A/N: OH MY GODS! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, I've just been so busy, I've had about a zillion exams, but no excuses, I am a terrible person! Anyway, this chapter is extra long, so I hope that makes up for it, I promise I'll be faster next time!

Chapter 8

"What?" Katie asked, in disbelief. There was an icy feeling in her stomach, a feeling of dread slowly spreading through her bones. If Rita couldn't get the Stolls back to their correct ages then they would have to age naturally and that would take almost 2 years. Katie could not cope with being responsible for them for that long, she wanted her life back.

Rita tugged nervously at the frayed edge of her sleeve and kept her gaze fixed intently on the soft green carpet covering the floor of the Demeter cabin. "I don't know what happened," she began exasperatedly, "the spell was simple enough; it should have been easy!"

Katie stared at her, uncomprehending, "then why can't you do it?"

The daughter of Hecate shifted slightly on her feet and shot an anxious glance over her shoulder, she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think... I think that someone must be blocking the spell."

Katie blinked, "Is that even possible?"

Rita nodded, " Yes, but blocking a spell isn't easy, it must have taken a lot of power and some pretty strong magic."

Katie thought about that for a long moment, she could feel an idea itching at the back of her mind, but whenever she tried to reach for it she felt it evaporate into mist. She tried to think like a child of Athena would, she'd never been great at thinking logically and concentrating, her ADHD took care of that. But then it hit her.

"The kind of power only a God would have," she speculated.

"No," Rita said hurriedly, casting an anxious glance at the sky, "I'm sure that's not it, why would any of the Gods want to do that?" She seemed to take Katie's silence as an accusation because she quickly added, "I'm sure that my mother would never do anything like that, she's not the type to hold grudges!"

Katie's head whirled dizzyingly and she tried to organise her fractured and disjointed thoughts into words. A thousand different questions crowded her brain fighting for importance. "I know, I don't think it was Hecate."

Rita frowned, "Then who?"

Katie shuddered, she had a suspicion, a mortifying thought and all she could do was pray that she was wrong.

Travis POV

"Wake up asshat," A voice whispered urgently in Travis' ear.

He blinked slowly, his thoughts and voice both sluggish with sleep, "what?" He murmured.

"It's me Travis, you need to get up!" Katie's voice, he registered dully. Wait Katie's voice!

"Gods Katie!" He exclaimed, scrambling upright and clutching his sheet to his chest, "do you have any idea what time it is?"

She frowned at him and glanced at her watch, "Travis, it's almost 10:30."

"Exactly!"

Katie sighed theatrically, "Would you just get up, it's important?"

Travis hesitated. He didn't sleep in pyjamas. Katie arched an eyebrow, "what?"

"Um... could you look away for a second?" Katie snorted, but obediently turned her back as he hastily pulled on his jeans and camp-half blood shirt.

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, which had the unfortunate effect of making him look even younger, "So, may I ask what in Zeus' name, is important enough to wake me up at 10:30?"

"We need to go to the Aphrodite cabin," she said distastefully.

Travis groaned, usually he enjoyed going to the Aphrodite cabin, but it was too early for all that giggly flirting crap, "why?"

"Because I said so," Katie replied. She was chewing on her lip so hard she drew blood, but she didn't seem to notice. An uneasy feeling settled in Travis' stomach, something was definitely wrong.

Katie turned toward the door, "are you coming or what?"

He followed her apprehensively across the pavilion. She didn't speak. Travis had always hated silence and he had made it his life's mission to fill it. "So are you going to tell me what's going on or do I have to guess?" She didn't answer.

"You're marrying Chiron?"

Nothing.

"and you've decided to name your half-horse child Travis Jr?"

She shot him a poisonous look, but remained silent.

"Oh wait, don't tell me! One of your daffodils has died?" He asked feigning horror.

They reached the door of the Aphrodite cabin which was painted hot pink and covered in love hearts. Katie thumped her fist on the wood three times, almost as if she was deliberately trying to ruin the decorations.

"I know!" He exclaimed, "You're in love with me!"

At that Katie whirled around, with a murderous look in her eyes, "Do you value your life Stoll?" She hissed. Mission accomplished.

The door swung open and Drew stood there, one hand on her hip. She shot Travis a seductive smile and her eyes swept scornfully over Katie's baggy clothes and scruffy ponytail, he saw Katie's jaw clench and he could tell that she was just itching to grab her dagger.

Drew tapped her long red finger nails against the door frame and batted her eyelashes, "Hey Travis," she purred, "What can I do for you?"

"Um..." Travis drew a blank, he didn't know why they were here and Katie wouldn't tell him. He squinted, the sun was too bright and it was too early, his brain didn't usually start working properly until after lunch.

Katie cut him off, "can you contact your mom?"

Drew laughed, "Oh Katie sweetie, I think it's going to take more than that to sort out your love life."

Katie balled her hands into fists and Travis spotted something green slither up from the cracks in the pavement. If Katie didn't calm down, Drew would find herself wrapped in vines and suspended from a tree any second. "Look, can you contact her or not?" He asked, although he still didn't understand why they needed her. What could Aphrodite have to do with anything?

Drew pursed her bright red lips, "Our mother is an important Goddess and she has a very busy schedule, she only appears to us when she wants to, we can't summon her that's not how it works."

Travis leaned forward slightly and flashed Drew a smile that was about as charming as he could muster at this time in the morning, "Come on Drew, there has to be some way."

Drew gave him a sickly sweet smile in return, "well you could always try sending her an Iris message."

Katie immediately turned away and stalked back across the pavilion, having gotten what she wanted and apparently unable to stand another second around Drew.

"Thanks Drew," Travis called behind him, he saw the Drew smile and mouth 'call me' at him, he gulped in terror and jogged to catch up with Katie. He caught her arm and she turned around. "So are you going to tell me what the Hades is going on?" They were the same height now and in a couple of days he would once again be taller than her, thank the Gods.

Katie glared at the floor and refused to meet his eyes, she looked exhausted, "Rita's having a problem with the spell," she told him darkly.

Travis was quiet for a moment as he let that sink in. No. No way. He was still only about 15, that was two years away from his real age and he was not going to wait for a whole two years! No. Not going to happen. He would do whatever it took.

"She said that someone was blocking the spell," Katie explained, she paused, "I think that it's one of the Gods."

"Who? Why would any of the Gods want to mess with us?"

Katie finally looked at him; she raised her eyebrows and gave him a minute to think about it. And then it clicked. "Aphrodite?" He guessed.

She nodded, "bingo."

Travis still didn't understand, "Why would she want to do that?"

Katie smiled slightly and shook her head ruefully, "you know for an evil mastermind, you can be pretty slow sometimes."

Travis frowned and then suddenly it dawned on him. Aphrodite. Oh. Oh. Travis smiled despite himself; this was going to be interesting. "So she thinks that you and I are..." He trailed off, his grin spreading even wider, which of course made Katie even angrier.

She shot him a murderous look and snapped, "Well I'm glad you find it funny, but if she keeps this up you're the one who's going to be stuck looking like some stupid little kid."

She stormed back towards her cabin and Travis followed still grinning, "Come on Katie-Kat, even the Goddess Aphrodite herself can see that you're in love with me now, you might as well just admit it."

"I'll admit to that, when Tartarus freezes over," she called over her shoulder.

Travis laughed and Katie glared at him, they were standing outside her cabin now, "you know what? I'm done." She spread her arms wide in an exasperated gesture, "This is your mess and you can clean it up yourself, jackass," she slammed the door in his face.

Travis leaned against the door and pressed his face into the wood, "Katie!" He whined. He got no response, not that he had been expecting one. He sighed and reluctantly strolled back to his cabin, he figured that he would give Katie a chance to calm down, since getting punched in the face was not what he had planned for today and he knew that if he pushed it with her that would be exactly what would happen, and, well he kind of liked his face the way it was. He wasn't sure how he felt about Katie's news, sure it sucked that he was going to have to wait even longer to get back to the right age, but it couldn't hurt to have the Goddess of love in his corner when it came to Katie, he had to admit that he wasn't doing so well on his own. He figured he'd talk to Aphrodite alone and try to get her to turn him back to the right age and maybe ask for a little advice while he was there.

He arrived back at his cabin, which was empty, thank the Gods. He walked through the mountain of litter and dirty clothes and disturbingly food, into the bathroom. The tap was rusty and it shrieked as he turned it and hot water began to slowly fill the sink. He paused for a moment and quickly scanned the small cramped room that was the bathroom of the Hermes cabin. Everything, the bath, the toilet, the sink, was completely covered in a thick layer of grime, cupboard doors dangled precariously, their hinges snapped and rusted away, the dull grey paint was peeling from the walls in large chunks and there was still a sticky patch on the floor from Tuesday's mouth wash incident. But the worst part by far, was the smell. Travis wasn't exactly the most hygienic person in the world, but the smell disgusted even him, to compare it to Hades' gym shorts would be an injustice to Hades. Probably not the most appropriate place to speak to a Goddess, but hey, it was her own fault for screwing around with his life. He created his rainbow and flipped in a drachma that he had stole from some dumb Apollo kid, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering, show me Lady Aphrodite."

A/N: Not the best chapter, hopefully the next one will be better. Anyway, thanks for reading and if you want to shout at me for not updating or just tell me what you think, please leave a review!

Remember I love reviews almost as much as Demeter loves cereal!