Chapter 2

Cecily

As soon as I reached home, after detention, I quickly powered up my old-fashioned computer and keyed up my favorite search engine, Google. I typed Apollo on the search box. As usual, it took forever to load. When it finally loaded, I scrolled through all the NASA websites and some weird Apollo magazines websites until I found a promising site: Wikipedia. I clicked on it and a thousand of information appeared.

In Greek mythology, Apollo is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

Well, that explains the lyre, him being the god of music and all.

I clicked the 'back' button and searched for Artemis. I grabbed a snack while waiting for my browser to load. I began munching on some potato chips. Finally, the browser was done loading.

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the goddess of dark and the moon; forests and hills, child birth, virginity, fertility, the hunt, and often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.

I sighed. I'm sitting here and reading stuff about Greek Gods that don't exist anymore! What is wrong with me? These things are over and done with. Why should I even bother searching about it? I should stop, I keep telling myself.

But I just couldn't. Those 2 dreams are just making me more and more curious.

I clicked 'back' again. This time, I typed: School of Light. Expecting to find another Wiki website explaining everything about the school, I went to the kitchen to dispose of my already-empty packet of chips. When I got back, I scrolled through everything, but couldn't find a single proper site. I could only find sites that explain about 'The Mystery of the Light School' and decipher some spiritual things, which doesn't help a bit.

I amended the search to School of Dark. After a billion years of waiting, there was nothing I could find except for some 'Come to the DARK side…' kind of thing. I sighed and shut down the computer without logging off properly and crawled under the covers of my bed, without taking off my shoes. I'm in need of some serious sleep without any of those weird dreams, even though it's not even close to night yet.

I was alone again. I'm getting quite bored of this similar setting in my dreams. I was walking through metal gates that looked excruciatingly heavy. As I walked, I was beginning to see a building in front of me. It looked very familiar. It looked like the one that appeared in my second dream of the day. Yes, the Hogwarts.

Just when I was about to open the huge door to the school, a hand stopped me. It made my whole body warm all over. Like I was suddenly at the beach soaking up the Sun. I turned and the God of Handsomeness was staring solemnly at me. "Oh," I gasped, totally shocked.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot come in," he told me apologetically, and releasing his iron grip on my shoulder, immediately letting the cold air return to my body.

"Why?" I whined. "But, you're the one who told me I'm going to enroll here," I have decided to play along, since this is a dream, why not, right?

"This is not a dream!" he exclaimed, reading my mind. I took a step back, terrified. He began to regain his composure when he saw my expression. "I'm so sorry for frightening you," he smirked, obviously proud of himself. "Please, you need to wake up now and come with me while you're not sleeping."

"No, I do not want to come with you!" I screamed at him before forcing myself to wake up. I was breathing heavily in short gasps. I sat up and closed my eyes, concentrating on keeping my breathing steady.

"Now, are you ready yet?" A familiar voice called out to me from the open window.

All attempt of breathing steadily vanished as I turned to look at the person who said that. It was Apollo again, now not only appearing in my dreams but also in my reality, my only place of refugee. "What are you doing here?" I finally asked him after calming myself down.

"To bring you to my school, of course," he said matter-of-factly.

I stood up straight and faced him. He was sitting cross legged on the window sill. He was perfectly balanced and comfortable there, a perfect godly statue. It took me a minute to remember what he said. "But did I agree to go?"

"You do not have a choice, Cecily," With lightning speed, he was beside me, taking my hand. "You have to come with me."

"No, I don't have any reason to come with you anywhere. I'm very, very happy here. Thank you." I tried to pry his hand away from mine, but he had such inhuman strength.

"Are you really?" he questioned me.

I thought about my life, my crumbling life. I don't have a caring family. But they're still my family, nothing can change that. I don't have friends. Well, I can't blame anyone. I'm a freak. I don't have expensive clothes. The most I can get is from thrift stores. I'm not pretty. My whole family is blonde and beautiful, while I somehow turned out weirdly ordinary, brown-haired, dark eyed. Well, technically, I'm not happy. I want more. I want to be somebody. But what can I do?

"I'm guessing no," he chuckled at my slow reaction and let go of my hand to sit at the edge of my bed. "You see, you don't belong here. This family is not your family. They adopted you. That's why you're so different," he gave me a minute to think about what he had said. "Your real parents are waiting for you. So all you need to do is come with me," he reached out to take hold of my hand again.

By then, I was fuming. How dare he conjure up stupid stories to make me come with him? Well, if he thinks I'm still coming with him after being lied to and everything, he can go to hell, if Gods can go there. I used all my energy in making him let go of me. "Let," I forced his thumb off, "go," his index finger, "of," the rest of his fingers, "ME!" The last word sent Apollo, the God with inhuman strength, flying flat on the wall of my room.

Wow, I didn't know I was that strong.

Apollo peeled himself slowly from the wall, unscathed. I expected him to kill me or something, but he smiled and patted me on the back. "You see! You are really an immortal. No other mortal could have done something like that to me," I was wide-eyed, shocked, rooted to the ground, frozen. I didn't know what to do. "The only thing you can do now is come with me. I can help you get your powers under control. And who knows? You might even become The Light of the Sun. We haven't found him or her yet. It might be you," he paused. "No one could have done something like that. You're not even a full immortal yet!"

Still speechless and immobilized, I let Apollo lead me out of the window and into his invisible chariot. I hadn't noticed that before. I had read that Apollo ride a Sun chariot, but where's the Sun?

"Where's the Sun?" I asked him after I had found my voice and settled into the comfy seat across from him. Golden horses tied to the front of the chariot had begun to gallop towards the sky. I can't believe this is happening! What made me come with him? Gosh, I'm SO stupid!

"Oh, the sun is being ridden by my son, Phaethon. He's my assistant when I'm not free. This chariot is a spare chariot, used to carry students personally to my school," he explained patiently. I nodded in polite interest and looked down at the city I grew up in, New York City.

I gripped the side of the chariot firmly and leaned out to shout, "Goodbye, New York!" I wondered if anyone thought enough to look up into the empty sky. I bet I'm as invisible as I was before. I sit back down and cleared my throat.

Apollo ignored my 'embarrassing moment' and said, "You're going to like it at the School of Light, trust me."

I rolled my eyes and suddenly, stupidly thought of something. "If I'm going to live at that school, what about my clothes?" I began to panic. "Stop the chariot! I need to get my clothes!" I need my hoodie!

"Calm down. We have uniforms."

My head snapped to him. "What! Uniforms! Are you kidding me?" I leaned back against the seat in frustration. No way. Why do we have to wear uniforms?!

"Don't worry. It can be modified to any way you want. But the symbol of the school must be there." I looked back at where my house was supposed to be. I guess there was no way to get back there to get my hoodie, right? I sighed.

I wondered if anyone actually noticed I was gone.

*