Child of Zeus {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

TWENTY-TWO: I Make The News...Again

Hades wasn't as happy as I thought he'd be, and I was more hungry than I thought I was. It was almost a lose-lose when he said we'd talk again in the morning. I assumed it would be about the transportation, but it didn't make trying to sleep any better.

The three of us were separately escorted by dead Soviet soldiers to three side-by-side rooms.

"Remember the rations we've got?" Diana had asked before we disappeared into our rooms. "Eat up. But only the stuff in your packs - don't be tempted by whatever could be in our rooms or we'll never leave here."

And then I was alone.

The small room should have scared me - I should have had another stupid attack because of my stupid phobia. But my mind was on two things and two things only; food, and sleeping on the small comfy-looking bed that was the only piece of furniture in the dark room.

~

I saw my dad for the first time when I dreamed that night.

Zeus was very tall, very muscular, and very scary. He had shoulder-length black hair and a neat beard, electrifying blue eyes, and a serious and handsome face. Though I'd expect a god to be wearing a chiton or some other Greek-looking thing, he was dressed in a dark blue pinstripe suit. The smell of clean wind, rain, and ozone wafted off of him, and it was strangely comforting. His voice was the same as it ever was, though the anger behind it was long gone.

"You are doing well on your quest. It was smart how you--"

"Where were you?" I asked softly. He raised his bushy eyebrows in alarm at the question I hadn't realized I wanted to know the answer to.

We were in a garden of some sort - filled with strange and magnificent flowers I'd never seen before. I brought a metallic one into my fingers, but didn't waver my gaze from his eyes.

"For the thirteen years of my life, where were you? Knocking other women up and forgetting about me? And when you finally have the chance to claim me - you don't because you feel I need to prove myself?"

He inhaled deeply. The sun seemed to dim above us.

"Gods cannot interact with their children for certain reasons, as Chiron should have explained to you. But I believe I have every right to get you to prove yourself in order to be claimed as my daughter, whether I was there or not--"

"No." I decided. "You don't have that right. In fact, I think it best if you prove yourself to me. Make up for the whole 'hey, I'm your Dad, but you aren't worthy' thing. You aren't Thor, you can't tell me I'm not worthy!"

"Thor?" Zeus looked disgusted. "You bring him up? Why--" he must've seen my expression because he caught himself.

"I did not contact you so you could argue with me. I contacted you to tell you that I am proud of you in this moment. Do not fail me, or not being claimed won't be the worst thing that can happen to you."

And with that, he vanished and I had a nightmarish dream of being turned into a tree.

~

When I woke up, I somehow knew that it was morning. Of course, the only light source came from the fire in braisers around the temple, but they'd turned brighter since I went to sleep.

Eating my last granola bar (having finished everything else the night before), I strapped my dagger to my waist, fixed my hair, and grabbed my bag.

Outside my room, the same Soviet skeletons led Diana, Johnny and I back to Hades's throneroom, where the god of death himself held a poker face.

"The transportation," Diana said as soon as our ushers departed. "Is it ready?"