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The sun was sinking behind the mountains when we found the water park. According to the poster outside the entrance, it had once been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters had disappeared, and it just said WAT R A D. The main entrance was barricaded and reinforced with barbed wire. Inside there were tall, dry slides everywhere and pipes and tunnels leading into empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements flew around on the asphalt. Now, as darkness fell, everything here looked sad and spooky.
"If Ares is meeting his girlfriend here," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire, "then I'd rather not know what she looks like." And another dollar. "Percy," I admonished. "Don't be so disrespectful." "Why? I thought you hated Ares." "He's still a god. And his girlfriend has a lot of temper." "So don't say anything offensive about her appearance," Grover added. "But who is she now? Echidna?" "No, Aphrodite," Grover said. "The Goddess of Love." "Isn't she married to someone?" asked Percy. "With Hephaestus?" "Yes, and?" asked Grover. "Oh." Suddenly I wanted to change the subject. I think I'm one of the few demigods who feels sorry for Hephaestus. I mean first being rejected by your own mother, then later being forced by her to get married, only to be cheated on.
"So, how do we get in?" "Maia!" Wings grew on Grover's shoes. He flew over the fence, did an unplanned somersault in the air, and then stumbled to a stop on the other side. He brushed the dust off his jeans and pretended it was all planned. "Are you coming?" The rest of us had to climb the old-fashioned way. When we got to the top, we held the barbed wire apart for each other.
The shadows grew long as we wandered through the park, checking out the attractions. No monster attacked us. We didn't hear the slightest noise. We came across a gift shop that was open. There were still bits and bobs on the shelves: snow globes, ballpoint pens, postcards and lots of... "Clothes," Annabeth said. "Clean clothes." "Yes," said Percy. "But we can't just." "Oh no?" Annie and I grabbed an armful of things and disappeared into the changing rooms. A few minutes later she appeared wearing Waterland floral shorts, a loose red Waterland t-shirt and Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack hung over her shoulder, and she had obviously stuffed it with other valuables. I had the non-floral Waterland shorts and a blue Waterland t-shirt (matching my shoes), but kept my navy blue Converse on.
"What the heck?" Grover said, shrugging his shoulders. Soon all four of us looked like walking billboards for the defunct amusement park. We were looking for the love tunnel. I felt like the whole park was holding its breath. "Ares and Aphrodite," said Percy, "so they have something together?" "That's ancient gossip, Percy," Annabeth said. "Three thousand-year-old gossip." "And what about Aphrodite's husband?! "Well," she said, "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled as a baby when Hera threw him from Olympus. So he's not exactly good-looking. Very skilled, sure, but Aphrodite isn't one for brains and skill, you know" "She likes motorcyclists." "Seems so." "Does Hephaestus know?" "Sure thing," said Annabeth. "He caught them together once. I mean, he caught them, in a golden net, and then he invited all the other gods to look at them and laugh at them. Hephaestus always tries to make fun of them. That's why they meet in remote places like..." She fell silent and stared ahead. "Just like here."
