Chapter 2: Questions and Revelations

I waited patiently as Emily collected her thoughts and tried to ignore the stinging in my left arm. Our school was in Brooklyn and we both lived in Manhattan, so we had a good 15 to 20 minute drive ahead of us, especially at this time of day. The bus drove along, jostling us around as Emily rubbed her forehead with a frown on her face.

"Okay," she sighed finally. "This may sound crazy, but what I'm about to tell you is true. Just… keep an open mind and hear me out. Trust me, it took me some getting used to, too."

"Are we both crazy then?" I asked with a feeble attempt at a smile.

Emily gave me a weak smile back, took a deep breath and said, "Do you know the Greek gods that we studied in history this year?"

"Like Zeus and Hermes and Apollo?" I asked, curious to see where this was going.

Emily winced slightly and nervously glanced around as if she expected one of the other passengers to attack us, or something. "Yeah, those guys." She said quietly. She took a deep breath and announced, "Well, they were real. In fact they still are, they're alive in the 21st century."

That took a few seconds to process, and when I realized what she meant, all I could say was, "Huh?"

"The Greek gods are alive and living in New York." Emily repeated slowly.

"I heard what you said." I said, looking at her carefully, to see if she was playing some kind of joke on me. But it didn't seem that way; Emily's eyes were dead serious.

"This is not a trick, I swear! Just listen and try to believe me, okay?" Emily asked, a little desperation in her voice.

Emily had never lied to me before, and I had no reason to mistrust her, so I nodded and let her tell her story.

"Well," Emily began. "A long time ago, people still believed in the gods, but when the Roman Empire fell, the culture was lost. But the gods lived on, moving with the western civilization."

I gave Emily a quizzical look as she said this and asked, "The western civilization?"

"Yes," she replied. "The western civilization is an actual force that moves from country to country. The gods are part of that force, or you could say the center of it. As long as the western civilization is alive, so are the gods.

"So the gods never really disappeared. They simply moved. But other cultures didn't support them, so they became less and less known, until they almost vanished. Meanwhile the western civilization moved around Europe, and then in the last couple of centuries it has been here, in the United States of America."

"So you're saying that the Greek gods are here in America right now?" I asked, in disbelief.

"Yes." Emily answered. She looked a little nervous as she brushed her blond hair out of her face and waited for my answer.

Instead I asked another question. "But how does that relate to Veronica?"

"Ah." Emily said. "The gods weren't the only being in myths, were they?"

I racked my brain for a moment, and then it hit me. "Monsters."

Emily nodded in approval. "In the myths, the gods and heroes fought monsters, and they lived on too."

"But how?" I asked, genuinely curious now. "Didn't they die, like a million years ago or something?"

Emily shook her head. "When another person kills a mythical monster, it doesn't really die; it goes down to the underworld and sort of regenerates."

I scrunched my face up and said, "Yuck."

One side of Emily's mouth pulled up into a half smile. "Yuck." She agreed.

"So what exactly was Veronica?" I asked, shuddering involuntarily as I saw her flaming hair, red eyes, and pale white skin in my mind's eye. "A vampire?" I guessed.

Emily shook her head, pressing her lips together and studying me. "Veronica was an empusa. It's kind of like a vampire, I guess, because empuses drink the blood of their victims too."

My stomach churned as I realized that if Emily hadn't showed up, Veronica would have done that to me.

"I've never-" my voice was unnaturally high; embarrassed I cleared my throat and tried again. "I've never heard of that kind of monster before." Whew, better.

Emily didn't seem to have noticed my momentary stumble. She nodded and said, "It's not one of the common myths, but the empuses are the daughters of Hecate and Mormo, the spirit."

"You seem to know a lot about this kind of thing." I noted. I had been a little startled when she had used the present tense to describe Hecate and Mormo, and I was wondering if Emily was just telling me this as a joke.

Emily's mouth twisted into a grimace as she said, "Yeah, I guess I do."

Just then, the bus drove over a bump and it threw my arm against the seat in front of me. I winced and pressed my lips together to stop a moan of pain from escaping.

Emily noticed and her forehead creased in worry. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Is your arm hurting?"

"Not really." I lied giving her what I hoped was a pain-free smile. "I'm a tough guy, remember?"

Emily cracked a little smile and said, "Okay, but if it starts hurting badly, let me know."

I steered the conversation away from me by asking what I thought might be the most pressing question, "So where do you come into all this? Are you a monster too?"

Emily laughed and said, "No, Tristan, I'm not a monster. I promise."

"But what are you then, Emily?" I asked, no longer teasing. "I mean, you look normal, but you had a sword-"

I was cut off by the squealing of the brakes as the bus rolled to a stop. Emily said in a low tone, "I'll tell you when we get inside." And she motioned for me to stand up.

I realized that we were at the right stop, and quickly got up and walked to the front of the bus. But on the way down the stairs, I tripped, as expected, and went tumbling onto the sidewalk. I winced as the motion jarred my arm and quickly scrambled to my feet.

Emily helped me up and we walked quickly to the condo that she shared with her dad. We climbed up to the 2nd level, where Emily's condo was and she fished a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. "I'm home!" Emily called as she shut the door behind us.

Emily's dad, Scott Long, walked into view, grinning as he embraced Emily and kissed her hair. Emily looks amazingly like Scott, except for her hair and her eyes; Scott's hair is light brown and wildly curly while Emily's hair is dark blond and slightly wavy, and Scott's eyes are brown while Emily's eyes are grey. Other than that, Emily is a spitting image of her father.

As I watched Emily in the arms of her father, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously. I hadn't had a real family since I was 4 years old, and sometimes I couldn't help but wonder what my life would have been like if things had gone differently.

Emily looked up at her father and said, "Dad, we had a little trouble after school today."

"What kind of trouble, honey?" Scott asked, his brow crinkling in concern.

Before Emily could answer, I blurted out, "Are Greek Gods real, Scott?" I quickly shut my mouth, embarrassed. So ADHD, I thought.

But understanding dawned on Scott's face and he turned to Emily and said, "So, it was that kind of trouble."

Emily sighed and nodded. She shot a quick glance at me, and then hastily whispered something in Scott's ear.

Scott looked up at me, his face sympathetic, and murmured, as if to himself, "He knows."

I assumed that he was talking about the Greek gods thing, so I nodded and, with a smile, said, "I never would have guessed. Gods and monsters, eh?"

Emily quickly turned to her father and murmured something else in his ear, but this time I caught it; she said, "I haven't told him that part yet."

Scott nodded and turned back to me. I tried to act as if I hadn't heard Emily, but I couldn't help but think, is there more?

Scott asked, with a worried look on his face, "Did either of you get hurt?"

I hurriedly nodded and held out my arm for examination. Scott pealed the torn strips of my former backpack covering my wound, and winced in sympathy when he saw my injury. "Lets get you cleaned up, okay?" he asked. I nodded, and Emily led me into the bathroom.

While Scott cleaned my arm, Emily leaned on the counter next to me and chewed her lip, staring at me. Finally, she seemed to come to a decision. Emily took a deep breath and asked, "Do you remember, on the bus, when you asked me what my connection to all this is?"

I nodded, trying to focus on Emily instead of Scott.

Emily twisted a strand of her hair between her fingers, procrastinating answering the question. She took another deep breath and stole a glance at Scott before turning back to me and looking me straight in the eye. "What else do you remember about the myths, Tristan?"

I thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, they were all about heroes, weren't they? The heroes went around killing monsters, right?"

Emily nodded and said, "Exactly. Well, the heroes are still around too. They're the sons and daughters of the gods. A hero is born when a god and a mortal fall in love and have a kid." Emily chewed her lip, eying me carefully.

I used the hand that wasn't being worked on by Scott to push my long hair out of my face as I thought. Emily had known about Victoria, she had a sword, and her father seemed to know all about this…

Suddenly it hit me like a brick wall, and my eyes widened and I sucked in a deep breath, staring at Emily. My idea sounded so crazy, insane, impossible…. Yet it was the only answer, after all that Emily had told me, that made sense.

"You're a half-god, aren't you?" I asked Emily with wide eyes.

Her eyes studied me, scrutinizing my expression. Then Emily said slowly, "Yes, Tristan, I am. My mother is the goddess Athena."

I was so shocked by the revelation that I couldn't speak for several seconds, in which time Scott finished bandaging my left arm and said, "Well, there you go, Tristan. All fixed up."

I managed to mumble a quick thank you before Emily pulled me off the counter and steered me into the living room, while I followed obediently, still reeling.

She motioned for me to take a seat on the couch and then sat herself in a chair and waited for me to speak. I could tell that she was worried about my opinion, so I quickly said, "Your godliness doesn't change our friendship, so you don't need to worry about that; I'm kind of in the whole my entire perspective on the world just changed state right now."

Emily laughed and said, "Yeah, I know that feeling. But I just want to clear one thing up; I am not a goddess. We usually call ourselves half bloods, actually. Because, you know, we're half-human half-god."

"Huh." I muttered, pondering what she had just said. Then I realized something; "Wait a minute," I exclaimed. "You said we. Are there more half bloods?"

"Yes," Emily said. "There is in fact a special summer camp where half bloods can go, which is what I wanted to talk to you about. Will you come with me this summer?"

I was startled by her question and immediately answered, "But I'm not a half god, I couldn't go."

Emily just sat there, staring at me like I wasn't getting something important. I stared back at her uncomprehendingly. Then realization dawned on me and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I couldn't believe that, after all that had happened today, I had to have this dropped on me too.

In a slightly strangled voice, I asked, "When Veronica was attacking me, she kept calling me 'half blood' and 'godling'. Does this mean I'm a… a half god?"

With a look of almost pity, Emily said slowly, "Yes Tristan, I've suspected it for a while; you have ADHD and dyslexia, which, together, is an almost sure sign of a half blood. Also, you've told me about strange, unexplainable things that have happened to you; you've been attacked by monsters before."

A dozen memories flashed through my mind, of all the bizarre, creepy things that had happened to me; when I was seven years old, my second grade teacher trapping me in the classroom, then transforming into a shriveled hag with wings and how I had thrown a pair of safety scissors at her to make her "go away"; the strange "horses" that I had spotted outside of New York, which seemed to have the upper bodies of men; the bus driver in fourth grade who I could have sworn had ram's horns. And my dad, always telling me that I was special, more special than all the other kids.

I sat frozen in my seat, held down by comprehension, all of the events in my life suddenly making sense. Then the big question came to mind; "But who, then," I whispered to no one in particular, "is my mother?"

Emily, thinking the question was for her, answered, "That is a mystery, Tristan. Did your father never tell you who it is?"

Suddenly, I was angry with my father. "No," I said through gritted teeth. "He didn't tell me. He never even told me what I am."

Emily stared at me looking slightly puzzled. "You actually believe me?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat. "I expected you to accuse me of lying, or just dismiss all this."

I shook my head sadly. "No," I sighed. "I know facts when I see them, and this explains a lot. I'm not sure if I like it, but I know that it's true."

Emily sank back into her chair, looking relieved. Then she said, "Back to my original question: will you come to Camp with me? I really think you would like it there."

I pressed my lips together, and then asked, "Why should I go, Emily? What would there be for me there?"

"For one thing, you would be completely safe from monsters, because the borders of the camp are protected." She answered quickly. "Also, you can train to defend yourself. That's the whole point of the camp, to practice killing monsters."

That definitely appealed to me. I didn't want to be helpless anymore. I knew that if Emily hadn't shown up and taken care of Veronica, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. "Would Joe and Lucy have to pay for it? You know that they would never do that."

Emily shook her head quickly, saying, "No, the camp is completely free. Also, you can stay all the time if you want to; you could leave the Heinburgs."

I bolted upright in my chair, excitement flooding through me; hardy daring to believe it was true. "Really?" I exclaimed, grinning. "I could leave?"

Emily smiled at my happiness and answered, "Absolutely. We could go get your stuff from their place right now and be at camp in an hour."

I jumped up immediately and exclaimed, "Let's move then!" I'm not sure if that was the best choice to make, but everything that Emily had told me so far sounded all right, and I'm impulsive.

Emily grinned and stood up as well. "Off to camp we go!"