I am Katniss, Daughter of Apollo (Percy Jackson/Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 22

"Father, I agree with Apollo. I too wish to hear what the girl has to say."

Another goddess stood, this one holding a long silver bow that had been laying across her lap. Artemis. "I do too, father. The girl shows clear skill with a bow, and if you want nothing to do with her afterwards, perhaps she would like to join my hunters..." She looked over her shoulder at Katniss.

A buff god with a buzz cut, dark sunglasses, and a leather jacket stood angrily. "Stop trying to recruit every girl that walks this planet for your little Girl Scouts tribe! If you take all the ones who can actually stand their ground in a fight, who will be left to become soldiers?"

Artemis clenched her fist on her bow. "It's not Girl Scouts, you dimwitted imbecile!"

"ENOUGH!" Zeus bellowed. "If you all quit bickering, you can stay and listen. Just be quiet and sit down."

The gods who had risen all returned to their thrones, Ares muttering something about crazy women.

"Here, let's scale things down a bit for the puny mortals."

At Zeus' words, the room shrank before Katniss' eyes at a speed that made her want to vomit. Now the Olympians were merely the size of very tall humans.

"Now then," Zeus reclined on his throne. "What is it you wish to say? Speak."

Katniss swallowed hard. it's not like she had prepared a speech or anything. She glanced at Percy who gave her a reassuring thumbs up.

"Well, Lord Zeus, I just wanted to come here to tell you that I don't appreciate being dragged around according to your whims like some chess piece. And using your own son to do it, no less, all to punish my father for a mistake he made so long ago? I mean no disrespect, but surely you have made mistakes too?"

The goddess sitting next to Zeus, who must have been Queen Hera, scoffed. "Oh, my husband has, believe me. I could list a dozen by first and last name just off the top of my head."

Zeus groaned. "This isn't about me, dear wife." He turned his attention back to Katniss. "I do not need a demigod telling me how to parent my children, any of them. Whether your father is to be punished has already been decided. The only matter left to be determined is how. As for yourself, are you saying you wish to go back to that wretched place my son plucked you from? Are you not happier here in this reality?"

Percy raised his hand as if he was in a classroom. "Woah woah woah. Time out, what do you mean, 'this reality'?"

Zeus sighed. "Katniss Everdeen is from a different reality than our own."

"What?!" Percy stared at Katniss, but she shook her head. This was not something she was aware of either. A different reality? Wasn't that just science fiction?

"Father," Athena said in a carefully neutral tone. "Do you mean to say you went that far out of your way to punish Apollo? I agree that the sanctions you've imposed on him in the past have seemingly had little to no effect, but alternate realities? That's bold, even for a king of gods such as yourself."

Zeus waved his hand dismissively. "I realize now that it was perhaps not the correct route for punishing Apollo. But the girl hasn't answered my question. Katniss Everdeen, would you really prefer to be there than here?"

Katniss' mind was still reeling from trying to comprehend that she was from an alternate reality. She could barely form a thought, much less a response.

Percy looked at Katniss with concern. "Katniss?"

Katniss avoided Percy's eyes. Anger rushed over her. She had been manipulated by Zeus and now she had pay for his poor choices. She had made all of these friends here. Camp Half Blood had become like a home to her, as it had for Percy. She didn't want to leave it. It wasn't fair. But...at the same time Katniss thought about what Zeus had said about justice, and she couldn't help feeling guilty for being away from her home for as long as she had.