The Missing Gods

Chapter 15 - Surprise Visit From A Surprise Guest

After getting some much needed rest, Annabeth woke up and told me to go to sleep, which I happily did, until yet another dream decided to ruin my beauty sleep.

"Perseus Jackson," the booming voice said. "I look forward to meeting you in battle." His enormous eyes glowed as bright as two suns as he swept his giant cloak over the Earth, covering my home, covering New York, North America, the entire world in inky pitch black darkness, swirling around and drowning everything I loved. His laugh sounded like mountains crashing together— shaking me to my core, until Annabeth shook me awake worriedly, staring at me as I fought to catch my breath and relax my heartbeat.

"Bad dream," I said, trying not to think about what I just saw.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at me and then exhaled slowly, sitting back and staring at the mist around us. I could sense the gears in her brain turning, and just decided to get everything out in the open.

"So this is Heaven?" I asked, slightly disappointed in the lack of Heavenly decorations and fanfare.

"No, not quite," Annabeth replied. "I think we're in the layer below Heaven. Like the atmosphere."

I thought about this for a second and it made sense. The mist, the heaviness we'd been feeling. A question hit me in the head like a sack of bricks. "If this is almost Heaven, then why couldn't Hera come up here herself? I thought Heaven was her domain."

"I don't think she could, Percy," Annabeth said. "I think she's either scared, or being blocked out somehow. The Astrothesiae and Zodiakos have found their way down from the stars and are closer to Earth, which means something is seriously wrong." She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself and looking at the ground as she puzzled over what was going on.

"What are Astrothesiae again?" I said, not remembering the word, which meant I probably dozed through that particular lesson from Chiron.

Annabeth rolled her eyes playfully as she explained, "Astrothesiae are the spirits or living forms of the heavenly constellations. They were mostly heroes and creatures who were placed amongst the stars by the gods as rewards for their service or as a memorial of their crime."

"Like Zoë," I whispered, a lump forming in my throat.

"Like Zoë," Annabeth repeated softly, putting her arms around me. We sat like that for a while, listening to each other breathing and watching the mist maddeningly swirl around us.

"So the Zodiakos are what mortals think of as the zodiac signs?" I asked Annabeth, trying to distract her from thinking about Zoë. I shook my own head, as if the sadness that hurt my heart and rattled around my brain could come tumbling out of my ears.

"Yes, they're usually monsters though. We've encountered some on Earth even. Do you remember the Nemean Lion?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh yeah! So I'm guessing that's Leo?" I replied, wiggling my eyebrows. My sign happened to be Leo, which Annabeth definitely remembered, because she just groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Well since there's no sign for oblivious hard-headed dorks, I guess they had to make do with Leo," Annabeth laughed quietly, avoiding my outstretched arms trying to tickle her sides. I fell over and she crawled next to me, still giving me a breathy giggle at the exaggerated hurt look on my face.

We laid there for a while, side by side in thoughtful silence, until Annabeth had the nerve to poke and prod me into getting up and walking again. I was groaning internally at the thought of hiking through the blinding mist for another frustrating day when Annabeth quickly grabbed hold of my hand, banishing all other thoughts in my head. I realized she hadn't grabbed my hand in a sweepingly romantic gesture when I looked at her jaw-dropped face and then quickly searched for the source of her awe.

Now I'm not usually the jealous type, but my brain was screaming at me that whatever had Annabeth looking like that was definitely nothing in my league, which was confirmed when I stared at the angel that had appeared before us, standing on a set of brilliantly white marble steps.

"Are we—did we—did we die?" I stuttered, my jaw on the floor as I tried to comprehend the beauty of the guy in front of me. Wait a second—beauty? Normally I wouldn't call a guy beautiful per se, maybe Jason was a looker, but I'd never admit that, much less call him beautiful, but this guy—this angel—he was more than beautiful. He made my head dizzy and my eyes goggle, which made me even more grateful that my friends weren't here to laugh at me and that Annabeth was just as transfixed as I was.

"Rest assured, you have not died, Perseus Jackson. This is not quite Heaven," the guy said, cutting through the idiotic spew running through my brain and making me even more entranced by his voice.

Annabeth gave a soft sigh next to me, and I snuck a quick peak to see that her eyes had glazed over and she was smiling softly, a smile I had seen before.

I didn't realize it until she jumped guiltily, but I had cleared my throat. The angel in front of us looked at me with a soft smirk, as if he was used to this kind of attention. I felt my face turning red and tried not to look into his eyes, which were a beautiful creamy latte color, though I would never say that out loud. I wondered if he would speak again when I realized neither I nor Annabeth had said anything in the last few minutes.

"So who are you then?" I asked, knowing full well he could be a gorgeous monster leading us into a trap. Annabeth stirred restlessly beside me as the guy looked us both up and down, giving me chills.

"I am Ganymede," Ganymede responded, his voice echoing regally off the marble steps, "and I have something for you."