Psyche Reborn: Daughter of Aphrodite Part 2
Aphrodite, after birthing her child is reluctant to let the baby go to the father, feeling the tendrils of the curse Eros put on her demigods reaching out to sink its hooks into little Phebe. She'd not paid much attention to it at first, not after the horribly violent deaths of her mortal lovers, not believing that her son could so hate her over that foolish, uppity little trollop who had ensared him that he would curse his younger siblings, who were all innocent in all of this. (she does not realize that it is not just for Psyche that he punishes her children, but for his sweet Hedone, who is growing up motherless).
But over the years, after she'd watched dozens of her sweet little doves wail and curse her name after their lovers that she'd painstakingly guided into their paths Aphrodite had begun to realize that yes, this curse, that made her children lose their lovers as Eros as lost that girl, was a much bigger deal than she'd first thought.
Aphrodite leaves the nursery she'd made sure Johnathan had set up before Phebe's birth, before her infant daughter wakes up. She isn't there to see the curse reach out to Phebe, before curling back, refusing to touch her. Even after all this time, Eros's power will never be used against his wife, and this child, this newborn baby, carries within her the soul of Psyche.
Years pass, and Phebe grows up, beloved by her father and watched from afar by her mother. Aphrodite inserts herself rarely in the lives of her mortal children, but for those whose fathers or mothers were able to handle the truth of the divine world, she will sometimes slip in to steer them into places where her children's gifts from her will be appreciated. When she comes to see Phebe, she is forced to hide the shock and the tendril of outrage at seeing her daughter, all of fourteen years old, who is an exact replica of Psyche, down to her voice and her mannerisms.
At age fourteen, just after having reluctantly won a beauty pageant Aphrodite had pushed her into, Phebe Miller's life is turned upside down after she gets attacked by a group of aria, who were born of the curses uttered by her grieving half-siblings upon Eros for preventing them from finding love because of his grudge upon their shared mother.
She ends up at camp a year or so after Thalia Grace is turned into a pine tree, and is swiftly claimed by Aphrodite. Phebe has had dreams for years, snippets of Psyche's life slipping through the block the Fates had put on her memory. She is wary of her sisters at first, even the ones younger than herself, as something always whispers that they are treacherous, conniving, jealous when she interacts with them. Her brothers she is friendlier with. But eventually, she settles in and the half-remembered warnings die away.
About three years after Phebe enters camp, Percy Jackson stumbles into camp after having fought and killed the Minotaur. Phebe doesn't interact with the boy too much, at first. But after his claiming and Phebe sees how lonely and isolated he is, she takes it upon herself to go and speak with the boy.
Psyche had been so lonely that she was willing to listen to the poison her sisters dripped into her ear...it would not do to let someone who would harm him get their claws into such a sweet child.
And because of this growing friendship, mentorship, Phebe learns that Chiron is going to send three children, children, on a deadly quest with no adult, no certain way to get there--and does he have any clue how gods-be-damned vulnerable three unaccompanied children are (and no, she is not saying Grover is not incapable as a protector, but he looks like a 14 year old he is still going to be clocked as a child by mortal predators, Chiron!).
To make a long rant short, Phebe inserts herself on the quest as an unofficial chaperone.
Not a lot of things happen differently than canon, though Medusa makes some remarks about Phebe's beauty drawing the attention of gods and how it had ruined her, just as it did Medusa...and the chimera is killed by Phebe after Percy falls from the arch.
Ares faintly recognizes Phebe, but it isn't enough for him to break out of Kronos's control, but he isn't cruel to her or the children. The questers don't end up in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, as Phebe is creeped out by absolute strangers trying to entice them inside and they end up getting a taxi and driving to Los Angeles, arriving a couple of days before the Summer Solstice Deadline.
Percy is given four pearls instead of three, as Poseidon, who initially was only going to give three pearls for the three official questers, was warned by a seer that if the teenage girl traveling with them dies the cosmos will be torn asunder. It is still not enough for them all to get out and save Sally Jackson.
The truth come out in the underworld, as Phebe insisted on bringing offerings to Hades when entering his realm. As they walk, the blocks on Phebe's memories, which have never been very stable to begin with, begin breaking and she collapses upon the earth, in a similar way to when the death mist was set upon her.
Hades comes to get them himself just as the cursed shoes Grover is wearing activates and Hades feels it when the Master Bolt is sucked back into its sheeth. He takes them all, terrified, confused, and with Phebe unconscious and seemingly near-death, to his palace.
By the time Phebe wakes up, her past-life memories have been reintegrated seamlessly by Hades with the help of Hypnos.
Barely cognizant, Phebe begs to know what became of her and Eros's child, and is comforted with learning the babe, a girl Eros had named Hedone, is safe, a goddess in her own right upon Mount Olympus.
After learning that Hades does not have the Bolt, and in fact, the thief has also stolen his Helm, Hades permits the demigods to leave, after warning Phebe not to enter his domain again, he does not want her husband to come tearing into the underworld for the millionth time to get her back.
Percy, Annabeth and Grover don't know what is going on, but Phebe tells them not to worry, that she'll take care of it. Unfortunately, she doesn't even have time to start contemplating her new reality as minutes after reaching the shore, she sees Ares, her errant father-in-law, waiting on the beach, ready to kill a 12-year old.
