“My child is distressed, I have to go to her.”

“No, she knows her powers now. It is her guardians’ job to explain what they can. Our time has not yet come.”

“Do you not worry she will be taken from us?”

The smile that lights up her face is absolutely breathtaking. “No, honey. I know what our daughter is capable of. She can do remarkable things when put to the test.”

That is what I am afraid of. She is my child. For twenty-one years I have had to leave her to deal with the human realm and the problems within it. I do not want her to be tested. I want to let her live her life the way a child should. But my War calls to hers. We both know a war is coming, and with me on her side, hopefully she won’t have to face it alone.

 

Why has this happened? My life was finally going somewhere good and now this.

I miss Natalie. She was a crazy girl, but she was my best friend. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did. And her parents, they must be in so much pain having lost their only daughter.

If she were here, she would tell me exactly what to do. As it is I left my phone behind, but who would I call?

As I wallow in my thoughts I sense someone else’s presence. I look up to see Jaxson and Zane both approaching me, an unreadable expression on their faces.

They must think I’m a freak, just like Joy said. I mean, how else could I explain to them that I have no idea what on earth happened back there? It was like a force took control of me and I had no choice but to let it out. 

They approach hesitantly, as if I’ll lash out at them, leaving me to drop my head, not wanting to meet their eyes. It’s not that I feel ashamed, it’s just I have no idea what to say. Will they believe me if I tell them I have no idea what happened or how I did that? Will they think I did it on purpose? Will they treat me differently?

They take a seat on the swings either side of me and we just swing back and forth in silence. After a while, I decide to speak. “I have no idea what happened so don’t expect a repeat.”

They stay silent and my heart feels like it’s being torn apart, when a crow lands on the bar above Jaxson. I can’t help but smile at the way he subtly moves over, as if afraid of being crapped on.

I go over the many times I’ve seen crows lately. Nearly everywhere around here a crow has been watching from the trees. The more I think about it, the more I start to wonder if it has become attached to me. Stupid, I know, but he always seems to show up when I’m having some kind of emotional crisis.

It’s strange but comforting.

Right now, though, the panic in my chest is clawing at me. My head pounds with images I can’t quite make sense of. It feels like memories, but I don’t remember doing any of these things. It all flashes by so fast and I groan in frustration.

“Oh god, I have to leave!” I say abruptly, jumping up and walking away when Jaxson grabs my hand, stopping me from moving.

“Jaxson, please let me go! The whole school saw me. And the coach. Oh god. He’s going to call the police for sure. I have to leave before they try to send me to some kind of freak science lab!” I shout hysterically, pulling in his grip but it’s iron clad.

A zap shoots down my arm forcing him to let me go and tears spring to my eyes knowing I may have hurt him. I can’t stand the thought of hurting one of them. It would kill me to see them hurt because of me.

I need to run. Just as I turn to leave arms wrap around me, keeping me from going anywhere.

“What are you doing? Let me go! I need to go!” I panic, clawing at the arms as Zane holds my face, making me look into his eyes.

“Stop freaking out,” he coaxes, trying to calm me down. “We can explain, just please, don’t run.”

Jaxson sits down on the ground and pulls me into his lap, rocking me back and forth slowly, trying to be comforting but my mind has gone into full-blown panic mode.

Zane crouches down in front of me, his soft pale-brown eyes showing his concern. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. Someone should have explained things to you long ago, but everyone left you in the dark because they thought you wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. My mom wanted to tell you when you got here but your dad said you needed more time.”

Okay … this is freaking me out even more. Am I some kind of abomination? Why would Dad keep me in the dark? Argh! There are too many questions!

Jaxson’s breath in my ear calms me down a little and his voice speaks from behind me, sending a wave of goosebumps down my arms. “We’re the same, Valerie. My brothers and I are demigods. So are you.”

Oh… My… God…

“Yeah, okay, I really need to go,” I tell them calmly, wanting to escape from this situation. Fantasy is one thing, but this is reality — there’s no such thing as demigods.

Zane looks at me with pity in his eyes, “Valerie, we’re not messing with you. You’re a demigod. One of the most powerful demigods to exist in a long time.”

“Okay, I need a drink. Is there wine at the house?” I ask, desperate to drown myself in alcohol. This is just too much for my mind to handle.

Jaxson eases his grip and Zane pulls me to my feet with a grin. “Yeah, Mom has a hidden stash in the cellar. It’s her personal collection but I’m sure she’ll share with you. Now, let’s go home and we’ll explain everything. Carter and Coop should be home by now.”

“What about my dad?” Do I call him home from his trip? Would he even answer? “And your mom? Won’t she be at home?” I ask, worried about how to react, knowing they hid this from me.

Demigod. Wow, it seems so weird to think about it. I really need a glass — bottle — of wine.

“Your father should be home by now. My mom was going to call him after we told her what happened in the gym,” Jaxson explains as we start walking.

He and Zane keep hold of my hands the whole way home. I notice the same crow from the park following us and can’t help but be suspicious.

“So, is there a reason that the crow keeps following me?”

Jaxson looks up with a frown. “We’re not sure. That crow seems to like following you though.”

As we walk up the drive to the house, Carter and Cooper jog the remainder of the distance to meet me. Carter scoops me into a hug first. “I’m sorry we didn’t say anything sooner.”

He places me on my feet and Cooper places a hand over my shoulders as we walk. “You okay, babe?”

I sigh and try not to focus on him calling me ‘babe’ but it’s hard. It makes me feel a lot better at the moment. 

We head inside and move through to the sitting room. I sit down on the floor, needing something stable under me. Carter and Cooper sit down on either side of me, offering the comfort of their touch, and Zane walks in holding an old book. Jaxson has disappeared, most likely to tell his mother we’re home.

Zane throws a huge pillow on the floor and sits down facing me and the twins. Carter reaches over and takes the book from his brother. “As Jax and Zane said at the park, we are all demigods. This book explains our shared history. We figured we could go through it together and get you better acquainted with the basics. I can’t even imagine how overwhelming this must be for you, so any time you have any questions we will do our best to answer them. Are you okay with that?” he asks with a tenderness that catches me off guard. Carter has always been the one to joke and make light of things. This serious side of him is so calming, and if I’m being honest with myself, it’s pretty sexy to see him in a way I’m not sure he shows most others.

I nod, a mix of nervous and excited, resting my chin in my hands and staring at him as he takes a deep breath and opens the book in his lap, reading from it.

“Gods were once isolated to their own realm. Zeus had named it the Realm of Light. All the plants and wildlife were said to be alive yet were able to be controlled by the gods themselves.

“Zeus’s brothers loved him, but there was an undercurrent of tension between them. Poseidon was comfortable with how they lived but Hades felt it would have been better if they all shared the burden of leadership.”

Carter turns the page and passes the book back to Zane who continues to read aloud. “Hades confronted his brother, asking if he would share the leadership of the gods. Zeus had grown power hungry by this point and became enraged, banishing Hades from his presence. Poseidon tried to be the mediator between his brothers, but anger grew and resentment blossomed between Hades and Zeus.

“One day during his wanderings over the land, Zeus came across a portal. He was hesitant to cross it, but when he did he found a place filled with death and destruction, a place he named the Earth Realm in honor of the already named planet Earth.”

Zane pauses and I look to each side of me to see Cooper and Carter are just as enthralled by this as I am. I wonder if they’ve heard it before or if this is the first time for them too?

“While in the Earth Realm, Zeus discovered his power had magnified tenfold. In the Realm of Light he had little control over the elements. On Earth, he could make lightning hit where he wanted and create thunderstorms capable of destroying the realm, if he so wished.

“And so Zeus began to plan. If there were other realms out there, maybe he could deal with Hades by removing him from the Realm of Light? Zeus explored for days until he found another portal. By this time, though, Hades had amassed a following of friends; Hecate, Delphi, Persephone, Ares, and a few others willing to help him in his crusade to claim what his birthright deemed fair — an equal position of leadership in the Realm of Light.”

Jaxson opens the door, takes a look at us, then leaves again. He must have forgotten something.

“On the day Hades had planned to confront his brother, he was thrown into a portal that was much worse than the Earth Realm. This realm held the souls of all who had died and Zeus assumed leaving Hades there would mean his death.

“The realm used to be called the Realm of Souls by its inhabitants until Hades renamed the realm Hell. Because that is what it was to him. He could never return home to see his family. Poseidon looked for his brother, but Hades was only able to travel to the Earth Realm. To travel back to the Light Realm he needed a stronger portal, but one was never found.”

Zane slams the book shut and I raise an eyebrow in confusion. “That’s it?”

He smirks at me. “No, Val, that’s just all that was written by Hermes before he was killed. Zeus showed the other gods how to reach the Earth Realm and the other gods found something they never expected. Life.

“The gods were unable to create life with one another, but when joining with humans, a child could be conceived and born. Poseidon was the first to discover this. His son was born and had power to match the gods, but it was somehow pure in Earth Realm. When he brought his son to the Light Realm something amazing happened. The land crowned him as their next leader.”

Oh, I do not like where this is going.

“In his quest for power Zeus had let his obsession consume him and he murdered his brother and nephew. Hades discovered what had happened to Poseidon and his nephew, but not who was behind their deaths. Every person who had witnessed the death of his brother and nephew was hunted down and tortured to find the person responsible. He went into a murderous rage, destroying all those who served Zeus or assisted in Poseidon’s murder.

“All the gods thought Hades had gone mad because Zeus lied to them, saying that Hades had slipped into the Light Realm and killed Poseidon.”

“Right. Hold the fucking phone. So Poseidon died? And Zeus blamed it on Hades when it was really Zeus? Is that right so far?”

All this talk of Hades has me wondering if the mysterious stranger knows about gods and called himself Hades to mess with me. It couldn’t be the real Hades. Why would a god show interest in me?

Cooper nods, a drawn expression on his face. “Yep, that’s the gist of what we know,” he says sadly.

“So basically, Hades is in hell, occasionally slipping into the Earth Realm while Zeus lives in the Light Realm, only coming to Earth to breed his own army of demigods to hopefully kill Hades,” Carter says as he smiles. I know that he’s trying to soften the blow of my new reality, but I was really enjoying his soft yet serious side. He wraps a comforting arm around me.

Oh shit. Does this mean all the Greek gods are real?

Zane frowns as he sets the book to the side and closes his eyes. “Something else you should know. Today, Valerie, you met Zeus.”

“What do you mean I met Zeus?”

Cooper grips hold of my hand comfortingly. “Coach Daniels is Zeus. Our father.”

No … Fucking … Way …

“Wait, did you just say what I think you said?”

I look at Zane, hoping he’ll say Cooper was just messing with me, but he doesn’t. Instead his eyes sparkle while I freak the fuck out.

“Yes, Valerie, Cooper is telling the truth.”

“So your dad …”

He smiles, waiting for me to gather the words.

“Your dad … is Zeus? That’s what you’re telling me?” I ask, my heart racing.

His grin widens and he rolls on the balls of his feet, pleased I’ve caught on. “Yes, my father is Zeus.”

“Zeus?” I screech out, fucking terrified. “Zeus — the homicidal maniac that framed Hades — is your father, and I just fucking threw him across the room like he was nothing? Is that what you’re fucking telling me Zane?!”

The hysteria in my voice seems to break him as he chuckles.

Jax chooses that moment to walk into the room holding a bottle a wine and a few glasses. “Yes, Val, you just threw the leader of the gods across the room and set his pants on fire so everyone saw his underwear. I’d say you made a marvelous first impression.”

He places the glasses down but I get to my feet and snatch the bottle from him, chugging it down.

Jaxson just grins when I come up for air. “You may want to finish that, seeing as our father will be here any minute.”

Fuck!