gnossienne
n. the realisation that you didn't actually know someone as well as you thought you did
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'Look, I never wanted to be a half-blood.
Let's start from the top, shall we?
My name is Cassandra Jackson, but everyone usually calls me Ca...
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By the time we had reached the water park, the sun was already sinking fast behind the mountains. Judging from the sign, the park used to be called WATERLAND (very creative), but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D. It actually sounded better.
The gate was padlocked, but Grover used Luke's shoes to fly over. The rest of us had to break in the old fashioned way, holding the barbed wire down carefully for each other as we crawled over the top.
Once on the other side, I hopped down and scanned the area. It looked abandoned. Paint peeled off every building a ride and nature had started to reclaim the land. Weeds and ivy wrapped around one old stall.
The shadows grew long as we made our way through the park in silence, keeping our ears and eyes peeled for any signs of monsters. There was nothing. No sound of anything following us either.
We found a souvenir shop that still had merchandise left over. More specifically clothes. Not exactly fresh, but better than the ones we were wearing right now. Me and Annabeth made our way into some old changing rooms. We found two clean Waterland backpacks too and stuffed that with goodies to help keep us supplied.
We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love, Percy trying to make conversation on our way. "So Ares and Aphrodite. They have a thing going?"
"Isn't Aphrodite married?" I asked, trying to remember the story.
"Hephaestus, the blacksmith, was crippled when he was baby, thrown off Olympus by Zeus." Annabeth started.
"Nice guy, isn't he, Zeus?" I added in, glancing up at the darkening sky.
"Well, Hephaestus isn't exactly handsome. He's clever with his hands, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"
"She likes bikers." Percy concluded. I snorted at his blunt answer.
"Does Hephaestus know?"
"Oh, sure," Annabeth answered. "He caught them once. I mean, literally caught them in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like... that." I turned to look where she was staring at.
In front of us was an empty pool that Percy would've loved to skateboard in. I know I would've. It had to be at least fifty metres across and shaped like a bowl. Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with their wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water had flowed into when the pool was full.
Grover crept towards the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two seater boat with a canopy over the top with little hearts painted over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield, a polished circle of bronze.
