Innocent Grace and a Sweet Face

There was always something different about me. I was always a bit to beautiful, a bit too graceful, a bit to nice, and a bit to unrealistic. When I walked down the halls, guys literally drooled while watching me, and girls turned green with envy. Even as I proved to be the sweetest person at OCD High, my temper could get out of control, and when it did, you better watch out.

And when you tried to sneak an attack or keep a secret from me, I always found out, or interveened. When people tried to argue their way out of things with me, I had the better reason, the better logic. My A+ average proved me to be the smartest person in the county, but I begged to differ, being too modest to admit it.

Even when things got a little funky, like the three headed cheerleader I defeated in an empty bathroom during lunch, or the way my broken leg seemed to heal in five minutes, I never thought anything odd of it. I mean, I did think it was unusual, but it felt natural to me. And neither did my 'friends' or peers. They just agreed with whatever I said, following my lead.

So when my father called to me one day after fending off a big one-eyed football player, I knew something was up.

"Hey Dad. What's up?" I asked, stepping around the small dining room table. Sure, they might live in a tiny apartment, but I didn't mind.

"Sweetie, there's someone I'd like you to meet." my father William Block said, pointing to a pretty red head sitting at the kitchen counter. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at my fathers new girlfriend. The woman - although I couldn't pinpoint an age on her - smiled up at me, all five foot ten of myself.

"Hello Massie," She said in a smooth voice, her green eyes glowing.

"Hi."

"My name's Dylan Marvil. I'm the daughter of Achelous, the river god and father of Sirens." She said, sticking her hand up at me. I raised my eyebrows. What kind of cooke had my dad brought home this time?

"So I see you don't believe me." Dylan grinned, flashing some white teeth at me.

"Well..." I started. Maybe I should lie? "Yeah. It's kinda hard to believe." I admitted. I figured lying would do me any good.

"I understand. But let me show you." Dylan grinned wider, twisting her hand at the glass of water in front of her. The water rose from the glass, twisting in a sprial shape, up toward the ceiling. Dylan looked at the water, knitting her eyebrows together in concentration. The water twirled in a tight ball in front of of me, and I watched it spin in amazement. Dylan made a fist with her hand, and the water began steaming, disolving in the air. I switched my gaze to Dylan, wide eyed.

"Wh-"

"I told you." Dylan smirked.

"Oh-kay." I said looking at my dad. He looked back at me evenly, not even fazed by his girlfriends stunt.

"Now, I have to say something," Dylan looked at my dad, but her shook his head, then opened his mouth.

"I should tell you Mass. You probably think that I might have dragged in another girlfriend - I can see it on your face - but I didn't. Dylan's a little bit older than you, and lives at Camp Olympus. That's where you're going to live." Her father swallowed.

"What? Dad, why?" I asked, looking around the tiny room in panic.

"Massie, I'm not your birth father. I've never fathered a child. You're... You're the daughter of Aphrodite and Apollo. They wanted you to have a normal life - to not be threatened by the demons -, so they gave you up to a human - me - but you were still a goddess. Now that you're developing as a goddess, Zuse noticed, and called upon Dylan to bring you to Camp Olympus." He looked at me as the room span.

Not my father? Daughter of Aphrodite and Apollo? Oh. My. God.

"Maybe she should sit down." Dylan said, standing up and leading me to a chair. I felt the Earth shift under my feet, and looked out the window to try and focus.

"Mass, I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you because it would have been too dangerous. I had to promise your mother and father." My dad said from miles away as I clung to a safe cliff in my head. I nodded faintly, still feeling the blood draining from my cheeks.

"Massie, listen to me, please. We need to go as soon as possible. I know this is all a shock for you, but we need to go. That cyclops you took down today? Only one of a few. When we make it to Camp Olympus, you'll be safe, I promise. We have all of your belongings there already. So can we please go?" Dylan said, looking at me with her bright green eyes.

"Okay. Can I say good-bye first?" I asked her?

"Of course." She said, standing up and walking outside to our small garden.

"Massie, I'm so sorry." My dad said, looking at me pleadingly.

"Dad, it's okay. I would have done it for you. I love you, and I'm gonna miss you." I said, standing up and giving him a hug.

"I'll miss you too. And I love you." He whispered in my hair, his voice thick with tears. I nodded back at him, feeling his gray beard against my perfect skin. I blinked a few times, expecting tears to hit me. Then, it did. I'd never cried. And I didn't now.

Maybe I should have really felt like I should have. But I knew that I didn't belong here, so I was strangely calm, strangely okay with discovering it.

I unwrapped myself from my dad, then kissed his cheek. He grinned at me, wiping his tears as I walked away. I closed the door silently behind me, watching Dylan pull herself up from the grass.

"Would you like to walk or drop?" She asked me, laughing at me as I looked at her blankly. "What I mean is, would you like to walk in on the camp or drop in?"

"Uhm, walk. Isn't that kind of obvious?" I laughed nervously.

"Always on the first time." Dylan smiled, then held out her palm to me. "Oh, I keep forgetting your a newbie. Touch your palm with mine for five seconds, then pull apart in a ninety-degree angle type-thing." Dylan explained, waving her hand around in the air, showing me how to do it. I nodded, then took a breath.

"So how come we can do this?" I asked, flexing my fingers.

"I dunno actually. We're kinda like wizards/witches in this way, but this is the only thing we can do that's wizard-like. It's weird." Dylan shrugged her shoulder, then held out her palm above her head. I followed, feeling her cool palm against mine.

"Warm palm. You're definatley Aphrodite's daughter." Dylan commented, pulling away. I made the angle in the air, watching in amazement as a square-sized figure filled the air we had traced. It materialized slowly, and Dylan breathed deeply.

"Spaghetti for dinner tonight. You'll love Chiron, by the way." She said, stepping through the doorway. I followed her in, amazed at what I saw.

It was like a picture out of a book, a painting by the greatest artist. Wooden cabins were circled around fire pit, a big marble building sitting at the head of the circle. The cabins we're big, but not too big, a picture or word written over each doorway. It was a small island, surrounded by clear, bright blue water, a tiny forest just making the coast visible. Palm trees and pine trees intertwined around the log cabins, smelling of forest and sea.

"This place is-"

"Breathtaking? I know." Dylan agreed, walking toward the center of the camp. She grinned and waved to a few other people, who eyed me sceptically before continuing what they were doing. Dylan walked right up to a half-man half-horse, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.

"Hey Chiron, this is Massie." She said, motioning to me.

"Ah, Massie Block. I'm Chiron, the centaur, and head council of this camp. Welcome." He bowed.

"Uhm, thanks." I said glancing at him. We was handsome, bright blue eyes and thin lips, his face a little longer than usual and white as snow. His hair was white as well, followed by the rest of his body.

"Here at Camp Olympus, you'll learn to use your powers - hopefully for the good - and become a full goddess, then join your parents in the actual Olympus. Since your a pure breed goddess - all god, no human, and made by two powerful gods - I'll have to see where I should put you. You could go in the Hall of Love or Hall of Beauty, because of Venus, but you could go in the Hall of Logic or Hall of Music because of Apollo. Hmm... I'll figure it out before nightfall. Anyways, dinner will be served at seven o'clock every night, and Dylan will show you around. If I can't place you by nightfall, then we'll put in the Hall of Many." Chiron laughed, then trotted away, tucking his clipboard uner his arm.

" 'Hall of Many'?" I raised an eyebrow at Dylan.

"It's where the people who don't have a place to go because of their parents or newbies go. It's not a bad place to be, 'cause it mean you're probably extra powerful. But we'll find you a spot." Dylan took my arm and pulled me towards a cabin. Hall of Water the sign read, obviously Dylan's home because of her power. She opened the door, and to mysuprise, it wasn't what I had expected.

Instead of a large room with bunk beds - I sadly knew of bunk beds because of summer camps -, it was a long hallways, tons of door's lining it till the end.

"This is what all Hall's look like. Hense, the name." Dylan giggled, walking down the carpeted floor, stopping seven doors in on the left. Dylan; Daughter of Achelous. Power: River Bending and Other. They were obviously careful about markings here. "The left side is always the goddess's side, the right the god's." Dylan touched her hand on a door knob, waiting until she heard a click, then opened the door.

"Wow." I said, stepping in. The room consisted of a king sized bed, a wooden dresser, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom with a shower and bathtub. This room was bigger than my whole apartment.

"Yeah. At first it was the typical cabin; bunk beds, one little clothes compartment and a bathroom everyone had to share. But Zuse decided that we should be given better treatment here, so we got the extentions. So. Much. Better." Dylan laughed, taking off her jeans and t-shirt and replacing it with a white dress.

"So what's your 'Other' power?" I asked her, sitting down at her desk.

"I can breath underwater - duh - and talk to river animals. They just didn't bother to put up the rest of it." She answered.

"Oh. So, what would my power be?"

"Do you know your parents power?"

"No."

"Well Aphortdite - or Venus as the Romans called her - is the goddess of love and beauty. She's beautiful - much like yourself - and can make people fall in and out of love. She had a nasty temper too. Apollo is the god of logic, poetry, wisdom, and also a very good muiscian. Apollo was kind of a muti-god, so he was way powerful. Based on your parents powers, you can probably control love, you're very smart, you're a great musician, and probably a few other things." Dylan said, looking at her reflection as she brushed her hair.

"Okay." I breathed, looking around the sea blue room. "Another question; why is everything in here based on water?" I asked, looking at her blue everything.

"They do that to 'submerge' you in your power. They say that being around your power-realted things helps you understand the power better and helps you control it. That's why I have fish in my bathtub." Dylan laughed, rolling her eyes. I laughed a little too, then heard a deep noise come from outside.

"That's the dinner 'bell'. We'll get there, but first..." Dylan paused, pulling out another white dress, simialr to her's. "You'll need to put this on. We wear white almost all the time around here. Don't aske me why though, 'casue I don't know either." Dylan threw the dress at me.

"Okay?" I said, pulling off my t-shirt and jeans and pulling the dress over my head. It was loose and wavy, but it was soft, like satin.

"Wow, that's perfect on you. You can keep that one." Dylan smiled at me, then walked out of the room, bare foot. I ignored my flip flops and followed her out, up and into the big marble building. The inside was huge, beautiful marble statues lining the walls. They all had their names over them.

"Here's Aphrodite, and here's Apollo. You can talk to them whenever you want." Dylan pointed to two statues. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful, and the man was also handsome. I glanced at the others while I followed Dylan across the flooring, into another large room.

There were at least fifty kids, all dressed in white and standing in line for their food. They murmmered to each other, some laughing, others clearly aruging. Dylan walked up, standing in front of Chiron.

"Ah, spaghetti. You came on a good day Mass." Dylan grinned, holding out a white plate. Chiron grinned, then put some spaghetti on it.

"Thank you Dylan." Chiron motioned for me to put up my hands, as if I were holding a plate. I looked around, then did as he said to. Out of nowhere, a plate appeared, and Chiron filled it with spaghetti. "Now, follow Dylan." He winked, then filled another girls plate behind me. I followed Dylan, holding out my plate for Ceaser salad, fire roasted tomatos, and three chocolate chip cookies. I knew I was gonna like it here.

I followed Dylan to a light pink table, sitting next to a blonde haired girl wearing a white t-shirt and capris.

"Hey Claire," Dylan said, "This is Massie. She's new here."

"Hey Massie. I'm Claire." Claire grinned, sticking out her hand. I shook, watching her blue eyes flicker to a shade of purple when out palms touched.

"Hey. Nice eyes." I laughed, then took a bite of spaghetti.

"Thanks. They let me measure people's power. You have warm palms, so you have a lot of power. Who are your parents?"

"Aphrodite and Apollo."

"Ah, now I know why. My father is Ganymede - or Jupiter, as many like to remember him - and my mother is Io. Not really the best match up, but what can you do?" Claire smiled, her eye's crinkling around the edges. I laughed back, although I had no clue who Jupiter or Io were.

"Ganymede was a shepard until Zeus saw him. Zeus change himself into an eagle and brough Ganymede back to be the cup bearer of the gods, but Zues' daughter Hebe already had that spot. Ganymede and Hebe fought over the spot, but eventually Ganymede won. That is why Claire can read powers; her father had a lot of practice. Now Io was the former love interest of Zeus, but his wife Hera was jealous, and went after Io. Zeus - trying to save Io - changed her into a white cow. Hera had her servant Argus watch over Io, because Argus had one hundred eyes and only a few were closed at a time. Zeus his son Mercury down to sing and tell storys to Argus to make him close all one hundred of them. Eventually Argus did and Io escaped, but she was still in the form of a white cow. Zeus finally agreed not to persue Io anymore and Hera freed Io of the cow form. Io settled in to be the first queen of Egypt." Dylan explained to me while I finished off my salad.

"I see. Thanks." I said to Dylan.

"There goes Dylan, showing off her knowledge." Claire reached behind me to playfully punch Dylan.

"Hey, I just remember all of the stories, thank you very much." Dylan rolled her eyes.

"So Massie, where are you living?" Claire asked.

"I don't know. Chiron said he would find me a spot, but he yet to do so." I said, nibbling on my cookie.

"Oh, okay. Well, I live in the Hall of Many, so you might get put there. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?" Claire winked.

"No, not too bad, I guess." I joked.

"Great. There goes Kristen." Dylan whispered, looking at another blonde. This girl was frightfully skinny and tall, with long limbs and hair like fire.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That's Kristen. She's the daughter of Hades and Persephone. They rule the underworld, so Kristen thinks she's the best. And she's totally evil." Claire murmured to me, watching her walk out of the room. I put down my cookie, my appetite now lost.

"Massie, I've decided that you'll stay in the Hall of Many. You're too powerful to stay in another spot." Chiron said, coming from behind me.

"Okay. Thanks." I said, watching him walk away, tail swishing.

"I told you. Let's go scope it out before the bonfire." Claire elbowed me, leaving her plate on the table.

"Where do we put these?" I asked.

"Just leave them there." Dylan said, putting her arm around my shoulders. We walked out together, up into the log cabin labled Hall of Many. I'd been here for two hours and I was already tired of these stupid titles.

"I'm room number twelve. And you're room... Fourteen! We're neighbors!" Claire clapped her hands. My door was already labled Massie; Daugheter of Aphrodite and Apollo. Power: Love, Beauty, Wisdom, Future Telling, and Other. Claire whistled.

"Nice. You're like the all-in-one." She laughed. I glanced at her door. Claire; Daughter of Ganymede and Io. Power: Shapeshifting, Power Telling, and Other., it read.

"Future Telling? Mass, you never told me!" Dylan said.

"I never even knew!" I said back, laughing a little.

"Oh, right. Duh." Dylan giggled, "So let's go in."

"Uhm, I don't have a key." I told her, holding out my hands.

"You don't need a key silly. Just hold you hand on the door knob for three seonds. It reads your print." Dylan explained. I did as she said, and I heard the click. I opened the door, and gasped.

The one side of the room was lined with books, one single mirror in the middle with cosmetics lining the bottom, their names coming from around the world. There must have been over a thousand books on the shelves, all neatly put together. The bed had a comforter with various hearts on it, which I didn't mind too much. Above my desk was a chart of the stars, and a lined graph, neither of which I understood. I walked slowly into my bathroom, seeing more beauty products around the sink. A small cabnet above the toilet was filled with medication, a first aid kit, and a body chart.

"Oh. My. God. This is... Intesne." Claire said, stepping into my room.

"Wow. I never thought they would ever do this much for someone." Dylan gasped.

"Why is there so much?" I asked, touching the spines on the books, glancing at my empty suitecases sitting next to the dresser.

"I guess because you've got so much power. This is just... Wow." Dylan laughed a little sitting in my red desk chair.

"I know. I thought I had a lot in my room. I like this color of red too." Claire commented, touching the redish-pink color on my wall.

"Me too." I agreed.

"Okay, well let's go. The bonfire won't wait for us. You ready to meet some people Mass?" Dylan asked, hand on my door knob.

"Oh yeah."

Okay, so this wasn't as good as I could have written it, but I wrote it through a writers block, okay? And yes, it's rather confusing, but there Greek/Roman mythology for you. :)

And FYI, this idea came from another story. I searched a long time to find the name of the FanFic that I got the idea from, but I couldn't find it. :( If anyone has an information about that Clique FanFic, please tell me. I'd like to give that author a thank you.

Also, I'm not sure about the title for this story. I gave it that because Massie's Aphrodite's daughter and Aphrodite has a "Sweet face and an innocent grace." So that's why. I will accept an other title ideas!

So please give me thought's. I wanna hear what you have to say about this topic/story :)

xoxo, join. me. in. the. thunder