Chapter 5: Friends in Low Places

I woke up seemingly five seconds later with the feeling I was being watched.

I kept my eyes closed, hoping the feeling would go away. It didn't. It grew stronger, and eventually it was so overpowering I opened my eyes and turned slowly to face whoever was watching me.

"Hello." Said a girl, who looked about my age. She wore a clean-looking tunic, but I spotted a few holes in it. She has blond hair, almost white. It looked bleached by sun, and it had a slightly greenish tinge to it.

"Ummm… hi?" I said uncertainly, not entirely sure I could trust this strange girl. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Portia. I live in this cell too." Said the strange girl.

"I'm Athene. Why are you in here?"

"I upset His Majesty"

"What did you do?"

"I smudged his armor," She said simply.

"That got you imprisoned?"

"He's a bit temperamental, if you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, I have. How long have you been in here?"

"I came in when you were sleeping. You were out for a while"

"I don't even remember it. It seemed like five seconds."

"I'm not sure how long you were asleep before I came, but it was almost to the next notch on the sundial since the time I had come in"

"Well can you blame me? I had been captured, told that everything I took to be myths are real, interrogated by a pompous freak who wants me dead, and told I'm not human. That kind of thing is what wears someone out. Anyway, enough about me, you seem pretty cool with the whole 'imprisonment' deal. Have you been here before?"

"Oh this happens all the time, and none of us really ever stay here that long. It's more of a time-out then anything. Although, smudging his armor is a big deal. I might be in here for a few weeks if I know Ares."

"Wow, that's a while. How will you manage?"

"Actually, this room is nicer then the one I usually stay in. Really, these punishments don't do much in the way of discipline. He keeps us in such foul conditions on a regular basis, I know some who mess up on purpose just to go to the punishment rooms."

"Wow Ares must be more horrible than I even thought."

"You've got that right. He doesn't even let us swim!" At this she shivered, as if that was the worst thing in the world.

"Do you like swimming a lot?"

"Of course I do! I am a siren, after all."

"WHAT??"

"Sorry, after the whole 'Athena as your mother' thing I didn't think it would shock you that much."

I would have thought so to, but apparently that's not how I work. See, sirens are supposed to be a kind of mermaid that sings to sailors to lure them into rocky coves and cause shipwrecks, on purpose.

"Umm, aren't they kind of…bad? And how did you know who I am?"

"Oh, I'm a good siren. My mom always thought it was wrong to kill those poor innocent sailors, so she raised me the same way. And everybody knows who you are! You're Athena's daughter. She's supposedly a virgin, but it leaked out somehow in our world that she married a mortal and had a child with him. That she had you.

See, the children of gods and goddesses always have special powers, and a long time ago, when the prophet of Delphi was only a child, he got his first prophecy, 'Two who never should will be, and born to them will come our queen. She will be brave, she will be smart, and she will be fair and pure of heart. With powers no human will ever own, this great child shall take the throne.' Powers no human can possess? Two who should will be? I don't know about you, but that sounds to me a lot like you!"

This was just too much. On top of everything, people tell me I'm a part of some bogus prophecy??

"Umm. No, no, no, I think you've made some mistake, I, I can't be this girl, I'm not that smart, or brave, I don't have any powers! It can't be me, I'm nothing! I'm an average girl; I don't even have that many friends!! You can't be telling me I'm supposed to be the queen of Greece!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's you. I don't know that many gods and goddesses who have kids with mortals. Oh, that reminds me, I think I left out the part about you being immortal…"

"OH COME ON!!" I screamed, "REALLY?? I YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT I'M SOME FREAK KID WHO WILL LIVE FOREVER, HAS POWERS FROM HER MOTHER, WHO BY THE WAY IS ATHENA AND SHE'S GONNA BE THE QUEEN OF GREECE????" I was sooo beyond stressed.

I shouldn't have freaked out, though, because Portia shrunk against the wall, looking more scared then I thought possible.

"I'm sorry, Portia. This whole thing is a little stressful. I guess I just reached the snapping point." I explained softly.

"It's ok." She sniffed. "I just never like it when people yell. See, nobody really knows this about me, but I'm an empath."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a person who can sense and control what other's feel. That's why I hate it when people are mad, because I can feel it."

"Oh. Umm. Well. That's… interesting." I faltered.

Portia sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have told you. Your senses are already overloaded as is."

"No, no, it's just… I've never heard of empaths before." I improvised.

Portia looked at me. "Umm, I'm an empath? Don't lie to me I can feel your shock and hesitation."

"Oh, sorry. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings."

She brightened up almost immediately. "It's Ok, sometimes I'm influenced by the feeling of the people around me. You were feeling sad and angry, so I was too."

"Oh, that makes sense." the second after she said this I made a conscious effort to control my attitude. I was bored, so I suggested we play a game, to see if I could lie to Portia convincingly, and fool her into thinking I was telling the truth.

She agreed immediately, and we spent what seemed like hours playing, until, that is, I remembered my dad.

"Have you seen him anywhere?" I asked Portia.

"He was here when I came, asleep just like you, then I dozed off myself, and when I woke up he was gone."