I Spy Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 38

The words were out of my mouth before I could even think about how I had said what I said. Will you go to the banquet with me, Khloe Alexoupoulos? I mentally scoffed at myself. Now she would probably think I was asking her out, when I was not.

I was not.

I was not.

I was not, I was not, I was not.

She shrugged. "Okay."

Here it is. She said it. She said- the full meaning of her words sunk in, and I almost breathed a sigh of relief. She was casual about it, and that's all I wanted. A casual sort of party with Khloe, much better than that club we went to, right?

Right?

"Great!" I said, probably a little bit happier than I should have been. "Glad that's sorted out."

"Yeah," She said, albeit a little nervously. "We're going together to a banquet. Can't be that bad, can it?"

"If you think it's gonna be bad, you've never been to an Othrys banquet before," I said breezily as I tapped on the portal wall. "See you tomorrow, Khloe."

Before she should reply, I stepped through the portal wall and found myself back in my room.

***

As soon as I fell asleep, I found myself transported to a familiarly unfamiliar place. It wasn't unlike the throne room of Othrys except for its weird color scheme. Instead of obsidian, it glowed with the luster of silver.

Twelve thrones, all different in their styles, were arranged in a U shape around a central hearth, definitely something which my throne lacked. I couldn't help but stare at all of this in awe.

"Oh, this is brilliant!" I heard a female voice squeal in girly excitement, and I turned around to see a woman. And what a woman she was. She had long curly blonde hair like Cinderella and gray eyes like an oncoming storm.. Annabeth Chase, I thought morosely, before she completely changed her look.

Now she was completely different, with dark brown wavy hair and eyes so dark that I almost couldn't figure their color out. But somehow, i instinctively knew what color her eyes were.

Violet.

"Who are you?" I asked warily, taking a step back. "You're definitely not Khloe, though. She'd rather die than talk like that."

"I try," The lady sighed, a pocket mirror materializing out of thin air and onto her palm. "But you've always been to smart for me. Maybe I should get a power makeover, don't you think? Spruce my brains up a bit."

"Aphrodite," I growled, my hands curling into fists. Only someone like her would think that a makeover would help her improve her non-existent brain.

"What the Tartarus are you doing here?" I said.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" Aphrodite said as she dabbed on a layer of lip balm. "If you haven't noticed, this is Olympus. You're in my house now."

"How?" I asked as I took another look at my surroundings. "The gods are allowed nowhere near Ogygia, I made sure of that."

"Well, I guess it's because I'm a Titan," she said boredly as she snapped the mirror shut. "Born from the remains of Ouranos and all that. Technicalities. They're more of Athena's style, though I could argue that she has no style at all."

"Of course," I muttered to myself. Of all the goddesses to be a loophole, it had to be this one.

"Why am I here?" I demanded. 'What have you done?"