“Oh. ” That kind of bummed Piper out. She’d always liked the stories of Artemis, and figured she would make a cool mom.
“Well, there are the Hunters of Artemis,” Annabeth amended. “They visit sometimes. They’re not the children of Artemis, but they’re her handmaidens—this band of immortal teenage girls who adventure together and hunt monsters and stuff. ”
Piper perked up. “That sounds cool. They get to be immortal?”
“Unless they die in combat, or break their vows. Did I mention they have to swear off boys? No dating—ever. For eternity. ”
“Oh,” Piper said. “Never mind. ”
Annabeth laughed. For a moment she looked almost happy, and Piper thought she’d be a cool friend to hang out with in better times.
Forget it, Piper reminded herself. You’re not going to make any friends here. Not once they find out.
They passed the next cabin, Number Ten, which was decorated like a Barbie house with lace curtains, a pink door, and potted carnations in the windows. They walked by the doorway, and the smell of perfume almost made Piper gag.
“Gah, is that where supermodels go to die?”
Annabeth smirked. “Aphrodite’s cabin. Goddess of love. Drew is the head counselor. ”
“Figures,” Piper grumbled.
“They’re not all bad,” Annabeth said. “The last head counselor we had was great. ”
“What happened to her?”
Annabeth’s expression darkened. “We should keep moving. ”
They looked at the other cabins, but Piper just got more depressed. She wondered if she could be the daughter of Demeter, the farming goddess. Then again, Piper killed every plant she ever touched. Athena was cool. Or maybe Hecate, the magic goddess. But it didn’t really matter. Even here, where everyone was supposed to find a lost parent, she knew she would still end up the unwanted kid. She was not looking forward to the campfire tonight.
“We started with the twelve Olympian gods,” Annabeth explained. “Male gods on the left, female on the right. Then last year, we added a whole bunch of new cabins for the other gods who didn’t have thrones on Olympus—Hecate, Hades, Iris—”
“What are the two big ones on the end?” Piper asked.
Annabeth frowned. “Zeus and Hera. King and queen of the gods. ”
Piper headed that way, and Annabeth followed, though she didn’t act very excited. The Zeus cabin reminded Piper of a bank. It was white marble with big columns out front and polished bronze doors emblazoned with lightning bolts.
Hera’s cabin was smaller but done in the same style, except the doors were carved with peacock feather designs, shimmering in different colors.
Unlike the other cabins, which were all noisy and open and full of activity, the Zeus and Hera cabins looked closed and silent.
“Are they empty?” Piper asked.
Annabeth nodded. “Zeus went a long time without having any children. Well, mostly. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, the eldest brothers among the gods—they’re called the Big Three. Their kids are really powerful, really dangerous. For the last seventy years or so, they tried to avoid having demigod children. ”
“Tried to avoid it?”
“Sometimes they … um, cheated. I’ve got a friend, Thalia Grace, who’s the daughter of Zeus. But she gave up camp life and became a Hunter of Artemis. My boyfriend, Percy, he’s a son of Poseidon. And there’s a kid who shows up sometimes, Nico—son of Hades. Except for them, there are no demigod children of the Big Three gods. At least, not that we know of. ”
“And Hera?” Piper looked at the peacock-decorated doors. The cabin bothered her, though she wasn’t sure why.
“Goddess of marriage. ” Annabeth’s tone was carefully controlled, like she was trying to avoid cursing. “She doesn’t have kids with anyone but Zeus. So, yeah, no demigods. The cabin’s just honorary. ”
“You don’t like her,” Piper noticed.
“We have a long history,” Annabeth admitted. “I thought we’d made peace, but when Percy disappeared … I got this weird dream vision from her. ”
“Telling you to come get us,” Piper said. “But you thought Percy would be there. ”
“It’s probably better I don’t talk about it,” Annabeth said. “I’ve got nothing good to say about Hera right now. ”
Piper looked down the base of the doors. “So who goes in here?”
“No one. The cabin is just honorary, like I said. No one goes in. ”
“Someone does. ” Piper pointed at a footprint on the dusty threshold. On instinct, she pushed the doors and they swung open easily.
Annabeth stepped back. “Um, Piper, I don’t think we should—”
“We’re supposed to do dangerous stuff, right?” And Piper walked inside.
Hera’s cabin was not someplace Piper would want to live. It was as cold as a freezer, with a circle of white columns around a central statue of the goddess, ten feet tall, seated on a throne in flowing golden robes. Piper had always thought of Greek statues as white with blank eyes, but this one was brightly painted so it looked almost human—except huge. Hera’s piercing eyes seemed to follow Piper.
At the goddess’s feet, a fire burned in a bronze brazier. Piper wondered who tended it if the cabin was always empty. A stone hawk sat on Hera’s shoulder, and in her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower. The goddess’s hair was done in black plaits. Her face smiled, but the eyes were cold and calculating, as if she were saying: Mother knows best. Now don’t cross me or I will have to step on you.
There was nothing else in the cabin—no beds, no furniture, no bathroom, no windows, nothing that anyone could actually use to live. For a goddess of home and marriage, Hera’s place reminded Piper of a tomb.