Percy Jackson and The Sands Of Time

| Chapter 11 | To The Hunters |

He pulled away, his face flashing with such malice that Zoe took a step back. "Thou shalt not be going. Thou shalt stay here to rot, where thy kind belongs! Thou art not any further use to me."

"Please! Thou mustn't leave without me! Thou promised to take me to see the world - away from this wretched place! Thy promises cannot lie!"

"Thine pour naive soul!" he burst out with dark laughter. "I never intended to take you away, pretty one. Thou were a means to an end, nothing more than a pawn in my game."

"But... my family! They will know of my deceit! What shall I do then? They shall disown me!"

"That is none of my concern, pretty one."

Zoe got angry then. Angier than I'd ever seen her before. It was like her heart had been ripped from her chest - metaphorically, it had already - and her reservations had flown out the window. She looked ready to kill. "Thou lied to me! Thou promised to take me away, filling my head with grandeur! I know what thou art, now! Thou art a wretched, foul-hearted swine! Thou art dishonoured by thy filth and hatred!"

One moment, she was leaning close to his face, yelling so loudly that spittle flew onto his cheeks, but then, she was on the ground, several feet away. I'd almost missed the sound of his face connecting with her cheek - it had all happened so fast. It wasn't like in the movies where everything slowed down. Instead, I saw everything sped up like someone had been fast forwarding, and just kept going, leaving me to fumble for a remote I'd never be able to reach.

I was just about ready to burst from my hiding place when Hercules turned away from the girl on the ground, who was clutching the quickly-purpling mark on the right side of her face. He took one last look at her, twirled the sword imbued with her power - Anaklusmos, which he had no right to wield - and left.

I was astonished. Truly. Not by Hercules display of blatant disrespect, nor his cruel demeanour and disregard for her feelings. No. That would never surprise me. It was his use of violence and the situation in which Soe had gotten herself into. How could he have just... used her like that? When I was younger - far younger - I'd always looked up to him as a hero. It was only after I'd met Zoe that I'd looked closer to the myths circling around him. I'd read about his triumphs, always exaggerated, and his failures - few and far between as they were. This moment, not even recorded in the records, was truly one of the darkest of his, that I knew for sure.

No wonder Zoe had nursed her hatred for men for over two millennia. Hercules was the worst, most vile human being I'd ever seen since my garbage step-father, Gabe Ugliano.

Hercules disappeared over the hill on his way down the mountain without a care in the world. He'd completed his task; that was all he cared about. Only the mild setback of not being allowed to retain his grasp over the golden apples had discouraged him, and I didn't doubt that he'd already wiped his encounter with Zoe from his mind. Surely, when he told the story, he'd leave her own of the story completely, and boast about how he'd tricked the mighty Atlas to retrieve the apples for him. He'd regale his worshipping fans with the tale of his effortless escape and perfect plan.

Zoe just stared after his retreating figure until long after he vanished. It was like she could still see him, his image burned into her memory, and if she stared long enough, the real man would be burned, too. If only that was how hatred worked. Alas, even the purest, most brutal form of hatred did not destroy one's enemies without due action. And Zoe could not do such a thing, for she was a Hesperide, and Hesperides could not leave the confines of the garden - not without an escort - so Hercules was now beyond her reach. Now and forevermore.

I, once again, was ready to step in to comfort her, but it seemed that the universe - or perhaps just the Fates - were against me, as her sisters suddenly appeared, glaring down at her.