Curse of Lust: Epilogue

Forget fighting Kronos, escaping Tartarus, or defeating Gaia. This was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

“Come on,” I said. “You’ve got this. You’ve got it!”

I squeezed Annabeth’s hand, but it kept trying to slip out of my grip, too slick with sweat.

“Gah!” she screamed, her back rising up from the white sheets she was laying on. Her eyes were shut from pain. I flinched with every noise, all while trying to hide it. My thumb slid across her knuckles, stroking them softly.

With one more great scream, louder than the rest, Annabeth’s body abruptly sagged. The sound of crying filled the room. I looked over in time to see Hestia, dressed in a full nurse’s outfit, lift a tiny bundle of flesh, cradling the newborn child in her arms.

“You’ve done it,” she cooed to both Annabeth and the child. “Good work. Rest now.”

I felt the fingers I was holding squeeze mine back. When I looked up, Annabeth was smiling at me. I smiled back.

“I wonder when it was,” she said, her voice much quieter than usual. “Aphrodite’s temple? Or before the curse altogether?”

“I guess we’ll never know,” I admitted.

“I guess we won’t.

We sat in silence, watching Hestia carefully weave the child into blankets— our child.

“Thanks again,” I told the goddess. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

Hestia chuckled. “Neither do I.”

No sooner had she said it than the sound of crying filtered into the room, just after the child in her arms had finally quieted. The crying grew louder, seeming to come from multiple voices. Hestia looked at the wall and shook her head, smiling.

“I suppose thirty minutes without our help was a bit too much,” she said. “Shall we go back?”

I fed Annabeth multiple sips of Nectar from a cup beside the table, and gave her a square of Ambrosia to chew on. She should’ve been totally knocked out, but divine blood helps with the weirdest things. After the healing foods, she was almost back to normal, even able to stand on her own two feet after Hestia helped her clean up.

We followed Hestia down the hall, just to the next room over. The house we were staying in was basically a mansion. Emily called it a gift when she sent the keys to us in a postcard, along with a photo of the South Pacific from the deck of a familiar ship. Her fortune had to be dwindling… but that was what she wanted, and it still came in handy for things like this.

I opened the door for Hestia, who was still holding Annabeth and I’s child, a little girl with the same green eyes as me. Hestia slipped through. Annabeth followed her. I stepped in last, immediately being blasted by the sound of crying.

There were so many voices saying so many different things. Children crawled all over the floor, despite being so young that a regular child would barely be able to roll over by themselves. Some were speeding around on all-fours, a few were sleeping in laps, and one had even managed to bump a table hard enough to make a vase fall and shatter. A short girl scooped up that little boy, making sure he hadn’t been cut and cooing to get him to calm down, although that cooing was done in ancient Greek. The boy relaxed and the crying stopped. She turned around, glaring across the room.

“Valentina, you were supposed to be watching him!” Lou complained.

“I was watching him!” Valentina said. “I saw every step as he crawled over to the table and slammed into it!”

“Then why didn’t you stop him?”

“Well, I just did my nails…”

Sitting on the opposite side of the room, Artemis said, “Do not coddle him. Mistakes must be learned from.”

She promptly jerked forward, Rachel having slapped the back of her head.

“He’s a week old,” said the oracle. “We’re not ready for that kind of parenting yet.”

“Why not?” Artemis grumbled. “When I was a week old—”

“They aren’t gods, niece,” Hestia reminded her gently but firmly. “They can die. As you and Apollo would have, if you got into half the things that you did without being immortal.”

I looked around the room, taking it all in for a moment. Clarisse, Lou Ellen, Valentina, Artemis, Hylla, and Rachel all sat in different places, trying to keep an equal amount of children in check. Annabeth leaned against me. We exchanged a look, and I swore I could hear her wry voice in my head. ‘How did we end up here?’

The simple answer? Aphrodite had always been planning to make my life entertaining, one way or another. Just because the curse broke, didn’t mean it was over. It wasn’t an accident what the curse’s treatment had been, and as soon as the magic broke, all of it went into effect at once, basically guaranteeing everyone afflicted would start developing a tummy bump.

It had been quite the shock, but… well, I thought we’d adjusted pretty well. 

Just as I was stepping forward to help the others, all of us froze. A soft, artificial chime pinged through the room.

“The doorbell?” Lou said. “Were we expecting company?”

“We weren’t,” I said. “But it seems like we have it anyway.”

I left the room, going to see who it was, and Annabeth followed me. Her steps were still a little clumsy, but I matched her stride.

When I opened the door, chilly air rushed in, scouring away any drowsiness I’d been feeling. When I saw a figure standing there in a trench coat, my mind instantly sharpened.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

Aphrodite shifted awkwardly, for once seeming embarrassed to have her beautiful face seen. Slowly, she grabbed the sides of her trench coat, opening it to show us what was beneath.

Annabeth and I stared at the swollen stomach, exactly the kind I’d been seeing a ton of over the last few months.

“It didn’t all end up bad, right?” asked the goddess. “So… room for one more?”

Annabeth and I looked at each other. I let her answer, stepping back. Sighing, Annabeth also moved back, allowing room for Aphrodite to enter.

“Come inside.”

The End.

(Sorry for ending the entire story on a shitty pun)

((I’m not sorry))