Inexperienced

'Okay, that was weird. And kinda fun too.' I smiled sideways at Aloisyus, who was sitting on the ground next to me. He was covered in dirt and Hydra-stuff. I guessed I didn't look any better.

Only when I turned to look at him did I see that he was looking at me in a strange way, somewhere in between awed and scared.

'What? What is it?' I asked, panicking slightly.

'You're glowing,' he whispered.

'What?' I exclaimed, jumping up. I looked down at my body to see that he was right. I was giving off a faint golden-green glow. Also, all my cuts and bruises had healed, and my fatigue had faded.

In other words, I felt great.

I held my hands in front of my face to examine their strange illuminating state. Aloisyus came towards me and laced his fingers through mine. I let our intwined hands fall between us, and he took a step towards me.

'It suits you.' He smiled shyly. 'Can I kiss you?'

I understood why he asked. He knew my doubts about whether I was in really love with him.

I shook my head.

'I should figure out some things first, okay?'

He nodded, and I could see that he understood.

I let go of one of his hands and took a step back.

'Would you guide me to Olympus? I want to meet my dad, and I need to make the decision about my immortality. Olympus seems the best place to do that. '

I could probably have zapped us there, but I wasn't really practiced in that, and I wanted some time to think.

'Yeah. It's on top of the Empire States Building, so you'll probably be able to find it too.'

I suddenly remembered reading about that in the books, and I smiled. It still was something to get used to.

~

Now that I could see through the Mist, I could see Mount Olympus from far off. It looked a little eerie, a mountaintop cloaked in clouds just floating there, above the Empire States Building. Everywhere colorful fires were lit, casting the mountaintop in a multicolored glow. Temple-like buildings littered the mountainside, and at the summit a large white building stood. I guessed that was the Hall of the Gods.

The entire time that the Empire States Building was visible, I gazed up at it, causing myself to bump into things and people on several occasions.

At some point, my glowing skin faded, but people hadn't noticed it anyway. The Mist shrouded anything out of the ordinary.

Except for my blue hair, but that existed in the mortal world, too.

The golden-green glow had probably been caused by the thrill of the fight, and the use of my powers. It seemed that I was becoming a goddess more and more. I always had been, of course, but now it was starting to show.

Aloisyus stopped walking, and it pulled me out of my reveries. We were standing in front of the Empire States Building.

Aloisyus opened the door and walked in. I followed him, looking around. There was an elevator, and a desk behind which a security guard sat reading. It was towards the latter that Aloisyus approached.

He knocked on the desk.

'We need to get to the 600th floor.'

The guard glanced up from his book, then looked down again.

'There's no such thing, boy, ' he said, but it sounded rehearsed, like he said it a lot.

'Oh, I'm sure there is.' I smiled at him sweetly. 'And you're going to get us there.'

'What for?' he asked, still not putting alway his book. I could understand. It was The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling. I hadn't realized that it had been released yet, and I made a silent promise to myself to visit a bookstore as soon as possible.

'Oh, I dunno, maybe to talk to some gods, like, um, my father.' I studied my nails, trying to look unimpressed. I'd gotten his attention, because he put his book away.

'And who might that be? Who even are you?'

I tried to look imposing.

'I am Anne, daughter of Poseidon and the muse Epistema, and this is Aloisyus, he's a satyr. I think we have the fullest right to go upstairs.'

The guard blanched. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed a square of plastic from his desk.

'I'm sorry, I hadn't realized...' I felt a little sorry for him, but this was probably the only way. He handed me the plastic card.

'This is a key card. If you insert it in the security slot, the button to the 600th floor should appear.'

I smiled at him, and, thanking him, walked towards the elevator. Aloisyus looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. I was a goddess, after all.

I did as the guard had instructed. Too soon, the elevator pinged and the doors slid open.

Aloisyus was holding my hand, and he squeezed it. I took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

Notes