Okay guys, this is my first multi-chapter, and my second story. Just for clarification, there will be a lot of names and stuff that are multi-cultural. This is because in this story, the Greek gods are cosmopolitan. That'll be important to the story line. By the way, all the gods and goddesses are bisexual. The Ancient Greeks were very accepting of people who weren't heterosexual, and Zeus even had homosexual relations with Ganymede. Thank you for all the hits, favorites, and such. Please review, and don't forget to send me prompts. Without further ado, here is Outside Influence.
Hermes was a jack-of-all-trades god. This meant he had diversity of children with a diversity of talents. Sometimes his children were brutish sports-jock gods. Most often, he'd get pranking, thieving, and lying gods for children. But sometimes he'd get intellectual children- the ones that excelled in the arts, literature, science, mathematics, history, and inventing. People like Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison, who happened to be demigod children of his. That's why one of the children he was most proud of was Logan.
Logan was the product of Hermes's love for an intelligent Irish aura (air nymph). He was born in a hollow, hence his name, Logan, the Irish Gaelic word meaning the hollow. If there was anything actually hollow about Logan, it sure wasn't his head. But while Logan was strong in the academic world, his social skills were lacking. That wasn't the best thing for a Greco-Roman god to be.
Hermes stepped into Logan's room. "Logan," he said. "We need to talk about something."
"What about?" Logan asked as he placed a half-finished robotic monkey down.
"I'm a little worried."
"About what? They said that I'm so intelligent that I can skip high school and head straight to college. What is there to worry about?"
"That's what I'm worried about. I don't think you'll do good in college."
"Well," corrected Logan. "Why not?"
"I don't think you're socially capable. I want you to go through high school to make friends and find yourself a girlfriend or boyfriend."
"I have friends" said Logan defensively.
"Robots don't count. The first day of Olympus High starts tomorrow. 8:15. Be there."
Logan groaned. This was going to be a rough four years.
Logan made it to school on time. The place was set up like a mix between a platonic academy and a modern American high school. All of the freshmen stood by a column according to what homeroom they were assigned to. Logan stood behind a girl that he thought looked familiar. Her hair looked like wavy flames shooting out of her skull, and after looking at it for a couple seconds, Logan noticed the colors shifting as if it were real fire. She turned around.
"You look familiar. Who are you?"
"I was thinking the same thing. My name is Logan, and I'm the son of Hermes."
"I'm Erena, daughter of Apollo. That's where we must have met; our dads are, like, best friends, if you can call it that."
"Yeah." said Logan.
"You look like you don't want to be here. I thought that you love learning."
"I do, but I already know everything this school has to teach. I'm only hear because my dad thinks that I'm socially undeveloped." Logan thought of something. "You've known some of the people here for a while, right?"
"Yes," Erena responded.
"Could you help integrate me into this foreign society?"
Erena chuckled. "For you this 'society' might be 'foreign', but to most gods our age, this is every day life. And sure, I'll help you."
So Logan began to point to people and groups and Erena described the people and the cliques. When Logan pointed to a particular group, Erena's features contorted in disgust. "That is the popular clique, where all the 'cool' kids are. All the jocks and cheerleaders and whatnot."
Logan looked at them. Most of them wore jackets over their tunics that said what sport team they participated in. There was one guy, however, who didn't wear a jacket. He was tall, tan, well-built, had hazel eyes, and seemed to lead the entire group. Logan asked about him.
"That's James." Erena said. "He isn't on any sports team. His mother happens to be Aphrodite, so he is literally a sex god."
"Oh," said Logan. He saw that people started heading into the building. "It looks like it's time to head in."
The first class of the day was alchemy. Their opening task was to make a simple concoction to turn mice with gray fur into mice with blue fur. Logan got paired with James. Logan had to admit, the sex god was definitely easy on the eyes. After talking with him for about 16 seconds, however, he realized that he hated his personality. Logan did all of the work.
"Gods!" Logan said. "You really don't give a shit about being here, do you?"
"Not really." James replied. "I'm a sex god, I don't need school. Prostitutes make a lot of money."
"I can't believe you would solicit your body when you could try something meaningful."
"Sex is an art." said James. "And back on our earlier subject, you don't seem too thrilled to be here, either."
"I should be in college, but instead I'm here doing simple tasks with a pompous, moronic sex god. I have better things to fill my time!"
"Like what?"
"Like finding a cure for HIV, instead of spreading it."
"Hey! I always use a condom!"
"Not my point." Logan poured the now finished potion onto a rat, turning it the color of the ocean. "You'd be able to make something of your self if you could get your head out of people's genitals and put it were it belongs. And I'd be better off in college."
The bell rang. It was time for art class.
Their first project in art class was to make "whatever they felt like making". Really, is this a high school or a grammar school? thought Logan. Apparently it was more mature than both, because James's detailed yet pornographic sculptures were admired. Oh COME ON! thought Logan. No person has genitalia of those proportions to the rest of the body.
Logan had painted a picture of what looked like the Prague Astronomical Clock. Part of it had been opened up to show its inner workings. As Logan looked around at all the other works of art, he realized that they described the personality of the artist. A son of Ares painted a bloody battlefield. A son of Poseidon had done the same with waves crashing on the beach. A daughter of Hades had sculpted a skull. But Erena was stuck. She stood in front of a blank canvas with chalk pastels in her hand.
Logan went over to her. "Need help?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "I have no idea of what to draw."
"Look deep within yourself and draw the first thing that comes to mind."
Erena thought about that. "Look deep within myself." she said. "I'll give it a try."
. Logan went back to his own painting. He continued for a couple minutes when he heard a scream. He looked over at Erena and saw that her eyes were glowing purple. She then began to draw a detailed and horrific scene. She did so at amazing speed. When she was finished, her eyes stopped glowing and she passed out. She was carried to the infirmary.
People began to discuss her painting immediately. They characters seemed to be moving. It was truly frightening, and nobody knew what it meant. Logan shouted above everybody. "Well isn't it obvious?" he asked. "The vivid details. The vague meaning. The purple eyes and swooning. Her father was Apollo. It's obviously a prophecy."