mastermind - percy jackson

xvii. broken promises

"you promised!"

Before leaving Olympus, Cassandra had a conversation with Aphrodite.

"Well now that you're returning to camp, you'll need to stay in a cabin" She said matter-of-factly.

"Really? I was gonna sleep in the middle of the strawberry fields" Cassandra said sarcastically.

"You can't sleep in the strawberry fields" Aphrodite told her, not picking up on the sarcasm. "So me and a few others are offering our cabins."

"Who?" Cassandra asked trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

She loved her grandmother. She really did, but discussing cabins wasn't really something she wanted too do. Especially after not sleeping for three days.

"Well Hermes is the obvious choice, but it's too crowded and I will not have you staying in there. So you can stay in mine!" She said excitedly.

"And you said some other people offered as well?"

Aphrodite frowned but continued. "Well it's obvious that you'll stay with me but if you want to sleep in a jail cell, Athena and Artemis have also offered."

"Thank you, Dite. I'll consider my options."

"Wait. I have more" She said, stopping Cassandra in her tracks. "It's winter time. Most campers go home for the winter. So I wanted to let you know that one of my daughter's has offered to take you in."

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"I have a daughter who recently got married and they've been wanting to start fostering" Aphrodite explained. "Well their applications haven't been going through. So when I told them about you they immediately offered for you to live with them."

Cassandra was shocked. She had assumed she would have to stay at camp for the coming months and stay in the over-crowded Hermes cabin.

"Where does she live? And will they be okay if a monster attacks?" She asked the love goddess. Cassandra didn't want to get her hopes up.

"They live in Massachusetts. Near Cape Cod. And yes. Her and her husband are both demigods." Cassandra looked at the goddess. Aphrodite was smiling. "I think it's going to work, Cassandra. You can go to school. You'll be in eighth grade. And then in the summer you can go to camp."

And then she was crying. Whether it was from happiness or sadness she didn't know. Maybe it was both. She was happy and hopeful about living a normal life and then she was crying about Zoe.

"Don't cry. Your face will get all puffy" Aphrodite said gently.

She wiped the tears. "Sorry. I don't even know why I'm crying."

"You're happy. And I'm sure some of them are for your friend as well." Cassandra nodded and held her tears back.

"She'll pick you up on January third."

Cassandra nodded. "Thank you, Dite."

"Of course. Now go. You don't want to miss the van" The girl smiled slightly at her before walking off to find her friends.

Friends. It felt weird for Cassandra to call them her friends.

╰┈ ⋆｡˚ ❀ *· 🌬 ࿐ ࿔ ˚:⋆ ✧･ﾟ

Compared to Mount Olympus, Manhattan was quiet. Friday before Christmas, but it was early in the morning, and hardly anyone was on Fifth Avenue. Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked them up at the Empire State Building and ferried them back to camp through a light snowstorm. The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted.