Edited 7/31/2015

Twigs snap under his feet as he creeps by my hiding place in a bush. My hand covers my mouth so that he will not hear my loud breaths, though I'm sure he can hear my heartbeat knock against my ribs anyways. His muddy shoes stop then slowly walk the other way. The sound of his footsteps becomes quieter and quieter.

I don't dare move a muscle. One wrong move and my cover will be completely blown.

The thorns of the bush dig into my skin. They leave pinpricks of glittery blood on my body. It's not as golden as the gods' —I would've been a glittering lighthouse in my spot if it was— nor is it as red as mortals'. The small injuries are inconsequential but annoying. I bite my fist to keep myself calm.

The footsteps return. He walks past my spot again while muttering several Greek curses under his breath.

I lean forward to see further down the path. The garden in front of me is empty. The only living souls here are me and the butterflies.

Just when I this he's gone, two hands yank me out of my spot. He holds tight to my waist when I squirm to get away. I jab my elbow into his stomach, expecting him to bend over in pain, but he just stands still. I scream so loud that I'm sure Hades heard me from all the way in the underworld.

Apollo quickly covers my mouth with his hand. I look up and see him choking back snickers. "Dear Zeus, Rina. You almost burst my eardrums," he jokes. Apollo's blonde hair flops into his eyes in the slight breeze. His eyes light up with amusement. Behind the humor is a power only a god can hold

If one takes a long look at Apollo, they won't think of him as anything more than an eighteen-year-old boy who hung out at the beach. His tank top, worn out tennis shoes, messy haircut, and shorts don't help give him a godly appearance, but Apollo likes it that way. He says it makes him more 'relatable' and 'hip'.

"Screw you, Apollo. You didn't have to sneak up on me like that," I jab.

He shrugs. "I can't help it if you're terrible at hiding."

Apollo looks like he's going to say something, but pauses. He grins at me with a glint in the eye that I know too well.

My hand hopelessly clutches his arm. "Apollo, please don't," I beg.

He holds up his hand for silence. "Be quiet, Rina. You sound like my sister. It's not my fault when I feel a haiku coming on." Apollo's pose changed to a more dignified one. "What an awful spot. I found you in five minutes. I can do much better," he recites. Apollo smiles at me with a triumphant look.

I sit cross-legged on the ground. My head tilts in thought. "Last one was six syllables. For it to be a proper haiku, it has to be five," I remind him.

He furrows his eyebrows. "Fine. Change it to 'I can do better' That's five." Apollo counts the syllables several times on his fingers. When he's sure that he's right, he places his hands back to his side.

I shake my head at him then lean back on the ground. The grass tangles itself into my already messy hair. "I don't think you can do better."

Apollo bounces up into the air and lands next to me on the grass. "Never doubt a god."

I raise an eyebrow at him. My bright blonde hair catches in my mouth. I wipe it away. "There's a reason you're not the god of hide-and-seek," I tease. I poke his side.

He points his finger with a fake scowl on his face. He places on a serious mask, but I know underneath he is holding back his laughter. Apollo can't be truly threatening. It goes against his very nature. "You watch your mouth or I'll tan you to a crisp with the sun," he growled.

I scoff. "What are you going to do? Drive your chariot too close to Olympus?"

He crosses his muscular arms over his chest. "Maybe. Maybe I'll just use my godly powers to shoot sun rays out of my hands." Apollo grabs a handful of grass and tosses it at me after looking cautiously around the garden for Aphrodite. If she saw him messing up my appearance like that, she would have his head on a platter.

I crinkle my nose. "You can do that?"

His stern façade crumbles back to his usual, joking self. "No! I'm a god, not a superhero." Apollo throws another handful of grass at me. This time I return fire.

A snap of a twig jerks us both out of our playful game.

I look at Apollo in mock fear. "It's probably Athena coming to find me for our afternoon tutoring."

He places a hand over his heart. "We can't have you learning, can we?" Apollo grabs my wrist and we melt into the air. The colorful garden becomes one with me before fading to a dark-grey fuzziness.

I realize that I closed my eyes during the transition. When I open them, we are high above the garden in an olive tree. The branches bend to give me a comfortable place to sit. I stroke the bark of the tree affectionately.

I pluck an olive and put it in my mouth. Apollo does the same, except for the eating it part. He finds it a better idea to throw it at me. Every time an olive sticks into my thick locks is a small victory for him. With the sticks, leaves, and olives in my hair, I know that if Aphrodite could see me she would be disgusted.

"Stop that," I hiss as the footsteps grow closer.

He raises a golden eyebrow. His eyes flash the same color. "Why should I?" Apollo tosses another olive

"Because Aphrodite will kill you if she sees the condition I'm in, and you're only making it worse with the olives!" I hiss.

"I'm a god, I can't be killed," he laughs.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Oh, she will find a way. You know her as well as I do," I mutter. The wrath of my birth-mother makes him stop immediately.

Athena stops right underneath the tree. Her gray eyes scan the garden for any movement. Her dark green dress seems to blend in with the ground. I don't notice her until she is right below us. When she sees nobody in the garden, she prepares to leave. That is until Apollo tries to throw another olive at me. It bounces off my head and lands at her feet.

She tilts her head to see Apollo and me sitting in the tree. We are covered in dirt from a day of extreme hide-and-seek in the garden (not my idea), leaves are in our hair from running through bushes and other plants to escape after irritating several of Poseidon's horses (again, not my idea), and I am covered with olives. We all know whose fault that is.

Her gaze glances over me until settling on Apollo. Her steely eyes morph into arrows that pierce Apollo's skull. He flinches away from her harsh glare.

"Why did you put Rina in a tree and why is she absolutely filthy?" she asks with a calm and steady voice. Her impatience is effectively hidden behind her soft yet razor-sharp words.

Apollo's face falls slack with disbelief. "Why are you blaming me? Who knows, maybe this is all Rina's fault!" He blinks and his body and clothes become completely clean.

I slap his arm for throwing me under the bus. He glares at me then turns his attention back to the increasingly irritated Athena.

Here comes the disappointment, I think to myself.

"Because you are irresponsible whether you accept it or not. Always has been. Ever since Rina came into our lives you have tried to mark your childish way on her impressionable mind. None of the gods would doubt for a second that this is of your doing. "Athena's lips curl into disgust at my filthy dress, hair, and body.

Apollo looks like he is about to argue, but gives up when her words ring true.

The goddess has some sense of mercy, for his sake. "Don't you have duties to take care of?" Athena asks, her face softening.

Apollo nods. He slaps a hand on my shoulder. "Good luck, kiddo," He whispers. We both know what will happen next: one of her famous lectures. The air folds around the god. It's like the light is bending right around him as he disappears before my eyes.

I carefully climb down the tree so that I don't tear my dress more than I already have. Once Athena can see me clearly, she frowns, looking awfully like Aphrodite whenever I come to her looking like this. And since Apollo had taken to keeping me company most days, it's every single day.

Athena sighs. "It may be wise to fix yourself. There are important decisions about to be made and you need to be at your best," she tells me as she tries to dust off my dress. Her words sound like they have a meaning more than just fixing my appearance. After several moments of dusting off my once white dress, she gives up. "Oh, you can just do it."

I nod and close my eyes. Power surges through my veins. My hair untangles itself. Each strand crawls to its proper place by an invisible force. My dress straightens itself out and the dust rolls off it like water on a raincoat.

Athena nods with approval. The expression on her face reminds me so much of Aphrodite that I'm beginning to think that she is rubbing off on the goddess.

"Much better. Now, we must begin your studies at once."

She turns briskly and walks to a section of the garden designed for me. There are a small table and a chair made just for my height and weight.

Athena waves her hand. A stack of worn books appear. She reads spines until she finds the proper one. Athena hands me the leather-bound book.

"We will start with battle strategies," she states, not looking for my input. I refrain from groaning. Today is going to be a long day

I hand Athena the work she assigned me to finish. She has made me write out dozens of battle plans with detailed instructions on how to carry them out. It's a shame that most of it is more memorize and recite than actually understanding the topic, but Athena doesn't notice. The worst part of it all is that it had to be written in Greek.

She glances over each plan. I stare at her face for any sign of disapproval, but I see none. Her expression is a rock; it doesn't change.

"You did well. We can cut our tutoring short."

I openly gape at the goddess. She has never done this before. If there is anything that Athena values above all else, it is education. Sometimes we end later than usual, but never shorter than we mean to.

"Are you sure? We only worked for an hour," I question cautiously.

Her mouth curves into a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "I just assumed you would want some time to relax and enjoy yourself. It doesn't hurt to take a break from your studies every once in a while"

I stand up in a daze. She looks concerned for me. But why? I bow and mumble a thank you. I rush out of the garden to the streets of Olympus.

I blow my bangs out of my face in annoyance. My whole afternoon will be spent doing nothing. Apollo is gone and Athena has cut my tutoring short, which usually would go far into the afternoon. I consider seeing what the other gods are doing, but they are usually busy. For some reason, they are more panicked than usual. Maybe it has something to do with Hermes's son, Luke, and Kronos. Or perhaps with Thalia, Zeus's daughter, turning sixteen sometime next week. If she has her birthday and she is the child the prophecy speaks of, the fate of Olympus will be decided in a matter of days.

Though they do not talk about it often —at least not in public spaces—they are worried about the future. Some of the minor gods gossip that the titans will rise up again and the world will reform to what it was before the gods. But that's only rumors. It's impossible for that to happen. The gods will never allow it get that far.

A street vendor lures me over with the promise of fruit. I examine the stand with an extravagant variety of fruit from all around the world lined up in neat rows. I decide to be unoriginal and pick an apple. It is only when I'm about to bring it to my lips is when I realize that I have no drachmas with me.

I place it back on the stand. The vendor frowns.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any coins. I can't pay you," I say, truly sorry that I can't buy the amazing apple. It looks as if someone handpicked it and painted the red with a small paintbrush.

She waves her hand as if it is nothing. The woman looks at me with the same expression Athena was looking at me: concern. "Nonsense, Aikarina. This is on the house"

I flinch at the use of my full name, but I don't correct her. I try to smile, but her expression is starting to worry me. One look around the street and I see everyone sneaking glances or openly staring. With trembling hands, I grab the apple and nervously chew on it.

I walk fast down the street to escape the eyes. My speed keeps increasing the more eyes that are on me and soon enough I am sprinting to the only place I know I will be alone. Their eyes follow me but thankfully disappear behind plants and tree branches.

The garden's emptiness welcomes me. The only person here is me. Or so I think. At my table, Ares, God of War, polishes one of his many swords. He runs a clean rag over the metal, holds it up to the light, then repeats. Ares gives an exhausted sigh but doesn't look up.

"Hello, Aikarina. Or should I say Rina, apparently you like that more," he comments. Ares sounds terribly bored. I doubt that he wants to see me. While the feeling is mutual, I can't help but be offended that my grandfather doesn't want to see me.

I bow slightly, knowing that he is expecting me to, even if he's not looking. "Hello Lord Ares. I don't mean to sound rude but why are you here?"

His face turns to me. Ares 's eyes are like there is a fire burning behind them. I want to fight something, anything, but I quickly repress it. I'm not sure if it's because of his aura or my genetic connection to him. My father told me before he was executed by the gods, that our relation to Ares makes us more aggressive than others. He warned me about giving in to the temptation of the fight. There is no reason to give in to it now.

"Your mother is sworn on oath to secrecy, as are most of the gods. I'm not. At least not yet. Nobody suspects that I will e the one to let the cat out of the bag. She asked me to give you a heads up on what's happening." Ares sheaths his sword with a loud swiping noise.

I furrow my eyebrows, trying to think of a reason important enough to send Ares. Ever since the incident where he tried to start a war between the gods a year or two ago, she told me to stay away from him to keep up appearances. Now, she is arranging for us to meet.

"Well?" He taps his food.

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to ask what it is? I know you want to. People have been giving you sappy looks all day, haven't they?"

I look at him confused for several seconds. "Okay... What does she want you to talk to me about?"

He sucks in a deep breath and I know it's going to be a long story. I lean against a tree so my feet won't get tired.

"It's about your genetics. My son and your mother. Something that clearly wasn't supposed to happen. I'm not going to sugar coat it; you're a mistake. It is unheard of for a demigod to procreate with a god. Of course, you already know this. Your father was punished and so was your mother, yada yada yada. Now people are starting to wonder about you. You're more than a halfblood, less than a god, so we're not quite sure what to do with you. Long story short, you're either going to die or get booted off of Olympus."

I place a hand up to my forehead to keep my world steady. It's as if my hand is my anchor to this and if I move it even an inch, I will fly out to space. A sliver of hope says that Ares is lying, but it makes sense in its own way.

"Is that why the gods are meeting more often?" I look up at Ares with wide eyes. He glares at me with a gaze so intense I feel guilty like I did something wrong.

He nods. "They're arguing like crazy. Some want to you stay on Olympus, but that's a lost cause. There's no way the 'guy in charge' will let that happen. Someone said that we should send you down to Camp Halfblood to live with the other children. Several want you dead. Just end the threat now. I'll let you imagine who said that."

It doesn't take a detective to know that is was either Zeus or Ares who brought up the last option. Neither has been very fond of me. I try to hold myself back from lunging for his throat, but I know that is just what he wants. He's the God of War after all.

He chuckles as he walks away. "The decision is tomorrow at sundown. Don't be late." With that, he leaves me alone in my garden at the one time when I wish I wasn't.

This is more than I can handle.