(Sorta short chapter here guys, but I hope you like it! Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the Kane Chronicles.)
Chapter 3Presence
It was brilliant. It only lasted for a second, but I loved it. I tumbled clumsily out of a large bricked area. I hit my head hard on the floor. I was just able to see Annabeth running towards me looking worried before I blanked out.
I was suddenly in an unfamiliar room. Huh, that's odd. I never dream when I get knocked out, not that I faint a lot. But I guess it was just an unconsciousness thing. I don't know how it happened, but it happened. My ba stood shakily. I began to float, so naturally, I was part chicken, part Zia.
The room was fairly large, and very dark. Actually, I doubt it even was an inside room; it seemed more like a garden to me. Dark flowers grew erratically about lattice that hung gracefully around the area. The place seemed somewhat depressing, but it was beautiful. A marble fountain was centered in the garden and deep red liquid flowed from it.
Two women stepped into the garden from different sides. They seemed to know each other.
"I have returned," one said. My head snapped up because I recognized the voice. It was my mother's.
"Is it really you?" another woman asked. I didn't know the voice. This woman had pale skin and dark hair. From where I hovered in mid-air, I could see that her eyes were made up of many colors. Like the garden, she looked beautiful, but seemed depressed. The other woman I supposed was my mother, but I could not tell for she was wearing a hooded deep blue cloak.
"Yes, it is I! Who else would it be?" my mother almost shouted.
The pale woman ran toward my mother. "Where have you been?" she clutched my mother's shoulders. She began to cry. My mother stroked her hair and whispered words of comfort.
"I wasn't gone that long," she said. The pale woman looked at my mother in outrage.
"Fourteen years. You left me down here alone for four months each year for fourteen years! I thought you were my friend!" she bellowed.
"Fifty-six months is not a long time for us," my mother whispered in response. The other woman snorted.
"I had to have my husband bring my mother down, I was so lonely. Why did you even come? Do you even have anything to say to me?" she exasperated.
"I have missed you," was all that my mother said. The other woman huffed.
"You weren't totally alone. You had my son," my mother whispered. What did she just say? She has a son? My thoughts raged. I have a brother? The pale woman twisted her fingers hesitantly. That didn't go unnoticed.
My mother threw back her hood, but she did not look much like I had remembered. Her hair was so dark and curly, it seemed purple and her eyes had a strange yellow tint in them.
"Persephone, where is my son?" My mother grabbed Perse's shoulders tightly. Persephone winced.
"I-I couldn't watch him! Hades knew I was hiding something!" she trembled. My mother screamed in outrage.
"What have you done with him?" she yelled.
"He-he is safe. He is with mortals," Persephone whispered.
"Safe? Safe? The mortal world is not a safe place!" my mother shrieked. Persephone was silent.
"My…my Odion…" my mother whispered. She wept. I gaped at her tears. Persephone tensed.
"Hades is coming!" she informed my mother. "Run!"
My mother disappeared in a clap of thunder just as another dark figure appeared with his own thunderclap.
"Persephone, my dear, who was that?" he hissed. His eyes flared.
"Oh, just my mother," Persephone lied easily.
"Your mother? But I was just fighting with her!" the man growled.
"Hades, honey, calm down. We can be in more than one place at once, honey." Persephone appeared to be in pain whenever she called her husband 'honey'. Fortunately, he didn't notice. He tensed as Persephone did earlier.
"Someone is here. I sense a presence!" he whispered. He closed his eyes and put two fingertips to his temple. Then his arm spun right towards where I was floating.
"Be gone!" he yelled. A hazy red beam shot from his pointer finger and I was blown away. My ba landed softly into my own body.
Annabeth shook me awake.
"Zia, wake up," she said. "We have important business with the Ministress! We can't be late!"
I lazily stood up, but slumped back down; I had a major headache. Annabeth caught be before I could hit my head again. She laid me down gently on the cold floor. I gazed upward at the mass of bricks I had tumbled out of and I saw that it was actually a fireplace. Many fireplaces, all lined up.
I groaned as I lifted my head to look at Annabeth. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic baggy. From it, she pulled a small square… something.
"Eat it," she said. I did as I was told. It tasted like all the most wonderful foods I had ever tasted. I instantly felt better. Annabeth sighed in relief.
"Great! You didn't combust!" she whooped. I looked strangely at her.
"Combust?" I asked.
"Never mind," she told me. She stood and helped pull me up from the floor.
"Come on now; we don't have all day." And with that she sped down a long hallway leaving me to catch up with her.
(Edited as of 12/23/10. ^^)