ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

xv.

Aza felt guilty that she and Annabeth gravitated relatively closely, walking within arms reach of each other, whilst the daughter of Pluto walked quite some feet away. She glanced at them occasionally, as if recognizing their closeness. She almost felt guilty, but years of battle instinct had trained Aza to stay close to the grey-eyed girl; they always had each other's backs.

The three were relatively quiet as they walked to White Point Gardens, which was by the sea so the cool ocean breeze gave them refuge from the humidity of the afternoon, and made Annabeth's curls even more perfect (in Aza's opinion). Annabeth blushed when her friend mentioned it, her cheeks turning the same shade as Aza's eyes when Piper agreed.
Civil War cannons and bronze statues of confederate leaders lined the road. She made a rude gesture towards one of the statues and glanced at Annabeth, wondering if she, too, remembered the statues in the city that had come to life just last summer due to Daedalus' command.
Nothing felt... off. Her senses were tingling, her ears pricked for any monsters trying to creep up on them, but there was barely even anyone in the park. 

She didn't know why - it was beautiful, beside the Charleston Harbor, which glittered magnificently in the sun. Aza had to cover her eyes to even look at it. They wound their way down the path towards the inland side of the gardens, along South Battery Street. It was lined with four-story Colonial mansions, their worn brick walls covered in ivy. The facades had marble columns like Roman temples, their gardens blooming with floral bushes.

"Kind of reminds me of New Rome," Hazel raised an eyebrow, "All the big mansions and the gardens. The columns and arches."

Aza nodded, and they pressed onwards. She thought they all seemed preoccupied, but when she met Hazel's eyes for what felt like the hundredth time since they left, she knew they were thinking about the same thing: Nico. She knew Annabeth had mixed feelings about him, and so did Percy, but he was a good person. He had experienced too much at such a young age - of course, he was sort of lost in the world. But he had good intentions, and Aza refused to let go over her promise to Bianca to care for him; she was responsible for Nico, no matter what he did. And she would always watch over him.

"There." Hazel held out one arm to stop the two girls and she pointed out across the harbor. A hundred yards out, a shimmering white figure floated just above the water. Aza thought, at first, as she brought a hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun, that it was a buoy or some reflection of the light. But it was glowing and was smoothly moving straight towards them. As it got closer, she could make out the figure of a woman.

"The ghost," Annabeth said.

"That's not a ghost," Hazel shook her head, her eyebrows sewing together, "No kind of spirit glows that brightly." Aza figured Hazel would know, since she had died so young and come back from the Underworld. The three approached tentatively, and it only grew brighter.
Finally, the apparition floated up the seawall and stopped in front of them, the glow faded. Aza's cheeks grew hot, the back of her neck burning - the woman was indescribably beautiful. Her features seemed to shift in front of Aza's eyes, each combination even more beautiful than the last. Her eyes sparkled playfully - swirling from emerald to jade to sapphire to amethyst - and her hair changed from long, straight red hair to dark, obsidian curls to a pink, pixie, to chestnut curls. Aza could have sat and watched her shift for hours.

She was dressed like a Southern Belle, just as Jason had said. Her gown had a low-cut pink silk bodice, and a three-tiered hoop skirt with white lace. She wore long, white silk gloves and held a pink-and-white fan to her chest. Aza hoped Piper wouldn't be upset she didn't come along with them.

"Aphrodite," Annabeth said, and Aza gave the goddess a smile, an insincere smile as her eyes bounced around the group.

"Venus?" Hazel's voice rose, same with her eyebrows.