ROSE

For the first time in a while, I was actually getting a good sleep, until Amethyst dumped a bowl of freezing cold water all over my face, drops leaking into my ears and jolting me awake.

"Dude, why did you splash water on my face?" I asked in annoyance.

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "You've been asleep for thirteen hours! It's literally 12 PM, and we need to decide who is going to go meet Aphrodite in France today."

I covered my head with the covers. "Why don't you and Geneva just go? I'm not in the mood to deal with Aphrodite's antics right now."

"Just get ready Rose, you shouldn't even be sleeping this long anyways. You are the quest leader after all, aren't you?"

Amethyst promptly left the room, and I sighed in frustration.

She did have a point I guess.

I groaned once again as I got out of my bed and got ready for the day. I changed into a plain gray t-shirt and black jeans and put on a pair of white sketchers. I tried styling my hair but quickly gave up after five seconds and just wrapped it into a simple bun.

Once I was fully prepared, I exited my room and headed over to where breakfast was being eaten, with pretty much everyone being there.

"There you are, it took you long enough," Geneva said.

She and the others had already finished their breakfast and looked a little irked.

"Yeah, we've been waiting for an hour or so, Sleepy," Kai said.

Alexander's mouth opened up so large, he looked like he was about to swallow a truck. "Oh! That's where you got the nickname Sleepy from!"

Geneva face-palmed while the rest of us just blinked in silence, Kai patting Alexander on the back. "Yeah, that's right, buddy. Good job."

I walked over to the table and sat down next to Amethyst and Kai.

"So, I guess we now have to decide who's going to France to meet Aphrodite," I said.

"Yes, we do. We don't have a lot of time since we had to wait on you but I think either Rose, Geneva, or Amethyst should go see Aphrodite," Kai said.

Geneva furrowed her eyebrows. "Why specifically us? Is it just because we're girls?"

Kai awkwardly scratched his hair. "Yes and no."

"Aww, are you too scared of developing a crush on Aphrodite?" Geneva mocked.

I scoffed. As if anyone could actually like such an annoying, self-centered goddess.

"Well, I think that Kai actually has a point," Amethyst said. "Aphrodite usually likes to talk to girls about advice, gossip, make up, fashion, and generally just talk to females more as most men that meet her tend to stare at her bug-eyed."

Geneva nodded. "True, I guess. Well, should all three of us go then?"

"I think that you and Rose should go without me," Amethyst said, catching my surprise. "Oman will be teaching me how to fly the ship since he has had barely any sleep and is constantly flying the ship on his own. I wanna help him out, so you two can go meet Aphrodite while we wait for you to talk to her."

"Sounds good," I commented. "But where do we meet her? Paris is a pretty huge city after all."

Alexander rubbed his hand from his chin down to his neck, making the weirdest facial expression as he answered my question. "Well, considering that Aphrodite loves fashion and all, she's probably at some fashion contest or clothing store. Mitchell mentioned at the find-the-mask game that there was some large pageant going on in Paris. Maybe check there."

"Oh yeah! That's what Drew was ranting about to Oliver during my ride the rapids class! That chick is so annoying," Kai said.

"Agreed," Amethyst and I muttered.

Geneva furrowed her brow. "What was the name of the pageant exactly?"

"It's called the NFM, otherwise known as National French Miss," Alexander said. "When I first heard the abbreviation, my head instead went to the Nebraska Furniture Mart. I went to one of their stores once and saw the craziest thing in their Albanian relic section."

"Yeah, you told me about this," Kai said. "Didn't some dude-"

"Nope." Amethyst shook her head profusely. "I heard the tale once, and I don't wish to hear it again. Get suited up guys."

With that, we all exited the breakfast room and prepared as Oman flew us towards France. I grabbed my daggers and packed my bag with medicine, some clothes to help me blend in, a handful or euros just in case, and a couple snacks and drinks so that we wouldn't have to stop by at a restaurant in case we got hungry.

After a half hour of waiting or so, we landed in the city of Paris. Oman parked the ship behind a pretty lush set of trees, so our identity was mostly concealed, a practice that had certainly become the norm when we traveled to such large domains as this.

"So, I guess it's time to go meet the goddess of love," I said to Geneva as we climbed up the stairs to the top deck.

Geneva nodded her head and rather unenthusiastically said, "Yup, that's what we're going to do."

Getting Geneva to actually care about the quest was one thing, but getting her to confide in me what she's been feeling this last month would be even harder. Kai almost dying was a wake up call to me how I hadn't been helping Geneva through her pain, and while I hadn't gotten a chance in Lisbon due to the absurdity of our situation, now was the perfect opportunity.

We waved goodbye to our friends as we walked out of the BBB and headed toward the main part of the city.

As soon as I began looking at my surroundings, I was blown away. The city was filled with beautiful buildings, ranging from historical ones to coffee shops abuzz with business. The streets were crowded with tourists taking pictures and the Eiffel Tower loomed in the distance. There was laughter all around us, as couples kissed in the broad daylight and kids ran around, giggling in delight. It was one beautiful day in Paris.

"Wow, this place is amazing," I said with awe, in love with all of the sights around me.

This quest had been pretty hard, with Arthur's death still fresh in our heads, too many close calls to count, and my mother's impending death weighing on our shoulders, but it was traveling to places like these that made it worth all this pain and effort. Getting to witness such amazing places like this and essentially travel the world is what made the prospect of quests so enticing to campers.

But of course, Geneva just had to be a buzzkill as she shook her head at my statement and said, "Sure, it may look and sound great on paper, but with this many people and a target on our heads, this place could potentially be the end of us."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be such a worrywart, Geneva. We'll just wear our disguises and quickly talk to Aphrodite. Then we'll be out of here and away from any danger we face."

Geneva huffed. "Fine, let's just find this stupid pageant."

As I promised Geneva, I wore a red cap over my head, put on a torn, oversized blue jacket, and fingerless gloves. Geneva didn't really change much in appearance, as being a daughter of Hebe and all, she could willing herself to look different to mortals, but as a safety precaution, she wore a New York Jets hat that Alexander passed on to her after lots of convincing.

We kept looking around the streets, gunning for anything that would reveal the location of the tournament but, no matter where we went, we couldn't find a clue as to where the pageant was or if it was still even going on.

After what felt like hours, we came across a newsstand that was selling magazines, newspapers, lottery tickets, and flyers. The stand was also selling some cold drinks, so we decided to use what little money we had to buy some refreshing, icy water.

"I can't believe we haven't found this dumb pageant yet. If it's so big, then why is it so hard to find?" Geneva complained as we walked up to the vendor running the stand.

I shrugged as I asked the man for two cold waters and gave him the money for it. He grabbed two bottles from the mini fridge in his stand and went over to us, handing us our drinks. Just before we were about to turn around and leave, Geneva grabbed something from the stand and held it in front of my face.

"Look at this," Geneva said.

She passed me a poster and I began reading down the page. While the top part of the poster was in French, the bottom part was in English, which was written in big, bold letters, which really helped me read the paper, having dyslexia and all. The title of the poster was labeled, 'National French Miss' and it stated the location, date, requirements, what it was about, and even more information.

We had finally found information on the pageant and could continue our quest successfully.

"Good catch, Geneva! It says that the pageant is being hosted a couple neighborhoods from here in the Valencia Paris Hotel. It is being hosted over the duration of two days to fit all the age groups, and Aphrodite will be a special guest at the concert."

Geneva half-smiled. "That's good. Now, all we have to do is take a cab and find Aphrodite. Easy peasy."

We put the flyer back on the stand as we rushed to the road and began whistling for a cab. We quickly found one, as not many tourists were looking for taxis, and, plus, we had plenty of experience calling cabs.

Once we entered the vehicle, we told the driver our desired destination and relaxed, tired from all the walking we had done in search of the pageant. Aphrodite had better been worth all this effort.

"What is Aphrodite even doing at this pageant? Is she like a spectator or an advisor?" Geneva asked.

I shrugged. "No idea, but she's going to be there, unless that flyer was just a big lie."

The driver gave a curious look in the mirror but didn't bother saying anything. He most certainly recognized Aphrodite's name though, as she seemed somewhat of a household name around these parts.

About five minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, finally at our destination. We paid the taxi driver a few euros and said our goodbyes. The moment I set my eyes upon the hotel, I was instantly drawn to it.

The hotel was one of the most beautiful sites I had ever laid eyes on, and trust me, throughout my multiple adventures I had seen a lot of amazing places. It was certainly the most beautiful hotel I'd ever seen, though that's obvious when you compare this to any given hotel in New York.

The hotel was as wide as two mansions, and went up as far as I could see. It was made out of futuristic looking, black glass and had a detailed entrance, with a large marble fountain in the middle with expensive cars circling around. Inside, you could see the levels of floors and all the contestants in the pageants running around in their poufy dresses and heavy makeup.

"Dang," I said blankly. "This is one hotel all right."

Geneva nodded. "How are we supposed to get in though?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, we're literally dressed in hoodies and we don't have a lot of money left," she said.

If we walked into the hotel in the attire we were in, the workers might think we were coming in to rob them or raid their hotel.

I frowned. "Good point. But I don't want to waste more time just so we can go buy some fancy looking clothes. We need to get to Aphrodite as soon as possible."

We stood wondering in silence until I thought of something. "Hold on, I got an idea!"

"What?" Geneva asked.

"Why don't I cast a spell to make the host at the front think that we have reservations so we won't have to pay?" I said.

Geneva shrugged. "Good idea, I guess. Not like I had anything better. Let's do it."

We walked up to the entrance, getting strange looks from all the girls around us due to our clothes and a general aura of looking like bank robbers. It's no wonder schools are so against hoodies. I'm not saying I personally like it because hoodies are awesome, but I at least see the reasoning.

When we walked up to the hostess, she was checking a group of girls off on some sort of clipboard in her hands. When she was done checking off the girls, we nervously walked up, hoping that the mind trick would work.

"Hello, welcome to the Valencia Paris Hotel. Do you have reservations for me to look at?" The hostess asked.

I nodded. "Yup, we're under the reservation, uh-- Geneva Rose."

The hostess began looking down the list of reservations, Geneva giving me a dumbfounded look. I was well aware I had stumbled on the name. Usually I would've named it under my name or her's but midway through saying it, I realized that we were fugitives, and that giving away our full names would get us arrested.

However, thinking about that distracted me from conjuring the spell. Whoops.

"I'm sorry, but I do not see a reservation under the name of Geneva Rose."

I swallowed with nervousness. "Um, check again, you probably missed it," I said.

The hostess probably didn't appreciate having to look again, but did so otherwise, heaving a sigh and going down the list again. I closed my eyes and cleared my head, thinking of what I wanted the hostess to see. I thought of the Latin incantation mentis dolum and prayed to Olympus that the spell would work.

"Oh, there it is," the hostess said, pointing to a spot on the list. "Sorry, there's a lot of names on this list and I must've missed yours the first time."

"No worries," Geneva said. "With all these contestants coming in for the competition, it's hard to keep track of who's coming in and out of the hotel."

The hostess nodded. "Yes, it definitely has. Well, I am very sorry for the mishap. Your room number is 624. I hope you enjoy your stay!"

She handed us a little blue card that had the hotel's logo on it, the room number, and the name 'Geneva Rose' on a little blue strip near the top of the card.

We walked into the grand hotel, smirks coming to our faces as our plan had succeeded. When we entered the main lobby, I looked around in awe. The hotel on the inside was definitely more grand than it was on the outside as there were decorations covering the hotel head to toe for the competitions and it had a red and gold color scheme that looked fantastic with the bright lighting.

The lobby was filled with comfortable couches, chairs, and tables with a sparkling gold carpet and a nearby eating area that had a bar and a large array of people ordering food while sitting at small, red clothed tables. There were crowds of people in professional, fancy looking outfits standing around, all talking to each other about the pageant and what was going on.

Besides the waiting area, there was much more to the lobby like a gym, a shopping center that led into a much larger mall, and more entertainment centers with hordes of people waiting around.

"Wow, I can't tell if I should be more shocked by how huge the hotel is or how many people there are," Geneva said while gazing at our surroundings.

I nodded. "Yeah, there's enough people to spread a virus to pandemic sort of levels."

"Imagine that. Could people really be so dumb to spread a virus like that and create a lockdown that eternally depresses the entire globe just because they're hungry to get back into partying and can't just stay home?"

I blinked. "Wow, that was oddly specific, and pessimistic. You really put some thought into that. Well, that probably wouldn't happen anyways. Let's just try to find Aphrodite and get this over as soon as we can."

"We should first head to our room though," I added. "We can go from there."

We shoved past the large crowds and went into a transparent elevator, watching as the people in the lobby became ants and we headed up to our room on the sixth floor. I couldn't read French numerals or anything, but luckily, six was the same in French as it was in English.

"Where did you learn that mind trick thing?" Geneva asked curiously. "That would've come in handy earlier."

"Well, I learnt it from my spellbook, and in most scenarios, there's too many people to mind trick anyways," I explained. "Kind of like your shape-shifting ability. How's that been going by the way?"

Geneva shrugged. "It's been okay, I guess. I've been doing it a lot in my spare time and I've gotten better, but I haven't been able to apply it to anything yet, besides from the Pillars of Hercules."

"Let's hope you don't have to," I said.

The elevator doors opened up and we exited, walking down the gold carpeted hall to our left. We analyzed the numbers of each hotel room, then went down the hall until we finally found room 624. We scanned our card and opened up the door to our room.

Our hotel room was stunning, probably the best hotel room I had ever seen in my entire life.

I realize I'm labeling a lot of things as the 'best' and 'stunning', but I really mean it. Paris is incredible.

There were two large, king-sized beds with red blankets and a soft white blanket folded at the very end. There was a brown desk containing hotel-labeled supplies and a large plasma screen TV standing on a dresser. To the right side of the entrance, there was a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink that had multiple essentials to use like a hair dryer, soap bottles, etc. There was a closet opposite to the bathroom and a countertop as a table to sit and eat at.

We immediately jumped onto the beds and sighed with satisfaction. I loved the feeling of the cold sheets and the air conditioner blowing above me.

"Oh, this feels nice," I said woozily.

Geneva nodded. "Yeah, but as much as I want to relish in these humongous beds, we need to find Aphrodite."

I rolled my eyes. "Man, you really are the buzzkill Kai says you are."

We got off the beds and sat up.

"So, you got any ideas as to how we do this?" I asked.

"Well, we could just head down to the lobby and ask them if we can talk to Aphrodite."

"Good idea," I said.

We exited the room almost immediately after we entered and went back down the elevator. When we arrived down to the first floor, we approached the hostess.

"Hey, do you know where we can find Aphrodite?" I asked. "We need to talk to her."

She nodded. "Yes, but she'll be busy preparing the competition up on the second floor, so you probably won't be able to talk to her unless you're a judge or a contestant."

"Oh," Geneva said. "Thanks for the help."

We turned around and sat down at one of the couches in the lobby.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked.

Geneva sighed. "Well, the only thing that we can do to talk with Aphrodite is sign up for the pageant."