The Trials of Aphrodite

♦ Chapter Sixteen ♦

"Via?" I whispered. There was no reaction from the daughter of Mercury. Her eyes were glassy and her expression devoid of emotion.

Khione smiled coldly. "She can't hear you," she said. "Because I have this."

The snow goddess stepped further out of the fog, and I caught something twinkling. An exquisite golden belt cinched her waist, with a small red gemstone glittering in the center. My anger returned, fierce and quick. It was my girdle.

"How in the name of love did you pull this off?" I cried.

Khione traced the swirling designs on the girdle, as if she enjoyed my pain. "It was simple, really," she said sweetly. "I have gifts too, you know. Snow and ice . . . they don't take long to find ways under you, even with all the protection in the world. They burrow under your skin and make it cold. My snow does much more than that. I whispered into the mind of Zeus before, and now I've convinced this demigod to steal the girdle for me. It wasn't very hard. This girl . . . Well, she's stored a lot of resentment inside her for a long time. I only coaxed that anger and jealousy out."

I blinked. "Via would never do that!"

"You may not know her as well as you believe," Khione said. "Olivia felt that her father, and several other gods, were being neglected even after the war. After all, who cares about a mere daughter of Mercury?" Her eyes flickered. "Who cares about you?"

"We care," Reyna growled, moving to stand by my side. Hylla did the same. I felt a surge of warmth in my heart.

Khione tutted. "I'll deal with the two of you soon. You'll become as ice-solated as my father and the other statues in this room."

"You've been waiting to use that pun all day, haven't you?" Reyna hissed.

"Wait," I said, my blood running cold. "You froze your own father? Boreas?"

Khione snorted. "Of course I did! He was standing in my way! Wouldn't have you?"

"No," I said. My confidence might have been my undoing, but I didn't care. "Now I know what love truly means. It was never winning someone's heart with your beauty and getting them to love you, it was something much deeper. It was the binding of two souls as one person. I know that now. And I know a love just as strong."

Khione's nostrils flared. "And what might that be?"

"Friendship," I said, smiling at Hylla and Reyna. They smiled back.

Khione's dress billowed behind her. "I will have none of this," she commanded. "Surrender to me and you and your friends won't be harmed."

"I refuse," I snarled. "You're going down, ice princess."

"Now that is much better," Hylla griped. "Less talk and more action."

Khione's lips stretched into a wide smile. "I'm afraid I'll be the one surviving this encounter," she said, her words sickly sweet as a bowl of sugar.

Then she attacked.

I barely had time to dodge as Khione shot a blast of ice and snow my way. I hefted my spear.

The goddess laughed with delight, and it echoed through the great room, bouncing off the jagged icicles. "A toothpick? Against me?" she taunted.

Reyna unsheathed her sword, and Hylla flicked up her heel and snatched the hilt of a hidden dagger out of her boot. She twirled it in her fingers. "Against us. You're about to eat your own snow, Khione!"

Khione grinned. "έρθει στην ενίσχυσή μου!" she shouted in Greek. Come to my aid!

Around her, the ice statues began to move. They turned on us, wielding very pointy spears, swords, and a couple of bows and arrows. I gulped.

Reyna's sword collided with an icy swordsman's own. She looked reluctant to do it, but she stabbed it repeatedly until it was a mound of ice shards. She continued to the next one while Hylla took on a soldier on the other side. I was left to face Khione.

Khione adjusted the girdle about her waist, and red hot fury pumped through my veins.

I decided to put Hylla's training to good use. I lunged at her with my pilum, but Khione vanished in a swirl of snow. She reappeared right behind me, and I whirled around and attacked again. Khione sent icicle daggers my way, which I struggled to counterattack. I blocked an icicle mid-shot and wrapped my fingers around it. It was unbelievably cold, but I threw it at Khione.

Khione only pointed at it, and the icicle turned into a light drizzle of snow that fluttered to the ground. She looked triumphant. I wanted to slap the smirk from her face.

Khione blasted more ice and snow from her hands, and I had no time to avoid it. I gasped as the ice struck me in the chest. A burning cold erupted from my heart, slowly spreading outward as if I were a window, and frost was making its way across me. I tried to breathe, but the pain was making it harder and harder.

"Now you've seen a taste of what I can do," Khione said. "I'll make you feel frostbite like you've never felt it before."

I swallowed hard and attempted to ignore the fact that my heart was almost frozen. "You'll never win," I croaked. "What you're doing is evil."

"Evil? Why, isn't that what most people think of you?" Khione replied. "Love is the most evil weapon of all, Aphrodite. It's a weapon you've used for too long, and it's caused your heart to be dark. Now it's my turn."

Agony blinded me. Khione was a blurry haze of white and black.

"I will not be ignored any longer," Khione declared. "I will banish the Olympians and do things my own way. I will replace Zeus and Hera themselves. I shall be Khione, goddess of snow, queen of Olympus."

"Don't give in to her!" Reyna yelled from the opposite end of the room, locked in combat with an ice soldier. "You're my friend, Aphrodite! Don't listen! She wants you to feel this way!"

"You're a good person!" Hylla chimed in. "I've realized that. We both have. We'll stick to your side like glue, Aphrodite. No matter what!"

Khione growled and muttered something under her breath. A column of ice shot at Hylla and Reyna, and they froze mid-pose. Ice crept up their skin quicker than the eye could comprehend. I screamed.

"What did you do to them?" I shrieked.

The snow goddess turned to me. "They were meddlesome, and meddlesome demigods must be dealt with. But I'll unfreeze them . . . for a price."

"What price?"

"I can't activate this girdle, as much as I'd like to. I need you. So, here's the catch: you help me access its full power, and I release your friends. Including Via."

I forgot the pain for a moment. Free my friends? I hesitated.

Khione noticed my indecision. She smiled and touched the ruby on the girdle, and it gave off beams of red light. Her voice became heavy with charmspeak. "You will accept the conditions."

The charmspeak washed over me, and I fought it. I used the few ounces of strength I had left to defy her.

Khione's smile faltered. "What . . . What is this?"

The red light from the girdle was being overlapped by a bright pink light. It shone vividly and beautifully, and I realized that it was coming from me.

A large ring of light shimmered like a force field around me. I felt a strange warmth seep into my chest and rid my heart of the ice. I felt collected and calm, empowered by the word friendship. By the word love.

Khione backed away, and terror alighted in her eyes. "That isn't possible," she murmured. "You're mortal."

"A mortal who has love to strengthen her," I said, feeling like the goddess I was. "A mortal that has true friends that care about her. Love will warm any frozen heart."

"Stop spouting poetry," she spat. "I will banish you to the depths of Tartarus, and the other Olympians will suffer the same!"

She shot icy wind in my direction, but it bounced off harmlessly. Perhaps the ring of light was a force field.

I willed the ring of light to expand, and it did. The frozen warriors's-including Hylla and Reyna-icy skin was slowly melting to reveal flesh and bone.

Khione gaped as the ice statues turned human again. She glanced at me, and the look was so full of hatred that it sent a jolt of ice (metaphorically) down my spine.

"This isn't over," she hissed. "I will be back. And you will feel my wrath."

Before I could respond, Khione grabbed Via's arm, and they disappeared in a thin wisp of snow.

I stared at Hylla and Reyna, who were the firsts to thaw out. They wrapped me in a hug, and the ice pick that had hooked its claw on my heart detached completely. I understood what having friends really meant.

"I owe you two," I murmured. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Reyna said. "You saved us."

"You saved me," I said. "I had to repay the favor."

Reyna smiled weakly and shivered. Icy water was dripping from her skin.

I gasped as the strength and adrenaline left me again, rendering me as weak as the others. The cold returned in full force.

"We have to get out of here," I announced. "This cold is bad for my skin."

My favorite scene so far. They didn't succeed, but there will be a next time. Khione still has the girdle, and she still needs Aphrodite to activate it. And that would mean a worldwide brainwashing session. Yikes.

The story is almost over! Yay! After this, I can check and double-check and revise and reedit it all. That'll be just dandy.

I really hope there were enough plot twists and cliffhangers and suspense and all that. There will be a sequel, by the way. I'm not leaking the title or the cover yet. It's a secret until I choose to reveal it. Until then, no hints. :)

There will be another chapter after this one, so stay tuned!

Trivia Question: Of the nine nereids that almost drowned Percy, Jason, and Piper in The Mark of Athena, what was the name of their leader?