Chapter 5: Zoë Nightshade

A/N: Two big chapters in one day! I was in the car for more than 5 hours with nothing to do besides type.

Percy POV

As soon as the lightning bolt struck I was slashing at Hercules with my stone arms/swords. He didn't even have time to think about how I tuned my hands to stone because I was already on top of him slashing away. By the time I was done he was just an unrecognizable bloody mess. I decided I wouldn't push Zeus too much, so instead of killing him I picked him up and using my immortal strength through him as far as I could.

Once I heard him thud on the ground I turned around and made my way towards the girl. As soon as I took a step towards her she curled up into a ball. Seeing she was really afraid of me I walked up and squatted about 10 steps away. I saw a bronze glint in the grass and realized it was her sword and immediately came up with an idea. I reached down and picked up her sword and laid it down in front of her.

"Hey look, I put your sword right there in front of you. I don't think you'll need it but if you think I'm going to hurt you stab me." She slowly uncurled from her ball and once she saw the sword she reached out and clasped on to it as if her life depended on it. Actually, she probably though it did. I was looking her over for any injuries when I saw her face. It had a huge gash down the side of it.

"Hey, I can heal that gash on your face if you let me get close enough to touch you." She slowly nodded her head and I slowly made my way towards her. Once I got close enough I drew water out of my body and slowly put my hand closer to her face until it was barely hovering over the cut. I slowly began healing it but knew it was going to take some time to heal.

"Hey, do you want to tell me your name?" She looked at me before slowly taking a deep breath and then letting it out. "My name's Zoë. Zoë nightshade." I nodded my head before leaning close to her ear. "You have a beautiful name, you know that?" When she shivered I knew that all the time with Apollo was finally paying off. "Thank you. What… What's your name?"

I could tell she was really nervous. "I'm Perseus, Immortal son of Poseidon and Medusa." She tried to get up, probably to bow, but I just pushed her down. I knew who her parents were but I decided I could gain some trust points with her. "Zoë, who are your parents?" she flinched away as if she was expecting it but not wanting it to happen. "MY dad… he's… he's Atlas."

As soon as she said it she tried to scurry away from me. Luckily I had finished healing her so it didn't interfere with that process. "Why did you scurry away from me like that?" I already knew why but I wanted her to know I didn't care about her parentage. "Do you not care that my dad is Atlas?" She looked extremely confused at the fact I didn't care about her parentage.

"No, all I see is a beautiful girl that was betrayed by a horrible man." She blushed at my comment before putting a scowl on her face. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this with you. You know, the flirting." I was sure I looked hurt, because I was. She seemed to notice and continued. " It's not because I don't like you," she looked up and down my body and blushed, which made me smirk "It's just that you saw I just got betrayed by Hercules so you know I'm pretty fragile right now."

I nodded my head in understanding before noticing she was shivering. I slowly pulled her into a hug and at first she stiffened then she wrapped her arms around me. After a minute I noticed she was crying and so I tightened my embrace on her. "Zoë I swear on the Styx that I will never do anything to harm or betray you, ever." She looked up at me with a smile on her face before leaning in and kissing me.

At first I was surprised but then I leaned into the kiss. Before it could get to heated we were interrupted. By an arrow to my back, then another, and another. "Get away from the maiden Percy." Oh great now the hunters are here. I looked over and saw Zoë was more scared now then when I tried to get near her after I took care of Hercules. I jumped in front of Zoë knowing that the hunters would shoot me, which would earn me a head start in the battle for Zoë.

Because I know the hunters will try to recruit her and being betrayed by Hercules she may join, but the truth is I feel she's different from most girls. Who just want to have a one-night stand and be done. I feel like she actually will stay loyal to me and we can have a relationship. The hunters kept shooting me until they realized they were scaring the girl and that I didn't care about the arrows.

Truth is the arrows hurt a lot, but I'll go through anything for Zoë. Before the hunters could say anything I flashed Zoë and myself to a clearing where they couldn't find us. "Zoë, I'm sorry you had to see that. They're a bunch of man-hating girls who will do anything they can to find a reason to kill me. I've been staying with them for almost a year now and I only have a few of them to treat me better than a dog. Even though Lady Artemis herself ordered they try not to kill me unless I do something wrong."

Zoë nodded her head in understanding before snuggling into my chest. "Zoë, I have a proposition for you." She looked up at me and told me to continue. "Every god with major domains is allowed one person to help manage their domains. In about 3 months I'll become a god, if I become a major god or one with busy domains you could be my assistance."

She nodded her head eagerly. "But I may not become a major god and that would be the only way for us to see each other. Because the laws state the gods cannot have any contact with any thing less than a god. The only exception is Artemis because she trains them. So if I become a minor god or one who doesn't have big domains I want you to join the hunt. Also for the next 3 months I'll be staying with the hunt. Tell them you can't decide if you want to be a member and that You'll travel with them to see if you want to. That way you can join if you can't come with me."

Zoë nodded before snuggling even further into my chest. "I was going to join if you left anyways. I thought Hercules was different but he just enforced my view that all men are disgusting pigs, except one." She said the last part looking into my eyes and before I could stop myself I leaned in and kissed her. Once we pulled apart we rested our foreheads against each other.

"That may be our last kiss Zoë. We can't risk it in the hunt." She nodded her head but I could tell she was as sad as I was about it. Before I flashed us back to the hunters I gave her one more quick peck on the lips and a smile.