Page 89 of Zeus' Spark
“Here goes nothing, I guess.” I pull the small box with the god of the east wind depicted on it from my bag and twist the lid just a tiny bit.
Wind hisses from it, swirling in a cyclone in front of me.
“Close it. Hurry,” Raven yells.
I twist the lid on the box. The cyclone plows through the jaguar then circles back to send the bear hurtling away from us.
“Fucking run,” I scream.
We all race to the entrance, but it’s crammed with people trying to get out.
People are pushing, shoving, and trampling over others to get out. It’s mass chaos.
A little girl is lying on the ground with her hands over her head as people run her over. I grab the little girl and pull her into my arms.
“You guys go. I’ll catch up. Get Greyson out of here.”
“What are you doing, Beth?” Jayden grabs my arm, spinning me to him.
“I need to get her to the guard shack so someone can find her parents,” I yell back.
She doesn’t look like she’s injured, maybe just a couple bumps and bruises, but she’s clinging to me and crying softly for her mom.
“Shhh, I’ll get you to someone who can help you,” I tell her softly, hugging her to my chest.
“Let’s get her outside the gates. I’m sure there are police en route, and we can hand her off to them.” Raven pushes me forward, and I nod.
“It’s okay, honey. We’re going to get you out of here and back to your mommy, okay? What’s your name?” I ask soothingly.
“Annie.” She sniffles as we race through the gates.
Luckily, I don’t see any other people trampled on the way out.
We move away from the gates to stand off to the side and let people through while we wait to see if her mom is nearby.
“Annie,” a woman screams frantically, and her head pops up from my shoulder.
The woman doesn’t see us yet. Annie yells for her, and she rushes to our side.
“Oh my gods, thank you.”
Jayden’s head snaps in the woman’s direction.
“Are you…?” he begins.
The woman’s eyes widen as she realizes what she let slip in front of strangers.
“It’s okay. Is Annie a demigod?” I whisper.
The woman nods. “She’s a seer. It’s been rough. Her powers came in way too early. We have been on the run for a while, but she insisted that she needed to be at the zoo today. She had something to tell someone. I’m guessing that someone is you.”
“Did you see me in your vision, Annie?” I ask, and she nods, her little gray eyes bright from her tears. “Well, I wish you hadn’t gotten trampled just to talk to me.”
“Bethany, daughter of Zeus. War is coming, and it threatens to split the pantheon. Only you can stop the destruction of all the Earth,” Annie says cryptically, and I wince.
What the hell is Apollo doing giving this tiny little girl visions of chaos and destruction?
It’s cruel.
