. Nothing much."
"Springing a prisoner? How is that supposed to be simple?!" one of the campers cried.
"Compared to a normal quest: very easy. First off, this one is only one night away from camp, since I'll be providing you with information to speed the process up. Second, you don't have to trek across the country, I'll be providing the transportation. And this doesn't involve slaying any monsters, either."
"Okay, who will be the two campers going with her?" Nathan asked. Bella noticed that he didn't use her name.
Nathan was met with silence.
"We need actors and people good with makeup for disguise, or someone with the skill equivalent to Brandon Roberts," Bella said. Brandon Roberts was a Hermes kid who was the smuggling overlord. Not only did he supply the Camp Half-Blood population with the banned sodas, but he also did smuggling for Olympus. Minor things, of course; packages of exotic seafood from Poseidon's palace (stolen with the help of a friend with a submarine), a cow sacred to Apollo here and there, but Brandon Roberts was still a demigod legend with stories to be passed down through the Hermes cabin.
"Okay, there's obviously no Brandon Roberts here," Nathan said. "Let's have, um, Carol and Erin come with her."
"Why us?" complained one of the campers who was presumably either Carol or Erin. "Shouldn't you consider the decision a bit more?"
"Well, because none of us have any acting experience. You and Erin took a drama class in middle school, which is more than any of us," said Nathan to Carol.
"But won't people notice that we are gone?" said Carol.
"Well, it's not like any of you come out of your cabin often," Bella said. "Now come on."
"We're going now?" Erin said. "Right now?"
"Well, I suppose I could spare half an hour so you guys could take a shower and pack your makeup supplies which we'll be needing," Bella said, wrinkling her nose.
Erin and Carol glanced at each other, giving "how-is-this-happening" expressions, then started preparing.
"And in the meantime," Bella muttered to herself, "I'll prep our transport."
Bella left the cabin, turning herself invisible again and started searching for something that could get them to Britain overnight.
Normally, Bella would just teleport to her desired location. Occasionally, she got to ride Nemesis' motorcycle (named Clyde), but she couldn't borrow it now. So that's why she turned to the harbors of Camp Half-Blood.
Aphrodite had a pretty good relationship with the sea. After all, she rose from the sea when she came into existence, so Bella felt pretty safe about putting her two half-siblings on board.
The harbors were a bit distanced from the main part of camp; it was more closer to the forest than the cabins. It was mostly populated by classical Greek warships for naval battle practice, and actual war if it came to that. There were also a couple small fishing boats and a single yacht, which was what she was looking for.
The Nympholia was in relatively good condition for her age, but she was still definitely not fast enough to get to London in time.
Bella pondered the question for some time. She didn't have many powers that she could toy with to make the boat faster, but if she couldn't make the boat faster magically, she could always strap on some booster engines and hope for the best.
But then Bella remembered that she was a goddess of dealing out karma. The rules of magic never said she couldn't give extra goodness to a boat and therefore make it unhumanly (unboatly?) fast. All she had to do was make the inanimate boat an animate boat.
Easy enough, eh?
Nympholia, you served the demigods of Camp Half-Blood for years, Bella said to the boat with her thoughts. I know you knew them, each and everyone of them as they boarded you and opened your sail. Now wake, so your good deeds can be rewarded by me.
A resounding creak echoed through the yacht. Now that the yacht saw herself as animate, Bella could give the karma.
See, it wasn't that hard, Bella thought to herself.
Bella started the process of giving the Nympholia the good energy. She pulled out her choice weapon, a whip, and laid the tip softly onto the boards of the yacht while still holding the handle. She then pulled sharply upward.
There, the deed was done. Now it was time to fetch the two questing boys, Carol and Erin from the Aphrodite cabin.
Bella arrived at the cabin. "Come on, it's time to go," she said. "Say your goodbyes and meet me at the Nympholia."
Bella was finishing spreading the sails as the boys arrived, both carrying small backpacks and a suitcase filled with the needed makeup supplies .
"We're going on a boat? Where are we going?" Carol asked.
"London," replied Bella absent-mindedly.
"London?" exclaimed Carol. "You said this was going to be a one night trip!"
"Oh, it is," said Bella, smiling.
1389 words.