( ZOYA CARDAN )

⤹⋆⸙͎۪۫｡˚۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚⸙͎۪۫⋆ ༄

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*"𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄" jessie peters said as she sat facing zoya, the sixteen year old girl laying spread across the couch. jessie could only stare as the wad of paper stacked into her notebook lay spread on her lap "has anything changed?"

"just like last time, i told you. nothing. i feel nothing" short, simple and straight to the point. that's how zoya was every session she had with the older woman. sure it would've done her some good opening up, but that wasn't zoya's speciality.

"we both know you don't mean that zoya. that you don't feel anything, at all" zoya had been attending these sessions with the therapist for the last few months, chiron had insisted she attend them else she wouldn't be allowed to attend anymore quests when the times come.

she found them useless, was she just meant to open up to this woman in front of her. jessie peters was a demi-god just like herself, daughter of hermes and one of the rare demi-gods who escaped camp half-blood alive to live normal lives. jessie promised herself the day she turnt nineteen that she wouldn't waste the life she was given chasing monsters and arguing with the gods. she'd be normal.

zoya stared at the woman in front of her, lifting herself up so she now sat and faced the woman in the eyes. body rigid and seemingly uncomfortable as she began to play with the ring on her finger, moving it from her middle to her ring finger.

"i died." she died "i couldn't save my friends" she couldn't save her friends "luke sacrificed himself for me" luke sacrificed himself for her "alabaster's gone" alabaster was gone "ethan's dead" ethan was dead "my sister probably hates me" her sister didn't like her "and my mom is trying to kill me" 

"you mean nesta?" jessie asked, as if that was the most important part of everything she'd just said. and in a way, it was. nesta was an anomaly like herself, except nesta was allowed to stay in olympus with hera. nesta was sculpted from literal gold, and brought to life by their mother. maybe it was hera's way of saying nesta was more important, or maybe it was her way of saying zoya wasn't enough.

"yes, i mean nesta" zoya hadn't spoken to her sister since the war, nesta had made it more than obvious she didn't want to continue having ties with her sister. nesta had always sided with their mother and the gods, she was foolish zoya thought.

"and luke?" short sentences, keep it simple, keep it focused, don't let her get too angry. when zoya cardan got angry, the whole camp would know and the whole camp would suffer.

"oh, luke.." she chuckled darkly, her hand making it's way to her hair raking it through quickly before dropping her hand back to her knee. she continued playing with the adamantine ring that she recieved on her thirteenth birthday. it felt as though it were burning her flesh though as she thought of the blonde.

"are you not happy with his choice?" jessie peters felt like she was finally unlocking a part of zoya cardan that she'd been trying to keep hidden from the world. the part she didn't want to believe existed in the first place. the part that shattered the young girl.

"the choice that he died for me. the fact that he threw his life away and left me. no- i don't care" her voice broke as she spoke those last words. "not like i think about it every fucking night i try to sleep" 

the nightmares were dreadful, zoya hadn't known peace since the day percy jackson arrived in her life. not like she was blaming him for any of it, if anything percy had just set her life straight. although at the age of eleven she didn't know that, she hadn't a clue.

"how do you feel about it? truly, how do you feel?"

"i feel completely alone, like i'm drowning and that if i even tried to take a breath for myself something will overcome me and i'll never surface again. i'm just so tired"

                                                              𝐳𝐨𝐲𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. it was in her blood. it was coded into her dna to be the main attraction of the show, to lure people in with the flutter of her eyes. her appearance itself didn't help.

golden eyes of honey and whiskey with murk mixing in the back, golden hair spun by tailors themselves, pale skin which reflected off the moonlight, cheekbones carved by pygmalion, it was her simplicity that made her beautiful. but it was also the parts of herself that tried so hard to keep hidden that made her devastating.

"i see you've finally let your skin show" drew spoke up as she trailed alongside zoya, the daughter of aphrodite having waited outside of zoya's cabin for the campfire. it was an unspoken agreement.

"not by choice, they've been burning me" she complained as she ran her hands up and down her bare arms. intricate and detailed golden marks which resembled tattoos were all but basically glowing on her skin. they spread from her finger tips to her shoulders and became thinner before they reached the bottom of her ears.

"well that's something new" drew muttered, the girl had a craving for wanting to be noticed and adored but whenever she was around zoya she couldn't help but being the one doing the craving. zoya was an ethereal being literally from another world and it'd be a mistake to not worship the girl. take in every bit of her well she still stood, and carve it into your memory.

"are they that noticeable?" it was a stupid question, they basically were bright enough to light up her cabin. her empty cabin which she hated. but it was worth asking right?

"we both know the answer to that" drew spoke up as she nodded forwards to where half of the amphitheatre stared at zoya, some were discreet and acted as if it were normal which it wasn't. it was a yearly thing, the last time it happening being the war.

"gods" zoya breathed out, she should've just put up with the irritating feeling and worn a jumper. now she'd have to be treated like a zoo animal on display, story of her life.

"you know this could be a sign. maybe you just need to let it out" drew suggested as she began to walk towards the aphrodite kids, her feet walking backwards so she could face zoya "like you've needed to all along"

and with that drew tanaka was gone. the darkness making it hard to see the aphrodite girl disappear to the back of the amphitheatre with the others. where she would usually sit in the silence and not speak out.

zoya trailed her eyes over the amphitheatre for a few seconds trying to decide where to sit, she saw rachel and piper near the front of the fire but it was too out in the open she thought, she looked for annabeth and finally found her and jason in the middle. it'd do.

                                                                                                  "𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬.." the words dropped off jason's tongue as she saw zoya approaching the two of them, annabeth on his right so not seeing zoya yet. but when she saw he golden markings and tattoos she knew. she stared at the side of jason's head with a smile as she finished for him.

"gorgeous, yeah" jason's head snapping to her as a blush began to spread across his cheeks, he could just blame it on the warmth of the campfire though. annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down "it's alright, you're not the first person to feel like this"

standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers with guitars and strange, old-fashioned harps were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. as the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

"think wills having fun tonight" zoya spoke up as she plopped herself down besides jason, her eyes watching the camp fire closely seeing the younger blonde boy enjoying himself with his siblings.

"rachel looks like she's about to pass out" annabeth pointed out as all eyes shot to the redhead at the front who was clutching her stomach from laughing so hard, as if she'd not witnessed this a hundred times.

zoya smiled at the redhead from her seat, the red hair was just like calypso's but wild and curly. rachel elizabeth dare lived in zoya cardan's head for free, every part of the girl intoxicated zoya. zoya's golden eyes looked like a sad love sick puppy as she stared at her friend, it was hard for jason to not notice.

the blonde nudged her shoulder with his own before nodding over in rachels direction "she'll catch you staring if you keep it up" he said with a small chuckle. he kept telling himself it was a real laugh, like he really found her pining funny, but he didn't.

zoya was beyond confused for a second before turning between the blonde and the redhead "no!" she suddenly exclaimed with wide eyes "gods, i love rachel more than i love myself" that may have been the biggest understatement of the century "but not like that" she rambled "she's stunning, yes. but she just reminds me of someone"

calypso.

jason was sure he looked like a victor in that moment as he felt his lips open to a smile, no matter how hard he tried to keep his smile subdued. zoya stared at the grinning boy with a smile of her own before tilting her head.

"don't tell me you already have a crush on me, kid" jasons smile dropping partially at the nickname again before he punched her shoulder softly. annabeth who sat besides the boy eavesdropping well also engaging in a conversation with one of her siblings.

"you wish" he joked as she shook his head, pieces of blond falling in front of his forehead. "and i'm not a kid" he clarified.

"come back and tell me that again when you remember how old you are" she giggled, her bare arm basically pressed to his as she leant her body slightly to the side as the song ended with a rowdy applause.

chiron trotted to the front, then brandished a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows. very nice! and a special welcome to our new arrivals. i am chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. in a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"what about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head.

jason tried to focus on them and figure out who they were but every few seconds he felt his eyes drift to zoya's figure beside him, her markings on her arm were blinding and jason couldn't stop from inspecting each and every one. he wanted to memorise them, have an idea of each one till they were all he could think about. he wanted them to be the most important things in his brain that he forgot his own name.

"however," chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. cabin nine, anything to report on that?"

he turned to leo's group. leo winked at zoya and shot her with a finger gun. the girl next to him stood uncomfortably. she wore an army jacket a lot like leo's, with her hair covered in a red bandanna. "we're working on it."

more grumbling erupted from the camp making zoya roll her eyes at their childishness.

"how, nyssa?" an ares kid demanded.

"really hard," the girl said.

nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. zoya let out a loud whistle before the camp fell silent again, chiron now moving to speak.

"we will have to be patient," chiron said. "in the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"percy?" someone asked. the fire dimmed even further, and zoya felt the markings on her neck begin to burn as if they also wanted to glow but the hair covering them wouldn't allow them to.

chiron gestured to annabeth who took a deep breath and stood.

"i didn't find percy," she announced. her voice caught a little when she said his name. "he wasn't at the grand canyon like zoya. but we're not giving up. we've got teams everywhere. grover, tyson, nico, the hunters of artemis —everyone's out looking. we will find him. chiron's talking about something different. a new quest."

"it's the great prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out.

everyone turned. the voice had come from a group in back, sitting under a rose-coloured banner with a dove emblem. they'd been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: drew.

everyone else looked surprised, drew didn't usually speak.. zoya was sick of these prophecies and didn't want what drew and what half of the camp knew to be true. they should've been over and done with these after kronos fell.

"drew?" annabeth said. "what do you mean?"

"well, come on." drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. "olympus is closed. percy and zoya are taken. percy's still disappeared. hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. i mean, something weird is going on. the great prophecy has started, right?"

everyone turnt to look to rachel "well?" drew called down. "you're the oracle. has it started or not?"

zoya felt her heart thump loudly in her chest as she watched rachel stand, the girl was terrifyingly alluring in the light of the campfire as her eyes glowed with a hidden darkness.

"yes," she said. "the great prophecy has begun."

and just like that pandemonium broke out.

jasons hand made it's way to zoya's arm snapping the girls head towards him, his eyes asked the silent question she'd been asked a thousand times and all she could do was open her mouth like a fish out of water. if the great prophecy was to come true what did that mean for the camp.

when the talking finally subsided, rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together.

"for those of you who have not heard it," rachel said, "the great prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in august. It goes like this:

"seven half-bloods shall answer the call. to storm or fire the world must fall—"

jason shot to his feet causing zoya's body to move itself from him. his eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered.

even rachel seemed caught off guard. "j- jason?" she said. "what's—"

"ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem." zoya understood the language but how the hell jason did confused her.

she had barely learnt latin at the age of twelve and it took her years to master speaking it and now here an amnesiac blonde was speaking it as if it were his native tongue.

"you just ... finished the prophecy," rachel stammered. "—an oath to keep with a final breath/and foes bear arms to the doors of death. how did you—"

"i know those lines." jason winced and put his hands to his temples. "i don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"in latin, no less," drew called out. "handsome and smart." zoya rolling her eyes at the girls words but that didn't mean she didn't agree.

there was some giggling from the aphrodite cabin. the campfire was burning a chaotic, nervous shade of green. jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but zoya put a hand on his knee and squeezed it as a sign of reassurance.

piper watched from across the camp and couldn't help the building jealousy, their small touches and whispers since he jumped off the cliff for her. she just wished it was her beside him, comforting him.

rachel still looked a little shaken. she glanced back at chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn't interrupt—a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage. a tragedy they'd been through before.

"well," rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "so, yeah, that's the great prophecy. we hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. i can't give you proof. it's just a feeling. and like drew said, some weird stuff is happening. the eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. i get the feeling some are here tonight. some are not here."

the campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, "i'm here! oh ... were you calling roll?"

"go back to sleep, clovis," someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed, something zoya wouldn't let herself do in the moment.

"anyway," rachel continued, "we don't know what the great prophecy means. we don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first great prophecy predicted the titan war, we can guess the second great prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

"or worse," chiron murmured.

maybe he didn't mean everyone to overhear, but they did. the campfire immediately turned dark purple.

"what we do know," rachel said, "is that the first phase has begun.  a major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken." her eyes meeting zoya's from across the camp.

shocked silence. then fifty demigods started talking at once. most of them trying to find zoya in the crowd but her tattoos didn't really make it that much difficult. chiron pounded his hoof again, but rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention.

zoya didn't understand why they all looked to her as if she was going to say something, as if she cared all that much about if her mother stayed captured forever. because in all honesty, she didn't. she had not cared for a being up in olympus since the last time her and nesta had spoken.

rachel told them about the incident on the grand canyon skywalk—how hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. they apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods

then rachel told them about piper passing out in hera's cabin. finally rachel told them about jason's vision in the living room of the big house.  "jason," rachel said. "um ... do you remember your last name?"

the boy looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.

"we'll just call you jason, then," rachel said. "it's clear hera herself has issued you a quest."

if zoya knew her mother correctly like she thought she did, someone was not walking out of that quest unharmed, alive even.

rachel paused, as if giving jason a chance to protest his destiny. everyone's eyes were on him; there was so much pressure, piper thought she would've buckled in his position. yet he looked brave and determined. he set his jaw and nodded. "i agree."

"you must save hera to prevent a great evil," rachel continued. "some sort of king from rising. for reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"keep her locked up if you'd like" zoya muttered to the blonde beside her as she knelt her head to his shoulder so only he'd really hear, the blondes body stiffening at the proximity before letting a soft smile grace his lips at her request.

"that's the council day of the gods," annabeth spoke up. "if the gods don't already know hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. they'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. that's what they usually do."

or nesta would be an absurd idiot and try and blame zoya, as if zoya had anywhere near the amount of power her mother did to even get the woman to leave a room.

"the winter solstice," chiron spoke up, "is also the time of greatest darkness. the gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. the solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. ancient magic, older than the gods. it is a day when things ... stir."

the way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister—like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.

"well then," zoya said standing up, glaring at the centaur. "thanks a lot , captain sunshine. whatever the hell is going on, i agree with rachel. jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so—" the girl said before being cut off making her clench her fist.

"why hasn't he been claimed?" somebody yelled from the ares cabin. "if he's so important—"

"he has been claimed," chiron announced. "long ago. jason, give them a demonstration."

zoya's head shooting down to jason with scrunched eyebrows, her gut twisting in anticipation and worry.

at first, jason didn't seem to understand. he stepped forward nervously, zoya watching his features in the light of the campfire, his regal features like a roman statue's. he glanced back at zoya , and she nodded encouragingly. she mimicked flipping a coin.

jason reached into his pocket. his coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance—a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end. the other demigods gasped. rachel, zoya and annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick.

"wasn't that ..." annabeth hesitated looking towards zoya "i thought you had a sword."

"um, it came up tails, i think," jason said. "same coin, long-range weapon form." zoya could only begin to imagine how fascinated annabeth was and knew this would be a topic she would speak about for days.

"dude, I want one!" yelled somebody from the ares cabin.

"better than clarisse's electric spear, lamer!" one of his brothers agreed. zoya only rolled her eyes playfully knowing that if clarisse had heard that she'd have thrown them off the amphitheatre.

"electric," jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "back away. "

zoya, annabeth and rachel got the message. jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. zoya felt the markings on her arm seer with an unexplainable feeling. it wasn't pain but it wasn't something she was happy with. they began to glow with every passing second.

when the smoke cleared, and the ringing in zoya's ears subsided, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. cinders rained down everywhere. a burning log had impaled itself a few inches from a sleeping clovis, who hadn't even stirred.

jason lowered his lance. "um ... sorry."

chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. he grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. "a little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. and I believe we know who your father is."

"fuck..." zoya muttered to herself before jason confirmed her worst suspicion

"jupiter," jason said. "i mean zeus. lord of the sky." hera's husband, the man who had caused her mother so much grief and pain. the man she sort of had to thank for her existence.

everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions until zoya raised her arms, her markings blinding some people from how bright they glowed, words falling from the demi-gods throats like whispers.

"stop!" she said. "how is this even possible? the big three ... their pact... how could we not have known sooner?"

chiron didn't answer but zoya had the feeling that he already had the answer and that she'd not like it.

"the important thing," rachel said, "is that jason's here now. he has a quest to fulfil, which means he will need his own prophecy."

she closed her eyes and swooned. two campers rushed forward and caught her. a third ran to the side of the amphitheatre and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, as they'd been trained for. they eased rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around rachel's feet. when she opened her eyes, they were glowing. emerald smoke issued from her mouth. the voice that came out was raspy and ancient—the sound a snake would make if it could talk:

"child of lightning, beware the earth, 

the giants' revenge the eight shall birth, 

girl of gold shall behold the queen's mistakes,

she has been keen but will no longer await for,

the forge and dove to break the cage, 

and death be unleashed through hera's rage."

on the last word, rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. they carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

"is that normal?" pipers voice broke the silence. then she realized she'd spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. "i mean... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"gods, you're dense!" drew sneered. "she just issued a prophecy—jason's prophecy to save hera! why don't you just—"

"drew!" zoya yelled before drew ended up saying something she'd regret in the future, her tone held authority as if she were made to command people. "piper asked a fair question. there's obviously something wrong with the prophecy. if breaking my mothers cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death ... why should we free her? it might be a trap, or maybe she' just going to turn on us. she's never been kind to any demi-gods."

jason rose. "i don't have much choice. hera took my memory. i need it back. besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble." zoya disagreed.

nyssa stood up, the one with the red bandanna. "maybe. but you should listen to zoya. hera can be vengeful. she threw her own son—our dad—down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"real ugly," snickered someone from the aphrodite cabin making nyssa retaliate.

"shut up!" nyssa growled. "anyway, we've also got to think —why beware the earth? and what's the giants' revenge? what are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

annabeth took a deep breath. "it's jason's quest," she announced, "so it's jason's choice. obviously, he's the child of lightning. according to tradition, he may choose any two companions but in this case it's three."

the camp fell silent as everyone's eyes went to zoya, some people openly staring at her "girl of gold" if nesta were here she'd be volunteered, it would've made more sense anyway. but zoya didn't want to go on another life threatening quest for her mother. she wanted to find percy.

someone from the hermes cabin yelled, "well, you, obviously, zoya . you're her daughter and you annabeth you have experience"

"no, travis," annabeth said. "first off, I'm not helping hera. every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. forget it. no way. secondly, i'm leaving first thing in the morning to find percy. and thirdly, zoya is going with me to find percy"

chiron sent the blonde a disapproving glance before looking between her and zoya, the daughter of hera not really having anything to say.

"it's connected," piper blurted out, not sure how she got the courage. "you know that's true, don't you? this whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance—it's all connected."

"how?" demanded drew. "if you're so smart, how?" piper seemed to be trying to form an answer, but she couldn't.

annabeth saved her. "you may be right, piper. If this is connected, i'll find out from the other end—by searching for percy. as I said, we're not about to rush off to rescue hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the olympians fighting again. but there's another reason I can't go. the prophecy says otherwise."

"it says who I pick," jason agreed, quickly taking a glance at zoya who stared up at him "the girl of gold, and  forge and dove shall break the cage. the forge is the symbol of vul—hephaestus."

under the cabin nine banner, nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry. "if you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling overland. you'll need air transport."

zoya thought back to the canyon and how jason literally flew or floated on air and felt the need to say something but stopped herself as her markings burned.

"the flying chariot's broken," nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for percy. but maybe hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. with jake incapacitated, i'm senior camper. i can volunteer for the quest." she didn't sound too enthusiastic.

then leo stood up. he'd been so quiet, zoya had forgotten the  boy was there. he looked ready to speak up and zoya shook her head knowing what he was about to do, what percy had done many times before.

"it's me," he said. his cabinmates stirred. several tried to pull him back to his seat, but leo resisted. "no, it's me. i know it is. i've got an idea for the transportation problem. let me try. i can fix this!"

jason studied him for a moment. zoya thought he'd tell the boy no. then he smiled. "we started this together, leo. seems only right you come along. you find us a ride, you're in."

"yes!" leo pumped his fist.

"it'll be dangerous," nyssa warned him. "hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. possibly none of you will come back alive."

"oh." suddenly leo didn't look so excited. then he remembered everyone was watching. "i mean ... oh, cool! suffering? i love suffering! let's do this." foolish but brave zoya would admit.

annabeth nodded. "then, jason, you need to choose the third quest member. the dove—"

"oh, absolutely!" drew was on her feet and flashing jason a smile. "the dove is aphrodite. everybody knows that. i am totally yours." drew just didn't have a stop button.

piper's hands clenched as she stepped forward. "no."

drew rolled her eyes. "oh, please, dumpster girl. back off." if zoya didn't want to make a scene she would've been yelling at drew but she knew there was no point in their arguing.

"i had the vision of hera; not you. i have to do this."

"anyone can have a vision," drew said. "you were just at the right place at the right time." she turned to jason. "look, fighting is all fine, i suppose. and people who build things ..."she looked at leo in disdain. "well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. but you need charm on your side. i can be very persuasive. i could help a lot."

the campers started murmuring about how drew was pretty persuasive. zoya watched as drew used her charm speak on everyone. chiron was scratching his beard, like drew's participation suddenly made sense to him. zoya was immune to charm speak to her luck.

"well ..." annabeth said. "given the wording of the prophecy—"

"no!" piper's own voice sounded strange in her ears—more insistent, richer in tone. "i'm supposed to go."

then the weirdest thing happened. everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, piper's point of view made sense too. drew looked around, incredulous. even some of her own campers were nodding.

zoya's eyes widened in realisation, of course she could charm speak. piper mcclean was gorgeous, more gorgeous than any normal person. aphrodite really did take her time with her children.

"get over it!" drew snapped at the crowd. "what can piper do? "

"well," drew said smugly, "i guess that settles it." suddenly there was collective gasp. everyone stared at piper like she'd just exploded.

"what?" she demanded. she looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over leo. then she looked down and yelped.

she was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a v-neck so low it was totally embarrassing. delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. an intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest

a stunned annabeth pointed at piper's dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a golden cord. piper didn't want to draw it. she was afraid of what she would see. but her curiosity won out. she unsheathed katoptris and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. she even wore makeup, better than piper would ever know how to do herself-subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colours in her eyes.

"beautiful," jason exclaimed. "piper, you, you're a knockout." zoya only nodded in agreement, his words were as honest as they could get and zoya cursed herself for feeling that tiny bit of longing for someone to think of her like that.

drew's face was full of horror and revulsion. "no!" she cried. "not possible!"

"this isn't me," piper protested. "i-don't understand."

chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example "hail, piper mclean," chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. "daughter of aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

the camp was stilled into silence as everyone seemed to be enraptured by piper's beauty, one of the stoll brothers was the first to break the unbearable silence "girl of gold" he yelled as he tried to keep the crowd moving.

there was no other choice but zoya, everyone knew that. but annabeth just didn't see herself letting zoya go after getting her back.

"it's you, right?" jason asked turning to look at zoya, her markings glowing with all the attention brought towards her. she literally had gold flowing through her blood and gold carved into her skin. was it really a question.

"it's me" she confirmed before nodding her head agreeing to go. the whole camp solemn as they realised what this meant. 

zoya cardan had been running from death for too long, and the last time it had just caught up to her. but gods were cursed.