Aphrodite's Daughter

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

            I woke up the next morning, happier than I had been since I arrived. Languidly, I rolled over to cuddle closer to Andreas, but he wasn’t there. I shot up in my bed. My room was filled with packed suitcases and boxes. A pair of clothes was draped over the chair by the window. Quickly I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall towards Heph’s study. All the books were gone off the shelves and the furniture was covered with white cloth. A crash downstairs made me jump and I rushed down to the parlor. Penelope was standing over a broken figurine.

            “What the hell is going on?” She squeaked loudly and spun towards me. “Why is everything being packed up?”

            “Jesus Izzy, you scared me.” Penelope bent down and began cleaning up the figurine, leaving my question unanswered. “Heph is taking us to Chaos. Since Artemis was able to get in here, we aren’t safe anymore.”

            “What’s Chaos?” I asked.

            “It’s the island Zeus banished Hephaestus to.” I was shocked. I didn’t know Heph had been banished. Maybe he had more invested in this than just my mother’s love. A pair of arms snaked around my waste pulling me out of my thoughts.

            “Hey.” Andreas whispered in my ear sending shivers down my spine. A wide smile spread across my face and Penelope looked between us with shock.

            “Hey.” I turned in his arms so that I was facing him. Standing on my toes, I kissed him on the cheek.  Penelope coughed behind me causing a bright red blush to fill my cheeks.

            “I’ll go get your bags.” Andreas headed toward the stairs leaving me to squirm under Penelope’s questioning gaze.

            “What the hell was that about?”

            My blush deepened. “Last night when I came home, Andreas told me he loved me.”

            Her mouth fell to the floor and a shy smile spread across my face. Then suddenly she busted into loud squeals and hugged me tightly. We giggled together, jumping up and down like little girls. I told her about how he stayed with me all night earning me a very concerned glance.

            “Nothing happened. I just didn’t want him to leave me alone after what happened the other day.” She hugged me tighter and I felt her tears fall down her face onto mine.

            “I’m so sorry. No one knows how she was able to get into the house. We were all so worried.” She released me and I helped her finish packing the parlor in silence. Once we were done, I ran upstairs to get dressed. Vulcan was lying on my bed in his puppy form. When he saw me, he jumped up and bound towards me. He licked me eagerly and I suddenly wondered where he had been all night. I placed Vulcan back on the bed where he proceeded to lay down where Andreas had slept rolling around replacing Andreas’ scent with his.

            All the boxes had been removed from my room, but the clothes where still lying on the chair. I changed quickly, running a brush through my hair. It had grown significantly since my eighteenth birthday. In fact lots of things had changed. My body had grown into its womanly figure, my hair was more red than brown, and my eyes seemed to be glowing. I was startled by how much I was beginning to look like my mother.

Where was my mother? All the other gods had left after realizing I was missing, feeling that it was unsafe to stay at the mansion. Most would assume that a mother would stick around to make sure their child was found, but when I got back yesterday, SHE was no wear to be found. Dad would have been out searching for me himself. Thinking about dad was only souring my mood. I left the mirror and grabbed Vulcan off the bed.