Bianca di Angelo & The Olympians

Not Really A Makeover Person

Piper POV

I leaned my shoulder against a pillar, one part of the amphitheater. Silena sat, oblivious to my presence, playing with something on her neck. Most wouldn't notice that she wore it.

But I knew.

I couldn't blame her. It's not like my mother has claimed me yet. If Annabeth hadn't told me that she was Aphrodite, well I'd have half a mind to go join Luke myself. I knew lots of kids in the Hermes cabin felt the same. There were lots of undetermined demigods there.

Chris was a nice guy. He was unclaimed. He was gone.

I walked from my spot, and sat silently beside Silena. She shoved the necklace down her shirt in alarm. "Piper, I- I didn't know there were charmspeak less-"

"I know."

She looked up at me. "What then?"

"How do you think we found out about Luke in the first place last summer?" She looked at me, scared, "I followed you."

She hesitated, her eyes reflecting how terrified she must be in that moment. "He said there would be less carnage. There's a war coming Piper. You know that."

I nodded. "And when the gods lose? What then? You get a happy ending?" I pressed.

She shook her head, "I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"People are going to get killed. I don't like it, but it's true. It doesn't matter what side you are on, Silena." She flinched.

"What do you want from me? I have no choice. What could I possibly-"

"Choose where your loyalties lie. Because if it's with them-" I waved my hand in the direction of Half-Blood Hill, "-You should get packing."

We sat in silence for a moment. Maybe a minute, maybe ten minutes later, she whispered, "I want to help you." I nodded. Even though she hadn't said she necessarily was on the gods side, it was not like any of us were. She was with me, which was slightly different, but the goal of me coming here had been met.

I could live with that.

In retrospect, me spending the next few hours with Annabeth, reading, was very out of character compared to most of my siblings. They would likely say something like 'ew! You should do something better than reading, like do a major makeover and find yourself a boyfriend or whatever!'. Believe it or not, I liked the way I looked and even liked my own interests. I liked mythology. Sue me.

Unfortunately, it was hard to like mythology when it threatens to attack you, slash you, sting you or poison you. That last bit was actually the reason we were here.

Annabeth stood across from me, and angrily slammed a book down on her desk, which caused me to flinch. "Nothing!" She said bitterly. "There is no viable cure for that poison. Luke knew it too."

I wanted to get her hopes up, but I really had no idea how I was gonna do that. "What about non-viable solutions?"

She glared at me, then sighed. "I mean... There is The Golden Fleece." she said quietly.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I've heard of it. "You wanna expand on that idea?"

She sighed, looking through her notes until she pulled out a page. "There were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa. They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, so they prayed to Zeus to save them. Zeus ended up sending this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor."

"Well, 50%" I added nonchalantly. "Europa leapt off while yelling 'Geronimo!' or something, right?"

She shrugged. "I could see it. Anyway, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land; Animals stopped getting sick, plants grew better, farmers had bumper crops, plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalise any land where it's placed. It strengthens nature, cleans up pollution, and, well, it cures poison."

I glanced at her notes, puzzled. "The catch?"

"No one knows where it is. It's been missing for centuries." I sighed. Another dead end. Annabeth glared at the notes before shoving them off the table with her arms and sitting down on her bed.

I knelt and began picking up the papers on the floor, which was the exact moment Bianca walked in. "Have you seen Nico lately?" She asked in distress.

I thought for a moment. The Son of Hades was someone who was an introvert at heart, at least I believed so, it was one of the things he and his sister had in common. Despite this, he always managed to befriend people at the table where I sat last summer, bonding over his ability to set a prank, then 'teleport' away. It was probably the reason we were on his side for Capture the Flag (the siblings had respectively sat away from everyone else, and had basically become their own cabin). Percy had similar qualities, if he had retained his personality from last year. Now that Bianca mentioned it, however, the morning had been distinctly quiet.

"Not that I can think of." Annabeth said, and I threw in that I hadn't seen Percy much either. "Can't you, I don't know, er- Soul Scan?"

"Soul Scan?" Bianca asked, offended.

Annabeth waved her off, "Whatever. Just do it."

Bianca closed her eyes, and took a long breath out. After about 30 seconds, she came out of her trance. "Nothing."

I stood and began picking up my leather jacket. "Well, we go find them." No one argued, though they both looked similarly distressed. We quickly moved to the outside and vanished into the forest, praying Tantalus or Dionysus didn't discover our presence (We had faith in Chiron).

I studied the two girls in front of me. If what I had gathered was true, this was probably the first time they were doing anything together this year. It was funny, really. They had so many differences on the surface, but they both were that same person, internally. They both cared for everyone they were close too, and were both smart enough to be the 'leader' of our trio. Then again, that is also the exact reason they were against the idea of being friends.

Friends. Bianca, whether she realised it or not, had a crush on Annabeth. I had placed it as possessiveness at first, but I had no doubt she was harbouring a liking for the girl walking to her left. I felt bad for having a slight ulterior motive for mentioning Percabeth, but not enough to regret anything.

She was also from the 1930's. Liking girls then, Hades, even now, would be seen as bad. Disgusting. At least nowadays there were laws against voicing that kind of stuff, but back then? You would be killed, according to what I'd read. So I decided not to press her. I wasn't going to increase any internal homophobia she might already have.

"Here." Bianca said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I'll see if I can do what I did with you, Piper, and try to shadow travel to their souls."

We all agreed, and I took Annabeth's arm and Bianca's other. I knew they wouldn't have any appeal towards linking arms.

Ah ha! The planning begins. Bianca totally had a crush on Annie from the start haha, I felt like if would be something Piper would be invested in. Maybe that how she realises her gayness haha. Have a good day!