1. Special
"It's gone?" I whispered quietly, almost to myself. "How can it be gone? I didn't do it! I put it back I promise! Oh, Mama please! It wasn't…it was an accident! I...I... I'm so sorry!" I bowed my head trying to hide the stream of tears that fell of my face from my mother's observant eyes.
"SORRY?" Mom stormed angrily. "How will sorry help me find it? Zoe! How could this possibly be an accident? You ruin my things, steal random objects, and hide stuff! And now! Oh! How could you? That was your dads!" She buried her face in her hands, her blonde hair covering her like a veil.
It was my fathers? That necklace with the funny beads? I cried harder in my seat, wishing my mom would just understand. I never took or hid anything! But I couldn't tell her what was really happening. It would probably make things worse, for the both of us.
"Just help me," a familiar male voice whispered in my mind. "I will leave you alone, your life alone. Your mother will no longer be mad at you, blaming you. And I'll even bring your poor father back. Isn't that what you want? Help me."
I shook my head violently and yelled, "No! I won't! I will never help you! You've ruined my life!"
My mom's intense, grey eyes looked up to where I sat trembling. "I've ruined your life?" She sobbed. "I always knew I wouldn't be a good mother! Oh, Zoe, baby. I'm so sorry. It's just been much harder since your dad disappeared…" she trailed off.
"With the monsters?" I asked. Little too late did I realized my mistake and I dashed to my room, locking the door behind me.
"Who told you about that? Zoe! How long have you known! Zoe please come back!" She called after me, but I wouldn't listen to her desperate calls.
The man, the one who keeps whispering to me, he has ruined my life. That man killed my father. My father had died trying to keep me from that man, and I wasn't about to let that go to waste.
It was five years ago, I was only eight. My dad and I had gone to the fishing market near our house to get some fishing supplies that I needed for nature camp the next week, but when we arrived the normally busy market was completely empty and bare except for the small neat rows of stands full of merchandise.
"Hello?" Dad called out hesitantly." Anybody here?" He glanced around the desolate place then grabbed my small, shaky hand firmly in his, and rubbed the back of my palm with his thumb reassuringly. That's when I knew something was definitely wrong, and I began whimpering quietly.
"It's alright. Everybody might just be taking a break, or they might be at home in bed! Those lazy heads!" He laughed, attempting to break the uneasy feeling that we felt. It didn't work.
Together we walked carefully around the vacant market, searching for people, or anything living.
My dad pulled out his pen and held it in his free hand. That's what he always did when he thought something was wrong, something dangerous. He would never tell me why he did, but I figured that there was something different, special, about that golden pen.
Suddenly, we heard a shuffling sound behind us, then a tsk tsk. My dad whirled around, twirling me along with him, and gasped at what he saw.
"Hello nephew!" The man standing there announced. "Missed me? Well, I'm not going to be here long. If you wouldn't mind I'll just get what I came here for and be on my way." All of his words were formal, like how you'd expect ancient people to sound like, but he didn't look that old, he looked to be around my dad's age, which was only 33 years old. The man was wearing all black, with jet black hair and pale skin. He reminded me of those vampires on TV, the evil ones with red eyes. Except the man in front of me had eyes far worse than evil red, because as you looked into his dark eyes you saw images of people dying horrible deaths, or even worse.
Suddenly, I felt a need to go to that evil man, to bow down to him. He is the master. I am just another worshiper, I need to obey. I took a step forward, the man's smile pulling me to him, then my dad reached down and scooped me into his arms, breaking the trance-like state the man put me in.
"Leave her alone!" Dad shouted at his uncle. "She hasn't done anything!"
"That's the point! You can't hide her from her destiny forever Percy, you of all people should know this," the man said to my father, his face showed his disappointment, like my dad had just failed a test he had taken before and had done great on.
"We can try! Annabeth thinks she has figured away to keep Zoe safe. If it works she won't have to follow her destiny! And you, Hades, will never have anything to do with her destiny. Nothing will change my mind!" My father glared at the man. It was obvious that they didn't like each other at all.
I didn't know what they were talking about. What destiny? Hades? Where had I heard that that name before?
"No," Hades shook his head sadly, "Annabeth is wrong. Destiny always finds you, no matter what. It's even in her name! Child, did you know your name means life in Greek?" He smiled. "You are the key! Percy, just let the child come with me, let me prepare her for her future." He beckoned for me to come to him, but I wouldn't go to him, I knew the trick he was using already and pushed it back. Then I looked straight into his cold eyes and said, "No. I will never help you! You are making my daddy mad! GO AWAY!" As I screamed the last words he sank to the ground in pain.
"What? You did that?" He glared at me as he stood up and shook himself off. "How dare you hurt a god? You shall be punished! Oh, never mind what I just said." He looked at me almost sheepishly. It looked weird on a face as evil as his. "I apologize, you just startled me. You are rare indeed! She must be the one! But she isn't mortal? I thought she would be... She looks like one, and even acted like one! But, the power! She is definitely the one… But…" Hades trailed off and began to mumble softly to himself.
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" My dad's face turned red. He was furious. He always had a short patience, just like me, but I've never seen him so mad.
"Of course you wouldn't have heard her, but you saw the effects. Your daughter is the one that made me fall! Your daughter is special; she's one of a kind! She is special because she, unlike other grandchildren of gods, has even more godly blood than a demigod instead of less. She is 3|4 god, more or less. She is mistaken for a mortal, but she's more a god than a mortal. The godly beauty, voice, and traits are already beginning to show, but despite all that she is still not immortal. She just inherited the best of her parents' traits. How many monsters have come for her so far? Several I'm sure! Her blood is already stronger than yours!" Hades exclaimed. He sounded excited, like he was a little kid who got a new puppy.
My dad tenderly sat me down on a stand, and turned to face Hades. "You can't have her. No matter how special she is! Annabeth and I have protected her so far! No monster has or will be able to touch her!" My dad took the cap off of his pen and it transformed into a long, golden sword. He pointed it towards Hades threateningly. "Including you!"
"Whoa," I gasped. I almost broke out laughing at my dad's fierce expression, but I knew this was not the situation you should be laughing at.
"Now, now," Hades said. "You wouldn't want your darling daughter watch you die would you?" My dad took a challenging step forward and Hades sighed, "I guess I have been forced to do this the hard way!" Then he disappeared as my dad lunged for him.
Dad looked around wildly for Hades, and then suddenly his face contorted with fear as cold, powerful hands grasped me from behind.
I squirmed pathetically in Hades arms, but then a strange feeling washed over me, freezing my limbs. I couldn't move! I tried kicking my legs and then my arms, but they were all totally limp.
"No!" My dad screamed, and he staggered to the ground. Intense sadness showed in his ocean blue eyes, the kind you feel when someone you love dies.
"She's not dead!" Hades laughed at my dad's expression," Look! She's breathing! I cannot kill her, her blood forbids it, but I can immobilize her." Hades lifted me up like a rag doll, shaking me around like he had to prove what he said.
"Put her down or else!" My dad threatened as he stood up, holding his sword towards Hades.
"Put her down or else!" Hades mocked. "Or else what, half-blood? Are you going to kill her trying to save her? That's not very wise of you. Remember when you were younger? That was your weakness. You're always way too loyal."
"GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER OR ELSE I WILL PERSONALLY ESCORT YOU BACK TO THE UNDERWORLD!" Dad roared, his eyes gleaming with utter hatred as he charged.
Hades put me down, breaking the spell, and grabbed my father by the neck. "You've lost your touch demigod!" He laughed then turned his dark, cold eyes towards me and whispered darkly, "You will help me."
Then Hades and my dad vanished in a shower of gold dust, leaving me trembling at Hades words, and my father's death.
