CHAPTER 16: ZEUS AND THE CLOSE ENCOUNTER
“I’ll catch you up” she whispered to Tom “there’s something I’ve got to do” Tom glared at her suspiciously, but let her stroll off; his eye was still painfully bruised and the blood that had seeped out above his eye was now some sore-looking open flesh.
Athena had lied to Tom, she didn’t have anything to do at all, or so she thought. All she needed was some alone time. Today was her first proper day and Seth had already had a stab at making it hell. He had done something else too; he had teased her about her dad and the fact that he was dead. How did he even find out about that? Athena kept trying to dismiss the thought of it being Emma, as she and Tom were the only ones that knew and she was certain that Tom would never tell. However, how well did she really know Emma? Could she ever be sure?
There was one place Athena went to think: her garden, but as she was nowhere near home now. So she’d have to seek refuge in as close as a garden as she could get. The forest.
Running into its swivelling vines, Athena knew no one would’ve seen her. She found the hedge and snuck through to be met by the dazzling Poseidon Lake in all its shimmering glory. There she sat on the low, bench-like branch, ready to finally think.
Suddenly, hundreds of questions about her dad poured into her mind, and that got her thinking even more. How did Ericarni really know her dad? And what were these things that he had apparently done for Ericarni and his race? She needed answers. So Athena went back down the passageway and through to the Mainland. It looked empty of any signs of Ericarni and even the magnificent pines and oaks barely moved in the brisk chill breeze on such a hot summer’s afternoon. Athena called out:
“Ericarni!” she paused for a while, there was no response so she tried again “Ericarni!” but still, nothing. She needed help to find him. Suddenly, as if by magic, Jemeanii her beautiful pure white Caladrius bird appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. Jemeanii tilted his great feathered head and rose up, great wings spread wide, and then he flew slowly forwards. Athena knew enough about Jemeanii to know that she should follow him. So she did exactly that, he led her into a thicket of towering pines that stretched to heaven. Jemeanii was becoming faster and faster, and Athena had to run to keep up. His great snowy wings were gracefully allowing him to glide and fly through the turrets of trees. Jemeanii was now going so fast that Athena could only just make him out. However, now they were so deep into the eerily quiet forest, Athena could barely even see Jemeanii at all. His white speck in the far off distance was slowly vanishing and she could run no further; Jemeanii had gone. It was dark. Suddenly, a rustle came from some nearby shrubbery.
“Ericarni?” Athena spoke “Ericarni...?” still, silence.
If there were centaurs roaming in the forest, there sure as hell would be an array of other beasts. Slowly, she started backing away. Then a low thunderous, hungry growl came from the same place, followed by a ‘snap’ as Athena stepped on a twig. She froze, trying to disguise her heavy breathing. Something was moving out from the shadows; its silhouette grew larger as it came ever closer. What was it? In fact, Athena wasn’t sure she wanted to find out, but something told her that she was about to, regardless.
The creature moved out of the black. It had small pothole, demon-red eyes. Its body and mane were like that of a hideous, muscle-defined lion. Its claws were of an inked black and it had some strange shell-like casing up parts of its legs and toes. Its nose was wrinkled and of a pitch-black as it leered. Its ears were human shaped, but more pointed and covered in the same dirty, sandy-coloured fur as the rest of its body. Dark as night, its black-brown mane frizzed out from its face, with some strange shelled sideburns. Athena suddenly realised why the odd shell bits were there. Coming from a strange exoskeleton black spine on its back, a large scorpion tail protruded outwards, complete with harmful dagger-like sting.
