Secrets

That wasn't it. Maliah was still upset and I could tell by all of the currents in the room. She was manifesting whatever air was in here into her own currents and soon, it was getting hard for me to breathe. I felt like all of the air was leaving my lungs and I yelled, as best I could, for everyone to follow me. We jumped through the hole that Brandon's body had made and landed in the ocean. Brandon had been floating above us, gathering himself.

I surrounded those of us in the water with an air bubble.

"What's wrong with Maliah?" Jake asks, catching his breath.

"She got really upset. We just need to give her a little while to calm down." I answered.

No one responded. I floated us back up to the surface of the ocean, slowly, and everyone had their own conversations. The Hecate brothers spoke in hushed whispers that no one payed attention to, and Ellie and Katelynn expressed their concern for Maliah.

"There's a trap door right over there." Ellie pointed out as we reached the surface.

We swam to it and she opened it, one by one we all went in. Brandon had even dropped down to go into it with us. We were in the ships basement and we made our way back up, back to the main room of the ship where we'd left Maliah and the sun god. As we got closer I heard her crying and talking. I stepped forward and saw her kneeling on her ground, head in her hands, while the god before her comforted her.

I held my hand up and stopped everyone. I didn't want to intrude on them, not now.

"It's okay, daughter of Zeus." Apollo told her, doing his best to comfort her.

"No it's not. I almost killed them. I'm a monster," she said in between tears.

"You aren't evil," he told her, "you're setting off to kill evil. You are just so overwhelmingly powerful that you just don't know how to control it, yet. But you will."

"If I'm so powerful, I should be able to control it. You saw me! You saw what I did. I took all the air out of here in mere seconds. I'm evil. Gods, I bet they all hate me."

I'd now heard enough. I stepped in the room, careful not to startle her.

"Mal, you aren't evil and we don't hate you." I told her, everyone following in behind me.

She heard my voice and looked at me. She stood up and took a few steps to me, but as if she remembered something, she backed away. She was scared she was going to hurt me again. I was shocked, so I took a step forward, reaching out for her.

"No, stop, I might hurt you again and I don't want to do that," she said, her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

I stepped forward quickly and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to me and wrapping her into a hug. She struggled but I held her tight.

"We aren't afraid of you, Mal. I promise. You just get overwhelmed and you struggle. It could happen to any of us. We're going to help you. I promise."

She starts crying again, hugging me back. Brandon walks over to us and rubs her back. She looks up, seeing him, and hugs him tightly. She apologizes over and over to him and he just holds her, telling her its okay, telling her that he understands.

He tells her that he loves her.

She cries harder and for a minute, no one really talks to each other. After everything calms down, Apollo speaks up, "Well I hate to interrupt but I really must tell you all why I'm here."

"It wasn't to help Maliah?" Jake asks.

"Nope. That and comforting the young demigod were bonuses." he grins.

"Then why are you really here?" Katelynn asks.

"I have to talk to these two young demigods about the quests that they'll embark on once this one is done. If they survive." he says.

"They have other quests after this?" Brandon asks.

"Yes, and I really can't waste anymore time. All of you remove Maliah and bring her back when I'm done with Tyler. It won't take too long," soon they all leave and he turns to me. "You have an interesting group of friends."

"Yeah, I do." I say, grinning, "What about my sister? My quest?"

"Ah, here are some papers and a few other things to get you started and help you find her. She lives in America but she travels a lot. Poseidon has said that you have until next summer to get her to camp, but I think you and I both know it'd be in her best interest if you got her to camp before she was claimed."

I nod. I'd already thought about that a hundred times.

"Yeah, what are you getting at?" I ask.

"You're to leave the night you get back. You won't be able to tell anyone that you're leaving because they won't be able to go with you. They think they're going to help you, but this is something you must do on your own. The only other living thing you'll be taking with you is River, that horse of yours."

"Hey, only I can call River a horse." I interject.

"Okay, okay," the god chuckles, "but do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"Yes. I have to leave without saying goodbye. How difficult can that be?"

Even I didn't believe myself, and something tells me the god knew that.

"You can say that now, demigod, but it's easier said than done."

I ignored him, "Is that it?"

"No, one more thing. Two gifts. One from your father, and one from me."

He hands me two packages wrapped up.

"What are these for? This quest or the next?" I ask.

"That's for you to decide. Leave and send in Maliah. Good luck, demigod."

I walk out and meet the group outside, I walk over to Maliah, telling her it's her turn. She nods and disappears into the room with the sun god.

"What did he tell you?" Jase asks.

"Nothing I didn't already know." I lied.

It had taken Maliah over two hours with her meeting with Apollo. When she returned, I noticed she had another necklace aside from the diamond her dad gave her. The one she had now was a chain choker with one simple ring made out of gold. It resembled a wedding band, almost, aside from the Greek markings on it. I raised my eyebrow in question, but she sent me a look that said "don't ask."

"So," Ellie began, "who's hungry?"

There were a lot of mumbles of agreement. Before we had time to do anything, another man appeared. This one was tall with white blonde hair and red eyes. Ellie's face went red immediately.

"Prometheus." Brandon says at the same time Ellie says, "Dad?"

"Dad?" I ask.

"Daughter," the man responds with a smile.