The Lost Daughter

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“How did this happen, what have I done to deserve this?”  I wondered aloud.

The only response I got was a glare from Gemma and a chuckle from Teddy as he turned from the front seat to look back at me, eyes lit up.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you are laughing Theodore.  You’re not being forced to dress like a cheap hooker.”  I huffed, blowing the hair out of my eyes.

“Chloe you are not even showing your bloody bellybutton, stop being such a prude!  You look fit, and I spent a long time trying to make you look as so, so I suggest you shut up unless you want me to make it so you fall in love with a tree.”  Gemma had her bright brown eyes trained on me, almost daring me to complain again.  Remind me again why I befriended the daughter of Aphrodite?

“For what it’s worth, you don’t look cheap, you look like you’d be pretty expensive.  At least $400 a night,”  Roxy was looking earnest, her pale blue eyes wide as she tried to tell me that I at least looked like a high class hooker.  Great.

I was sitting in a large black land cruiser, going to who-knows-where for some party/demigod rave or something.  To be honest I haven’t been able to process anything that’s happened this entire day.  After Adam had used me as a punching bag, Castor carried me back up to the house (much to my surprise) and told everyone about some big party down the street at the local beach bar.  From then on I had been whisked away to Gemma’s room where I was washed, buffed, polished, and dressed for several hours by Gemma and Phoebe.  It was a terrible experience and makes me cringe just thinking about it.

Phoebe did my hair, basically letting it air dry and only curled the few pieces of hair that framed my face, leaving the rest in its natural wavy state.  Gemma did some elaborate smokey eye crap on my face and dressed me in this God awful outfit.  I was basically wearing a strapless cheetah corset-y type thing Gemma called a “bralet” and this tiny black hot pants.  After literally putting up a fight, Gemma let me throw a leather jacket on so I could at least feel somewhat covered up, but she insisted I would just end up taking it off.  

Anyway, now I was sitting in the back of this huge SUV with four other demigods headed to some party that was literally five seconds down the beach from the enormous Zenobia complex.  Apparently, we had to “make an entrance” and we couldn’t do that on foot.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my several days at Zenobia, which is not a lot frustratingly, it’s that demigods are very pretentious and loved to show off their wealth.  I’m guessing it runs in the family.

Castor was driving, and he’s been silent for the entire duration of this 3 minute car ride, which is definitely a novelty.  From the little time I’ve spent with the guy, I’ve gathered that he likes to talk a lot, especially about himself.

“We’re here,”  Ah, there it is.  He turned in his chair to look at me, “Stay with me tonight please, I don’t want anything happening to you.”  

What was I, a toddler?  “Uh, thanks for the concern, but I think I’ll be fine.”  I scoffed and pushed myself out of the car, misjudging the distance from the car to the ground I almost fell.  I quickly righted myself, teetering in my ridiculous heels and did my best strut to the door of the small beach bar that was pulsing with light.

I fell into step with Gemma and Phoebe, who’d been in the car with me.  Phoebe opened the door for us and I gave her a quick “Thanks” as I walked into the building.

From outside, the place looked like a hole, but when you got inside it looked completely different.  After walking down a small set of stairs, I stepped onto the large dance floor that was covered in a barely noticeable layer of sand, but I noticed.  The dance floor was packed with bodies pressed against each other, moving with the rhythm of the heavy bass of the song playing.  Behind the dance floor was a small bar and seating area that faced the ocean, bringing in a nice salty breeze.  Just as I started to head to the center of the dance floor, I felt a hand on the small of my back and then warm breath on my ear fanning over my neck.