Hey! Here's part three! I don't think it's very good, but I hope you enjoy it!
I woke up and immediately leapt out of bed. This was the day I had been waiting for ever since I got here, my sixteenth birthday! I was going to become a goddess today, like a proper one. How many girls can say that? I changed and practically ran to breakfast, where I got scared out of my skin by the whole camp jumping out singing happy birthday. They had all got up early to decorate, there were streamers and balloons hanging from trees, and a happy birthday banner was seemingly hanging in midair. It had been my turn to sit at the Hera table, so I was relieved to see that all of the tables had been pushed to the side and a giant picnic rug had been spread on the floor, so I didn't have to sit by myself on my birthday.
They had left a space for me at the top of the rug between the Athena and Hermes cabins. Dionysus and Chiron were sat opposite me at the other end. A naiad came out from the trees behind me carrying a cake large enough for the entire camp and everyone started singing happy birthday. I blew out the candles having no idea what to wish for, and said to myself that I would save my wish for when I knew what I wanted. I cut the cake and passed it around, to everyone.
Almost as soon as the last spoonful of cake was in my mouth, Ben, the leader of the Ares cabin stepped forward in front of me, knocking Tyler from the Apollo cabin out of the way. He holding something behind his back, trying to hide it from my view but it was taller than he was so was sticking out above his head.
"Ares cabin first." He said excitedly bringing out a spear from behind him and handing it to me. The spear was beautiful, the handle was intricately carved and the tip was celestial bronze, of course, but it had been moulded into a decorative tip. It was obvious that the spear was more for decoration, but it would still be lethal to monsters if it was needed. Each cabin had made a present and they came up individually to give them to me.
The Aphrodite girls were the last to give me their present, Selena, their leader came forward with a beautifully wrapped box. Inside it was a gorgeous white one-shoulder Grecian style dress, intricately embrioded with what at first sight looked like blue and gold patterns. When I lifted the dress out of the box, it appeared to be purple and silver, the thread reflected differently in the light. So that when I moved it would appear as different colours.
I thanked them all for my gifts but I was interrupted when Chiron and Dionysus stood up and walked over to me. Dionysus hugged me tightly and said
"You'll get your present from me at 6 this evening in the clearing." He stepped back and his easy smile was replaced by a bored, slightly annoyed expression when he took in the rest of the camp. I chuckled to myself, he was so stubborn, he wouldn't admit that he cared a little bit for them. He stupidly stuck to being moody and stroppy the whole time. Chiron stepped around him and handed me an old book with a ribbon tied around it. I smiled as I read the title, it was the book that I had mentioned I had wanted, but that was months ago, I couldn't believe he remembered. Also it wasn't your average book, this was a rare book on monsters and heroes over the last thousand years.
"Chiron, I don't know what to say. Where did you get this? There are only like 50 copies in the world." I asked incredulously. Chiron just smiled and hugged me, I turned around to thank everyone for everything they had done for me but I stopped when I saw they were giving me weird looks. The Aphrodite girls' expressions were ones of anticipation and excitement but when I looked around the others held faces of pity. I started to worry, what were the Aphrodite girls going to do to me?
"Izzy, don't thank us just yet, because we have another great present for you. We are going to give you a full make over, so that you are ready for the party this evening. Chiron's throwing it, so don't blame us for that part." They said the last bit slightly defensively, everyone knew what kind of taste in music Chiron had and I don't think it was the same. "Come on, we only have about 3 hours to get you ready for the party!" They squealed in delight grabbing my hand and dragging me off to their cabin. I caught glimpses of people from the Ares and Athena cabins they looked like they thought I was going to be tortured and there was nothing they could do to save me. They weren't too far away from the truth as the Aphrodite girls gave me an entire makeover including my eyebrows being plucked, legs waxed and being forced to wear 3 inch stilettos for the rest of the night. Apart from the painful bits, I really enjoyed it, I guess that's the Aphrodite part of me and I had to give it to them they had done a good job, by the time they were finished my hair was glossy and curled perfectly, the dress looked stunning on and overall I looked about as perfect as they could get me.
When they had me and themselves looking stunning we walked over to the dining area. Which had been transformed once again from this morning, it now was decorated with fairy lights in the trees and white table clothes draped over circular tables which had been dotted around the area. There was some quiet background music playing that sounded suspiciously like one of Chiron's favourite CD's. Everything looked sophisticated and elegant, there was a sigh from the girls next to me, this wasn't the kind of party they had been hoping for. Just then Chiron came trotting in wearing the top half of a tux and looking very pleased with himself.
"Izzy, welcome to your birthday party! Come here." He said directing me to one of the tables where I found my name on a small place card. It wasn't long before everyone else filed in and found their seats. The party was quiet and mature, just the way that Chiron liked it.
After about an hour, the speakers were hijacked by a Hermes and a Hephaestus kid when they couldn't take it anymore. The classical music was suddenly replaced by more modern music that was blaring out at top volume. The Aphrodite girls gave a cheer and shoved all of the tables to the side, creating room for a dance floor. They then grabbed my hand and pulled my onto the dance floor completely ignoring my protests. I looked pleadingly over at Chiron, knowing that as soon as they got me there they weren't going to let me leave easily, but Chiron only seemed to be frowning at the speakers. This wasn't his sort of music, but he wasn't going to stop it because he thought it was what I wanted. Don't get me wrong I much preferred this music to his but I don't think that I could handle as much dancing as the Aphrodite girls could.
The party was great, I had never seen the camp so free and loose. Even the Athena kids who usually pride themselves on being above such foolish things as partying were joining in. The who whole atmosphere of camp had changed from the usual tense desperation the campers felt knowing that they needed to learn how to protect themselves to one where all of that was forgotten and they were just enjoying themselves.
After a while I managed to sneak away from the Aphrodite girls whose feet, unlike mine, never seem to tire of dancing. I find a seat at one of the tables that had been shoved to the side to make way for the dance floor and look at the scene in front of me. Not only had the thought of monsters been forgotten but the divisions between the camps had too. The Athena and Ares girls were up there dancing right next to the Aphrodite girls who they always thought of as silly and empty-headed. No one was worrying about if their parents were having arguments, it was the way that they should be, not getting hung up on their parents' fights, which didn't even involve them.
I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard the chair next to me being pulled out and someone sitting down. It was Annabeth, she was looking at the party too, her cheeks were slightly flushed from the dancing. We were silent for a while, just looking at the party getting our breath back, and I didn't think she was going to say anything because she often didn't, she wasn't the kind of person to make conversation just because it was quiet. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, and she seemed to be thinking about something quite serious because she was frowning slightly to herself.
"What goddess are you going to be?" she asked taking me off guard.
"You know I can't tell you that." I reply quietly.
"I'm really going to miss you, but I know that you are going to be a great goddess." She said turning to me and smiling.
"I'll see you again, I promise." I say trying not to give in and tell her my decision. She nods as though she plans to hold me to that promise and I have no intention of disappointing her. After that we fall back into silence, but it wasn't too long before Chiron walked up to the speakers and started fiddling with them. He seemed to be having trouble finding an off switch so unplugged it from the wall instead. Everyone stopped dancing and fell silent, automatically knowing the time, even though there wasn't clock on the wall or anything. I stand up, my hands shaking, was I ready for this? When is anyone ready to become a goddess? I swallow trying to keep calm, everyone was looking at me expectantly.
"I want you guys to know that I love every single one of you. You are all so special to me and you all are what influenced my decision." I take a deep breath and walk alone to the clearing.
When I get there they too have decorated camp for my birthday. They had 'happy birthday' written in lights hanging in mid air and when they saw me they all called happy birthday and raced to hug me. Once they all have, they return to their thrones which are all decorated with streamers and signs for the occasion. Apollo was basically jumping up and down on his thrown from excitement
"I've been working on this all year, tell me what you think. Wishing you today, a perfect happy birthday, smiling all the way." He said beaming, I knew like all the other gods that Apollo had become obsessed with haikus ever since he visited Japan. The others all groaned when he started apparently they had heard him do this before and were sick of it.
"It was great." I beamed back, you see Apollo had a contagious smile, and I couldn't help it.
"You shouldn't encourage him." Artemis sighed from her throne, but she had an indulgent smile on her face, no matter how much her brother annoyed her, she still loved him. Apollo just stuck his tongue out at her, I guess that if you have eternity to grow up you could take your time doing it.
"I agree with Artemis, you shouldn't lie to him, it was truly awful." Hermes said with a wicked smile on his face.
"Can we just give her, her present now and stop picking on me?" He complained. "I think it was quite good." He muttered quietly to himself. The others seemed to just have remembered the present Apollo mentioned and they all became very excited.
"Close your eyes and hold out your hands." Zeus told me and I did. I opened them when I felt cool metal circle around my wrist. Now attached to my wrist was a charm bracelet, the bracelet itself was beautiful, it was like woven silver, but what caught my breath were the 14 small charms attached. Each of my parents had their own charm, their symbols were now all dangling on my wrist and I had never felt closer to them.
"It's not a normal bracelet," Hephaestus explained. "If you touch one of the charms, you can talk to us. It's a bit like a telephone but we don't need the phone and we don't have to stop what we are doing. It works both ways, we can contact you through it as well." I was speechless, I had been given a way to contact the most important people in the modern world in a way that no one else ever had. I couldn't believe it.
"Thank you." Was all that I managed to get out of my suddenly dry throat.
"Shall we move onto the reason why today is so special?" Zeus asked, which didn't help my already dry throat. I tried swallowing but it didn't seem to help, so I just nodded not trusting my voice at the moment. The mood immediately became more serious.
"So how does this work?" I asked, finally finding my voice.
"All of us have to give you our blessing and consent and then you have to accept the position and its responsibilities." Athena told me. I nodded once again and looked at Zeus who was going to start it all off.
"What goddess is it that you have chosen to be?" He asked
"The goddess of heroes and training." I said holding my head higher, confident with my decision. Even if I didn't know if I would make a good goddess I knew that this was the one that I wanted to be. My parents smiled, happy with my decision, obviously relieved that I hadn't gone for a stupid idea like goddess of ants or something.
"I, Lord Zeus, king of the gods and ruler of the sky, give my blessing to Isabelle Olympus, to be the goddess of heroes and training." There was a rumbling from the sky as it was accepted and Poseidon repeated it, only changing his name and title. They all did the same and after each there was a rumbling in the sky, then it was my turn. No one had told me what to say but I felt that I instinctively knew what to say.
"I Isabelle Olympus accept all responsibilities that come with the position of goddess of heroes and training." The thunder that rumbled after I said that was louder than any of the previous ones by far, I didn't flinch from it, I barely noticed. I felt stronger and wiser, also everything seemed to slow down as though I had forever to do anything I wanted, which I guess is true. I looked down at my hands expecting to see a change, but they looked normal. I kept looking at them as they started to feel hot, then they got hotter and hotter, until it was almost unbearably hot, I was in agony. But I refused to scream, I wasn't going to be weak, not now. My hands had started to glow gold, they were getting brighter as the heat increased. I knew that gods blood was gold and I assumed that that was what was happening. My blood was being burned out of my system and replaced with the gold blood of the gods. All I could think of was that it was going to be over soon, it had to be over soon. I looked at my parents hoping that this was normal, but many of them refused to meet my eye, they didn't want to see me in pain. But Athena looked me straight in the eye, she wasn't going to shy away from this, she didn't shy away from anything. Her gaze actually calmed me, it let me know that this was expected and that it would only last a little longer. I locked her gaze with my own and kept it until the burn faded away. The strength I had felt earlier was nothing to now, I felt like I could do anything. I smiled at my parents, who were now looking at me again.
"Now what?" I asked them.
"Now we go to Olympus so you can meet some important people." Poseidon said smiling at me. I closed my eyes thinking of Olympus and when I opened them I was there. I followed the others to the main throne room where they once again sat on their thrones and I was left in the middle of the room. I was just about to ask who I was meant to meeting when a group of people, all extremely beautiful, entered the room. "Izzy, these are some of the other gods." Zeus told me which saved me from asking some embarrassing questions. The first to step forward out of the group was a beautiful woman, well they were all beautiful, she had a severe face that said 'don't mess with me'.
"I'm Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, and don't think that you get any special treatment from me because your parents are the big ones." She said whilst shaking my hand. I could practically feel the frowns from my parents boring into her, but she didn't give them a glance. I kept eye contact with her and didn't shy away.
"I wouldn't want it any other way." I told her, it was true. I didn't want any special treatment for my parents, especially with people that I'm going to be stuck with forever. I wanted them to like me for who I am. Nemesis seemed to approve as a small flicker of a smile flashed on her face but it was gone as quickly as it had come and she nodded in my direction.
Someone I recognised stepped out of the group, it was Persephone. She smiled comfortingly and gave me a hug. I was kind of shocked but happy, I had no idea that she liked me that much. She gave me an encouraging nod before stepping back into the group of people. Next another woman stepped forward, this woman didn't look strict, the complete opposite actually, she looked serene and content but there was something about her face that held a certain mystery. She introduced herself as Hecate.
"The goddess of magic," She said with pride. "I would love to teach you some magic as I know that it is in your blood. I can tell that you'll make a great sorceress, with a little training up. I'll arrange something with you at a better time but for now shall we stick with a hello?" I smiled nodding, I would love to learn magic, it would be really cool, I mean I already could do a lot more than the average person but magic was in my blood, I felt like I should try it.
Then another woman stepped forward, but she looked younger, she could barely be called a woman, she was a girl, about 17 or 18. She smiled brightly and hugged me, I could tell I was going to like her. I nearly always liked huggers, it meant they were outgoing, confident, caring people who were open to meeting new people.
"Hi! My name is Iris, goddess of the rainbow and also the messages that come from them." She started gushing so fast it was hard to understand her. I really liked her, she was fun and not intimidating like all of the others.
After Iris had joined the group again, still smiling and waving occasionally, a boy stepped forward. He was again about my age, good looking and had a nice easy smile, his eyes were a penetrating blue. He introduced himself as Connor, the god of volcanoes, I held out my hand to shake it just like I normally would when formally meeting someone, because let's face it these were important people and I was pretty intimidated. But instead of shaking it like I had intended and expected he ignored it, leaned in and kissed me on each cheek. To say I was in shock was a bit of an understatement, I froze and probably looked like a complete idiot. There was a murmur of annoyance from behind me, I was aware that my fathers weren't happy with Connor's actions. He looked around with an impish grin at them, shrugging and said cheekily
"What? I just went to Paris and everyone does it there. I'll try but it may take me a little while to acclimatise" I glanced over at my parents and there was a whole range of faces, from outright anger on Hades, to pleasure and excitement on Aphrodite. It was clear that Aphrodite saw this as a potential match that she could play with and get wrapped up in. She saw it everywhere, she'd swear that a man would be madly in love with a woman he just smiled at whilst queuing in the post office, so I didn't think too much into it. But I knew that I was probably going red from the assumption, so I looked away quickly. Connor turned back to face me and winked before going back into the huddle of people.
Then another good looking boy about my age stepped forward, he had a large smile that seemed honest and genuine.
"Hello, my name is Alexander, but don't bother with the long version just called me Alex. I'm the god of the weather." I smiled and shook his hand, he looked friendly and one of the few who wasn't making me feel very small right now. He stepped back into the group and I was expecting someone else to step out but nobody did, it was then that I realised that that was all of them.
"Well, now that the introductions are over it's time for the feast." Zeus said clapping his hands together and suddenly a long table overflowing with food and drinks appeared. I sat down where directed, I was at the head of the table with Iris on my right and Connor on my left. Apparently Zeus was planning on changing the seating arrangements after Connors little act, but that would have made complications and he eventually gave into Aphrodite's constant pleas. That made me a little nervous, her enthusiasm was making me question what was going on, I mean he couldn't like me like me. That was impossible, I was the result of a drunken night at Mount Olympus and gods messing around with magic, whilst he probably earned his position as a god and is a respected part of ancient Greek history.
The night was fun, I was constantly being made to laugh by Iris. She was great, she was like a sister to me already. Also Connor kept grabbing my attention and making conversation that was, if I'm honest, quite awkward. It didn't help me that every time I replied, Aphrodite practically squealed with excitement. But I was having trouble focusing because every time he smiled I just couldn't help myself, I ended up staring and my mind went blank. He was very good looking, but I think that came with immortality, and he seemed to have a fun easy going personality. The diner consisted of nectar and ambrosia, which I could now eat as much of as I wanted, and it was delicious. I had to try very hard not to just forget manners and stuff my face with the stuff. After everyone had had their fill, Connor surprise me by asking to go for a walk. I almost looked back as a thunder clap could be heard clamouring over head, to frown at whoever it was who'd done it, but I restrained myself and settled on a nod.
We walked out of the throne room and wandered down the small perfect streets. I was aware that there were eyes watching through gaps in curtains and doors that were slightly open. I had on my previous trip noticed that there was a gossip magazine for Olympus called The God, the Bad and the Ugly and I had no doubt that we would appear somewhere in it. He took my hand and pulled me to a stop at a bench.
"Izzy, well I've really only known for a little while, but I really like you. I was just wandering if maybe. . . well if you might want to you know go out some time?" He asked smiling. I was shocked, even with all Aphrodite's hints and nudges I hadn't expected him to be so forward, I mean as he said I had only known him for about 3 hours. But it seemed like my body had already decided as I felt my head nodding. My head seemed to have got fuzzy feel about it and my decisions seemed to have been made for me. I looked into his eyes and suddenly everything felt very intense, he started leaning in. I knew exactly what he was planning and I knew that normally I would be panicking at about this time but I just couldn't. My brain refused to think, it was like I physically couldn't, it was just foggy up there. I froze in place as he leaned in and I shut my eyes. Our lips were just about to touch when suddenly the heavens opened and it started bucketing rain. Thunder clapped over head and a bolt of lightning appeared only a little way away from us. I jumped backwards in shock and then almost screamed at the sky, because I knew that that wasn't natural. That was my parents, actually scratch that, that was my fathers. I opened my mouth to apologise to Connor, but I tasted the rain, it was salty. Poseidon. I hadn't expected it of him, he had always been more relaxed than the others, I was kind of disappointed in him. I looked over at Connor and realised that it was my fault that he was now dripping wet.
"Hey, I'm really sorry about this. I didn't think they were going to be such big babies." I said smiling apologetically.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." He said shrugging, we stood up and started walking slowly back to the main room. The conversation after that was easier, we chatted about random things and he was actually quite funny. But when he took my hand the rain fell harder and there was another flash of lightning. Oh, those childish rude, nosy immortals! He tried to drop my hand but I wouldn't let him, I wasn't going to let them bully me out of this. By the time we reached the throne room again I was dripping wet but still holding Connor's hand. I gave my parents a defiant look whilst raising my chin; I didn't even bother to look at the group of new acquaintances. They were probably all thinking I'm some kind of joke, but are too afraid to offend my parents. Well, they're going to be stuck with this joke for a while so they're going to just have to suck it up and like it.