After entering the cabin, I was taken by surprise. The ceiling was about 20 feet high, and the whole room was lit by a spectacular golden chandelier that hung above the entrance way. To my left, a stone mural lined the wall with different carvings of men and women in Greek armor battling. The mural of the battles varied; some were in chariots holding spears, others were on foot fighting with swords and shields, and some were launching arrows on to their enemies. You know, just your standard everyday bedroom poster.

To my right, the wall was lined with another stone mural which seemed like it had carvings of family gatherings and events. There was one section of the mural that displayed a picture of a father, mother, and their child; the family sat under a big oak tree eating a different variety of foods. They looked to be having a picnic.

About 20 feet in front of me where the mural walls stopped and the room opened up, a huge statue stood. The statue was nearly as tall as the ceiling and was facing the entrance way.

I saw her beautiful, but strong face. Her hair was the way she always wore it when I was younger, braided in a straight braid down her back. She wore a crown and a classic Greek dress with sandals. She held a staff with what appeared to be some type of flower on the end. A peacock sat on her shoulder. Now, more than ever, I truly believed that the woman I remembered as a child was a goddess. It felt weird, though. Having a giant statue of your mom in your cabin isn't exactly what every teenager wants in their room.

I walked past the statue to where the room opened up. I'm not sure what was here before, but Apollo definitely outdid himself when he snapped his fingers. The room looked basically like a newly furnished apartment. To my left against the wall, a queen size bed sat with all of my pillows, sheets, and covers from home. Next to the right side of the bed, my nightstand along with my digital clock and lamp sat. Even my dressers, drawers, and closet were here. I walked over to the closest dresser and opened the top drawer. Sure enough, even my clothes were in them. I closed the drawer and turned around towards the other side of the room.

Across from by bedroom side of the large room was a large couch in the shape of an L facing a flat screen TV. There was a rug and a coffee table between the couch and the TV, and the TV set was furnished with an Xbox and Apple TV.

Next to the living room was a kitchen. Between the kitchen and the living room, though, a dining table sat. The kitchen had brand new appliances which included a fridge, an oven, a microwave, and a stove. The refrigerator was even touch screen. Granite counter tops lined all the wood cabinets, and a granite counter top island sat in the middle with sink on one side.

The whole thing was unbelievable. I was pretty sure the other campers didn't get this sort of stuff. I can't believe Apollo did this for me. I would've been just grateful for a bed, but this was over the top. I would really need to thank him again for all this.

I walked back over to my bed and flopped face down on it. The sheets on the bed even smelled like my Grandma's home. I rolled over onto my back and starred at the ceiling. What a crazy day. This morning I had thought it was going to be just like any other day and once it was over summer would begin. I was definitely wrong about that. I thought about how worried my Grandma must be. I should really try and call her as soon as possible when I get a chance. I'm not sure what happened to my phone. I probably lost it somewhere from all the craziness today. But what would I tell her when I called? Oh hey Grandma. I'm fine. By the way, did you know my mom is still alive and she is a goddess? Like that was going to work. I don't even know if she'd believe me.

I then thought about my dad. What had really happened to him? Did he really die from a car accident? I then had a terrible thought pop into my head. If my mom was a goddess, why didn't she save him? Why did she just let him die and leave me all alone?

With that thought on my mind, I sat straight up gritting my teeth. I then saw movement to the right in the corner of my eye. I jolted up onto my feet and stood ready to run or fight. I guess that's a habit I have now.

Standing off to the side, was a smaller human size version of the Hera statue in my room, minus the peacock on the shoulder and the stone. She seemed to radiate golden light. The white robes were beautiful, and she had gold bangles and necklaces on her wrists, feet, and neck. Her crown was also gold. My mom smiled softly and tilted her head a bit.

"Hello, my sweet. It has been a long time."

I stood starring at her in awe. I had an itching sensation to just run up to her and wrap myself in her arms like I did when I was little. But when she said those words, she snapped me back to reality. She was not the mom I once knew.

I crossed my arms and starred at her. My jaw started to clench.

"How could you," I said, using all my will power not to yell.

Hera's smile faded, but she kept a firm eye on me. She began tapping her right foot slightly. "Look I don't…," she began, but I cut her off.

"You were alive all this time, and you made me believe I was all alone. Why didn't you claim me? I could have been here earlier and I would've known about my family earlier."

Hera tried to speak again, but I kept going. All the anger and pain of all those years of believing that my parents were gone started to well up inside of me. I started to raise my voice.

"Where were you all those nights that I was crying in my room, wanting and wishing that I could spend just one more day with my parents? Or all the times that I was made fun of for having a Grandma as my parent?"

Hera's face began to look angry. Her jaw clenched. "How dare you talk to the Queen of the Gods that way!"

I could care less about all the stories I had heard about Hera smiting anyone who crossed her. My anger completely took over.

"How dare me?! How dare you! Where were you when my father died?! Why did you let him die?!" I screamed.

Those words seem to hit Hera in the gut. Her anger of being disrespected seemed to go away. Her face was red and I could see her eyes watering a bit. She knew I was right, but, if she was anything like me, she hated to be proven wrong. She kept her stern stare. But I didn't care. I kept going.

"Where were you at his funeral?! Did you even go to his funeral?! Did you even love him?! Did you even love me?!"

"STOP!" Hera screamed.

Almost as if she put a spell on me, my mouth closed shut. I knew I could still speak, but the power in her command was overwhelming. I stood staring at her, catching my breath from all my yelling. My anger was still there, but it started to subside a bit more.

Hera sighed and looked down at the floor, trying to avoid my eye contact. "I can't be here for very long. Zeus is quite angry at the moment…"

"Shocker," I said.

She glanced up at me. She looked like she really wanted to blast me into a pile of dust, but she clenched her jaw and continued on.

"Look, I know you are mad and I am new to this whole parenting thing. But everything I told you when you were younger, and everything I said in your dream, I meant every word of it. I do love you, my child, and I…I did love your father. The whole thing is…complicated."

"Well you could start by making it uncomplicated by explaining a few things to me," I said.

"There's not enough time," Hera replied. As if on cue, I could hear a rumble of thunder off in the distance.

Hera seemed to hear it as well. She looked at me and smiled a bit.

"But I do have a gift for you, my dear."

"Do you really think a gift will fix all of this?" I said raising my eyebrows.

Hera looked at me with a confused expression. "I never give gifts. You should be grateful."

I rolled my eyes. "Well normally parents give gifts to their children on…hmmm…I don't know, their birthdays for example," I said sarcastically.

Hera sighed again. "Like I said, I'm new to this whole parent thing."

Hera then snapped her fingers, and just like that, two glinting objects were sitting on the ground in front of my feet. They were gold bracelets that you often see Greek warriors wear on their forearms. They were silver and gold and were the perfect length to fit in between my elbow and hand. I picked one of them up. They were the perfect weight. Not too heavy to prevent movement, but strong enough to protect myself with. The one I had picked up had a small sword ingrained at the base nearest to my hand. I looked down at the other bracelet. On the other end of that bracelet, a small circle with a star in the middle was inscribed. I'm not really a jewelry type of girl, but these bracelets were beautifully crafted.

I looked up at Hera. She had a soft smile on her face. She nodded at the bracelets. "Go ahead. Try them on."

I wanted to be mad at my Mom and refuse the gift, but I couldn't help it. Something about these bracelets reeled me in, almost as if the bracelets wanted me to try them on. I first put the bracelet with the sword on it on my right forearm. I tied the soft leather buckles tight around my wrist, middle forearm, and beneath my elbow. I then tied the bracelet that had the circle on it on my left forearm. Both fit perfectly. I felt like I could defeat whole armies when I wore them.

"These are called the Bracelets of Submission," Hera said.

For a second, I thought I'd heard her wrong. "The Bracelets of Submission? You mean…like as in Wonder Woman's bracelets?"

Hera chuckled. "Darling, someone made up Wonder Women based off of a wonderful Greek warrior. She didn't actually have all the powers that you hear about. The truth is stretched slightly. But yes, they are the bracelets that are portrayed in the comics. They are forged from Zeus's Aegis shield."

I looked back down at the bracelets on my arms that I now wore. I was wearing a piece of Zeus's shield. How was this even possible?

I looked back up at Hera. "Go on," she said, "Command them."

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know," she replied.

I honestly didn't. This woman was crazy. Like command them to do what? They're bracelets. It's not like I can talk to them.

All of a sudden though, the bracelets began to get warm. It felt like they were vibrating ever so slightly. They didn't talk to me, but at the same time it felt like they were telling me something. I stretched out my arms so they were outstretched below my shoulders. I clenched my fists.

Then the weirdest thing happened. My right clenched fist was suddenly filled with cool piece of metal in the palm of my hand. My left arm suddenly felt like it had a little more weight added to the outside of it. I brought my arms back towards my side and looked to my right hand.

Glinting in my hand was a beautiful sword. The sword had a golden hilt, and the blade was silver. It was the perfect length and weight unlike the sword I held in the game of Capture the Flag. I looked at my left arm. On the outside of my arm connect to my bracelet was a matching shield. It too was a perfect weight and size. The outside of the shield was golden. Then inside of the shield was silver besides the gold that outlined the star in the middle.

I looked back up at Hera again. I had no words. I'm not going to lie, this was probably the coolest gift I had ever received. Hera smiled.

"The sword and shield were forged by Hephaestus himself. They are now yours."

I looked back down at the sword and shield. I clenched my fists again, and just like that, they disappeared. The bracelets remained on my arms with the sword and shield pictures inscribed on them just like before.

"I…I don't know what to say," was all I could manage.

"I know I haven't been a good parent, and I know that you have many questions, but I wanted to give you these. Only a strong warrior can wield and use this weapon, and I'm afraid you will need them in the near future." Hera now looked at her feet again. "I do love you, and I am sorry I have put this burden on you. But the attacks that are occurring on the unknown demigods are…well they are our family's fault."

I now clenched my jaw again. "What do you mean?"

"The attacks on the demigods are occurring because of us, and you are the only one who can stop them. You must stop them, or the demigod race will die off. The Greek gods and life as we know it will cease to exist. You need to save all of those children, Cyan."

I felt like my lungs just collapsed to the size of a peanut. Why did this fate have to be put on me, the new kid? How was I supposed to save these people?

"Ummm…If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a warrior much less a savior to anyone. I literally just got beaten up during a game of Capture the Flag. How am I supposed to help all these people?"

"You chose not to fight back at Capture the Flag; which, by the way, don't let that Annabeth Chase harm you again. It took all my will power not to blast her to bits," Hera said.

I didn't think that was fair, especially of what my Mom did to Annabeth in the first place but I didn't feel like getting into another argument. She continued.

"You are very powerful, Cyan. More so that you know and realize."

I looked at her hard. "Who is my father?"

Hera's expression wavered and she swallowed hard. Thunder suddenly sounded off in the distance again.

Hera regained her composure, but spoke anxiously. "I really must go now, my sweet. Just remember, I do love you. Know that the family bond and love is the strongest power of them all." She began to fade away. "You must put an end to the evil that aims to kill our existence."

"But who is my father?!" I yelled at her.

Before she could respond, she was gone. Just as quickly as I regained a parent I have longed for so long, my mom was lost out of my life once again.