The Spartan of Olympus

9

Zoë's head snapped up. "What did you just say?"

"We're going to the Garden of the Hesperides," He repeated, his head still facing wherever he was walking.

Zoë felt the blood rush to face in fury as she recalled her incident with Heracles, but the raging enflamed blood seemed to relax as she remembered Perseus saving her. What she wouldn't give to see him again . . .

"Let me down," Zoë ordered shakily, "I can walk."

Arcus probably rolled his eyes to match the amount of sarcasm in his next words.

"Sure you can. Just like how you could stand up back in the train yard. You know, the one that you collapsed in."

Zoë huffed in annoyance. "I'm fine," she insisted forcefully.

Arcus snorted. "You should see yourself. You're sweating like nuts because of the poison, and your face looks as white as snow. You aren't okay, Zoë. Just relax. I know you hate boys touching you, but I'm going to carry you anyway."

Zoë turned her face towards where they were walking so Arcus wouldn't see the scarlet color on her cheeks. He was being awfully kind . . . for a male.

Zoë clearly saw Bianca and Phoebe in front of them, but didn't see Zane.

Zoë's eyebrows knit together. "Where is the son of Zeus?"
Arcus's grip tightened on her as she asked, indicating that something was clearly wrong. Zoë looked at Bianca, who was now glaring at the ground, seemingly trying to burn holes in it with her eyes. Phoebe continued walking, her facial expression only shifting slightly.

"He . . . he didn't make it," Arcus whispered to her.

Zoë felt a small twinge of sadness for the now deceased son of Zeus. Perhaps she hadn't like him, but that didn't necessarily mean she wanted him to die. The demititan comments hurt her terribly, but she was more loath to strangle the daughter of Athena rather than the son of Zeus. Zoë wasn't unintelligent; it was clear that Annabeth was the mastermind behind all the insults and hurtful actions that the two took up. It was that damned daughter of Athena's fault; she just knew it.

"What happened?" She inquired, eager to find out how the demigod passed on.

"Defective prototype of Talos," Arcus explained, "He sacrificed himself to save the rest of us. He went through a maintenance hatch on the bottom somehow controlled the thing. He ran it into power lines."

Zoë knew the implications behind the last sentence; Zane's death was most likely very painful. Death by electrocution . . . Zoë shuddered at the thought, and tried to push it away, but to no avail. Zoë was actually quite surprised the boy did something so noble. Zoë was getting more and more surprised; she had practically dubbed Arcus the perfect male, and Zane was winning more points. What was the world coming to? Zoë was dying. Zoë found a male she doesn't dislike. Zoë found a male she doesn't entirely dislike. Next thing you know, Hades will freeze over.

The group soon reached the beautiful and elegant garden just as the sun began to set. Zoë stared nostalgically at the place she had met Perseus, which was right outside the garden, just a few feet to her left. There was an empty hole where a pond used to be, making Zoë grin happily, despite her condition of health; Perseus had used that water to throw Heracles into the air all those years ago. There was a small indention in the ground where she remembered Perseus sliding backwards after one of Heracles's hits, but weeds had almost overtaken it.

Four beautiful girls shimmered into existence, almost looking identical to Zoë. In fact, the resemblance caused Bianca to look back and forth between the quartet and Zoë, as if she trying to figure out if she was seeing things.