A Thousand Thrones

Twelve

As it turned out, Damon and Zoe didn't even make it back upstairs for dinner.  I was watching the doors leading back inside as we ate out on the patio, waiting for them to make an appearance. 

Anthea had trotted over and had stayed close as we ate.  Molly, who couldn't seem to get enough of her, kept feeding her little pieces of food off her plate.  Castor had positioned himself in between me and Lee, like he was trying to guard me from him.  It was kind of odd.

After, I headed back up to the room that Molly and I were sharing.  Maybe if I just lounged around on the balcony off the room, I would be able to clear my head and let everything sort itself out. 

I still could get rid of the feeling that Zoe looked familiar, though.  I came up with a pretty good explanation for that, too.  I knew her before, so of course she was familiar.  I'd known her for what?  A couple thousand years?

I still couldn't get used to the fact that I wasn't seventeen like I thought either.  I had the body of a twenty year old, though I was close to three thousand years old.  If that didn't blow someone's mind, I didn't know what could.

I heard someone shift from behind me then as I leaned against the railing of the balcony.  I turned around to see Zoe standing there, looking a little nervous.  It wasn't like before when she'd tackled me in a hug.  She kept her distance, though it looked like she didn't want to do that.

"Hello," she said in that musical voice of hers. 

I smiled hesitantly.  "Hi," I said.  "You and Damon missed dinner.  Did you have anything?  Or do you need to...?"

Zoe laughed softly as she took a couple steps toward me.  "You're just the same, M-"  Her eyes went wide, like she almost said something she shouldn't have.  My curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to know what.  "Um, Persephone," she said, catching herself. 

"You don't have to call me that," I said.  "Just call me Persie like everyone else does."

"Daddy still calls you Persephone," she said, laughing again. 

I rolled my eyes, smiling.  "He says he's going to not matter how much I tell him not to."

We sat on the two lounge chairs on the balcony, facing each other.  She looked like all she wanted to do was ask me tons of questions, but she bit her lip, keeping herself from doing just that.

It was incredible how easily I fell into conversation with Zoe.  I thought it would be awkward, but it wasn't at all.  I could talk to her like I could with Molly.  That's how comfortable I was with her, even after just a little time of knowing her.

She didn't say anything for the longest time, just looked at me.  It wasn't until I could see how glassy her eyes were becoming that I finally said something.

"So, your uncle...Zeus...told you that he found me?" I asked.

She nodded, brushing her hands under her eyes as discreetly as she could.  "I was on Olympus, visiting some friends, when he called me into the council room.  Once he told me, I shadow traveled here and...well, you know the rest," she said, sniffling.  "I just couldn't believe it when I saw you.  I mean, it had been centuries since we'd seen you."

"Damon said the sixteen hundreds?"

She nodded.  "We were living in London and had been for a few years.  That was the year Queen Mary the Second had died, but in December.  It was June and we were at one of the masquerades that was being held at the palace.  One minute you were there and the next you were gone.  We looked everywhere, but you were nowhere to be found.  There was nothing to go on."