I knew that I was in big trouble the moment the day began. The fact that I shouldn't even exist was just a bonus.

It was just another summer day for me. I was wandering around my mother's green house. This was my favorite place to be when she was working in the shop. The warmth and sun made me feel alive and powerful. I'd been around plants and wildlife since I was born. Being away from the things I've known all my life makes me feel dead and imprisoned. It's weird, I know but it's the way I am. I'm homeschooled by my mother in the afternoons. Schools cut me away from the outside so I go crazy out and don't remember anything afterward. Somehow I had covered the whole school in poisoned ivy. They had called it vandalism and kicked me out. I spend most of my time home or out trying to get people to sign petitions to preserve the wilderness for my mother. She has this obsession to restore the wild. I think it has something to do with my father. He left when I was little and my mom never talks about him. I think he worked on a preserve or something.

I inhale the earthy sweet air and let out a sigh of content. I stretch out onto grass in the back section. I let my eyelids close over my eyes. Before I can drift off into I hear a crash in the shop. Immediately I jump to my feet and crouch some tables. I creep towards the store, grabbing a small gardening hoe off a table. I roll on the ground to the shop door and peer around the corner. My mother was sweeping up a shattered pot off the floor. I heave out a sigh of relief. Even since this morning I'd been on edge. I was lying in the backyard when I heard a twig snap in the nearby woods. I sat up and strained to see through the darkness. I thought I had seen a giant bull standing on its hind legs but it retreated back into the shadows. I put it off as a trick off the shadows and someone's cow had wandered away from their farm. That happened all the time with the neighboring farms. I set down the hoe and walked into the shop.

"What happened," I ask her.

"Oh I just thought I saw something and this pot slipped out of my hands," she replied. She was trembling and her voice was shaken. I'd never seen my mother like this. It frightened me. She swept up the last of the shards and dumped them in the trash. She handed me the keys to her truck.

"Go and get in the truck honey. Start it for me would you? I'll be there in a moment." I hesitated, extremely unnerved and confused.

"Alright." I'd finally said at last. She looked relieved that I hadn't asked any questions. I didn't feel like I needed to. After all, she's my mom. Why shouldn't I trust her? If it was important I know she would tell me. I walk out on the dirt drive way and hop into the passenger seat, sliding the keys into the ignition and turning. The truck roared to life and then purred idly as I waited for my mom to come out. When she finally did she returned with a knap sack and an old envelope. She clambered in and tossed both onto my lap. I looked at her, completely confused. Was she sending me away? What had I done? I mean I know I was blamed for the whole ivy incident but there were no witnesses and I couldn't remember a thing. When she came to pick me up she said she didn't blame me. Before I could ask her a question, she put the truck into gear and sped off down the road. I clutched onto the knapsack with one hand and the door handle with the other for dear life.

"I'm going to tell you the truth Lilly. I know you deserve nothing but. You're father was a god. A Greek god, to be exact."

"What do you mean 'was'," I interrupt her. "I thought gods couldn't die."

"No but they can fade. The wilderness is being destroyed and so he faded. I've been trying to recreate the wild to see him again but it was stupid to try. This is gonna sound harsh but, you shouldn't exist. You're father was Pan, God of the Wild. He was shouldn't have fallen in love with a mortal, but he did. You weren't supposed to be born, but you were. Because I've selfishly kept you, I've put you in danger."

"So I'm not supposed to be alive?" My heart felt like it had shattered into a thousand pieces. I could feel tears threaten to overflow but I willed them back down. "Where am I going then?"

She looked over at me, sorrow deeply set into her jade eyes. For the first time, I'd noticed she was crying herself. "We're going to a camp for children like you, demi-gods. It'll be safe there."

I felt somewhere in those words was buried a lie, hidden like a snake in the grass, but I was too frightened to find it. In the rearview mirror was the bull I'd seen this morning. It was running after us. It rammed into the truck sending us flying through the air and crashing back into the road. Blood poured from a small cut on my head, matting my brown hair to my head. My mom was bleeding from her nose but she was too busy trying to free us both to notice. When she had finally unlatched our seatbelts she pushed me out of the window. She barely had time to crawl out the truck before the bull had rammed it again. It flew farther down the road and land into an explosion of fire and metal. I was watching the fire in a daze as Mom pulled me to my feet. She kept shoving me forward towards a strawberry farm on the side of the road.

GreatMom.Strawberrieswillreallysaveus. I thought to myself. Then I started to notice other things on the farm like an arena, cabins, and a dragon guarding something that looked like a sheep's fleece. What really stood out was the centaur and a cluster of hundreds of campers on top of the hill. The sun glared in my eyes as I tried to make out their faces. I was trying to concentrate so hard that I tripped over a piece of our truck. I slid across the concrete, skinning my knees and hands. I quickly clambered back up and ran as fast as I could. By the sound of it, the bull was right behind us. It took me a minute to notice that I still had a clutch on the knapsack and letter. My mother gave me one last hard shove and I landed in front of the centaur's feet. I turned around in time to see the bull bounce off something that looked like a force field and fly a few yards away. I also noticed that my mom was on the same side as the bull. She smiled sadly at me and waved.

"Mama? Come on Mom. Just two more steps. You love me don't you," I whimpered. The tears became too hard to hold back and they rushed out. She struggled to choke back a sob.

"I can't come with you baby. Mortals can't come across the boundary line easily. I love you so much baby girl." I tried to rush forward to her but the centaur grabbed me and held me back tightly. I screamed and kicked and wriggled but there was no way for me to get loose. I saw the bull get up and shake his head. I saw him lock his eyes onto my mother, and I saw him charge. The whole time my mother never stopped looking at me. If my heart felt like it had been shattered when she said I wasn't supposed to exist, well then this felt like someone was cutting me with those shards.

"I love you Lilly," she said as she blew me a kiss. Those were the last words she would ever say to me because the bull rammed into her, piercing her with his horns and slamming her into a tree. She slumped, dead. I felt all my sadness, anger, and frustration build up deep within me. I screamed like I had never screamed before. Above my head faintly glowed Pan Pipes wrapped in vines of flowers. And that was the last thing I saw before I felt myself slip away.