"Welcome!"

The woman that greeted them was dressed in a blue business suit holding a clipboard, with perfect makeup and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was pretty, she was willing to admit, but it was in a way that reminded her of Aphrodite's children when they were first learning how to charm someone and were putting it on a little too thick.

(Consequently, Kassandra always loved to see newbies at camp just learning how to use their abilities because most of them had a feeling for it, a sense, but a lot still needed the training to hone those abilities. She hadn't been able to shoot a bow and arrow very well when she came in, but her aim was always spot on.

It was sort of cute, sort of funny, and she tried to help the best she could when was asked.)

She shook their hands as they climbed onto the dock, and Kassandra kept her bag tight on her back. They had stuffed quite a few things inside to make sure they didn't leave anything important behind, and while she knew that the mist would protect her bow from being too obvious, probably making it look like a tennis racket or something, she knew that same courtesy wouldn't be extended to her bag.

"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged looks. Annabeth said, "Umm ..."

"First-time-at-spa," the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard. "Let's see ..."

She looked us up and down critically. "Mmm. An herbal wrap to start for the young ladies and a trip to our resort doctor for this one," she said, motioning to Kassandra, "And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."

Blinking, she eyes the woman carefully, tasting the flavour of her words, and she wondered if having her hearing damaged was affecting her capability to hear a lie properly.

"A what?" Percy asked.

"Right!" She said with a breezy smile. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."

Glancing at her companions, looked accepting, even if they were clearly hesitant. She imagined they were just as hungry and thirsty as she was, maybe even sun sick, but she knew that they couldn't quite hear the foul play at hand as closely as she could. It wasn't exactly a lie -- but it was something!! And the only deception that she would let herself fall mercy to were the attempts of Cabin 11 or a literal god, no exceptions.

"It couldn't hurt," Annabeth mutters to them, following after the hostess lady.

Percy didn't seem to agree entirely, but he follows her lead.

"Excuse me, but do you mind telling me about this C.C.?" she asks, hoping that the question sounds as innocent as she intended it to.

"Oh! You'll absolutely adore her. She's remarkable, you know," the lady answers. Kassandra rolls her eyes at the actual lack of an answer.

The place was what she expected of an artist's eyes for beauty and Greek together. It was full of white marble and shining blue water that belonged in renaissance paintings as opposed to actual reality for she had never seen anything Greek touched that didn't hold a hint of tragedy. Terraces climbed the side of the mountain, pools on nearly every level with flowing waterfalls and fountains of carved horses and eagles in flight.

Kassandra decided that she despised it all. She preferred the messiness of humanity, of people living instead of white marbled perfection. Hades, she would prefer the destruction that was poetry of half-god, half-human.

They passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. And plenty of guests in the midst of their spa treatments. All women.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked Percy. "You look kinda pale."

"I'm okay," he lied, "Let's just keep walking."

Her hand snapped out before she could stop it, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead with a frown. He didn't feel clammy, nor did he feel overly hot. "He might have heat exhaustion," she mutters.

Annabeth is at his side immediately, responding to her words as if it was nothing, snapping out of her awestruck state of curiosity.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" the girl demands, moving to get a better look at his face.

"You needn't worry. C.C. will see to it that everyone is fine and healthy. Come along now," the lady says.

Exchanging a look with Annabeth, she purses her lips to show her displeasure as they begin to follow, both girls keep an eye on Percy as they go.

As they headed up the staircase of what looked like the main building, she heard a woman singing. It was a lullaby, a gentle hum, an old one, Minoan, and sang just like any other old Greek song. For all of this, it was still lovely, still poetic as she rhymed words of olive trees and sunrise. She knew what she would remember each word just as it was sung.

Soon, Kassandra found herself singing humming along to the predictable tune, unable to help herself as Percy and Annabeth seemed to chase after the song -- and wasn't that strange, the way the music seemed to possess them, that wasn't right, she told herself, shaking her head at her disjointed thoughts, raising the sound of her own voice in response.

Annabeth blinked to life beside her, looking at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"What?"

They came into a big room where the whole front wall was windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive-looking white furniture, and on a table in one corner was a large wire pet cage.

The singing woman sat at a loom the size of a big-screen TV, her hands weaving coloured thread back and forth with amazing skill. The tapestry shimmered like it was three dimensional with a waterfall scene so real she could see the water moving and clouds drifting across a fabric sky. And whoa, the beauty of arts baffling her as she gazed at the fabric longing to trace her fingers against the scene, to spend hours upon hours looking for the faults to her heart's content.

Annabeth drew a shaky breath. "It's beautiful."

The woman turned and for a moment Kassandra could have sworn that she was looking at a daughter of Aphrodite or the goddess herself. She was exceptionally pretty with dark long hair like the silky night sky, braided with traces of gold, and eyes so piercingly green that they reminded her of a cat. She was wearing a silky black dress that moved in the light with the flicker of animals.

"You appreciate weaving, my dear?" the woman asked

"Oh, yes, ma'am!" Annabeth said. "My mother is-" She stopped herself.

Their hostess just smiled. "You have good taste, my dear. I'm so glad you've come. My name is C.C."

The demigods introduced themselves, ignoring the squealing that came from the cage for the most part, as Kassandra didn't seem to mind for anything other than the sound of the woman's voice.

Whatever qualms that she had about this place before suddenly vanished now that she was in C.C. presence, how could they not? Her voice was the most beautiful she had ever heard and that said a lot coming from someone of her parentage.

"Oh, dear," she sighs. "You do need my help."

"Ma'am?" Percy asks voice almost a whimper.

Kassandra frowns at him, not understanding why it bothered her as much as it did. What possible cause could he have to be sad?

C.C. called to the woman with the clipboard. "Hylla, take our young female guests on a tour, show them what we have available? A change of clothes should be in order," she directs. "And the hair, my goodness, do something about the hair. We will do a full image consultation when I finish with this young gentleman. Oh! and see to it that you stop by the infirmary for darling Kassandra. A few soothing eardrops should be in order." 

"But," Annabeth says, sounding utterly distressed. "What's wrong with my hair?"

C.C. is quick to reassure her. "Oh, you're lovely my dear, truly! I simply believe that your true potential is being wasted."

"Wasted?"

"Well, surely you're not happy the way you are! My goodness, there's not a single person who is. But don't worry. We can improve anyone here at the spa. Hylla will show you what I mean. You, my dear, need to unlock your true self!" C.C turns to Kassandra then, the girl stood still with a self-conscious hand to her ear. "You see that you could use the help, don't you? You have so much confidence within you just withering away. Don't you want our help to bring it out? Nothing makes a girl more confident than a good makeover."

She nods along, eagerly words moving over her with the falsehood of their statements, but not fully so. They were, it was like she was hiding secrets, half-truths. A moment later, however, she couldn't remember what her issue was.

She was already following Hylla from the room as Annabeth lingered with Percy, and maybe she should have stayed, but they--

Shaking her head, Kassandra continued after Hylla, sending a smile to Annabeth as she appears at her side.

They were brought to a room right away. It was equally as white as everything else and filled with bottled and jars. It reminded her a bit of the infirmary that they had back at camp, the place full of things that she never came to learn about healing but could hear lecture after lecture from some of her siblings (namely Will since that boy was a bonafide doctor already).

Hylla moved to the shelf, taking a tiny jar with a stopper and handing it to Kassandra. "A gift. This will right your hearing."

They leave soon after, taking a short tour that leads them by a library that had Annabeth in tears for its size, a pool that smelled of saltwater, a handful of restaurant cafe's, and an amphitheatre that looked like a near-perfect replica of the ancient theatre of Epidaurus (a hand had fallen to her side at that, touching gently against her flute).

When they arrive at a small dress room with rows and rows of clothes, a large bath and a shower, Hylla directs them to pick something to wear before she can let them get washed.

The woman is very insistent on what kind of thing to put on, and while Annabeth easily reaches for the dress that was suggested to her, a sleeveless white dress that was the same as C.C.'s but Kassandra flat out refused. Hylla seemed to have expected that as she simply took out a dress that was the colour of the sunset orange and pink combined that stopped mid-thigh with two little slits for movement and had thin spaghetti straps. It was the same sort of silken material, the same kind of magical number that made her cheeks burn as she held it up against her.

(The colour was enchanting against the tawny gold of her tanned skin, the shade vibrant and so light that she felt her insides squeeze, pinching her hear.)

(It also reminded her of her father and she dropped it with a clenched jaw and fingers slowly curling into fists.)

Accepting that, Hylla left them to tidy up, telling the girls to call for help in fixing their hair when they were clean.

"Annabeth, can you help me put the drops in," she asks as soon as the door is closed, holding out the bottle.

The blonde comes over and begins to unscrew the op as soon as she got close enough. "Tilt your head."

Kassandra had already done so.

The first drop brings the world rushing back in like magic, sweeping through her, and she nearly loses her balance from the strength of it. It's a feeling that rattles her bones curing her aches, as the relief is palatable, unimaginable. Turning her head the other way, she lets her put drops in the other ear.

And as soon as she's healed fully, the sound no longer muffled, it was like being jerked awake from a dream, ripped free and tossed to the graces of the pantheon because only the gods could hate her enough to shove her into the den of a sorceress and expect her to have some sort of inkling of what to do.

Kassandra was lucky in the sense that she could hear the falsities of sweet words and hypnotizing songs, but she was still at the mercy of magic when used in other means, other forms -- and this woman was powerful, no matter how much she thought she could outlast her with the help of a curse.

That wasn't mentioning the fact that Annabeth and Percy didn't have that thin shield of protection that she did (even then, it wasn't much either as she was destined to be more susceptible to falling to her interest in the arts.

Sending a silent prayer to Athena for help with a battle strategy, Kassandra sent forward with a plan to help liberate Annabeth from the sorceresses influence.

"Do you want to shower first?" she offers, methodically going through the process of taking off her things.

"I wasn't going to," Annabeth admits.

She oulls a face. "I think you should. You don't know when you'll get your next chance."

Annabeth nods slowly, as if processing her words. "Next chance?"

It was like the girl was still in a daze, trying to process things.

"Yeah, we're on a quest to get the golden fleece. A quest to save Camp Half-Blood and Thalia's tree, remember?" Kassandra tells her firmly. "Grover, too. Your satyr friend grover. He's going to be eaten by Polyphemus."

"He's not going to be eaten," she snaps reflexively but there's no real heat to it. "We're going to rescue him before that can happen."

"We should shower quickly and then get ready to leave," she says. "You said only 24 hours, right. How much time do you think we have left to get there?"

"We'll leave as soon as C.C--"

"No, Annabeth, we don't have time for that," she interrupts. "I know it sounds nice, but we have to get Percy and leave. We can take one of those ships, or a yacht or something instead of the lifeboat."

The blonde nods. "We don't know how to navigate any of them. We'll have to pick something fast and that we can work."

"What do you think? Do you have any talent with sailing?" Kassandra asks.

"No, I don't think Percy does either."

Frowning, she motions Annabeth to the shower again and takes off her shirt, bringing it to the skin to wash the best that she could. "There were a bunch of options out there. Do you think it's much different from driving a car because my dad has taken me out a few times to learn and there isn't much that I can crash into out here?"

Annabeth's scoff is heard over the sound of running water. It seems getting her to snap out of it was saying something stupid. That's really reassuring.

They clean up quickly, each showering fast and donning their new dresses, and she tells the daughter of Athena of her suspicions of C.C being a sorceress. With hair still wet, they gather their weapons, putting everything back onto their person, Kassandra grabbing their bag, and go to get their hair decent enough for C.C. since it was such a big deal for the lady.

Their hair is braided with gold, makeup reluctantly put on, and after arguing to keep her bag and still damp, hastily cleaned change of clothes, it was easy to see why such a place might be able to bolster her with fatal confidence.

Because Kassandra thought she looked radiant, a golden piece of shining brilliance that could rival the sunsets and dawns, that could replace the beauty of music itself in the heart of the cold Sun God. She looked the part of a daughter of Apollo, a sun child in all senses of the word -- deserving of it.

And wasn't that the blade in her back, the poison-laced wine of bitter confidence making her feel the rage all that much more potent. Kassandra had always been his child even when she had not known it. She played music and took to the sun, she waxed poetry and wrote out the burning beat of her heart, baring it to the world in the truest show of art, the truest show of beauty because it was there to tear her down, beat her on the path of destruction that it was to be tragically stood in both realms of the world. Kassandra was immortal in the most mortal sense that she could be, and she had always been worthy and deserving of being claimed, she had always been enough to be the daughter of a God that she didn't need to be embarrassed then or now when she took up a bow and did not miss. She didn't need to ever feel undeserving when she took up the flag and sprinted it across boundary lines to get her win, faster than even some of the fleet-footed Hermes children. She did not need to feel unworthy when she sat waiting for nearly four years for him to say that she was his.

When they got back, she was going to wear this dress to perform hate poems dedicated to him in a very public park on a very sunny day.

Maybe she would tear up a bunch of Shakespeare books when she got home, just buy them all up and shred them to shit. Maybe disrespecting one of his most successful kids might just get his attention so she can wish him an almighty 'Get bent!'

(Or Kassandra could go and get a tattoo dedicated to the god he hates the most, like, just get that shit branded on her sleeve so everyone could see it, but that sought a little extreme if she was going, to be honest, she would go so far as to get a tattoo for another god when she didn't like any of them all too much.)

(And it wasn't like she wanted him to hate her, that wasn't her goal at all. Kassandra wanted his recognition, an apology, and the ability to prove to him that she was one of the best, that she was she no longer would ever need his help, and that he was a crap dad.)

The figure that Annabeth posed in her clean white dress, an image of beauty and grace. She was the sort of girl that people would write songs about, the subject of paintings, of poems and romance. She was angelic, a rival to Aphrodite herself, and it was a wonder that she had ever thought any other to be gorgeous before her.

This felt like the opening to a tragedy, the shattering of a foolish girls heart when are she fell for the beautiful girl that she could never have, because anyone with eyes could see the way that Percy and Annabeth shared the same energy that drew them both together and letting herself stupidly fall in love with a person she could never have might just actually be the real death of her.

(Kassandra is painfully aware of how many things she declares to be her undoing, but this time it felt real, like it was the honest truth.)

Annabeth's voice called: "Miss C.C.?"

She cursed herself for not realizing that they were already there.

The blonde looked around the room and frowned. "Where's Percy?"

Squealing came from the corner, shrieking of a guinea pig that made her peer toward the cage. C.C. moved within her line of sight, she smiled at them, green eyes looking more poisonous by the second. They had to be careful, cautious with their words, but also of the magic that might put them in a daze once more.

"He's having one of our treatments, my dear. Not to worry. You look wonderful! What did you think of your tour?"

Annabeth's eyes brightened, but she knew better, had seen the pure joy that they could hold in a glimpse of a dream, and knew that she didn't quite reach it. "Your library is amazing!"

"The amphitheatre was almost exactly as I imagined it would be. I'll never need to go and see the real thing, now," Kassandra jokes, shrugging noncommittally.

"Yes, indeed," C.C. said, "The best knowledge of the past three millennia. Anything you want to study, anything you want to be, any music you want to play, my dears."

"An architect?"

"Pah!" C.C. said. "You, my dears, have the makings of a sorceress. Like me."

Annabeth took a step back. "A sorceress?"

She has to keep from rolling her eye at how dramatic her actions could be. She could have been a child of Apollo with that acting.

"Yes, my dear." C.C. held up her hand. A flame appeared in her palm and danced across her fingertips. "My mother is Hecate, the goddess of magic. I know a daughter of Athena when I see one, a daughter of Apollo. We are not so different, you and I. We both seek knowledge. We both admire greatness. Neither of us needs to stand in the shadow of men."

Kassandra flinched at that, hating that it was how she was referred to like it was a castaway insult. "What- Are you a goddess or half-blood?"

"You ... C.C. ... Circe!" Annabeth cries, pointing at the woman accusingly.

"Yes, my dear," Circe laughed. "You need not worry. I mean you no harm."

"What have you done to Percy?"

"Only helped him realize his true form. Forget him," Circe said. "Join me and learn the ways of sorcery."

"Can you give us the chance to say goodbye?" Kassandra asks. "There are no men allowed, right. Will you let us say goodbye?"

"Of course, my dear," Circe cooed. "One minute. Oh ... and so you have absolute privacy ..." She waved her hand and iron bars slammed down over the windows. She left the room and the door could be heard clicking shut.

Annabeth rushed to the guinea pig cage, swooping down to speak to it, as Kassandra looked around the room for an easy escape that didn't involve picking the locks.

"We have to get out of here fast," Kassandra mutters, coming up behind Annabeth. "Her dad was Helios and my dad got his old job. I don't know how well she's going to actually take that."

"And the fact that Percy is a classroom pet?" Annabeth snaps, rummaging through a pile of clothes hidden underneath the loom.

"Oh, but he looks so good like that," she snarks, pulling her dagger from its sheath to aggressively pick at the lock. She could crack it, she learnt a lot during her time in cabin 11, but she wasn't anywhere nearly as capable as they were. "We could always just take them all and make a run for it."

"That's a terrible plan," Annabeth says. "Take this."

She shoves a vitamin at her, one of those Hermes things that she saw on the boat, and dumped the rest into the guinea pig cage.

"What in Hades?"

"Shut up, they'll help protect you against--"

Kassandra puts up a hand, waving it quickly as she crunches the vitamin and kicks the jar out of sight. "I can hear her coming back."

The door swings open and Circe walks back with two of her attendants.

"Well," Circe sighed, "how fast a minute passes. What is your answer, my dear?"

Her lips curl, teeth-baring with her anger. "I don't hang with immortals, lady. I would say sorry, but I'm not."

"Ugh, Apollo children are always so ill-tempered," She says, raising a hand glowing in blue. "And you Annabeth? Will you disappoint me as well?"

"We're leaving," is all the blonde says, leaping forward with a dagger in hand leaving Kassandra to whirl on her with wide eyes. Did she not believe in sharing her plans?

She's bot an arrow notched before she can even think, firing a warning shot near the head of one of the attendants. "Do you want to test my aim?"

Her next arrow was aimed at Circe's head, trained against her as Annabeth held a dagger to her throat with a self-satisfied grin. A dark gleam passed over her eyes, a look that curled Kassandra's toes and made her heart flutter.

She heard the shifting behind her before it came, reflexes taking her forward away from the cage. She doesn't lose her aim, keeping it trained on her head as the metal broke apart and suddenly there were men crawling everywhere, screaming and shouting -- pirates apparently.

"No!" Circe screamed. "You don't understand! Those are the worst!"

"Argggh!" bellowed the big man. "What's the witch done t'me!"

"No!" Circe moaned.

Annabeth gasped. "I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?"

"Aye, lass," the big man growled. "Though most call me Blackbeard! And there's the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!"

Annabeth shoves Circe away as she screams, launching herself at Percy as the sorceress flees the room.

Her hands shake with the desire to lose the arrow, let it sink into her thigh so that the pirates can catch her.

"I'm sorry," he gasps, returning the hug.

"I'm glad your not a guinea pig," Annabeth mutters.

With a great degree of self-control, Kassandra puts away her weapon and starts to leave. "Come on. Let's get the Hades out of this place," she says, pausing briefly in the doorway to look behind her. "Should we stop and grab some food first?"

Percy laughs, the sound only growing louder as Annabeth punches him in the shoulder.

"We aren't stopping for food. Let's go."

☼ ☼ ☼

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Man she complains about her dad a lot but i kinda like how good i make it sound sometimes :))

unedited

written: 2021-01-24

posted: 2021-02-25