Chapter Three
When she woke up she was looking at a ceiling. Which was so strange since it had been weeks since she'd been anywhere with a ceiling. "I think she's awake, Chiron," a boy's voice said. "Where am I?! Who are you?! Where's my dog?!" she yelled shooting straight up in the bed. She realized that wasn't a very good idea realizing she was suddenly very dizzy she leaned over and hurled onto the floor. "Great first impression," the same boy said. He was beginning to be a pain in her butt. Krysanthe came over to sniff at the mess on the floor. "No," Zoe muttered, she used all of her strength yelling just a second ago. A man walked over and began to clean it up before the dog could get to it. No, not a man. "Why are you a horse?" Zoe asked the man, sounding not surprised, but instead annoyed, "I just cannot handle how weird this day has been." "Ha! You were born into the wrong world for that!" She was getting really sick of this kid "Who the heck are you?" she asked, "and when can you leave?" He looked shocked but got the message and slipped out of the room.
"Well then," the weird horse-man-guy-thing looked her up and down, "would you like explaining now, or would you like to sleep more?" "Explain," she said without hesitation. The old man sighed, "Well first off, I'm a centaur." She remembered those from school. Then she remembered how much her head hurt. "Keep talking, where am I?" She lay back down carefully and patted the couch, calling Krysanthe over.
He gave her the run down. The whole: yada yada demigod, godly parent this and that, different cabins, monsters, magic animals (which explained her dog). She just took it all in. Then he paused, "Except you are completely different." She looked at him with a very dirty, 'are you freaking kidding me' look. He sighed again, "You, Zoe, you are the daughter of Atlas." "Yeah I know," she continued to look at him with the same dirty look. "Yes, and Atlas is one of the Titans. Your mother is Hesperus; you were to be one of the Hesperides. A nymph of a blissful garden located in the Atlas Mountains." She still didn't understand. "Okay? Well what do I do with that information?" Chiron shook his head, "Most demigods want to know where they came from. I'm not sure what else to tell you." Krysanthe stood up, Zoe I know you are upset with your father but be nice to this man, he is trying to help. "I'm not really feeling like being nice to anyone right now, I'm not even sure how I got here," she replied. "Here," Chiron handed her a square piece of something, "eat this." She took a bite and looked away until he left the room.
Of course the annoying boy had to be the one to show her around. Her head wasn't really feeling any better, and now that she was safe her anger was really starting to set in. "Usually you'd stay in this cabin," he told her as they passed a small building practically overflowing with kids. She rolled her eyes. "buuuut," he dragged out his words, she hated that, she just didn't like this kid, "Chiron says you can't fit your dog in there with you." Krysanthe growled at him, and he looked at her a little nervous. She smiled at her dog that's my girl, she thought. "What's your name anyways?" she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Percy," he replied quickly, "so I was saying that Chrion insists you stay in my cabin with me."
A blonde girl ran up to them. "Percy!" she seemed way too happy to see this kid then she turned towards Zoe still smiling, "Hey! You're awake how do you feel?" "Pretty awful," she replied. Krysanthe's look screamed disapproval of her tone. "You're the one who saved me aren't you?" Zoe looked back to the blonde girl. She had scary dark gray eyes, but a friendly smile. It was weird. "Actually," Percy jumped in, "we saved you." Both Zoe and the blonde girl rolled their eyes. She reached out a hand, "I'm Annabeth." Zoe took it and forced a smile. Annabeth looked back to Percy, "If you don't mind I need to steal him away from you for a bit." "Oh please!" Zoe sounded more grateful than she had all day. They walked away and into one of the cabins. Zoe looked at Krysanthe and then headed towards the lake. She was ready to be alone again.
When they got to the lake they found a dock and sat down she dangled her feet into the water and watched Krysanthe take a drink. Zoe sighed. Today had been even more stressful than running from all the monsters in the woods, and then she didn't even have her dog. "I don't want to have to start dealing with all the stuff about my dad now. I went for ten years not thinking about it and I was just fine." A tear fell down her cheek. "I miss my mom, my real mom, the one who took care of me all that time." Krysanthe laid her head in her lap and Zoe stroked her shimmery, golden fur. They sat there like that for what felt like forever until the sky turned pink and orange and she watched the sun sink into the river and she could hear the dog snoring.