He was standing in the middle of nowhere.

It was dark, so dark that he couldn't even see his own hands if he had been waving them right in front of his face. But somehow he knew wherever he was big and empty. It had that feeling.

He didn't know why he was standing there, but he got the feeling that he was supposed to wait for something, which was frustrating, because he hated waiting for anything.

He tried to move, to get some feel of the place, but found that he couldn't. He was rooted to the spot.

He wanted to scream but found that he couldn't do that either.

The air around him tingled. It smelled odd, and he felt a feeling inside of his gut. Something was about to happen.

For a moment, he was so tensed up for whatever was about to happen that the blood seemed to be rushing to his ears, blocking off his sense of hearing so that he couldn't even hear his own heartbeat in his ears. His palms were dripping with sweat.

Then an earth-shattering BOOM sounded around him. It charged through the roadblock in his ears, making him want to cover his ears and curl up into a ball, but finding he also can't do that (he was seriously hating this place). He was stunned for a few seconds but was recovering when something else happened that made him nearly have a heart attack.

A jagged, white light came down from the top, whatever it was, and shot down to the ground with a CRACK. The impact was so explosive that he expected again to topple over or something. Debris flew everywhere, miraculously missing him.

He stared at where the light had hit, frozen. He had never seen this thing before. What was it? It seemed dangerous and deadly. It was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen his life.

Just as he was playing the whole thing over in his head again, the jagged light came down again. He stared at it in awe and fear as it struck…

Right on top of his head.

"AHHHHHHH!" Zeus yelled, sitting up his pallet, his blanket falling to his knees. He gasped and looked around, sweat dampening his bed and his blond hair. He was breathing in big gulps, and his heart was racing a hundred miles a minute. He shook his head, trying to calm himself.

It's okay, he told himself, feeling scared without really knowing why. It's just a dream. You're not going to die. You're back in the nice, safe, quiet, non-threatening cave.

"ZEUS!" a shrill voice sounded outside of Zeus's room. There was a loud thumping of footsteps approaching closer as the owner of the voice rushed in through the door, a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Did you fall out of your bed? Are you hurt?" the woman ranted, as she came over and gave Zeus a very thorough once-over check. A goat followed her in, bleating loudly.

"I'm fine, Adrasteia, don't worry so much." Zeus said, trying to reassure his caretaker, which wasn't easy, because she worries about a million things every day.

Adrasteia gave him a stern look. "Well, you sure didn't sound fine when you woke up. And how can I not worry about you?" she gestured wildly. "Screaming your lungs off first thing in the morning, messing up your bed, waking the goat up…" The goat gave another bleat at this. "You should be glad that I'm not making you walk the goat right now!" For some reason, every time Zeus did something wrong, Adrasteia always made him walk the goat.

Zeus tried to make himself look more normal. "Look, Addie, I'm really okay now! I just feel a little hot and dizzy right now, but I'm-" his words were cut off as Addie gave a strangled scream as she pushed him down on his bed, pull the blankets right under his chin, and practically shoved him into the bed as she placed her hand on his forehead, checking his forehead.

"You have a fever." She said a few moments later. She was trying not to scream again. "You. Must. Stay. In. Bed." She stood up and paced the room, muttering to herself.

"But I don't have a fever." Zeus tried to say between her mutterings, but she just ignored him. Zeus caught something like "soup" and "herbs", and knew immediately what was going to happen.

"Addie, it's my birthday today, remember?" Zeus pleaded, trying to sway her before she made her decision. "You can't have a birthday without cake! Please don't make me have that soup. Please! Have mercy on me!" But Addie shook her head, already making up her mind.

"Look, Zeus, I know it's your birthday. Happy twelfth birthday, by the way." She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "But you have a fever, and sometimes drastic situations cause for drastic measures." She went towards the door, and then turned back. "Stay in bed. Do not leave this room. Get rest. I will come with an ice pack shortly. The goat will keep watch." She rattled off before hurrying down the hallway to the kitchen.

Zeus sighed, knowing that once Addie made up her mind about something she'd never change it. He leaned back on to his pillow. Might as well go along with it, he thought.

The goat bleated, like she knew what he was thinking and she agreed.

Not even the goat remembered my birthday. Zeus thought, feeling a bit depressed. This is going to be the worst birthday ever.

For as long as Zeus could remember, he'd always lived in the cave with Addie, his nursemaid, and Amalthea, the goat.

From a very young age, Zeus somehow realized that he wasn't meant to be living here. He was supposed to live somewhere else, with his real parents. Where, he didn't know. Maybe another cave in another mountain or a big palace on Othrys.

As for his parents, Zeus knew nothing about them. He used to spend hours fantasizing about them, wondering who they were and what they looked like. Were they commoners or one of the twelve Titans? Did they give him his blond hair and blue eyes or did he look nothing like them? Now that Zeus was older, he didn't care anymore, but he sometimes couldn't help but wonder…

Did they abandon him for a reason? Were they horrible people who enjoy leaving babies in caves on mountains with total strangers? Or were they simply a couple who just didn't want a child? Did they even remember him?

Now that Zeus was older, he knew he shouldn't be dwelling on these things. After all, he's got Addie, who was the most important person to him in the world, even if she is naggy.

One of the few things he had that he thought had connected to his past was a small, golden ball that fit perfectly in his hand. It was made of pure gold and had rows and rows of jewels embedded in it. When he was a baby, he soon found out that if he pressed the right jewels down, the ball could do amazing things. Like if you press down an emerald and a ruby, the ball would light up with a hundred different colors. Or if you pressed down an amethyst, a topaz, and a garnet, the ball would levitate in the air and shoot beams of light. It was, hands down, his most favorite toy in the world and only he has discovered its secrets. Even now he's still finding out secrets about the ball. But one thing he could never solve was the ball's origin.

Zeus was a hundred percent sure that it wasn't Addie who bought it. It was way too extravagant a thing for goat nymph to buy. It must have come from someone rich, someone who probably lived in the big city on Mount Othrys in a big palace and for some strange reason, decided to spend money to buy a toy for an orphan boy living in a cave on Mount Ida.

But no matter how many times Zeus thought and thought about his past, he just couldn't remember anything. Sometimes, if he tried hard enough and strained his brain so hard he thought it might pop, he could recall shiny golden hair and the smell of earth filling his nostrils. He didn't know what the earth part meant, but he was positive that whoever had the shiny golden hair was his mother. He didn't know why he knew that, he just did.

But what he supposed to do with that memory? After all, there must be hundreds of people in the world who had golden hair. Was he supposed to go through every village and asked every single blond woman he encountered and asked if they ever gave a baby boy? That idea was supposed ridiculous that Zeus switched topics to think about. It gave him a headache whenever he imagined it.

Zeus woke up with a start. He didn't even know that he had fallen asleep. He looked around with blurry eyes and stretched, feeling a lot better than he did in the morning. He noticed that next to his bed was a pile of sheets and stacks of bowls with remains of soup. Zeus shuddered. Addie must have fed it to him when he was sleeping. No wonder there was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Zeus decided he might as well get up and do something. He can't just stay in bed for his birthday, even if the day was going downhill.

Amalthea seemed to have the same idea as he did, because as soon as he was standing she went behind him with unnaturally fast speed, butting him with her sharp horns and almost making him topple through the entrance. He glared at the goat, who was staring back at him with a look of distaste, if a goat could do that.

Zeus got the hint that he should go outside immediately if he ever wanted to sit down again, so he yelled, "I'm going out!" in the direction of Addie's room. Addie yelled something back that Zeus couldn't hear, but was probably something about hygiene or not going into the other cave.

Which was weird, because there was no other cave. At least, not anymore.

For as long as Zeus could remember, ever since he could walk, he was told firmly that he could never, ever go into the other cave. Zeus didn't know why, because when he asked Addie, she never told him. He didn't really get what's so special about the cave. It looked like any other ordinary cave, rocks and all. One time, when Addie was out to visit Melissa the bee-nymph for some honey, Zeus gathered up his courage and tiptoed into the cave entrance. That was the first and last time he ever went in there, because the cave had scared him out of his wits.

When he first went in there, the first he noticed was the smell. You couldn't miss it, because it was so strong. It was the smell of earth.

It smelled like flowers and dirt, trees and grass, mud and stone. It smelled as if someone had decided to dump nature inside a tiny cave. The smell was so intoxicating and, well, earthy, that Zeus sneezed twice.

For some reason, the smell made Zeus nervous. Later, he realized that it was the exact same smell from his memory.

Zeus was determined not to be scared of just a smell, so he forged on. He walked through the cave, noticing that the cave no longer seemed to be made of rock, but vines and flowers and dirt as the cave came to the end, which was filled with light.

Zeus was amazed. He began to run towards the light, Addie's instructions completely forgotten. How could she have kept this from him? But that was just like her, never letting him have fun.

He finally reached the end and the source of the light. Not even Helios's chariot can give off light this bright. It completely dispelled the darkness, blinding Zeus.

He managed to walk through, covering his eyes with his arm. When he thought it was safe to peek, he nearly fainted.

In front of him was the biggest tree he ever seen. It reached up towards the sky, the branches covering practically a small town. The leaves were huge, some even bigger than Zeus, and all in different shades of green. There were vines and flowers covering the trunk, which was so thick and tall that Zeus felt like an ant compared to it. The roots came out of the ground, practically burying Zeus. And the scent the tree gave off nearly swept his off his feet, because it was so overpowering. This must be where the smell was coming from, Zeus thought as he stared at the tree in wonder.

How could someone missed this giant of a tree? He had never seen this tree in his life, and he had a feeling it was in another world, hidden by magic. Whole cities probably could have lived in this tree, feeding off the giant fruit and drinking off the lake-sized dew on the leaves.

Zeus was so busy staring at the tree that he didn't notice the old lady sneaking up on him. She tapped him on the shoulder and Zeus thought his heart might explode. She had been so quiet, her footsteps barely rustling the tall grass.

"Welcome, young man, to the Garden." The old lady said in a surprisingly young sounding voice. She didn't look extraordinary or anything. Her grey hair peeked out from under her hood, and wrinkles covered her face like lines on a map. But her eyes, even though they were squinting, were a bright shade of green.

"Um…hello. I was just, uh, visiting. I didn't do anything!" Zeus stammered, wondering why he felt so nervous. He backed up to the entrance. Why am I so scared of an old lady, the still calm part of his brain thought.

The old women smiled, exposing perfectly white teeth. "A visitor? Well, why didn't you say so? It is rare that we have anyone come here. I don't think the whole 'secret' thing helps, though." Even though, she was still smiling, her eyes were hard as she looked at him. "And you, young man, shouldn't you be getting back to your caretaker? She would be home any minute now, and I imagine that she would deeply worry when she realizes her charge in missing."

"H-how do you know I have a guardian?" Zeus practically squeaked, feeling like the old woman was growing taller and taller. Why am I acting this way? The rational part of his brain continued to scream, and why do I feel like I know her?

The old woman ignored his question. "This behavior is simply not acceptable for a young man of your destiny and lineage! Disobeying your guardian, shirking off responsibility! How can you become king with this attitude?" she lectured.

Zeus just stared at her, wondering if the old woman was senile or something. Did she just say "become king"? Him? And what about his destiny and lineage? Did this woman know his parents? He opened his mouth to ask a question, but what came out of his mouth was, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The old woman's face softened, and she smiled gently. "My dear, everyone knows me. After all, I created them." Then she pushed him towards the tunnel. "Now go! And don't come back until you're ready!"

Ready for what? Zeus thought as he stumbled through the dark going outside. The old lady must be insane, he thought.

When he went outside, he breathed a sigh of relief. The sunlight was so dim compared to the light inside the cave. He turned back, wondering if he could see the light from here. And then his jaw dropped.

Because the cave with the tree disappeared.

Zeus was wandering outside, playing with the bunnies and squirrels. The other cave still wasn't there. Didn't Addie know that the cave was gone? He thought, as one of the bunnies jumped up on his arm.

He went inside the forest, stretching his half-asleep legs, feeling the pins-and-needles sensation in his feet. The forest always made him feel good, because no matter how deep he went inside, he could always find his way out. The animals followed him like he was hypnotizing them.

He sat down under his favorite tree, an oak, and thought about everything. His memories, his life, Addie, even the other cave. The old woman's words came back to him. What was his destiny? Was he meant to go on living in a cave forever, or something bigger?

"You guys think I can become a king?" he said to the animals gathered around him, not really expecting them to respond. "Yeah right. That'll happen. King of Lame, maybe."

The animals looked at him with their beady eyes.

Zeus decided to drop the subject.

It was getting dark by the time Zeus decided to return to the cave. There were storm clouds gathering in the sky. It was going to rain soon, and Zeus had no intention to catch a cold for real. He said farewell to the animals and rushed to the cave just as thunder boomed above him.

He made it in just as the rain started to pour down. He turned to stare at the storm.

Unlike most children, when Zeus was little, he wasn't afraid of storms at all. On the contrary, he used to wish for everyday to be raining. Something about thunder calmed him down and made him feel happy for no particular reason. He loved the sound of rain falling and the color of the clouds covering the sky. Storms were the equivalent to lullabies to Zeus.

A loud crashing sound followed by curses broke Zeus out of his reverie.

Zeus tensed. Was there someone in the cave with Addie? Addie never swore, or drop stuff. Was there a burglar here? If so, why would they rob a cave?

Zeus tried to shake off his fears and tiptoed towards where he heard the sound, which seemed to be in the direction of the kitchen. As he got closer, he imagined in his head what he would do to catch the burglar: he'll hide behind the curtain, and as the burglar turned his back unwittingly, he'll leap out, pounce on him, and become the hero of the day. Maybe that'll make this day better.

As he approached the door, Zeus could feel his heart beating so fast and loud, it's a wonder that the burglar hadn't already heard him. As he went closer to the kitchen, he heard hushed voices yelling at each other quietly, if that was possible. Zeus tensed his muscles, ready to jump in. He silently counted in his head: One, two…

THREE!

"AAAAHHHH!" Zeus yelled, jumping on the first figure he saw. The figure responded by yelling back and trying to pry Zeus off his back, who was grabbing on pretty tightly and kicking the figure's back as he held on.

"Get off me, you blockhead!" the man—Zeus decided it had to be a man—yelled in a familiar sounding voice. "It's me! Kelmis!"

Zeus froze, making his fingers losing their grip on Kelmis and dropping on the floor. The pain was forgotten as embarrassment took over. He stared up at Kelmis weakly, who was glaring down at him. "K-Kelmis? It's y-you? I thought a burglar broke in here!"

Kelmis snorted, reaching down and setting Zeus upright. "A burglar? You must have bumped your head on something, boy, to think of something so ridiculous. This cave is impenetrable. Nothing can get in."

Zeus was about to ask Kelmis if he was insane when another voice piped up from somewhere near the counter. "Hey, Kelmis? You're supposed to be hiding, you idiot!" Zeus spun towards the voice in bewilderment when from behind someone else yelled, "Surprise!"

He could only stare as the kitchen was magically filled with people he knew, who seemed to be coming out of nowhere. There were Kelmis's brothers, the Curetes, who were groaning because of the tiny spaces they had to hide in because of their size. There were some nymphs from the forest, who were smiling at him in that nymph way. Even Melissa the bee-nymph was there, buzzing around on her iridescent wings. And of course, Addie and the goat were there. Addie was smiling at him and holding out her arms.

"You didn't think I forgot, did you?" she said.

Zeus could only stare.

The party was the best Zeus had ever had.

There was cake, topped with Melissa's special honey, and lots and lots of treats, all of which contained large amounts of sugar. There was entertainment, in which the Curetes told their travel stories and the nymphs did their nature magic. And of course, there were presents. Zeus's favorite was the knife from Kelmis, but it Addie didn't seem to approve of it.

When it was midnight, the guests were getting ready to leave. Zeus felt exhausted by happy. He should never have doubted Addie. This day was cannot possibly be ruined.

And then there came the woman.


Yes, finally! I finally finished this chapter! I'm so sorry for the delay! No amount of sorry could possibly make up for this! High school was beating me up and my computer broke down! *sobs*

Anyway, I hope anyone who is still reading this (doubtful) can forgive a sucky author for her crimes.