🌷 "We're Greek, Percy. We're all born with tragedy in our blood."
The only thing Daphne could ever be sure of was that she was not meant to be alive. Whatever you wanted to call it - a gut feeling or just some serious anxiety, she couldn't shake th...
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chapter VI
🎀 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. It almost made Daphne sad; one of her biggest dreams was to go to a theme park. With her track record with luck, it almost made sense that the first one she would ever see would be broken down.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
Daphne winced.
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"Why? I thought you hated Ares."
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."
"And beautiful." Daphne added for good measure. She wasn't sure if she had made it up, but she almost felt her hair becoming a little less greasy.
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.
"Who is she? Echidna?"
Daphne wondered if Percy ever knew how to shut up.
"No, Aphrodite," Grover corrected, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."
"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy frowned. He thought on it for a minute before clicking his tongue with recognition. "That's right. Hephaestus."
"What's your point?" Grover frowned.
Daphne suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?" she asked, squinting up at the barbed wire.
Then, Grover did something that Daphne hadn't expected at all. He called, "Maia!" and his shoes suddenly sprouted white feathery wings from the laces. It wasn't the weirdest thing she'd seen by far, but it was still creepy, and she didn't want anything to do with them as she recoiled.
