Twelve
It was utterly quiet as all of us sat in the living room. None of us moved, none of us said a word. Well, Damon was pacing in front of the couches where the rest of us sat, muttering to himself. He was dressed in his t-shirt and jeans again and not his armor. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he paced, looking down at the floor.
"I told him that I would tell her myself," Damon muttered. "He's always been an arrogant bastard. Of course, he wouldn't wait. He would want to tell her himself."
I looked over at Hector for clarification. "I'm guessing he's talking about Zeus?"
He nodded, rolling his eyes.
"But what's so wrong with his daughter knowing about Persie?" Molly asked from his other side. "I mean, she was going to find out either way, right?"
"It's more how she found out."
I stood up and walked toward one of the windows to gaze out. Anthea was flying around. She looked happy. I could tell even though she was a good five hundred feet in the air.
"When we go to Olympus, I going to give him a piece of my mind," Damon said just as I turned back around. "If he told Zoe anything else..."
"Daddy!" a voice yelled as we heard the front doors open. "You need to explain something to me about what Zeus..."
Just then the girl from the picture appeared in the archway that led into living room. She was even more gorgeous than she was in the picture, even in her white, one-shoulder dress. And she was somehow more familiar when I saw her in person...
Her eyes went straight to me once she stopped, her jaw dropping. Tears welled up in her eyes as she did and then she was rushing toward me. Before I could even speak, she had her arms around me in a tight hug, crying as she did.
"Oh, my gods, it's you!" she cried. "M-"
Damon was there then, pulling her off of me. "Zoe, darling, I need to speak with you for a moment."
"But it's her!" she said, tears streaming down her face. "Why can't I...?"
"Zoe," he said in a stern voice.
She looked back at me and nodded. "Alright," she said.
Damon threaded her arm through his as they headed for the door going down to his office in the basement. Before they rounded the corner, they both looked at me. And then they were gone.
"Well," Molly said after a long moment of silence. "Is it just me or does she look like...?"
"How about we make something for dinner for all of us while we wait on the two of them," Hector said, standing up. "We'll probably be able to make a gourmet meal by the time they are."
Molly stood up and walked toward me as Hector, Ari, and Lee went to the kitchen. Lee was looking at me the exact same way Molly was. It was like they were trying to piece something together in their heads.
"I can't help but think that Damon's daughter looks familiar somehow," she said once it was just the two of us. "Are you thinking the same thing?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I don't know where I've seen her before, other than the picture that Damon showed me."
"It's almost like she's..." She trailed off, just staring at me. She shook her head. "No, that couldn't be it."
"What?"
"Nothing," she said. "I'm just letting my imagination run away with me, that's all. It's impossible, really."
I laughed, raising my eyebrows. "After everything that I've found out today, I'm sure whatever it is, it's probably true."
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."
She held her hand toward me then, showing me a beautiful ring on her finger. It was gold, but the band looked like it was made from vines and leaves that curled up, holding a light purple gem in the center.
"It's amethyst," she said, smiling down at it. "It actually helps with my healing abilities, making me stronger. You gave it to that night before we went to the masquerade. And after, I never took it off. It was like you were still with me."
I swallowed hard, my mind spinning with everything that she was saying. I really wished I could remember everything. Maybe...
"I really wish Daddy would have told me when he found you a few weeks ago. I could have done something to help."
I shook my head. "Unless you can bring someone back from the dead, then I really don't think so."
Her eyes went wide as she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "What?" she asked. "Zeus didn't tell me that! Who was it? Is he dead?"
I shook my head and tucked my hair behind my ear. "No, he's alive. He wouldn't be here now if not."
"You mean..." She trailed off, looking confused. "That handsome demigod downstairs?"
"Yes, him," I said, laughing. She smiled back, looking breathtakingly beautiful. "His name is Lee and he's my best friend. Well, one of them, at least. Molly is my other. I have a feeling that you two will get along. Molly, that is."
She nodded, but her mind seemed to be somewhere else. "Hold on, so you kissed him?"
"Yes, I did. And then he was dead. If Damon, Ari, and Hector hadn't shone up, he still would be. That would be two deaths on my hands then."
"You mean you killed someone?" she gasped. "Why?"
I shook my head fast. "No, no. It was a few months after I went to live with my foster parents. I was at this party with Molly and Lee and they were playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. I got picked to go in the room with a senior guy named Jason. We kissed and the next thing I knew he was dead."
"So that was the newspaper article that Daddy had on his desk?"
I shrugged. "Probably. I didn't see anything."
She sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "No wonder he didn't look very happy whenever he glanced at it," she said. "But I know he's immensely happy to have you back. He's been completely dreadful these past centuries."
I shifted in the lounge chair, bringing my knees up to my chest so I could rest my chin on them. "So...what exactly happened between me and your father?" I asked, grimacing at the word 'father.' "That's just so weird to think that Damon's actually your dad. I mean, he looks like he could be your older brother."
Zoe laughed. It was probably one of the most beautiful laughs I'd ever heard. Then again, everything about her was beautiful. "That's what we pretend to be whenever we live somewhere for a few years. But right now we're not really living together. I'm staying with Persephone actually, right in the middle of Los Angeles. Daddy hates it that she lives there most of the time, though. He doesn't like it one bit since I'm there now."
"Persephone, as in the other one?"
"The one who gets mixed up with you? Yes, her. The two of you were good friends ever since you met. She and Daddy keep in touch, more so now since I'm staying with her. You'll get to meet her sometime soon. I know Daddy was saying that we'll have to go to the club in the city..."
"The club?"
She nodded. "Daddy actually owns it. Charon runs it, though, seeing as it's the main entrance to the Underworld. You know, the ferryman? Daddy finds it ironic with the name and everything," she said, and laughed.
"That's one of the many businesses they run, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. There are plenty more, that's for sure. And all over the world, too."
This club...I wondered just what it was like, seeing as it was the main entrance to the Underworld. It must have been very...interesting.
"But to answer your first question," Zoe said. She had a happy smile on her face. "You and Daddy were...together. He was always so happy to have you beside him. But then when we'd lose you...he would get the way that had people scared of him even more so. You wouldn't want to mess with him at all."
"And your mother? What about her?"
Zoe just stared at me. Her eyes started to get glassy again. I really shouldn't have probably brought it up.
"I'm sorry," I said, reaching out to take hold of her hand. "I shouldn't have said anything since it's obviously upsetting you."
She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I miss her, that's for sure. But I feel like she's right with me, holding my hand. And after all this time, I know she's there," she said. "I have you. Even if you can't remember anything right now, I know you will soon. Daddy's already called Mnemosyne. She's the Titan of memory and remembrance. She's always been the one that helped you get your memory back, though we can never get the one memory of who takes you."
"So I'll be able to remember everything?" Everything. I would know just who I was in this strange world that I thought was just a myth until now.
She nodded. "Yes, but it's going to be a few weeks. She's in Greece right now and won't be back for a few weeks, so we'll just have to tell you some of what's gone on until then."
We were quiet then, so I leaned back and stretched out on the lounge chair. The sun was just beginning to set and I couldn't help but think that everything that happened today...well, that was it. It happened in one day. My life had completely changed.
Someone knocked on the glass of the door then and both Zoe and I turned our heads to look up at Damon. He was standing there with a slight smile on his face as he looked at us.
"Are you girls alright?" he asked.
Zoe smiled and jumped up, rushing up to give him a hug. "Yes, Daddy, we're perfect," she said.
He smiled even wider at her and kissed the side of her head. "Good," he said, and then looked at me. He didn't say anything, though, not that he really needed to.
"About going home...?" I started, standing up and walking toward them.
Zoe gasped and spun around to face me. "You're not leaving now, are you? I just got you back!"
Her eyes started misting over again. Goodness, did this girl cry over everything? Well, it was probably an emotional time for her right now.
"It's not that I want to. I mean, how can I live my life, go to school, and live with my foster parents like normal? I mean, I'm most definitely not normal."
Damon shook his head. "No, I was going to talk to you about that anyway. I was thinking that you and your friends should go back tomorrow since its a Sunday. It's better to keep you in that environment for now. We'll be close, though, just in case."
"So you won't leave for five weeks before I see you again?" I asked, smiling slightly. I couldn't help it when excitement rushed through my veins at the thought of seeing him more than I had in these last weeks.
Damon smiled at me. "No, definitely not."
I couldn't help but smile back. And even though I could only see Zoe out of the corner of my eye, I could still see her beaming, looking between the two of us like...well, like she had her family back.
And seeing as I'd been with her for so long, that's kind how it was.
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