Chapter Two
"Bella, wake up!" A masculine voice brought me back to the real world. "Bella!"
My eyes fluttered open to see Connor Stoll, shaking my shoulders. I noticed that his hands were very warm and big. I wondered what my hands would look like intertwined with his.
I blushed at the thought as I sat up. My hair probably looked like a mess.
"What time is it?" I asked, my voice sounding a bit raspy.
"I-it's eight in the morning. I probably should've woken you up earlier, but you were talking in your sleep." Connor said, looking away.
"I do? What did I say?" I asked urgently. If it was anything that related to the dream I was having, that would be totally embarrassing.
Connor smirked. "Oh, nothing. Just about how handsome I looked and how hot I am."
I blushed furiously. Not because I was angry, but because it was the exact same thing that I had thought of in my dream.
Connor laughed out loud. "Just kidding. Your blushes are cute, though."
I blushed even more while I glared at him. "What did I really say?"
Connor shrugged his shoulders. "Something about your mom."
I immediately perked up as I remembered my mom's words. Follow the breeze. What did that even mean?
I must've looked like I was deep in thought because Connor asked, "Your mom talked to you last night?"
I nodded.
"What did she say?" He asked curiously.
I felt my cheeks heat up. "Uh...nothing much. I mean, it probably doesn't mean anything."
Connor looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I knew he didn't believe me. I mean, gods didn't really talk to you for no reason at all.
"Let's leave it, okay? It's for me to figure out. Can we get out of this cave now?"
Connor looked at me for a second, and opened the curtain of fern. Was it just me or did he look disappointed?
"Yep, it's clear now."
"Did the monster lurk around last night when I slept?"
Connor shook his head. "No. I slept two hours after you did."
I nodded my head, not knowing how to respond to that.
Connor cleared his throat. "Right. This way."
We started walking, and I glanced behind me at the rock -which looked normal but was actually a cave. It was a magic cave.
We walked more and more until we started to see a small dirt path and a clearing. After a few minutes, we heard rustling sounds coming from our right.
We instantly turned our heads, drawing out our weapons. It could be a monster.
"It's you guys!" Travis said as he emerged from the bushes.
Connor and I looked taken aback.
"W-where are the others?" Connor asked.
"They're all out looking for you two. Come on, it's best if we probably inform them that I found you." Travis said, taking the lead.
I glanced at Connor, who held an emotionless face. It was weird, seeing him all serious and not grinning or smirking. He looked kind of handsome.
"What's wrong with you today? Cat got your tongue?" I teased Connor.
"What do you mean?" Connor asked me, looking straight into my eyes.
I felt something rise from my throat at the sudden eye contact but I looked away and it all faded. "I don't know, you seem so serious today. Had a bad dream last night?" I asked.
It was common for demigods to have bad dreams. Usually, they were visions or things happening in real life. Or sometimes, messages that your godly parent wanted to deliver themselves, just like Mom with my dream last night.
I blushed at the thought.
Connor shook his head. "Nah...I mean...it's not that important. Probably something silly and stupid..." He trailed off.
"Ohhhhkay." I replied, not saying anything else as Travis led sis back to the pavilion.
"Ah, I see the lovely Miss Bella and Mister Connor join us today." Chiron announced to the entire camp.
I stared at the floor. I didn't really like attention, which was a weird trait for Aphrodite kids to have.
Travis and Connor joined the Hermes table while I walked over to my table, where Camila had greeted me and apologized a thousand times.
I rolled my eyes. "It's okay. There was nothing dangerous, really. Connor took care of it." I said honestly.
The girls in my table giggled as I told them about spending a night with Connor. They told me that we were their new love team. I shrugged it off. Things like this happened all the time.
I glanced back at the Hermes table behind me, and I saw Connor laughing along with his friends. His wavy hair gleamed in the light and the way he grinned wide sent my heart doing jumping jacks. I quickly looked away. What was happening to me? I have never felt like this since...three years ago when Connor had asked me to the fireworks display.
My eyes widened at the realization. No. I wasn't going to have a crush on Connor Stoll, of all people! I shook my head as I walked back to the cabin. As soon as I took a look at my bunk, I kind of missed the cave that I had slept in last night. Of course, snuggling up beside Connor was a plus. Because he was warm. That's why. Nothing else.
I sighed and decided that it was time to clean my bunk. Inspection was happening later and I did not want to wash the dishes, even if the Aphrodite cabin got five out of five all the time. Well, Piper wasn't that too harsh in cabin inspections as Drew was, so we're a little more laidback this year.
After I was done with laundry and cleaning my sheets, I took a long shower. And as soon as I dried myself off and changed into a clean, fresh, orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, Camila took the opportunity to style my hair.
I rolled my eyes. I agreed to her for the first time, because she's pestered me with her apologies and I figured that this would make her stop. After all, what's the harm in all this? There's a first in everything, right?
I was right. I kind of liked how my hair turned out, and even Piper said it was pretty. Camila didn't straighten it at all. In fact, I had no idea what she was doing curling my hair with a hair straightener. My hair was a lot shorter, so it fell down to my waist instead of my hips.
I frowned as I looked at myself in the mirror. It kind of looked good, and it kind of looked bad. I didn't really know. It was just different, that's what I told myself. But I liked it enough to keep the look on. I thanked Camila and proceeded to Archery.
That's where I met Mason again.
"Heard you went missing last night. Were you scared?" Mason asked after he had shot a bull's eye on a farthest target.
"Yeah, it was pretty scary. I mean, it's not every day that you get lost in the woods with someone you hate, right?" I joked.
Mason looked at me. "You hate Connor Stoll?"
I looked at him back like he was crazy. "Of course. Everyone knows I hate Connor, even the kids from the Morpheus cabin, who don't do anything but sleep."
Mason laughed out loud. "I know you had a few fights with him years before. But I mean, like, I thought you guys were friends."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. Friends that insult each other all the time."
Mason was quiet for a while. "Well, want me to teach you my secret on how to shoot precisely?"
I nodded my head, even if I wasn't that interested. "Sure."
That's how my Archery class went. Chiron was at the side, watching us. Usually, he'd let Mason teach everyone else because Mason was pretty much the best at it.
I didn't focus on Chiron, though, because I was busy focusing on Mason holding my bow, putting his hand over mine, and his steady breathing on my neck.
* * * * * * * * *
Camila squealed as I told her about Mason teaching me how to shoot nicely. I only told her that part for about five seconds, though, so I didn't know why she wasn't interested about me almost flying off a pegasus.
News travelled fast, though, because at the end of the day, the entire camp was sure that Mason and I were dating, and that during Archery class, Apollo had let him borrow his infamous chariot and that Mason brought me to Paris for a date.
During dinner, I couldn't help but sneak glances at Mason to ask what he thought about all these things. But of course, I didn't. I caught him one time, though, sneaking a peek at me. He smiled, and I smiled back. That was about it.
On the way back to the cabin, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Mason, with a small smile on his face. "You aren't going to sing-along?"
"Nah, it's not really my thing." I answered.
I haven't been going to a lot of sing-along's since I turned out to be an Aphrodite kid. During the bonfire, people would always tend to be loud and rowdy. I wasn't used to that kind of thing anymore, unlike when I was in the Hermes cabin, so I quit going to the bonfires.
"Why not? You don't like holding hands and singing like a bunch of drunk teenagers?" Mason grinned.
I grinned as well. "Nope, not my type of scenery. I'd rather stay in bed with a good book."
Mason looked at me long and hard. "That's weird. But it's a nice kind of weird."
Something tugged inside of my chest, and I couldn't exactly describe the feeling, but I liked it. "I guess so."
"Well, can I change your mind?" Mason asked.
I pretended to think long and hard about it. "You'd have to try harder. Maybe like, I don't know, chocolate or something?"
Mason grinned. "Okay. I'll take that as a challenge. Mission 'Get Bella To Go To Sing-Along' is now on the roll."
I laughed. "Whatever, Mason. I'll see you tomorrow."
He smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, too, Bella."
I kind of liked the way he said my name. There was some sort of impression on it.
As I settled into my bed, someone tapped on the window. I ignored it the first time, thinking it was probably our cabin decor, but it kept on tapping until I've had enough of it. Nobody was around inside the cabin, since everybody was always at the sing-along.
I opened the door to find Connor Stoll with a bunch of pebbles in his arm. I stared at him with a raised eyebrow and watched as he turned a little pink.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, a bit harsh.
"Uh...I was...uh..." he stammered.
When did Connor Stoll ever get nervous? I raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer. "You were...?"
"I was trying to get your attention." He coughed.
"Why were you trying to get my attention? You could've knocked the door like a normal person." I answered, which made his eye narrow a bit.
"Oh, please. Nothing's normal about me," Connor said, rolling his eyes. "I just wanted to talk to you about something my dad, uh, told me about last night."
I raised my eyebrow. His godly parent talked to him too? "And why does it concern me?" I asked curiously.
"Because he told me it had to do with...ah...the young maiden of Aphrodite. Which is obviously you."
"Me? There are a lot of young maidens in the Aphrodite cabin." I reasoned.
Connor just looked at me blankly. "Bella, he was talking about you. I just know it, okay?"
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. What did your dad want from us?"
"To go on a quest," he said slowly. "To find Hermes' caduceus."
My eyes widened. "H-his caduceus is gone?"
Connor looked at me right in the eye, making me shiver a bit. "It's not only gone. It was stolen. And we have to find it."
I gulped. "Well, who's the other person going on this quest with us?"
Connor shrugged his shoulders. "Travis."
I didn't have anything else to say, so I nodded my head.
"Does that mean you'll agree to go on this quest with me?"
With him? "Yeah, I guess so."
Connor grinned. "Okay, let's tell Chiron and Dionysus tomorrow morning. Sleep tight, Bella."
He didn't give me a chance to either agree with him or say goodbye back.
I watched his figure retreat to the bonfire, which was purple and orange right now. I sighed as I went back inside my cabin, and dived under my sheets.
I couldn't stop thinking about the quest. Who in the world would try and steal Hermes' caduceus? Kronos was gone, all the other Titans were banished, and Luke Castellan was dead.
I had a very, very bad feeling about this -that this was going to be the most dangerous quest I was set for.
That is, if the Oracle approved. Which I sincerely hoped she didn't, and that Connor was simply driven mad.
I closed my eyes and slept, preparing for the worst.