𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢, 𝔏𝔞𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔫 ✒︎ Camren

Part Nine: Path

Path /pɑːθ/
(noun)
- A course of action or way of achieving a specified result.

***

"Aren't you afraid of your mother seeing us together?" My great grandmother looked down at me, a smile playing on her lips.

I shrugged and kicked a pebble mindlessly. I always heard stories about how I shouldn't visit her. I had always asked my mother to see her, to get to know more about my family, but each time I asked, I would get shot down.

I took it upon myself to see who this 'Voldemort' so to speak, was in our family. Every time I or someone would mention her name, the atmosphere would shift and the anger that I could've felt radiating off everyone, made me, for just a split second think about never saying her name again.

"My mother is busy, so I don't think she would miss me," I told Aphrodite who seemed appeased with my answer. Something told me that she didn't actually care if my mother knew where I was. "Can I ask you something?"

We stopped and took a seat on a bench, a short distance from where she lived. I knew I had to be getting back to the park soon, because Jessie and Selena would've been looking for me. And if they lost me, well....my mother wouldn't be too pleased with them.

"Depends on what you want to know."

I looked down at my lap. I swung my legs back and forth, this question had been burning in the back of my mind ever since I found out about her. "How come I don't get to see you? Why don't you ever come to see me? We are family, no?"

Aphrodite stared at me; her great granddaughter, not knowing what to say to her. I was just a child, and children are very inquisitive creatures. She was sure that my mother or maybe her son; Eros would've told me to stay away from her. That she hated the family and that was the reason why she was never around.

There was bad blood between our family, but no one had told me anything, back then at least. They just said to stay away from Aphrodite.

"Yes, Camila, we are family..." Before she could even finish what she was going to say, I decided to interrupt her.

"Then why haven't I ever met you before today?" I stared up at her in confusion. "Do you not like me?" Obviously confused as to why I didn't know her. All my friends, they and their families were close, which always made me wonder about mine.

Why weren't we as close?

I knew we weren't an ordinary family, and I guess that was why we weren't like others, but I deeply wished that we were.

The goddess of love had a soft smile on her face as she looked at me. "I've only just met you, Camila and I can tell that there's some sort of greatness within you," she touched my chest. "That, that will be your greatest weapon...but to some, they might see it as your biggest weakness. Only you can decide what it really is." She caressed my cheek tenderly, and I smiled at the gesture. "You might just be the greatest one of us yet."

I nodded seemingly content with what she was telling me. I didn't truly understand what she meant, but it always stuck with me. I don't think I could've ever forgotten the first time that I met her.

"Will you come to visit me?" I asked her, knowing that our time together was drawing to an end.

She held a hand out towards me, that I took willingly. She didn't say anything to me on our walk back, and I feared that maybe this was the last time that I was going to see her. We had stopped a stone's throw away from my home, I turned to look at my great grandmother, who seemed deep in thought.