I 015. I
𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔
❝ ladon ❞
SHE FELT COLD. It wasn't because of the weather, despite the fact that her sweatshirt was still wet from the fountain and the cool air was sleeping through her clothes. Something was causing her brain to keep her senses dialed to an eleven, and it wasn't because of the manticore, but of something else. Something deadlier.
Her feet crunched against the gravel by the waterfront. She wished she had something other than converse, like tennis shoes or combat boots. But then again, she wasn't anticipating a quest until Percy dragged her along, and she would've killed him if he had left without her, anyways.
The girl grew sad because Bianca popped into her mind. The younger girl who only wanted to be free and take care of her brother, their savior from being squashed by a giant robot. It should've been her, but Bianca has sacrificed herself, and maybe if the brunette was faster, Nico would have his sister again.
"We will never make it," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."
"Mooo," Bessie said. He swam next to Percy as they jogged along the waterfront. They'd left the shopping center pier far behind. They were heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was farther than Ariadne realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.
"I don't get it," Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset."
"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as the day changes to night."
"What happens if we miss it?"
"Tomorrow is the winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."
Ariadne and Percy shared a glance. Not only would Artemis not attend the council, but Annabeth will most likely be dead, and neither could bear that.
"We need a car," Thalia said.
"But what about Bessie?" Ariadne asked.
Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"
"Well, yeah," Percy said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."
"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."
"But he was following me," Percy said. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"
"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.
"I... I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."
Ariadne stared at him. Grover wasn't a fan of water. Last year, he almost drowned in the Sea of Monsters. He also couldn't swim very well in his hooves.
"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."
He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."
The brunette didn't know how Bessie would travel from California to Long Island Sound, but then again, it was different with monsters.
"Dad," Percy said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."
She felt queasy. "A prayed like that needs a sacrifice," she said. "Something big."
Percy thought for a second. He shrugged off his coat.
"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
Percy and Ariadne realized something as soon as he said that. Both of them glanced at Zoe, who was watching the boy carefully. Hercules was the hero is their dream—the one that ruined her life, gotten her disowned, and never mentioned her or her ways to help him. Hercules, a supposed hero who was just a douche bag.
"If I'm going to survive," Percy said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."
He three the coat into the bay. It turned into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.
The sea breeze picked up.
Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."
He jumped into the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.
"Be careful," Percy told them.
Ariadne smiled. "Stay safe," she said.
"We will," Grover said. "Okay, um... Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's easy. Over that way."
"Moooo?" Bessie said.
"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And... it's long. Oh, let's just start."
"Mooo!"
Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breath underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!
Under they went, and Ariadne hoped Poseidon's protection would extend to little things, like breathing.
"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"
"Thalia's right," Percy said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."
She wasn't keen on that idea. Yes, it was life-or-death, but stealing was bound to bring them in the radar for police and the media. It didn't also help the idea that Percy and Ariadne were once wanted criminals who traveled across the nation and were branded to be apart of a kidnapping.
"Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San Fransisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."
"Who?" Percy asked.
Ariadne finally pieced together who Thalia was talking about. She raised an eyebrow at Thalia who sent her a look.
The daughter of Zeus pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."
Ariadne had only met Professor Chase through Iris-Messages with Annabeth, the man had talked with her for a few minutes before the blonde had him leave.
At first, she expected him to have devil horns and fangs, thanks to all of Annabeth's griping ever since they had pet. But now, it was not unusual to see him wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. His eyes bugged out through the glasses, and they all took a step back on the front porch.
"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "are you delivering my airplanes?"
Thalia, Zoe, and Percy looked at each other warily. Ariadne sent him a small smile, trying to seem nice.
"Um, no, sir," Percy said.
"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."
"Right," Percy said. "We're friends of Annabeth."
"Annabeth?" He straightened as if I'd just given him an electric shock. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"
Ariadne gave him a sad look. None of them an answer, but their faces said it all. He took off his goggles. He has the same sandy colored hair as Annabeth and intense brown eyes. For an older guy, he was handsome, but not exactly her type, and it looked as if he hadn't shaved in a couple days. His shirt was unbuttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.
"Ariadne?" He recognized her.
She smiled timidly. "Hi, Mr. Chase."
"You better come in," he said.
It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kids winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home-/the kind of place that had been lived in forever.
Ariadne felt slightly sick at the sound of jazz music and the sight of magazines. Her mother used to read them a lot, and it didn't help that she used to enjoy jazz music as well.
"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"
"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."
"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"
"Matthew," De. Chase called, "don't take apart your brothers robots!"
"Okay, dad!"
Dr. Chase turned to them. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."
"Honey?" a women called out. Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun.
"Who are our guests?" she asked.
"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is..."
He stared at them blankly.
"Fredrick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"
They introduced themselves uneasily, but Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if they were hungry. They admitted they were, and she told them she'd bring up some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.
"Dear," Mr. Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."
Mrs. Chase pursed her lips and looked concerned. "All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at Percy. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you." She waved at Ariadne. "It's nice seeing you again, Ariadne."
The girl nodded before they headed upstairs. They walked into Dr. Chase's study and Percy said, "Whoa!"
The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught their attentions were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle did a dogfight.
Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a greater role then they've been given credit for."
He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.
"Oh, right," Percy said. He sent a confused glance towards Ariadne who shrugged, both of them completely unaware as to what was happening.
Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lunes we're farther from the river."
Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"
"I was there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."
Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"
"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need—"
"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"
"Sir," Thalia broke in again. "Annabeth is in danger."
That got his attention. He set the biplane down.
"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."
It wasn't easy, but they tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. They were running out of time.
When they'd finished, Dr. Chase collapsed. He laced his hands. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."
"Sir," we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said. "And we need it immediately."
"I'll drive you. Hmm. It would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."
"Whoa," you have an actual biplane?" Percy said.
"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"
"Sir," Ariadne said. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous"
Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, Ariadne. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I... I can't just—"
"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut/butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey.
Ariadne downed a Coke and inhaled a few cookies with Thalia and Percy while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."
Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"
"Annabeth is in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but... apparently it's no place for mortals."
It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.
Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going." Ariadne expected her to say no, but she has been proved wrong.
"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys..."
His wife sighed. "Fredrick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hate. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."
"Right!" Dr. Chase said.
Zoe grabber a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now."
They hustle out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind them.
"Ariadne," Mrs. Chase called as she was leaving, "tell Annabeth... tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."
Ariadne smiled. She took one last look at the messy living room. It wasn't bad. "I'll tel her," she promised."
They ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. Ariadne figured they had less than an hour to save Annabeth.
Ariadne could still smell the cookies and hear the jazz music as they drove away from the house, and it reminded her of her own home—except hers was broken. She knew she would never have that, it was evident, and no person could give her a peaceful home like that.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded. Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."
"You both sound like my mother," Percy said.
"Shut up!" they said in unison.
Percy pouted and Ariadne silently laughed at him. He admired her smile and realized they needed to focus.
Zoe weaves in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when they finally got to Marin County and exited the highway.
The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of Steve ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.
"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Ariadne asked.
"Eucalyptus." Zoe points to the hug trees all around them.
"The stuff koala bears eat?" Percy said, ignoring the girl's raised eyebrows.
"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons.."
"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"
"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."
Ariadne didn't question her, but she did keep her eyes on the window as they drove. Ahead of them loomed Mount Tamalpais. It was small compared to other mountains, but it looked huge as they were driving toward it
"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Percy asked.
"Yes," Zoe said tightly.
"Why do they call it that?"
She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced into pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned there, on the summit, but beyond the Garden of Hesperides."
"The General," Ariadne said. Clouds seemed to swirl around its peak, as though the monster was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"
Zoe didn't answer. She got the feeling she knew exactly what the coulda meant, and the brunette didn't like it.
"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."
"The magical kind of the natural kind?" Percy asked.
"Both."
The gray clicks swirled even thicker over the mountain, and they met driving straight toward them. They were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.
"Look!" Percy nearly jumped out of his seat.
"What?" Thalia asked.
"A big white ship," he said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."
Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"
Ariadne took a shaky breath in and let it out. Luke was there. He was on the mountain. He has Annabeth and Artemis. This wasn't good, not good at all.
Percy linked his pinky around her own, trying to bring some comfort to the girl who looked panicked.
"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Ariadne's neck stood up. Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"
Zoe must've sense something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.
"Out!" Ariadne opened the door and pushed Percy hard. Thalia was next. They rolled into the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!
Lightning flashed and the Volkswagen became a grenade. Ariadne and Zoe coughed, separated from their friends.
The brunette heaved herself up, helping Zoe up a second later as the dust settled. She took note that the VW's fender has impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.
Next, they heard Percy and Thalia calling for them.
"Aidan!" Percy shouted.
Zoe and her appeared next to him, the younger girl pulling his arm. "Silence, fool!" Zoe said. "Do you want to wake Ladon?"
"You mean we're here?"
"Very close," she said. "Follow me."
Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. The three shared a look.
"Concentrate on Zoe," Thalia advised. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."
Ariadne nodded. She sent them a smile. "See you on the other side."
The girl stepped in and was enveloped in the fog, disappearing from her friends' view. When the fog cleared, she was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt.
The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blood red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of her. It led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like she'd seen in her dream.
She quickly found Zoe. And a few seconds later, Thalia and Percy joined them.
If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the gardener would've been the most beautiful place she'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-fall apple tree, every bout glittering with golden apples ( real golden apples).
Percy looked ready to leap forward and pluck one right from the branches, but she wasn't as easily convinced. Due to her father being Dionysus, it was quite hard for her to be addictive for captivated by something, like at Lotus Casino, but she found that she was exceptionally addicted to Coke like her dad.
"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."
Ladon coiled around the tree. It was dangerous to get near it. His body was as thick as as a booster rocket, flinging with coppery scales. He had more heads than Ariadne could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all eyes closed.
Then the shadows in front of them began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from a well. It was intoxicating. Ariadne wished that she could sound like that. Percy reaches for Riptide, but Zoe stopped his hand.
Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. All wore white Greek Chiron's. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulder. It was strange, but Ariadne never realized how beautiful Zoe was until she saw her sisters, the Hesperides. They looked like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.
"Sisters," Zoe said.
"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die."
"You've got it wrong." Percy stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."
The girls studied him. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.
"Perseus Jackson," one of them said.
"Yes," mused another. "I do not see why he is a threat."
"Who said I was a threat?"
The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one had not yet killed thee."
She pointed at Thalia.
"Tempting sometimes," Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks. He's my friend."
"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," the girl said. "Only enemies. Go back."
"Not without Annabeth," Ariadne said. She glared at the Hesperides. They studied her, as well.
None of them spoke about her, but their eyes glinted with a emotion she couldn't decipher, and their mouths turned down slightly.
"And Artemis," Zoe said. "We will approach the mountain."
"You know he will kill thee," the girl said. "You are no match for him."
"Artemis must be freed," Zoe insisted. "Let us pass."
The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."
Ariadne was so close to punching her.
"He will not hurt me," Zoe said.
"No? And what about thy so-called friends?"
Then Zoe did the last thing any of them expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"
The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"
"You never had courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem."
Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.
"Zoe, don't," Thalia said. "Your not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."
"Ladon is trained for protect the tree," Zoe said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bugger threat, he should ignore thee."
"Should," Percy said. "Not exactly reassuring."
"It is the only way," she said. "Even the four of us together cannot fight him."
Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down her spine, and that was before the breath hit her. The smell was like acid. It made her eyes burn, skin crawl, and her hair stand on end. It reminded her of when Beckett had dropped a dead bird on their porch on the hottest day of the year.
Ariadne wanted to draw her sword. But she remembered how Hercules had no such luck with a the head-on-assault. She trusted Zoe's judgement.
Thalia went left. Percy and Ariadne went right. Zoe walked straight toward the monster.
"It's me, my little dragon," Zoe said. "Zoe has come back."
Ladin shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept kissing. The dragon was confused. Meanwhile the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows. The voice of the eldest whispered, "Fool."
"I used to feed thy by hand," Zoe continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped toward the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"
The dragon's eyes glinted.
The three demigods were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, she could see a single foxy trial leading up to the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world.
They'd almost made it out of the meadow when something when wrong. Ariadne felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoe got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry. Whatever the reason, he lunged at Zoe.
Two thousand years of training kept her sube. She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in their direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath.
Percy drew Riptide to help. Ariadne twisted Lunacy into her hand.
"No!" Zoe panted. "Run!"
The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoe cried out. Thalia uncovered Aegis, and the dragon hissed. In his moment of indecision, Zoe sprinter past them up the mountain, and they followed.
The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but she guessed he was well trained to guard that tree.
They ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind them. Ariadne didn't want to sound like it anymore.
At the top of the mountains were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.
"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."
"What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked, the look in his eyes most likely meant he felt like a fool for asking.
"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Ariadne said. "In the first wat, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was—" Zoe winced and held her side, causing the girl to stop talking.
"You're hurt," Percy said. "Let me see."
"No! It is nothing. As Ariadne was saying... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."
"But... how is it here?"
Thalia looked around cautiously as they picked their way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moved in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists in the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is hot good."
"Why?"
"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" she froze and furrowed her eyebrows. "Where he used to hold up the sky," she corrected.
They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested in the shoulder lap of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains.
"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."
Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Ariadne had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.
Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.
A booming voice spoke behind them: "Ah, how touching."
They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.
Ariadne met Annabeth's eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending her, though: RUN.
"Like," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."
Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked worse then last summer, when they were retrieving the Golden Fleece. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."
Thalia spat at him.
The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor! I will enjoy killing you."
"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."
"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"
The General glanced at him. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."
Oh, Ariadne was definitely ready to smack him senseless. First, he kidnapped Annabeth and won't let her go after shoving the entire world onto her shoulders. Secondly, he called Percy stupid, only she could do that. And thirdly, he was threatening Zoe, a new friend of hers.
"You're not going to hurt, Zoe," Ariadne said. "I won't let you."
The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."
She frowned. "A family matter?"
"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father.
authors note:
So...
I suck.
My mom is moving and I've been helping pack everything. She has really bad back issues so I've been doing a lot and I haven't been able to update anything.
I also just started watching criminals minds and I'm obsessed. Spencer Reid is my husband and Derek Morgan can GET IT.
Anyways, please don't be mad with me!
Love you guys!