Dating The Son of Zeus

Dating the Son of Zeus *27*

We all watched with anticipation as he began to unscrew the top of the flask. Removing Penelope’s hand from her gaping wound Marlow slowly tilted the flask until a single drop of red liquid fell out. We all watched with baited breath as it seemed to disappear into the red hole in Penelope’s stomach. We waited a moment, watching, praying. I was about to let defeat sink in, to admit that we had run out of options, when it happened. From the middle of her stomach a golden glow began to shine. It burned brightly and grew until not just the wound was glowing but all of Penelope as well. With wide eyes I watched as her wound seemed to stitch itself back together until it was as if it had never been there. Not a scratch remained in its wake. And when it was gone the glow began to fade until it was no longer visible.

Penelope remained silent and unmoving. I couldn’t tell if her pain was gone or not.

“Pen?” Perseus whispered. “Pen can you hear me!?”

Slowly her eyes opened to reveal her bright brown orbs. A smile formed on her face as she looked up into Perseus’ worried and frazzled one. “Yes Perseus I can hear you, and you’re being a bit loud,” she said quietly.

Letting out a relieved chuckle I smiled. I had almost lost one of my best friends tonight. I never thought about them leaving me. We are gods, immortal. Nothing is supposed to be able to hurt us, but tonight as I saw Penelope become fragile and weak, I realized that not even gods are indestructible.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Alright well let’s get going,” Penelope said as she stood up quickly. All of us gave her skeptical looks.

“Pen, you just almost died,” Leonidas said quietly. “Don’t you think you need to take it easy?”

“I’m fine, good as new,” she said patting her newly healed stomach.

“Ok maybe you didn’t hear him. You almost DIED!! As in gone forever, not ever coming back, as in D-E-A-D!” Perseus screamed.

I watched as we all cringed at his loud volume. “Yes thanks Perseus I got it, no need to spell it out,” Penelope said.

“Then you’ll understand why we think it best that you stay here, or better yet go home,” I said.

“Look I’m going and that’s final. I’m the smartest one here, not to mention I’m just as good a fighter as any of you. You all need me. What is your plan anyway? Do you plan to just march right down to the underworld and politely ask for Sophia back?”

“I don’t know about the polite part of it but yes that was my general plan,” I admitted.

“Obviously you need me,” she said with a smirk.

“Penelope I don’t like this,” I said.

“Listen Hercules, I was the one you trusted to stay with Sophia and keep her safe. I didn’t do that, and now because of me she’s gone. Hector could only be doing who knows what to her and it’s my fault. I love her just as much as you do. She is my best friend too, and whether or not I have to fight you guys to get there I’m going after her. Now all this time arguing could be spent getting to her,” Penelope said forcefully.

I hadn’t realized she’d feel that way. Yes I had trusted Penelope to watch after Sophia but in no way did I blame her for what had happened. Besides, Hector had a thunderbolt. The fact that Penelope stayed and fought at all is more than I could have asked of her. So without saying anything I only smiled and nodded my head. Looking around Sophia’s room I thought of her alone and with Hector. Deep down I knew he wouldn’t hurt her. He wanted her for himself, but I didn’t know what he was doing to her and that uncertainty scared me. As I continued to scan the room hoping that Sophia would emerge from the wreckage and say it was all a joke something caught my eye. Moving towards an over turned dresser I bent down and swept away the clutter. There sat a necklace. It was only a small golden pendant with a string through it, but it still had a unique look about it. It was easy to see that Sophia had worn it quite a bit. Picking it up I put it around my neck. I needed something, anything, of hers to feel like she was close, to know that it was going to be alright. I turned to my friends.