Laura and I rushed outside, where Percy and Annabeth watched helplessly as the sky swirled with dark black clouds. How much time had passed?
"Zeus," Annabeth said, voice strained.
"What do we do?"
"We have to stop him," Percy took out his sword, but Annabeth pushed his hand down.
"No, Percy. You can't take down a god, let alone Zeus."
"Can we try to do that again?" I said to Laura. "I just need to get through to him."
She flinched. "Sorry, Bella. I don't think I can do it again right now. Just... gimme a few minutes."
"Okay," I took a deep breath. What could I do?
We all were knocked back as a huge lightning bolt hit the ground just a few meters away from us. People screamed and ran in all directions. I wonder what they saw under the mist.
A man was standing where the lightning bolt had hit the ground, so I knew it was Zeus.
"Come out, coward!" Zeus' voice sounded just like thunder.
"Their fight will destroy New Orleans," Annabeth's voice was solid, but I knew she was afraid too.
"We can't let that happen. There are still so many people who haven't evacuated." Percy said.
"I have to try to get through to Perses. Can we distract Zeus at all?"
Annabeth looked to Percy who sighed.
"I can... try asking my dad for help"
"Okay, you do that." I got up.
"Where are you going?" Annabeth asked frantically.
"I need to talk to him."261Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7U62FpZkQ
261Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69g7raXydU
I'd never been in a storm this big before. The wind pushed so fiercely that I felt like I was walking on an angle. The rain came down in sheets, and I could barely see a meter in front of me. I struggled to walk forward.
A foggy black smoke swirled around me, creating a path. Kalos had managed to jump ahead, looking at me with glowing orange eyes. I didn't have time to thank him or realize this was the first time he was actually helping me.
Perseus was standing in the middle of a dome of water and wind. He caught sight of me and sent a gust of wind towards me which made me lose my balance.
Get up, don't slow down.
I got back up despite my shoulder burning.
"You are a fool! What makes you think you can stop me?" he yelled.
"I'm not trying to stop you, I'm trying to get you to see that you're hurting your family."
"I'm doing this for my family!"
"And what would Asteria think about that?"
The wind hesitated but soon came back full force.
"You would know nothing of it!"
I clung to a bench, trying to maintain my balance without slipping on the flooded streets.
"I'm sure I would! My mother died, and now you're killing my grandmother!" Frustration surged through my body. Energy I couldn't release, building up and up...
"I am not killing her!" he boomed, causing the earth to shake. "She does not know what is good for her, just like you don't know either!"
"Oh, would you shut up?!" There was too much going on. In a fit of frustration, I snapped. I huffed, trying to catch my breath. When I did, I realized what I'd done. The wind and rain were gone. Everything had a purple haze over it.
"You-" Perses fumbled with his words. I cut him off.
"Look, if you don't stop, Zeus is going to destroy you. And if there's anything worse than fighting with family, it's fighting and then leaving on bad terms." I started thinking about my dad. Talk about hypocrisy.
"If... if Hecate's lost her mother, then she needs you more than ever. Neither of you should have to be alone." I struggled to keep us in the purple haze. I'd never been in it for more than a few seconds.
He still said nothing.
"Ugh, would you say something?! There are too many people I care about down there, so I am not letting you go until you fix this mess you made! " I didn't care that my voice broke. There was too much at stake here. I couldn't let him hurt anyone else. Especially Claudia and Laura, who helped me even though they didn't have to. "Stop being so selfish!"
Perseus didn't move or speak, or anything.
I waited for him to say something.
"If I were a god on Olympus, I'd crush you."
I braced for whatever would come next.
"But I am a titan. I am older and wiser, and I know when I am...wrong," he sighed. "Are you... truly Hecate's grandchild?" he asked softly.
"Well, I don't think anyone else's kid could do this," I muttered, looking around at debris that was floating, water traveling upwards, and the sun on the opposite side of the sky. It was really pretty, now that I could see everything clearly.
He smiled slightly. "I can, uh... see the resemblance now." he smiled sadly. "I suppose this is it. Zeus will destroy me."
"Isn't there a different way? Something we can do?" I said. I didn't want to be the reason Hecate lost her dad too.
"I'm afraid not. Let us go."
I nodded and took a deep breath, taking us out of the haze.
Zeus stormed over. I wasn't sure whether to hide or stay put. He glared at me.
"She is the reason I am willing to go peacefully," Perses said firmly. "So leave her be."
"'Go peacefully?'" Zeus laughed. "Oh, no. You will spend the rest of eternity as a powerless, immortal spirit." he spat. Was that a bad thing for titans?
"Very well," Perses suppressed a smile. Zeus stared at him suspiciously.
Perses chuckled a bit. "Well, I suppose that would be a terrible fate for someone as arrogant as you, but I'm quite content with that."
He was a completely different person when calm.
Zeus growled as Perseus sort of just... melted into the ground. Where he had melted was a yin and yang pendant on a gold chain. Zeus turned towards me.
"Clearly he is asking to stay with you. I will allow it, but if I hear a single thing about you or him..."261Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVagyJxgKo
I swallowed hard but nodded. 261Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67ffCh8SGy
"Yes sir."
I waited until he left to pick up the necklace. It was longer than my pentagram, so I could wear both of them. As I put it around my neck, a piece of paper flew out of the yin and yang pendant.
"A... QR code...?" I squinted at the tiny image.
I quickly put it away as Laura, Claudia, Percy, and Annabeth came rushing over.
"Bella!" Claudia threw her arms over me. "Why did you just walk into the middle of a hurricane?!" Her voice squeaked because she was so upset.
"I had to. Plus, I'm fine."
"Any broken bones?" Annabeth patted me down.
"I said I'm fine!"
"Zeus didn't zap you?" Percy said, unconcerned.
"No, sorry to disappoint you," I rolled my eyes, but secretly, I was happy he was okay.
"Where's Perses?" Laura asked.
"Um, in this necklace. I think."
Laura's eyes widened. "Wow."
"So... is that it?" Percy asked.
"I guess." My head hurt a lot. "Zeus basically just said to stay out of the way."
Annabeth nodded and sighed in relief. "Sounds about right."
We got back to Claudia's motel to figure out how to get home. I sat on a chair in the lobby, looking closely at the yin yang. What just happened? Does this mean Perseus is like, a ghost?
"Hey," Claudia sighed, plopping herself on the chair next to me.
"Hey," I tucked the pendant under my shirt.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah. What are they talking about?" I nodded to Percy and Annabeth.
"Uh, something about getting back to New York," she said.
We were quiet for a minute.
"Are we...going to pretend nothing happened back there?" I couldn't look her in the eye, I was so embarrassed. She laughed a little.
"I should apologize. I'm waaaay too forward. If you want to pretend that never happened... that's okay," she uncrossed her legs. "But if you don't, I'd... be okay with that too."
I didn't know what to think at first. My dad always told me relationships take time, but I felt like I'd known Claudia all my life. I felt like she knew me more than I knew myself. Plus, she was funny and kind, and...
Really really cute.
I laughed a little too. "Isn't that ironic?"Claudia frowned, confused.
"I'm an empousa that likes girls." I grinned.
A smile lit up her face, and she threw herself onto me in a hug.
"But, I mean, I do have to leave..." I blushed but still wrapped my arms around her.
"We can make it work," she said, voice muffled in my shirt.
"But I live in New York, and you live in New Orleans..."
"I wonder why they put 'new' in front?" she ignored me. God, her hair was so soft.
"Uh, are you two...?" Percy walked over at the most inconvenient time.
"Um, it's not- I mean-" I really hope my face wasn't as red as it felt.
Claudia hopped off of me. "Sorry, I was just reeeally happy she's okay." she smiled.
"Oh. Right. Well, Annabeth needs your help, Bella." He turned and left as fast as possible.
"Um, right," I got up and walked over to where Annabeth was pacing.
"We don't exactly have a way back home yet," Annabeth sighed. "Claudia said she might be able to contact Nico to help us, but that's not definite."
"Wait, is there a phone charger here?" I asked suddenly.
"Yeah, I got one," Claudia said, digging through one of the desk drawers. "Why?"
"Perses gave me a QR code, but my phone is dead."
"He did?" Annabeth said, confused.
"What good is a QR code?" Percy asked.
"I dunno, but it might help," I said as Claudia handed me the charger.
We watched the blank screen until a low battery image appeared.
"Now we wait, I guess." I sighed. My phone had been dead for at least a couple of hours.
"Right," Percy sighed.
"I'll go double-check our bags," Annabeth said, leaving the lobby.
"I'll... do whatever." Percy also left.
"Okay, I thought about it," Claudia said once they both left. "You can just teleport here whenever you're not busy!"
I thought about it. "Yeah, I guess that could work."
Just teleport here! A sentence I never thought I would hear. It still felt surreal.
Claudia let out a little 'squee!' and hugged me again, almost making me fall over. She was so short her dark curly hair just barely reached my face, so I kissed her head gently.
"Alright, I have one rule," she turned serious so fast I couldn't tell if she was joking.
"What do you mean?"
"No empousa-charming boys!" she frowned, waving her finger at me.
I laughed, pulling her in close again. "Wow, someone's a little jealous."
She buried her face in my chest and held my arms, mumbling something along the lines of: "Whatever."
The phone on the counter buzzed, announcing it had enough battery to function.
"Okay, let see what this is," I took out the code and took a picture. It took a little time to load, but soon the screen lit up.
"Train tickets?" I said as I looked at three digital train passes.
"Ooh, these go from here straight to New York!" Claudia smiled. "Have fun on a two-day train ride with those two," she giggled and pointed at Annabeth, who was scolding Percy for something.
"After the ride to get here? I'll take an overnight train any day. At least we're sleeping somewhere legally."
"What does that mean?" she frowned.
"I don't want to talk about it," I sighed.
After getting everything sorted out, we were off to the train station.
"Okay, promise me that you'll text me when you get back, okay?" Claudia pouted. Even when she tried to look upset, she was cute.
"I will," I promised.
"...And that you won't run into any trouble?"
"I can't promise that."
"Just say it so I can let you leave in peace!" she squeaked, trying to look angry.
"It's hard to take you seriously when you're so short," I smiled, bending down to tease her.
"Um, me being short has absolutely nothing to do with your ability to take me seriously!" she tried to push me, but again, she's so little it barely did a thing.
"Okay, okay, sorry. I'll let you know when we get back." I laughed.
"Thank you," she frowned but was definitely holding back a smile.
I kissed her one last time before we got on the train. She smelled like strawberry tarts.
"So you do like girls," Annabeth smiled as we sat down in a booth.
I sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I couldn't wipe the goofy smile off my face.
"I'm not usually wrong," she smirked and pulled out a book.
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