Chaos Rising |BOOK 2| Harry Potter x PJO |Alexandra Marine|

PHOEBUS APOLLO

A slipper darted through the door as Ariana ran away.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Hera's voice came out.

I followed Ari instantly as my furious stepmother ran out the door, another slipper in her hand, her hair out and her eyes red like she was a killer on the loose.

I reached to the girl, "What did you do to her?"

"I walked in on her and Zeus flirting with each other," Ari panted, still running.

"Oh, that's criminal offense- at least equivalent to third degree murder," I said- Hera was hurling curses at us now, and she'd finally thrown the darned slipper away, missing aim.

"Right!" Ariana directed me, and I followed her, laughing.

"That was fun," I decided as Hera passed ahead of us, not knowing where we were.

"Well it gets boring at one point when you have to run away from monsters all day," Ariana smiled.

"That got dark real fast," I said.

"Well..." Ariana started.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY MANSION?" a voice boomed.

I turned around.

Indeed, we were in a mansion. Except... I couldn't recognize whose it was.

Believe me, I've been to every mansion on Olympus, but this one seemed new for some reason. Black walls seemed to absorb the sunlight. Black jewels glittered in the dark, and my eyes hurt a bit.

A pale figure walked out of the darkness. Athena was wearing elegant flowing gray robes, Greek battle armor, and a helmet on her head, which was decorated with pictures of gryphons and sphinxes. She held a spear glowing with magic. Athena's face was beautiful and regal but also somewhat scary, the way a warrior goddess should look. Unlike any dull grey item, her stormy grey eyes were bright and full of fierce energy.

"Mom," Ariana nodded. "Sorry, we were just running away from Hera."

"Hera?" Athena frowned.

"Yeah, long story," I nodded. "See you've done a bit of reparations around the corner."

Athena glared at me, and I took a step back.

"He has a point thought," Ari said, frowning at her mother. "What happened? I thought you liked white things.... why's it all black?"

Athena did not stop giving me the death stare, but answered her daughter, "Ever since that Hades' powers got into me, I've had a change of tastes."

"Oooh," Ariana said. "So you can, like, pull metals out of the ground?"

"Definitely," Athena said. "I just need time practicing."

"That's better than Poseidon and he has the power over the skies and wind now," Ariana remarked. "Perhaps it doesn't go bad for all gods."

Athena stopped staring at me, finally, and turned to her daughter. Only then did I realize that I had been holding back my breath.

Athena smiled at Ariana. "I'm sure the other gods have some good powers too. What did Hera get?"

Ariana grinned, "She got goddess of revenge- Nemesis."

"So no changes there then," Athena grinned as she and Ariana said the statement together.

"Definitely not," I added. The two women turned to me with a look that said: you're-not-invited-to-this-convo. I stepped back again.

"Anyway..." Ariana turned back to her mother. "I was wondering if we could go to the library at Camp and have some fun time with the demigods... I'm sure they'd like some moral support right about now."

Athena's face hardened. "What for?"

"Mom," Ariana said, glaring at her mother, "come on. Your kids need you right now. We're all stressed as hell. You need to realize that Tartarus-" black thunder flashed outside "-hasn't threatened the gods! He's threatened us, the demigods.... and I know for a good reason that he won't stop until he's dead. Only parents can provide their children with best support. Come on.... the heroes are always there for you when you need them.... please, just... let the gods be there for the heroes once."

Athena stared back into Ariana's eyes. I looked from one to another, wondering what the final verdict would be. Athena's bright and yet steely eyes seemed to bore deep wells into Ariana's eyes, but the daughter's equally brilliant and dark shade of gray seemed to cast a wall so strong that not even Athena could pass through it.

Finally, those eyes softened.

"I shouldn't have blessed you at all," Athena shook her head.

Ariana grinned. "I never asked for your pure white glowing energy, Mom. It was a gift. Gifts, unfortunately, can be used against you- AHHH!"

A wave of water of water had crashed down upon all of us.

"HADES! I SAID UPWARDS- NOT SIDEWARDS, YOU DUMB SON OF A-" Poseidon's screams echoed from his mansions.

I turned to Ariana with a raised eyebrow. "What's happening?"

Ariana smirked. "What can I say? I have the blessing of Athena, and I put it to good use," she said.

"What have you done?" Athena asked, wide-eyed.

"Well," Ariana smiled, "I settled some feuds between some gods."

"WHAT?" Athena and I asked. "IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Nothing's impossible," Ariana shrugged. "I'm just a girl who wants to go home- and I'd even trade the world to make the Earth back to what it was."

"And what after saving the Earth?" I asked.

Ariana sighed longingly. She stared at me, smiling, "I'd finally settle down," she said. "And believe me, I don't want to be seen anywhere in the world by anyone- and god forbid, recognized by anyone. I'll become an old cat lady."

My heart dropped at those words. I looked at Ariana with a sort of pity- and I couldn't help but want to pull her into a big bear hug.

Athena nodded, "Wise choice. Better than marrying men."

"Dude?" I snapped at Athena. "Really? Not very consoling, are you?"

"Everyone knows I'm bad at consoling," Athena said. She turned to Ariana, smiling. "Come on, daughter. Let us go meet your siblings."

"Really?" Ariana's eyes twinkled. "Look at us, twenty eight years of living on this planet, and I get my first mother-daughter moment. How exciting," she deadpanned.

"Hey, that's enough," Athena laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll visit all my children from now onwards... more frequently."

"Really?" Ariana asked.

"I swear on the Styx really," Athena nodded.

Thunder boomed across the clouds. "SOMEONE TOOK AN OATH!" Poseidon's voice boomed through the sky.

I rolled my eyes. "Our uncle is yet to learn the ways of being Zeus."

"He better do it quickly," Athena smiled. "Otherwise he's going to end up like Ares- trying to be like Aphrodite is pretty hard, I think."

Ariana laughed. "You should've seen his first couple pairing," she said. "He tried to make an Aphrodite boy kiss Apollo when we went to Camp."

That was a shock. "What?!" I asked. "Is that what he was trying to do?"

Ariana laughed again, now holding her stomach. "You didn't know? Oh, this only makes it so much more better!"

I looked at the girl as though she had gone mad. She continued to laugh, her mother joining in for a chuckle as well.

But even behind those manic and mischievous gray eyes, I could find something else- something missing from those brilliant eyes that not many would notice at first glance. She was lonely.

And I could sympathize with her most.