Chapter 7: A Civil Talk with Dad
Waking up was the most painful thing to do. I woke up in Cabin Twelve, and it's already empty. Pollux or whatever is gone, probably tending the fields. I check on my camp status. Let's see: a tree hates me, the Ares cabin hates me, my dad hates me, and a god hates me. The rest of the camp thinks I'm some sort of freak with anger issues. And I can't prove them wrong.
I skip breakfast and walk to the archery class. I suck at archery, but I want to talk to Chiron. Sure enough, the centaur is there shooting arrows.
Plunk! Another bull's-eye. Chiron turns to me. "Is there a problem, child?"
"Like you don't know?" I say sullenly. Chiron smiles gently and starts to walk. I follow him.
"I'll admit, child, I did not foresee that Dionysus would be your father."
"It doesn't matter. All I know is that Mr. D hates me." I'm not just angry, but I'm sad. As much as a jerk Dionysus can be he's still my father.
I look up and find Chiron smiling. "Glen, no parent can completely hate you. Mr. D loves you deep down in his immortal essence. I'm sure of it."
"How can you be sure he doesn't hate me? Because he didn't eat me yet?" It's a jab at Kronos, and Chiron knows it. He winces.
"Anyway, Glen, what surprised me the most was your powers. No child of Dionysus I have ever known has had such abilities as you do."
Great, I'm a freak among freaks. "Any theories about my ability?"
"Well, you see, back in the old days worshipers of Dionysus believed that by drinking wine they would achieve a sense of heightened ability. Perhaps your power is a blessing from him."
I stare, horrified. "Are saying that when I use my power…I'm…drunk?"
"Not drunk," corrected Chiron, "but the state of being so."
"And that makes things so much better. So why am I so tired afterward?"
Chiron hesitates. "That would be the state of being wasted."
"Like…a hangover?" Chiron doesn't look at me in the eyes. Great. The origins of my powers are explained, and it's actually a drinking problem. Chiron offers me more consolation, but I leave him with my problems unresolved.
I run with the nymphs and Adrian. We start off okay, but soon Adrian is left behind wheezing for breath I turn around to him. "Are you okay?"
Adrian catches his breath and looks at me. "Yeah." I notice that he looks somewhat subdued. Before I can ask him if there's a problem Larry shows up.
"Hey punks," he sneers. "Can't wait to cream you guys at capture the flag tonight." He looks at Adrian and shoves him roughly into the ground. I want to intervene, but his gang has already surrounded us. "Of course, unclaimed kids are fighting with us today. But you better watch out. Some of us have problems telling who's on whose team, you know." It's a threat. Adrian glares helplessly, but says nothing. Larry shoves me down, and I take the blow. He leaves, apparently uninterested.
I help Adrian up. "We'll get him," I say encouragingly.
Adrian mumbles something. Then he says "If I were you, I'd have beaten him to the pulp right then."
I shrug, uncomfortable. Should I have beaten up Larry right then? Or was I not supposed to? Was there a right answer? What does it mean to be a hero? I trudge along with Adrian back to the cabins.
Then there's a whoosh of wind, and suddenly I'm not there anymore. My eyes widen and I'm looking face to face with Dionysus. He nods.
"I'd imagine you are surprised."
"Are we at the Big House?"
Dionysus nods. I hesitate. He rolls his eyes. "Oh please, I'm not going to eat you."
I stare at him and see the smirk on his face. "You…you heard me?"
"I am an all powerful god, after all." He looks at me intently. "How are you feeling right now?"
The question takes me aback. Such a personal question from a person who hasn't been in my life for fourteen years. "I, um, imagined you to be taller."
"You mean more handsome?" The pudgy man flickers and I briefly see an extremely good looking man with a healthy glow. Then Dionysus flickers back. "I reflect my state of being. And right now I'm…grumpy."
"I don't know. If I had a choice between being ugly and grumpy or hot and grumpy I would choose-,"
Dionysus grumbled. "You wouldn't understand." But he had a twinkle in his eyes. I realized I was smiling. Then he got serious and he looked at me.
"Listen to me Glen. Being my son is usually not that much of a problem, but when you mixed it in with your mother's blood-,"
"My mother's?" I remember the Gray Sisters. Maybe I should have asked them. "What do you mean?" But Dionysus looks at me strangely.
"Go down to the armory. It's capture the flag time."
