"you could be the king, but watch the queen conquer"
-
Rosalyn Carter is the daughter of Aphrodite and the last thing Percy expected to find at Camp Half-Blood.
But he wouldn't want to fight deadly battles with anyone else.
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The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy. When Rosalyn took the lead, no one argued.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy grumbled, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"Why? I thought you hated Ares," he scoffed.
"He's still a god, and his girlfriend is very... temperamental," Annabeth said, eyeing Rosalyn's back wearily.
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added, giving Percy wide eyes.
"Who is she? Echidna?"
"No, Aphrodite," Rosalyn spoke up, glancing back at them over her shoulder. "Goddess of love."
Percy understood the nervous looks on Annabeth and Grover's faces then. This was about Rosie's mom.
"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said slowly.
Rosie nodded, "Hephaestus."
"Oh." Percy suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"
They'd caught up to Rosalyn, who stood in front of a locked gate.
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings. He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing and called, "You guys coming?"
Rosalyn rolled her eyes at the satyr's theatrics and climbed the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire at the top for Percy and Annabeth to do the same.
The red-haired girl dropped to the ground and looked around the deserted park. It was quiet, and somehow that made her more nervous.
Jerking her head at what used to be a souvenir shop, Rosie made her way through the shadowy park.
"Fresh clothes," Annabeth breathed.
Percy's face contorted in guilt, "Yeah, but you can't just-"
"Watch me."
The blonde snatched an entire row of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.
