Dating The Son of Zeus

Dating the Son of Zeus *3*

A week later and I was standing among my friends, looking at the portal which would send us to Earth. It was an archway, made of white marble. The sun bounced off of it's sleek sides and gave it a beauty all its own. Looking at it, you wouldn't think that there was anything on the other side. It seemed that to step through it and you would have just walked through a pointless arch, but we knew better. My mother walking towards us brought me from my thoughts.

"Now, a quick over view of the rules," she stated in her calm and collected voice. "Powers are not to be used unless in extreme need. You must not draw any attention to yourselves. You need to remember that though we may be Gods, to these people we are nothing more than the tales of myths and legends, long since lost." Her words gave a rather humbling feeling in the pit of my stomach. To know that we were going to a world where were thought of no better than just a normal mortal was, disheartening to say the least. She waited for us to nod before she began speaking again. "Do not become overwhelmed. Things are quite different there, especially in the city that you all have choosen."

After some research, done mostly on Penelope's behalf, we decided to head to one of the biggest cities on Earth, New York City. Penelope assured me that though it may not be a city in Greece, which is where I would have liked to have gone, it was large and I was sure to find someone. I only hoped that she was right.

"Alright, now you had best be off. If you need any help just call for Hermes and he will send word to us," my mother said smiling brightly. She walked towards me then and pulled me into a tight embrace. "Remember," she whispered in my ear, "you only have a short amount of time so use it wisely."

Thinking back to the dead line that was given to me last week made me stiffen. I remembered when I had told my father that Perseus, Leonidas, and Penelope were coming with me.

"This is not some vacation for you," my father said aggravated.

"I understand that father. You know I don't want to go at all," I couldn't help but remind him.

He sighed, reaching a hand up to cup his head. "You must remember why you are going there."

"You have made the point clear, father," I said stiffly.

He caught the tone in my voice. I was normally quite good at hiding it, but lately I was slipping in my resolve. He looked at me, a sharpness to his gaze. His eyes still bright as always, but not in a comforting way. "Then let me make myself even more clear. You have three months to find someone or I will for you."

I stood, mouth open. He was making this hard enough as it was. I was being forced to go to a world I didn't want, to find a woman to be with, that I didn't want. And to top it all off he was giving me an extremely short amount of time to accomplish it. I wanted to yell. To abandon the little control I had left to tell him what I really thought, but I didn't. Instead, using all the power of restraint I had I said, "As you wish father."

"Remember." My mother said again softly.

"I will."

And with that I stepped out of her embrace and followed my friends through the portal to a land who had long since forgotten us.

Stepping through the portal was like stepping through a wall of cool, refreshing water. It seemed that I was weightless. I felt a cool breeze surround me, and I enjoyed it. Inhaling deeply, I caught the scent of peppermint. After a few more steps forward I started to see a light ahead. It was not long that I emerged and was standing on a platform of some kind. Looking to my sides, I saw that I was standing with my friends, but none of us looked the same. Instead of wearing the bright white robes we had back at the palace we were dressed in clothes that matched everyone else. Looking down I saw myself in denim blue jean, and a black sweater. Perseus and Leonidas seemed to be wearing something similar to me. Penelope was wearing a dress of some kind, with a light tan jacket over it. These clothes were so foriegn, but not as much as what I saw when I looked up. In front of me stood a long silver carriage of some kind. There were doors on the side of it that seemed to open and close on their own, and people were walking in and out of it. Without any warning at all, the carriage seemed to take off, down a long, dark tunnel, to a destination that I did not know. Looking up I saw a sign that read 'SUBWAY'. I didn't understand what a subway was but I guessed that this is where we were.

"Come on," Penelope said, grabbing me and Leonidas. She dragged up up a flight of stairs. Emerging at the top of them, we were greeted by a sight that I never could have even dared to dream of. Buildings as tall as mountains reached up towards the heavens. They were so high that you had to look directly up to see the blue of the sky at all. People were everywhere, and a foul oder hung in the air.

"Follow me," Penelope said, walking away. The three of us had to keep up with a light jog, she moved so quickly.

"Where are we going?" Leonidas asked. Getting no reply we just continued to follow. If being friends with Penelope had taught me nothing else it was that she always had a plan. She never did anything with out some sort of reasoning behind it. It was because of this that I was not worried about where she was taking us.

After fighting the crowded streets of people for almost a half hour we came to a tall building. It seemed like it was made entirely of glass. The refelctions of other buildings shone on it, and at the very top was a sign that read, Marlow Law Firm. Why Penelope had led us here I did not know, but I trusted her. Before pushing the doors open Penelope turned towards us. "Just follow my lead ok?" We nodded. I was dying with curiosity. I wanted to know where we were and why.

We approached a lady sitting behind a rather large desk. Her hair was an extreme blonde, almost white. It was long and swished back and forth when she moved. Her skin was a deep bronze color, though you could tell it was not natural. She was flipping through a stack of papers when we approached. Reluctanly she stopped to look at us.

"Can I help you?" she asked in an impaitient voice.

"Yes we are here to see Mr. Marlow please," Penelope said politely.

"Do you have an appointment?" The blonde asked.

"No but-"

"If you don't have an appointment then you don't get to see Mr. Marlow." the woman said hurridely, cutting Penelope off.

"I have a message that Mr. Marlow wishes to hear."

"Sorry no can do," the woman said looking back to her stack of papers.

Me and Leonidas exchanged worried looks. This was the first time we had ever seen Penelope not find a simple solution to a difficult problem. We watched as Penelope leaned over the counter and looked the woman in the eyes. I watched as Penelope's deep chocolate brown eyes began to mist over. An easy smile over took her face. It wasn't long until the same expression was visible on the woman's face. I instantly knew what Penelope was doing. She was using compulsion. She was manipulatiing the woman to do her bidding. I would have been fine with it if my mother had not just warned us about not using our powers. I was about to stop her when Penelope spoke.

"Get a hold of Mr. Marlow, please."

Without looking away from Penelope's face the woman touch a button on a plastic, black box next to her. "Mr. Marlow, you have visitors." Not a minute later, a respone came through the box.

"Do they have an appointment?" asked a gruff voice.

"No."

"Then tell them to go away."

I began to feel worried again, until Penelope leaned over the desk and hit the button the woman had not minutes before. "I bring a message from Athena that I'm sure would be in your best interests to hear."

A moment passed. It seemed that Penelope had risked everything on the respone of this man's reply. What would happen if he did not see us, I didn't know. But I knew that if Penelope wanted to see him so badly, all of us did. After a loaded moment of silence the man's voice came back through, "Come on up."

Penelope led up to a set of sliding doors that opened to a small room. We stepped inside and watched as the doors closed behind us. Penelope hit a button with the number 43 and I could feel the room move upwards. I looked at Penelope and said, "Compulsion does count as a power."

Gulitily she frowned, "I understand that Hercules, but drastic times do call for drastic measures."

"And that was drastic?" asked Perseus.

"Who is this Marlow anyway?" asked Leonidas.

"You will see who he is and why we need him soon enough," Penelope answered just as the doors opened to reveal a small hallway which led to two black doors. Without any comformation I knew Mr. Marlow lay beyond them, and with him, the future of my quest.