Chapter 17: Elise

“I’m not sure if this is legal.” Elise said, sounding rude and ungrateful. Which must have been why she had gotten such a cold look from the larger man.
“You don’t have to pick one kid.” Ares said to her curtly, getting a subduing hand out of Aphrodite.
“Hush Ares. Sometimes you can be so-nevermind.” She closed her delicate blue eyes and calmed herself. She had a power of the man, an unseen power that Elise could sense. Call it what you will, womanly wiles, or using her femininity, she had power over Ares and he wasn’t even aware. “You will need a weapon for this quest, Elise.” She said her name and for a moment it sounded sweeter and smoother than the world’s best milk chocolate.
“Before I do this, will you tell me about her?” Elise said, stepping closer to Aphrodite. “Please?” She pleaded, looking up at Aphrodite with doe eyes. Elise desperately wanted to know about her mother, anything she could. She didn’t care if Aphrodite had said, ‘She likes to wash her clothes in cold water.’ It would have been more than enough for Elise.
“Your mother is beautiful and strong. A very good combination.” Aphrodite smile down at Elise and stroked her face with her hand. Her smooth skin graced Elise’s cheek and lingered near her chin. “If you do this, you can meet her yourself.”
Elise knew that Aphrodite was using Elise’s desire to see her mother to get her to do the quest, but she didn’t care. She wanted to meet her mother since the day she asked her grandparents who her mother was. They didn’t answer her, they couldn’t answer her, but now the answers were right before her and she needed to know them. From the history books Elise has read she knew the gods were deceiving and said one thing but meant another. She also knew that the only way to ensure that their end of the bargain would be fulfilled was the River Styx.
“Swear on the River Styx.” Elise said confidently, look Aphrodite in the eye. “Swear that you will take Kirk and I to Olympus to see our mothers.” She demanded, seeing a smirk tugging at Aphrodite’s pink lips.
“I swear on the River Styx.” She raised her right hand and smiled at Elise. “Now please, pick a weapon.” Her hand moved toward the box of weapons held out by Ares.
When Elise stepped back and looked at Kirk he had a look on his face that read, ‘You could’ve gotten us killed’, but Elise ignored it and turned to Ares. “How many do we pick?”
“As much as you think you’ll need.” Ares said with a smirk, holding the box a little lower for Elise to reach easily.
Her eyes traveled across each weapon. They all glimmered and gleamed in the light. Their blades and points were sharp and fresh, as if Ares himself had just sharpened them. Her hand touched a small golden blade.
“I’ll take this one.” She took the blade out of the box and held it up. She watched the metals shine in the light as it turned.
“A knife? Close combat. You seemed the type.” Ares nodded at Elise. “You next kid.” He shot a look at Kirk who flinched subtly.
Kirk walked up to the box and looked it over. His hand reached for a couple weapons but retreated as he questioned himself. Finally he pulled out a bronze cestus and an old fashioned Spartan sword.
“Spartan sword and a cestus? Nice choices.” Ares managed a smile that still seemed to look like a scowl. He closed his box of weapons and made it disappear.

“Pardon me asking but,” Elise started, getting a look from Kirk. “Oh relax, I just have a question about out weapons.” She rolled her eyes at him, then looked at Aphrodite and Ares. “How so we…carry these around? I mean they aren’t that conspicuous.” Elise held up her knife.
“I could hide them in an object if you like.” Ares suggested, stepping forward a bit and holding out his hands. “Got anything in mind?” He asked the two kids.
Kirk looked at Elise, then his weapons, then back to Elise. “I-“ He started, a little nervous as he stepped toward the god of war. “Could you hid them here?” He slipped off his ring and held it up to Ares.
“Clever boy! The sword on one side and the cestus on the other! He must have gotten the brains!” Ares let out a hearty chuckled and took the weapons and ring. Holding them both in his hands he clapped them together. A bright light emitted from the weapons as they shrunk and soon disappeared all together. When Ares opened his hands and all that was left was Kirk’s ring. “Sword on this side.” He showed Kirk the side of his ring with a lightning bolt. “Cestus on the other.” He flipped it to the side with the music note. “Simple, right?” Ares handed Kirk back his ring and held out his hand to Elise.
“Oh, I don’t…” Elise looked down at her knife and back up at Ares.
“Here.” Aphrodite said in a calm voice as she walked over and slipped the necklace off of Elise’s head. “Put it on this charm.” She held the black raven’s feather charm up to Ares, who took it gently from Aphrodite’s slender hands.
Elise walked up to Ares and handed him the knife. He did the same with her charm and knife as he did with Kirk’s ring and weapons. Soon her raven feather charm contained a golden knife. Elise slipped the necklace over her head and looked at her brother who practiced summoning the two different weapons.
“Where do we go first?” Elise asked in a timid voice, her fingers playing with her new charm/weapon.