Olympus IIII

Artemis dropped her head into her hands, sighing. She waved her son off. "Go, son, before I take it back."

Apollo nodded at his daughter, turning back towards the deaf girl. "I can try," he stated. "But demigod ailments are sometimes strange. This was caused naturally?"

"I... think so," stated Leah, unsure. Her heart was racing. She could have everything... her hearing back... she would have so much.

Apollo closed his eyes, muttering a healing hymn with his hand on the girl's shoulder. His brow furrowed, making him look troubled. "I don't know... it's not working... I'm sorry." Apollo looked at the girl.

Leah's heart constricted, disappointment weighing down on her like a ton of bricks. She hoped that maybe she would be cured, by some miracle... she shouldn't have let herself think it. "Thanks for trying, anyway," said Leah, her shoulders slightly slumped though she tried to hide her disappointment. Turning away from the god; however, she felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Oh, yes," I agreed, thinking. "What colors go well with red?"

"Green, purple, orange, and yellow, I think," mused Hymenios, who made the exact same face as his daughter when he plotted weddings.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be lovely," grinned Set. He winked mischeviously at Krystine and Felix, and then walked away to get more Blood Punch, leaving them to the mercy of the tyrannical wedding god and the crazy little girl.

I stood there, fuming. Stupid father. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How was I supposed to get out of this situation?

"Hmmm... LET US PLOT!" Hymenios announced, and a fancy blank notebook and fountain pen appeared in his hand. He started scribbling down notes. Color scheme: don't clash with evil red eyes.

I blinked. "I don't have a notebook..."

"Oh, here!" Hymenios made a smaller, pinker notebook and a pencil appear in the air in front of Jane, and kept writing.

"OOH! PRETTY!" I squealed, and grabbed them.

... I took a subtle step backwards. Maybe we could sneak away and get lost in the crowd without these crazies noticing.

Apollo waved to his departing daughter, a damper still on his mood.

Leah sulked, walking away from the masses of demigods who were doing whatever, hanging among their family. She felt as if she didn't belong, not for the first time, and stalked off to a corner relatively far away from it all. She couldn't stand it. She didn't fit here, but she couldn't go home. Her father didn't really accept her, she would be forced back on that bus where she would get carsick and ruin everyone's trip once again, her hearing would never come back. She'd always been sort of aware of the last fact, but it came so terribly close to changing that Leah's heart twisted. She was a cripple, a cripple among strong, capable demigods. She slumped against the wall, letting her tears get the best of her away from most curious eyes.

Artemis half-smiled wistfully as her son walked away, shaking her head.

Hymenios and Jane stood there, totally absorbed in their plotting, and didn't notice the escape of their victims.

I turned around and strode off into the crowd quickly, but didn't look where I was going very well. I accidentally ran into a tall, black-haired god with, frankly, the scariest-looking eyes I'd ever seen. "Oh. Um. Excuse me," I muttered, feeling unusually cowed.

Phobos glared at the girl who'd dare run into him. "Yes," he growled, "excuse you."

"Oh," Henry said.

"Also more questions about your goddlyness," Henry said then asking, "Where do you live? Is it like your own plane of awsome?"

Henry liked this. These questions were fun to ask, and they were interesting in there answers.

"I never said you have a bad taste in food," John said, "I'm just saying Moo Shoo Pork without meat in non-existant."

Why did his father have to be like this sometimes. John just shook his head it his own thoughts.

Keawea continued to poke his dad.

"This is fun," he said to himself.

In reality it wasn't fun, but it was all Keawea had to do.

"The Hall of Judgement, actually," replied Anubis.

Kamooalii kept on snoring, totally oblivious to the world.

"I didn't mean to run into you, jerk," I muttered, glaring into the rather frightening eyes of the god.

"I don't care, you still did," Phobos replied coldly. He didn't like this girl. He looked over at Felix, who he recognized as his son. "Oh, hello, son. Set tells me you're getting married. Good for you."

Wherever he was, Set made a trollface.

Phobos raised an eyebrow. "Well now. I'm rather disappointed in you, Felix. Most of my sons tend to be much better with the ladies."

... why was I even still standing here? I shrugged and turned to leave. Phobos was pissing me off.

Phobos frowned, and put a flash of pure fear in Krystine's mind to stop her. "Did I dismiss you, little girl?" he asked, a bit sadistically.

I froze, and nearly screamed. And I stood very, very still for several seconds. My heart was beating violently, and I could practically hear my pulse pounding in my ears. My hands felt clammy, chilled with a cold sweat. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but I noted everything, and then scribbled down a few notes. Phobos is a jerkish f*%#face. Avoid.

Anubis smiled. "Maybe someday, when things are more... settled."

Kamooalii just fell over, and started drooling on the floor.

Phobos rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

I decided to underline the word 'avoid'. Three times.

"Well..." Anubis said, thinking of all the things going on concerning Apophis and Set and such... the Greek situation with Gaea didn't help much, either. "... stuff..."

Kamooalii suddenly woke up, wondering why he was on the floor. "Son, why am I on the floor?"