Apollo took us back to Mount Cyllene in his chariot. I figured he'd take off as soon as we got back. Heck I figured we'd take off too, but that's not what happened. Maia invited us all into the cave to celebrate her son's birthday. She offered us bread, grapes and olives, it wasn't cake and ice cream, but it didn't matter. We were honored to be there.

Hermes played the pan pipe while his brother Apollo played the lyre. I was really surprised not only in how well Apollo played instantly but also in how well they played together without any practice. You would have thought they had been doing this for years. It was shaping up to be a very festive party.

Over the course of this quest, Nicky, Tommy and I hadn't talked anywhere near as much as we did in Sumer. On the other hand, we hadn't had any time alone this time either. Now that we were more relaxed, and even the gods seemed to be fine with us being there, we talked about all kinds of things.

"Lady Maia," I said taking a seat next to her on her bedding, "Was I really here last night?"

"You came to this very spot just after Lord Zeus left me," she confirms.

"I might have had a little something to do with that," Hermes says sounding a tiny bit embarrassed.

"How could you have done that? You had only just been conceived," his mom asked.

Hermes shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know how just know I did. It seemed right." Maia and I just looked at each other stunned.

"This Florida you speak of?" Maia now asked me.

"Oh, I can't really tell you much about that. It will be thousands of years before anyone in this part of the world knows about where we are from. I hope you understand why I can't say anything," I told her politely.

"I do," she said sweetly. "Sometimes it is better not to listen to the words of the Oracle."

"What?" Apollo said taking offense after overhearing that statement.

"I did not say always," Hermes' mom said calming him back down. "But there have been times when men and gods have made bad decisions out of fear brought on by misunderstanding a prophecy."

"Well when Prometheus and Epimetheus finish with this new batch of men father has ordered them construct, things will be different," Apollo tells her. Wanting to let the matter drop, she only smiled at him, but I could tell she didn't believe it. I, of course, knew there would be more of those bad decisions.

"So that man we met today, Battus, was he one of Prometheus' men?" Nicky asked.

"How do you know that Prometheus is working on the men?" Apollo asked him curiously.

"We're from the future, remember," Tommy said.

"So you could tell me everything that is going to happen?" Hermes asked salivating at the very thought.

"We could tell you a lot, but we won't. We promised each other not to share anything that could change the future," I told him.

"Besides little brother, you must not learn the ways of knowing the future. Father has forbidden anyone, even gods, to learn this skill. Only I may know it since I am the god of prophecy," Apollo said with an emphasis on god of prophecy like this somehow made him extra special Apollo was kind of arrogant, but he was too cute for me to care about it.

"But I may know and must insist?" the archer said, and it sounded like a threat, but Nicky had the perfect reply.

"Lord Apollo, what if we were to come back in time to meet Kronos or Atlas, I know you would not want us to tell them what Zeus was going to do, or suppose we appeared at another point in the future and warned your enemy that you were coming? Surely you understand why we can't tell you."

"Young Nicky is correct Apollo. If father had known in advance and warned Kronos..." Maia started but didn't really need to finish. We all knew it would have been bad. "I would warn you against comin back to the time of Kronos however."

"Besides, you have your Oracle," I added. "Don't you trust her?"

"Of course," Apollo said defensively, and that pretty much ended to talk of tell anyone the future.

"So Lord Apollo, you sister Artemis, is she really hot?" Nicky now asked changing the subject.

"Many say that she is, but I do not see it," the god says smugly.

"That's just because she's your sister," Tommy told the god taking a seat next to him on the floor.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked. Apollo laughed then clapped my little brother on the back.

"I see you know exactly what I mean," he told Tommy who grinned broadly. "However, your sister is quite attractive," he continued while looking at me. I could feel my face heating up.

"With brothers like the two of you, I can see why Artemis would prefer the company of maidens," I said smartly.

"You can't blame that on me," Hermes protested. "I was just born."

"Bet she doesn't ask you to join her on the hunt," I told him with a grin. Hermes didn't get a chance to reply to that before his brother did.

"I know she won't ask you to join her," he laughed. Hermes looked at his mom like he wanted her to contradict his brother, but she only nodded.

"You mean you agree with him?" Hermes said in disbelief.

"My dearest son, Lady Artemis shuns the company of all men, and now that your father has found me, I shall no longer be welcome in her company either," Maia said sadly.

"Even though you were forced?" I asked angrily.

"Sadly, it will not matter to Artemis. Even if I am never again in the company of a man," Hermes' mom said.

"Well that sucks," Tommy said then quickly looked at me as if to say, don't tell Mom I said that. I grinned.

"Lady Maia," Tommy now asked, "Is your dad really holding up the sky?"

"Yes, he really is," she told him. "It is his punishment for siding with the other Titans. Someone must keep Ouranos and Gaia apart."

"I thought Ouranos was killed by Kronos," I said wondering how he could still be in the picture.

"He was only castrated," she explained.

"Castrated?" Tommy said prompting me to think, great who's going to explain that one?

Hermes must have been reading my mind because he answered it. "He had his testicles chopped off, you know balls, family jewels."

"How do you know they're called all those things?" Nicky asked surprised.

"I am the god of communication. I know many names for many things," the newborn god said with a smile.

"Why do they have to be kept apart?" I asked a little confused. "If he was castrated, he and Gaia can't have any more children, can they?"

"Would you be willing to take that chance?" Apollo asked me. Given that all kinds of things happen in the Greek god stories that are unbelievable, I guess I wasn't willing to rule anything out.

"Guess not," I agreed.

"How hard was it for you to side with Lord Zeus instead of your father?" Nicky now asked Maia.

"It was very difficult. I love my father, but Lord Kronos was a cruel leader. Something had to be done to stop him," she explained. I thought about what she had just said. It wouldn't be hard at all for me to go to war against my dad, but my mom; I don't know if I could do it.

Hermes wondered off outside of the cave after the castration conversation. When he came back inside, he had several sticks in his hands. No one seemed to be paying him any mind at this point, but I was curious to see what he would do. He had already done so many things for a one day old, I figured anything was possible now. He laid all but one of the sticks down in a pile then picked up a knife and started scrapping the side of the remaining twig. I almost warned him to be careful with the knife, but since his appearance was now one of a teenager, I decided not to. In a couple of minutes, little puffs of smoke started wafting out from the stick. I didn't realize at the time he was actually inventing fire, I just thought he was a quick start in creating one. When flames started dancing along the twig, his mother noticed what he was doing.

"Hermes my love, what are you doing there?" she asked him as she took a seat next to where he was squatting.

"I going to call it fire," the young god told her holding it up for her to see. Not realizing it was hot, she reached out and touch the flame.

"Ouch," she says quickly pulling her fingers back.

"It's hot Mom," he said after the fact.

"What are you going to do with that?" his brother asked.

"Seriously?" my brother asked with a chuckle. Apollo just looked at him like it wasn't funny.

"Well I plan to use it to move herds around, but I suppose you could use it for all kinds of things." At this, Hermes put the burning stick down on the others in the pile and they all started to burn.

"Your father will be interested in this," Maia said hugging her son. "You are so very talented." Her son grinned.

"You'd better be careful who you show that little trick to. Dad won't want the mortal men being able to do it," his brother told him.

"Heck, fire is easy," Nicky boasted.

"You are a much smarter creature than the men Prometheus makes," the god replied.

Hermes, having created a fire in his mother's cave, pick up his staff and trotted off outside again. My ever curious brother called after him, "Lord Hermes, where are you going?"

"To see if these two snakes out here are still fighting," the god replied, "Come on." Of course we all took him up on that invitation.