Journal of Hadrian James Potter-King of 1991-1992

This is the first Journal that I've ever kept, but I've always liked writing. Children of Aphrodite are naturally good with words, even if they don't have the gift of charmspeak like I do, and I put mine to use. Almost all of my sisters are too obsessed with makeup and clothes to think of using their natural gift to much use besides snatching up the most handsome guy at camp, and my brothers—though I don't have many of those—just want to look cool around all the girls—all my siblings are at least two years older than me; I'm the baby of the family—but they had always been supportive of me. They even read through some of my stories—they were written in Ancient Greek—and correct my grammar, though you couldn't say that the Aphrodite campers were the brightest.

The Athena campers liked to point this out whenever possible, so when they heard me talking to my oldest sister Katherine (who is also cabin councillor and my favorite sibling) about the new short story that I had written—it was about the time my adoptive parents and I were vacationing in France and my mom tricked my dad into eating escargot—they thought it was hilarious. They laughed and mocked me because they don't think us Aphrodite kids have a working brain. They don't think that we can chew gum and walk at the same time. So they got me this Journal as a birthday present and said that it was for the book I was going to write. They said it with smirks on their faces, like they were all in on an inside joke.

They were trying to put me down, basically saying that they didn't believe I could write anything intelligent or of consequence. Before then, writing had only been a hobby—I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up and I didn't care much because I was ten going on eleven—but that day, on my eleventh birthday, in front of mean grey eyes and derisive laughter, I decided that I would write as much as possible and one day have one of my books published. I would show them that Aphrodite kids aren't to be underestimated.

I'd show them.

First by using the Journal they had gotten me out of spite.

Hadrian King