The Lost Hero

Aphrodite pursed her lips. She moved to the next rack, which held battered armor and ripped togas, but
Aphrodite looked through them as if they were designer outfits.
―You have a strong will,‖ she mused. ―I‘m never given much credit among the gods. My children are
laughed at. They‘re dismissed as conceited and shallow.‖
―Some of them are.‖
Aphrodite laughed. ―Granted. Perhaps I‘m conceited and shallow, too, sometimes. A girl has to indulge.
Oh, this is nice.‖ She picked up a burned and stained bronze breastplate and held it up for Piper to see. ―No?‖
―No,‖ Piper said. ―Are you going to answer my question?‖
―Patience, my sweet,‖ the goddess said. ―My point is that love is the most powerful motivator in the world.
It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love.‖
Piper pulled out her dagger and studied its reflective blade. ―Like Helen starting the Trojan War?‖
―Ah, Katoptris.‖ Aphrodite smiled. ―I‘m glad you found it. I get so much flack for that war, but honestly,
Paris and Helen were a cute couple. And the heroes of that war are immortal now—at least in the memories of
men. Love is powerful, Piper. It can bring even the gods to their knees. I told this to my son Aeneas when he
escaped from Troy. He thought he had failed. He thought he was a loser! But he traveled to Italy—‖
―And became the forebear of Rome.‖
―Exactly. You see, Piper, my children can be quite powerful. You can be quite powerful, because my
lineage is unique. I am closer to the beginning of creation than any other Olympian.‖
Piper struggled to remember about Aphrodite‘s birth. ―Didn‘t you … rise from the sea? Standing on a
seashell?‖
The goddess laughed. ―That painter Botticelli had quite an imagination. I never stood on a seashell, thank
you very much. But yes, I rose from the sea. The first beings to rise from Chaos were the Earth and Sky—Gaea
and Ouranos. When their son the Titan Kronos killed Ouranos—‖
―By chopping him to pieces with a scythe,‖ Piper remembered.
Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. ―Yes. The pieces of Ouranos fell into the sea. His immortal essence created
sea foam. And from that foam—‖
―You were born. I remember now. So you‘re—‖
―The last child of Ouranos, who was greater than the gods or the Titans. So, in a strange way, I‘m the
eldest Olympian god. As I said, love is a powerful force. And you, my daughter, are much more than a pretty
face. Which is why you already know who is waking the giants, and who has the power to open doors into the
deepest parts of the earth.‖
Aphrodite waited, as if she could sense Piper slowly putting together the pieces of a puzzle, which made a
dreadful picture.
―Gaea,‖ Piper said. ―The earth itself. That‘s our enemy.‖
She hoped Aphrodite would say no, but the goddess kept her eyes on the rack of tattered armor. ―She has
slumbered for eons, but she is slowly waking. Even asleep, she is powerful, but once she wakes … we will be
doomed. You must defeat the giants before that happens, and lull Gaea back into her slumber. Otherwise the
rebellion has only begun. The dead will continue to rise. Monsters will regenerate with even greater speed. The
giants will lay waste to the birthplace of the gods. And if they do that, all civilization will burn.‖
―But Gaea? Mother Earth?‖
―Do not underestimate her,‖ Aphrodite warned. ―She is a cruel deity. She orchestrated Ouranos‘s
death. She gave Kronos the sickle and urged him to kill his own father. While the Titans ruled the world, she
slumbered in peace. But when the gods overthrew them, Gaea woke again in all her anger and gave birth to a
new race—the giants—to destroy Olympus once and for all.‖
―And it‘s happening again,‖ Piper said. ―The rise of the giants.‖
Aphrodite nodded. ―Now you know. What will you do?‖
―Me?‖ Piper clenched her fists. ―What am I supposed to do? Put on a pretty dress and sweet-talk Gaea
into going back to sleep?‖
―I wish that would work,‖ Aphrodite said. ―But no, you will have to find your own strengths, and fight for
what you love. Like my favored ones, Helen and Paris. Like my son Aeneas.‖
―Helen and Paris died,‖ Piper said.
―And Aeneas became a hero,‖ the goddess countered. ―The first great hero of Rome. The result will
depend on you, Piper, but I will tell you this: The seven greatest demigods must be gathered to defeat the
giants, and that effort will not succeed without you. When the two sides meet … you will be the mediator. You
will determine whether there is friendship or bloodshed.‖
―What two sides?‖
Piper‘s vision began to dim.