Daughter Of Light- Book 1: PJO

Chapter 21: Holy Hera- she does not like me.

I have met two gods now, Apollo and Aphrodite, and they both looked so...regular. A little more... glowy and...prettier than a regular human, but they looked so normal it was hard to imagine them as immortal beings. And now, Hera, wife of Zeus, looked like a regular mom. She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade.

"Grover, dear," she said, "use your napkin. Don't eat it."

"Yes, ma'am." Grover said.

"Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?"

Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady."

I scooted closer to Raph, and leaned over, "she's like your grandmother, ya?" I whispered.

He elbowed me, "shh! Respect! She's also your grandmother.

"STEP grandmother. And we all know how well step mothers and step grandmothers are in all the stories!" I hissed back.

"You're being dramatic." He rolled his eyes.

"Have you read any of the old stories?" I rolled my eyes in response. I then smirked, "Hey, Raph, Go ask grandma if she has cookies!" I giggled.

"It's not polite to talk with your mouth full Eleanora!" She said with a bit of a sharpness to her.

I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes again.

"Queen Hera," Annabeth said, drawing her attention away from me. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?"

Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. All the dirt and grime disappeared from her face.

"I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said.

Grover and Percy glanced at each other, like they were saying 'ha fat chance, what's the catch?' and then Percy glanced at me, and we exchanged nervous looks. Usually when the gods come looking for you, it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's because they want something, or mess with your head, and give me random advice that was seriously useless.

Still, that didn't keep me from chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches and chips and lemonade. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone. Raph and Will were eat ham and cheese sandwichs. Tyson grinned at me, his teeth covered in peanut butter.

"Percy's little Big sister! These peanut butter sandwiches are the yummiest peanut butter!"

"Pass one over BFC!" I grinned. He tossed me a sandwich from the other side of the room.

"Manners, Eleanora! Stop throwing food! Hera scolded me. Percy snorted. And Tyson looked sheepish.

"I didn't think-" Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."

She clearly doesn't like me, her eyes flashed in my direction constantly, and I could feel a general strong dislike towards me. I was a daughter of a son of her husband's affair. Of course she didn't like me.

Hera smiled indulgently. "Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement."

"Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" I asked.

Hera waved her hand dismissively, but I felt the tension build in her muscles. Her eyes flashed in warning.

"Water under the bridge, my dear." Her voice was sharp though, despite the smile and dismissive hand. "Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding- especially after that last little incident."