Nico's Quest

Chapter7

When Zia and Walt portaled through to the sphinx statue on top of Brooklyn House, they found a welcoming committee waiting for them. Not a big one, but an unusual one. As expected, there were two young magicians, who Zia guessed were trainees of Sadie and Carter. Then there was Bast. The cat goddess. It made Zia's skin crawl to be in the presence of a goddess. It went against all of her training to suffer their presence . . . but it was necessary, however much it freaked her out.

The last member of the welcoming committee freaked Zia out even worse than the goddess. Zia didn't know how she knew, but the moment she laid eyes on the tall, dark-haired boy with sea-green eyes, she knew that she was in the presence of a son of Poseidon.

"Demigod," she said, and took a step back, ready to defend herself.

"What?" Walt looked at her sideways.

"How'd you know?" asked the demigod.

"I don't know," said Zia. "I just did."

"Residual knowledge that Nephthys left in your mind," said Bast. The cat goddess was staring at her sharply when Zia looked her way. "You are no longer the river goddess's host. Pity. We could have used the extra firepower. Or waterpower, as I guess it would be. But her consciousness melded with yours enough that you have some of her knowledge and instincts, whether you want it or not." Then under her breath she added, "That should make things interesting."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Zia.

"You'll find out soon enough, darling. But where are my manners? I'm Bast, as you already must know. That's Julian, one of our trainees, this is Alyssa . . . and this, fine young demigod, who I have the privilege of introducing to you is Percy Jackson. The son of Poseidon."

It was the way Bast said 'Posiedon' that made Zia's hackles rise. It felt like a challenge and a threat, and on some level, Zia felt like she needed to destroy Percy. Not because of any malicious reasons, but because he was a danger to her. He was the son of a water deity whose domain was so much greater than her own. Not just Poseidon's son, but a power source as well, since the Greek gods drew strength from their children, their children's exploits, and worship, and she could take this opportunity to steal away some of Poseidon's power, ensure that what she needed to protect was safe, if only she could just destroy -

NO!

Zia stumbled backward, away from Percy.

That is not me, she told herself angrily. That is not me! Those thoughts aren't mine! He has done nothing to deserve being harmed, so I will reserve judgment!

"Are you alright?"

The concern in those sea green eyes made Zia feel even worse.

"Yes. I'm fine." Zia looked away.

Percy didn't look convinced. He glanced at Bast, then the Egyptian magicians, as though he expected one of them to say something, then he seemed to remember that with the exception of Walt, they knew no more about her than he did. "Well, if you need help or something, just let one of us know, and we'll try to help you. But we need to concentrate on the house's defenses now. We just came up here to make sure it was you guys who portaled in, rather than the House of Life freaks. Why don't you come back down inside with us? Julian and Alyssa will be covering the roof during the battle."

"Actually," Zia spoke up, "I would like to request that post as well."

"Your specialty is fire, if I remember right, no?" asked Bast. Then she looked at Percy. "Up here she will be able to use her powers to their full extent. You remember what happened the last time we had a magician with a fire affinity fighting inside."