Zoe Jackson - Chapter 10

If you ever wake up feeling like your head is made out of concrete, I sincerely hope that you don't do it around noon at Babylon.
All I could do when I blinked in the sunlight was groan.
"Zoe!" yelled a childish voice - Holly came over to me and gave me a surprisingly tight hug. For someone her age, she was pretty strong.
Wait, no. She'd said that she was four hundred years old.
Anyway, I eventually forced myself to get up and kick Jack into doing the same.
We were still on the marble steps we'd crashed on, what, a day ago? Two days? I'd lost count.
"OK, so now we're here, we have to find a muse, right?" said Jack, once we had found a shady alley nearby.
"Yep. But Babylon is, like, the size of Paris," I answered.
"It's too hot to trek across this city!" said Holly. Jack nodded.
"What choice do we have?" I asked. We all sighed and left our alley sanctuary. After what seemed like hours, we were all exhausted and sweating litres. Suddenly, we came across the Gardens again, and music was playing. Without consulting my two friends, I hiked up the steps and towards the source of the sound.
A wedding.
"O...kay..." I panted - my climb had drained most of what was left of my energy.
People dressed in bright colors danced across a pavilion. Then - I saw her.
She was by far the most beautiful girl at the party. She had warm brown hair and green eyes like emeralds. She wore a pure white robe, which exposed her perfectly tanned shoulders, and a crown of silver.
I tried to push myself through the dancers, but it took me ages to reach the spot where she had been. By then, she had pranced off to another area.
Having finally caught up with her, I panted, "Excuse me..." She swivelled around, her facial expression one of surprise.
"American?" she guessed. Then she saw my outfit, and got even more excited. "You're a time-traveller?!"
"You're a Muse, am I correct?"
"Yes! Yes, I am."
"You were kidnapped, remember? I'm going to take you back to Olympus."
"Really?" She looked hopeful. Unlike Clio, she was obviously home-sick.
"Yeah. Come on." I began to lead her away from the party, but she wouldn't move.
"I can't," she said, her voice thin and weak.
"Why?" I demanded, anxious to get back to Jack and Holly.
"Because... I'm married."
"WHAT?"
"This is my wedding! I can't just leave."
"I don't see why."
"I swore to my husband that I would never leave his side or be disloyal to him! And he promised the same to me.:
"Why the Hades did you get married, then?!"
"I was forced into it!"
"Well then just LEAVE! We don't have much time, you know!" She still looked pretty upset, but she didn't protest when I dragged her away from the dance floor. I had a plan to stop her from staying.
"Holly, how do you wactivate your evil-succubus mode?" I whispered to Holly, once we had found her and Jack.
"Um, you want me to kill you?"
"No... but I want you to lead a certain married man astray."
"Oh. Sure! Which one?" Um... okay? A kid who looked only nine was eager to flirt with the groom. I pointed to the man who was the muse's 'husband'.
Five minutes later, she skipped back to me and smiled sweetly.
"Job done!" I turned to the bride and told her, trying to put on a sad face, that her husband had flirted with a lttle girl. I think that she guessed what I had done, but she sighed and followed us into a small grove. I fiddled with the locket which still hung around my neck, and held it in my palm. I gritted my teeth and opened it.
No matter how many times I went into that void, I never got used to it. It was always just as chaotic and crushing... I could barely breathe when I tumbled out onto the marble floor of Olympus.
"Thank you. Thank you!" The Muse was crying with joy. She pulled us each into a hug.
"Excuse me, but, before we leave, could you please tell us which Muse you are?" asked Jack, pulling himself out of a bear hug.
"I'm Euterpe, muse of music," she smiled. (A/N: Euterpe IS the muse of music, riiigght? ) I realized that I should have guessed. Her voice was musical and she had permanently held a lyre during the whole rescue.
She thanked us again and began running up to her father's throne room.
"Wait!" I called. She turned around. Jack and Holly looked at me quizically.
"Yes?"
"Do you... do you remember anything about who kidnapped you?"
"No... well, actually, come to think of it... Someone laughing. A booming man's voice. I didn't see him, but I think that Terpischore did. You should go find her next."
"Thanks. I suppose--" The black sky rumbled, shaking Olympus. A minor goddess walking by yelped, then turned to us.
"It has been like this for days. Lord Zeus still hasn't found the source of this, but... oh! Why should I lie? It's very, very bad," she said, before sprinting off down a street.
"Maybe you should go immediately," said Euterpe. She was very pale, and looked like she was going to throw up. I nodded and turned to Jack. Suddenly, he looked much older... oh well. At the moment, all I wanted was to find a warm bed.
We walked to Camp Half-Blood, under the setting sun. When Holly looked down into the valley, she was escastic.
"Oh my Gods! Look! It's so cool! Oh my Gods! Oh my-- ow!" She had made a run for camp, but had run head-first into an invisible wall.
"Uh... yeah, okay. I, Jack Right, allow you to enter Camp Half-Blood," said Jack. Holly made it through the force-field and ran screaming down the slope, hands up in the air. This caused most heads to turn - including Mom's and Dad's.
"Zoe!" yelled Mom. She dropped her shovel and ran towards me. When she got over to us she tackled me into a hug.
"Where have you BEEN, you stupid girl! We were worried sick! We thought you were dead!"
"Why?" Dad had arrived too.
"You've been gone for how long, do you think?" he said.
"A week?"
"No, Zoe. You've been missing for a year."

(A/N: CLIFFY THE RED-NOSED TORTURE, HAD A SHINY SHINY END. (get it?))