For the love of Aphrodite (a Percy Jackson story)

And then she was gone...

Just like that.

Boston and the swans at the Public Garden were the first clue. We spent the whole morning there just watching the swans and the swan boats. Occasionally kissing. More swan watching duty. Sharing a park hot dog.

"Oh Percy look! Those boats, when the one going pass the one coming the swans will make a heart shape!" She said excitedly.

And they did. Her mouth dropped. Well, yes it was cute I guess, but mouth-dropping?! I don't know...

"That amazing?" I asked her.

"No. Cute but that's it. But they might have just pointed us to what we were looking..." she said getting up and walking fast. I caught up with her and we walked together.

"Chi, where are we going?" I asked.

"The roses, another symbol of Aphrodite. When the swans met the heart they formed was filled with the background image of those rose bushes, those bushes close to the pond, right in front of us this whole time! How didn't we see something glittering in between the roses?" She said walking even faster now.

We reached and she saw a golden Apple. She felt holding the fruit. She looked down and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you know what the golden Apple means in Greek myths? Oh Percy, call Annabeth. Tell her and Jason to meet us at the hotel. We'll stop by the public library." She said and I did as she told me to.

We all assembled at mine and Chi's room.

"So what does that mean, the golden Apple?" Jason asked.

"It means war..." Chiara said mysteriously.

"Well, technically means you're the fairest of them all which we all knew already..." Annabeth said.

"Well, if That means I'm going to be responsible for the second Trojan war I pass..." I said.

"Maybe there's no war coming. Maybe the Apple will take its literary name... The Apple of discord, maybe it means that it will bring disagreements..."

Annabeth was right.

Me and Jason, despite our efforts, failed to make peace and that afternoon got into a huge fight. Causing her to tell him to go away and me and her to fight over my jealousy. The last I saw she told me she'd be sleeping at Annabeth's. The next morning she was nowhere to be seen at the lobby or the breakfast room or any room. She wouldn't answer her phone or reply the texts we sent.

"How can she just be gone?" I asked worried.

Of course the three of us started pointing fingers at each other. Annabeth then stopped.

Annabeth's POV

'The Apple!' I heard the voice of Athena and froze. 'The Apple is doing this. If you can't stop fighting you'll never be able to find you friend and help her finish the quest. The apple is tricking you into fighting. You must find a way to get rid of it."

"GUYS!" I shouted at the lobby. Which I realised later I didn't have to because once I froze the boys kept starring at me trying to realise what was going on. "Sorry" I said. "The Apple!"

I explained what Athena told me and we began to try and find of way of disposing of it. We'd snark at each other here and then so we tried our best to stay silent as we researched about the Trojan war.

As we went trough the books from the public library and searched all we could online and occasionally ordered room service at Percy's room, we didn't notice how time went by fast and it was almost nighttime now. A dove showed up at our window. Percy went there and saw a note.