Chapter 44.
"Right, I'd say that that boat is twenty meters away now." Jessica announces.
I turn around and I see my brother facing towards me. He waves.
"Oh gods." I murmur, getting my paddle.
"Go go go go go!" Jessica chants, getting her paddle as I stick mine into the water. We go at a moderately fast pace. "They're speeding up." She cries.
"They may take our lives!" I yell
"But they will never take," Jessica continues
"Our freedom!" I scream.
"Jeez, and I thought Drew was Dramatic!" Liam calls.
"Leave us alone!" I respond.
"I need to talk to you." I hear Grace shout back. Then the water around us starts to get choppy and I get splashed by waves. I shriek. "Stop it!" Jessica cries. "I have my iPod in my pocket!"
"I can't stop it." Grace yells.
"Well, just, I don't know. Think happy thoughts." I shout as the boat tilts up and down and the inside is now soaked. "Flipping pizza." Grace yells. "Oh look, it's not working!"
Jessica takes out an iPod touch from her pocket and holds it above her head. "We're going in." She murmurs before the boat tilts dramatically and I fall on my back. I glance out into the water and see a girl under the water with blond hair spilling out everywhere giggling and waving up to me. "Ignore them, they flirt with anyone who looks their way." Jessica says.
"And here I was thinking I was special." I reply before getting sprayed with water.
"Ok, I think it's stopped now." Grace sighs with relief.
"Why couldn't you have just waited until I got back?" I reply. Liam and Grace have paddled up so that they're boat is side by side with our boat now. "Katy, don't go back." Grace warns.
"Why?" I ask.
"Zeus is on the war path. He wants to see you. Thalia warned us that that means he wants to with her kill you, or imprison you if you're lucky." Grace bites her lip
"Oh," I say, too stupid to think of anything else.
"Nico is on his way, he said to meet you in the woods and that he'd take you to the underworld. You've got a better chance with Hades than with Zeus. Hades might even let you stay since he hates Zeus, and Zeus probably hates you." Liam adds.
"I can't stay in the underworld for the rest of my life." I reply.
"Just until Zeus calms down. Or better yet, forgets about you." Liam assures me.
"No, Liam. That's a stupid plan. What makes you think Hades won't just rat me out?" I roll my eyes "have you got a better one?" He replies, tilting his chin up.
"I say I'll just go and speak with him. If he wants to kill me, then. Well, it's not like I'm not going to die anyways." I run my hands through my hair. "Besides, there's a chance it might work."
"You're going to regret that." Jessica says.
"Most likely, but I don't want to hide out for the rest of my life." I grab my paddle.
"Don't blame us." Grace says before we start to go back.
It takes ten minutes to get back and when I get off, Liam tells me and Jessica to go straight to Zeus and that he'll sort out the ropes with Grace. "Just so you know, if a storm starts, I'm throwing a celestial bronze net over Zeus and we're running like Hell." Jessica says before we come to the cabins where there is a crowd of teenagers in jeans and bright orange shirts. They all turn to stare at me. Some glare, some laugh and some turn away. The sky is bright blue and I'm not dead yet so I stand tall and walk past.
"Katy!" Nico runs up to me. "I told Liam to tell you to meet me in the woods."
"He did." I reply.
"Then what the bloody Hades are you doing here?" He hisses.
"I'm not living in the underworld for the rest of my life. And your plan has too many ifs in it."
"What? And going to say hi to Zeus doesn't." He laughs.
"I know." I confess. "But I'll try and talk to him."
"He won't let you." He crosses his arms
"I don't know." I press my hand against my forehead. "I just don't want Liam or Grace to get punished into telling where I am, I can't run away from them while I'm still alive. And Jessica has a back up plan."
"What? Throw a dagger at Zeus and run?"
"Close. Please, Nico. I really don't want to spend the rest of my life hiding in the underworld. I think I'll have a better chance if I take my chances." I plead. Even though it doesn't matter whether or not her agrees with me because I'm going to see Zeus anyways.
"Fine. But if you die then I'll be in the underworld saying I told you so." He uncrossed his arms. "And here's the big man, himself." He nods over my shoulder. "Good luck." He grimaces. Then he leaves, and I see him go to cabin 13.
"Thompson." I hear a a voice like thunder behind me. I turn to see a middle aged man with a grey neared and glassy, electric blue eyes that I can see my own reflection in. And all I can think is, I look awful. I almost laugh.
"Hi." I say, holding my hand out. I can practically see my future self face palming.
"Hi." He repeats after me. "Is that it? Hi." He also doesn't shake my hand, so I put it back down. "Oh sorry." I I give a nervous laugh. "How are you?"
"Giiiiirl." I hear a girl's voice.
"I am the king of the gods, and you don't bow down to me?" He states.
"I didn't know I was meant to." I say, but stay standing tall.
"Well," he begins. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not here to turn you into ash or whatever these heroes think this time. That Percy Jackson wouldn't be too happy about that and I did make a promise." He sighs. "In fact, I came here to fix a mistake that was made. For some reason, I could not claim you myself. Whenever I tried to do so, it went, well you saw for yourself." He explains. "So, I came to tell you in person that, Katy Thompson is my daughter." He exclaims and holds my arm up. I try not to act as awkward as I feel. It's silent for thirty seconds before I hear Chiron call "Katy Thompson, daughter of Zeus!" and everyone gets to one knee.
"If you don't mind, I would like a word with my daughter." He says.
He doesn't wait for a reply before he leads me into his cabin.
"I'm not your daughter, am I?" I guess.
"Not at all." He murmurs. "But I would rather have everyone believe that you were my daughter than be humiliated by Hera. I never expected this. Is this how it feels to be cheated on?" He shakes his head.
"I wouldn't know." I say.
"Anyways, we can't have people doubt that you're my child. I give you the ability to control the winds and the weather. Jason and Thalia will teach you to control them."
"You can do that?" I hide my excitement.
"I am Zeus, I can do anything." As soon as he finishes, the room flashes and thunders and I nearly jump put of my skin. "Don't tell me you're afraid of storms." He sighs.
"No, I just don't like surprises." I say.
"Well, I must go. And I heard Nico's plan, by the way. He's lucky you're an optimist." He says before disappearing in a flash. I can still see flashing colours when I open the cabin door.
Holy Hades, there is a lot of orange outside the door.
"That went a lot better than I expected." I mutter.