"Alex!" Mic called from the kitchen. "Breakfast!"

"Just a second!" I called back. "I need a shirt."

I walked to my closet, opened the door, and reached for my favorite t-shirt ever.

It was tie-dye, in five or six different shades of purple and it had a green and blue horse embroidered on the front. I wore it all the time and often several times a week. I took it with me everywhere I went. And in most of the pictures I'm in, I'm wearing it. I love that shirt.

I walk into the living room and drop my backpack on the sofa. Into the kitchen, I went and picked up the plate full of eggs on the counter. I shoveled them into my mouth. I was hungry, not caring that they were still a little hot and they burned my throat.

"Morning!" I called to Mic as I stood and stretched. "Thanks for breakfast!" Mic is a great cook, and a valuable asset to the Venisa family restaurant. That being the name of my grandfather's restaurant. It had been in the family for generations. And the one here in New York, was only an international extension.

"Your welcome." He answered. "Oh, and by the way, your mom is out on an errand. She needed to mail something and I need some more salt. We're out." He smiled warmly. Too bad, he's only my step dad. Mom married him six years ago, when I was ten. Since then, they have given me two little half-brothers to deal with. I don't mind so much, but they can be annoying.

"Okay," I kissed him on the cheek as I passed him. "Thanks for the food. Bye!" I ran into the living room and grabbed my bag. "Bye, Richard!" I ruffled his hair as I passed the couch. He was now sitting there, trying to play a video game before preschool started.

"Bye," he mumbled absently.

"Adios Connor!" I called to the tot who was trying to stay in bed. He didn't answer.

As I got to school, I realized that there were a lot more people than usual. And the streets were clogged with cars, bikes, and whatnot. I remembered that today was the day that that new movie everyone wanted to see. Was playing in theatres. I had plans to see it next weekend, but I still felt like a loser.

I walked up the stairs and into the building and melted into the crowd. Finding anyone in the school took some time, but I was finally able to round up my closest friends.

Finding Katie was hard enough, let alone Mitch and friends. Katie's dad is a lawyer, with a firm called Mathews-Mitchell and associates. They don't come any better. Katie's dad never loses a case. Her mother worked in PR at the same firm, and was also good at her job. Katie's filthy rich, so all of her clothes are prim and proper, but she has a soft spot for eighties fashion. It was Hell trying to find her. In the student body we had, everyone wears bright and sparkly, and so I was distracted a lot.

Kellen was also hard to find, he's always talking to everyone who will listen. He's a nice guy, and I've been crushing on him for years, but he seems to be quite emotionally unavailable. Usually, I just consider him a really good friend. His dad is a scientist, who mostly studies particle physics in a lab halfway across the country, so he never sees him much. His mother's a stay-at-home mom who takes care of him and a little adopted sister who's actually a cousin of his.

I never knew my father. He supposedly left my mom even before she found out she was pregnant with his kid. He never found out I existed. I always thought it would be cool to finally meet him. To see where I came from. I had no idea. But mom usually tells me it's not a good idea to try and look for him, and I respect her enough that I haven't tried yet. I know better than to question her judgment.

When I found Mitch, he had a group of people around him, a few I'd never met before. One was a cousin who looked just like him. He even had the same slight limp, as if they were constantly hiding a lot of pain from the world. I had always dismissed it as an injury in Mitch's legs or some disease in his hips or whatever, but seeing him with his cousin who walked the same way I wondered…

His cousin's name was Ulysses, and aside from him, there were three other kids about our age with him. Their names were Tabatha, Kitty and Seth. And there was another boy, but he looked much older, probably in his twenties or so. He introduced himself as Nico.

Tabatha was cute, short brown hair and big grey eyes. She had the air of a skittish hose about her, though. Wise and powerful, but very antsy, and completely capable of incapacitating you if the need arose.

Kitty was sweet too, though she was probably the shortest of the group. She couldn't have been older than thirteen, and her short deep drown hair cut sharp and short was a bit of a shocker. It made her look much older. Her slanted blue eyes were beautiful, but disconcerting to look at.

Seth was hot, though very much not my type. He was tall, very tall; and strong and athletic-looking, good-looking, well-tanned and slight freckles on his face and shoulders. Short sandy blond hair, parted to the side. He wore a tank top with a picture of the sun with sunglasses and a cheesy grin. It had 'DAD rules' scrawled across the front.

He grinned at me, and offered his hand as he was introduced. I smiled and shook it. I found a very firm grip and very warm skin. I liked him instantly Okay, maybe he could be my type after all.

All three of them had a leather thong around their neck and all three had a different number of beads on them. The beads were clay, and painted with colors. One that stood out to me in particular was one painted green with a trident carved into it. Only Seth and Tabatha had that one.

After introductions, we made our way through the crowded hall and to our lockers. Mitch, Katie and I, all have lockers nearby each other's. We got all we needed and headed for homeroom together. Kellen has a different homeroom, and his locker is on the other side of school.

On the way through the halls, I was in front of Seth and everyone else was in front of me. The person behind Seth was a girl about fourteen years old. She wore her longish dark brown hair in a bun, a designer shirt, a lipstick color that worked well with her complexion, and an expression that suggested that she had something else she would rather be doing than be at school.

"Excuse me," she asked, all polite and stuff, "Would you be so kind as to explain what the poem of sorts on your back means?" She sounded so formal that I had to stifle a serious giggle fit. Then I realized I didn't know about a poem on his back. I tried to get a peek, fighting giggles the whole time.

What I saw was a small poem, written in Greek-ish style words. I don't remember it now but it was pretty ridicules. Something about a battle and Typhon and half-bloods.

It made no sense to me then, but what really caught my attention was the 'style' of sorts. The quote was written in somewhat modern English, with some older words, but it mentioned New York. And the 'by line' said the quote was "By: Apollo." Yet that would have to have been thousands of years ago for Apollo to have said it. And New York was not that old.

"My dad wrote it." He answered with a grin.

"But, the shirt says it was written by Apollo. Wasn't that a god?" She asked.

"Yeah. His name is Apollo. The Greek god of poetry, medicine, and the sun." his expression suggested a private joke. Kitty snorted and Mitch looked at her confused. Maybe he hadn't heard.

"So what's your father's name?" she pushed.

"Like I said, his name is Apollo. God of the sun."

"Don't you mean 'like'?" put in little Miss Prim-and-proper. "'Like' the god. That's better grammar, right?" He rolled his eyes and turned away.

"No, it's actually very proper grammar." He muttered. He bit his lip, trying not to laugh at her for a few seconds. "Muggles, purebloods, no one understands…" He said this so low, I think I was the only one who heard it. He smiled as he turned back to her. "I'm sorry, was there something you needed?"

"That's quite all right. Never mind." She grabbed a boy's hand and walked away with him in tow. He seemed to be talking to himself and everyone around him at the same time.

Just then, Ulysses came back from the bathroom. He looked all around for Mitch. I waved my hand in the air and jumped, but I couldn't get his attention. "Humph." I complained. "He can't see me."

"Here," Seth offered. "I'll help." His grin made me wary. I consented, and almost wished I hadn't when his grin almost ripped his face in half. Then he picked me up by the waist.

Upside: I got Ulysses attention. Downside, Seth was way too hot to do that. "Put me down!" I protested as he held me up. "I'm serious!" I continued to struggle. 'Not to mention, it looks weird to bystanders,' I added in my head as my face turned bright pink. A gorgeous visitor I had never met picks me up in the middle of the hall. Umm, eek! "Stop it! Put me down!"

He obeyed with a face that made me sorry I had spoiled his fun. I explained how embarrassing that had been and he apologized. I told him he could hug me, but he was not to pick me up until he had my express permission.

He smiled. "Hey that's cool." He said. I realized that he was the first person to accept me as a friend in less than twenty minutes with my black contacts in. most people found them disturbing, and avoided me for a while until they got used to them. That usually took a week or two. Fine by me.

The rest of the day, Seth stayed with me as I went through my classes. Mitch's other friends wandered the halls for most of the day, and Ulysses stayed with Mitch. I had two more classes in the day with Mitch and one of those and two others with Katie.

I thought that day, a lot about my father. I don't know why, it had been a long time. Who was he? Where was he? Did he know I existed now? What would it be like if he was here now? With me at school? What would he say? ...Was he still even alive? I'd never heard much about him, except that I had his eyes and hair. I wondered what else I had from him…

Never expected those answers to come as soon as they did.

That day, after school, I walked home. Katie, Mitch and company tagged along. I don't live very far from the empire state building, and the school is about the same distance from us, in the opposite direction.

Near us is central park, and it's often used for local festivals and parties and such. Soon the city is planning a big Greek festival for a fun thing to do for a weekend. Just Saturday and Sunday.

It was supposed to be big, and the Venisa family was going to have a tent to set up in and sell food from a big trailer. It had the name of the restaurant on the side and the family seal painted in blue, green, black and bronze on the side in big letters and intricate detail.

VENISA GREEK CUISINE

Family owned and operated since 750 AD.

And then the seal on the side, a trident and bronze sword crossed with a horse's head between them. Same symbol as the seal on the letter I received from aunt Jade not long ago. It was the Venisa family seal, and it was proudly painted on every building the family owned.

Of course, it looked awesome but it needed some touching up. Other than that, it was an amazing set-up and things were going well. Still, I felt something else, something not so good. A feeling of foreboding that I didn't like, and I figured no one would like it if I brought it up. I kept my mouth shut.

When we got home, Katie's parents had to stay at work for something. Mic and mom had shifts at Venisa's cuisine. I had the house to myself and friends to hang out with.

"So, for the sake of getting to know you all, Seth, what is your favorite color?" I decided to ask for the fun of it.

He came back immediately with, "Uh, gold." He flushed somewhat and explained. "It's a family favorite, you could say."

"That sounds nice, mine is green." Let's go in a circle so I can keep track. "Tabs?"

"Don't call me that. But good question." She thought for a second. "I don't know. I think I like gray."

"Like your eyes?" I asked. They were a smoky gray and they looked beautiful with her rich dark hair. "By the way, where did you get your eyes from?"

"Pardon me?" she seemed confused by the question.

"Your gray eyes, are they from your mother or your father? I'm asking about your heritage."

She seemed to understand this version of the question better. She smiled. "Yes, like my eyes." She seemed to tense just the slightest bit. Though she relaxed so quickly, I think I may have imagined it. "And my eyes are my mothers, thank you very much."

Ulysses snickered but Tabatha ignored him, getting up and leaving the room.

"She's a little touchy when it comes to her mom. She recently made amends with her for something big. Nevertheless, she still blames her for a lot." Seth explained solemnly. "I haven't known her as long as Ulysses has, but she's a tough one."

"I get it. So, who's your dad? Can you tell me about your parents?" I asked him. I was curious about the scrawl across the front of his shirt that read Dad rules! "What does that mean?" I asked, pointing to his shirt.

"Oh, my dad, Apollo. He's awesome." He grinned hugely at me.

"Like, the Greek god of the sun? Are you serious?" he seemed surprised that I took him seriously. And a little too tense at that fact. "That is such a cool name!" I exclaimed. He seemed to relax a bit at the last sentence.

"Yeah, cool." He dismissed it. "So is your dad here?" he asked.

I looked down at my feet. "Mic is at work." I said tensely. "At the family restaurant."

"You call your dad by his name?" he asked. He seemed to be scavenging for info on my family tree. "Or he's not your biological father, is he?" He sounded like he knew exactly what I was going through. He smiled ruefully and put a hand on my shoulder. "I get it. Believe me, I get it."

"How?" I bit my lip. "Explain it to me that you get it. How could you get it?" He scooted closer and tried to look me in the eye by bending over and looking up at me.

"I never found out who my dad was until I was eleven. Even then, I never met him until I was five years older. I have only known him for two years, and I rarely ever see him. Directly, anyways. He's always traveling around the world." He sounded a like he missed his dad more than he let on. "He's so important. I only see him every single day. I just never get to talk to him."

"Hmm," I thought about what he was saying. It made no sense to me. "What do you mean? I don't get it. You rarely ever see him, yet you see him every single day? Is that some sort of riddle? I like riddles." I was thoroughly confused, but it distracted me from the agonizing grief over my own father I hadn't even known was there.

"I wish." He sat down next to me. "He's so famous every person alive has heard of him, in some form or another! He is this amazing important person who everyone loves. And his kids don't even get credit for existing!" he looked and sounded exasperated.

I did not want to piss him off any more than he already was, but my curiosity was piqued. Plus my ADHD's broken filter blurted out the question on my tongue even though I figured I shouldn't. "Who is your dad?" I asked. "Have I heard of him?"

"My father," he hesitated. He looked out the window over my desk. The sun showed through the window, making a big hazy rectangle on my rug. "Time?" he muttered.

"I think it's around four thirty." I answered on instinct. I checked my alarm clock. "Yep, four twenty eight." I looked on the floor and thought about what he had been saying. Things swirled in my mind.

He muttered something about angle and intensity. He came to the conclusion of "It just might work!" of course, I was completely in the dark, but I was certainly interested in what was on his brain.

He stood up and walked to the window. I caught my breath. He was heart-breakingly gorgeous in the sunlight. He was tan and good-looking, and his smile was breath taking. He took a deep breath and nodded. He turned to me and smiled. As he smiled, he seemed to glow with the sun.

"I'll tell you who my dad is," He said, "but only because it's already obvious. Do you remember the stories of the Greek gods? How they want around having affairs with humans, and their kids? How the demigods would often become famous heroes and important people?"

"Like Heracles and Pythagoras?" I put in. Things were making more and less sense by the second.

"Yes. Well, listen up. They're still around. My father is Apollo, god of the sun, archery, fishing, medicine and prophecy. Yes, it sounds silly, but I am not crazy. Look, is this normal?" he motioned at his arm, referring to the fact that he was glowing.

"No," I admitted. "But thinking you might be a demigod is." I laughed at him, and rolled on the floor. I hit the coffee table by accident, and a glass of water spilled on my head. Instantly my head cleared and all thoughts were lost. I stopped laughing. "Cold!" I gasped. "Too cold!" I shivered and shook my head.

He laughed and helped me up. "I'm beginning to suspect you're a clumsy kid." Then he noticed something about my shirt. "Hey, why aren't you wet? You just spilled water on yourself, and you're not wet?"

"I dry off fast. It's natural." I dismissed it and got up. I shook myself off and looked up at Seth. I started to laugh again.

"What?" he demanded. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, but your pick-up lines suck. I don't get that a lot."

He flushed and grunted. "Fine, be that way. You will believe me soon enough." He walked into the kitchen Somehow over the course of the past fifteen minutes, Mitch's friends had all gone in there, and Katie was still in the bathroom doing who knew what. "Tabatha, Kitty, Ulysses, I got a few possibilities. You're not going to like any of them."

"What possibilities?" I asked. "What do you mean?" I headed for the kitchen after Seth, but Mitch put a hand in front of me.

"Maybe you need to let them talk in privacy." He suggested. I grabbed his hand glared at him. He shrank away and let go. I did not go into the kitchen though; I went and sat on the couch instead. I was able to hear them well anyway so I listened to them talk.

What I heard made sense, but only a little. Only through a twisted point of view.

"From what I heard, there are three possibilities, none of them good."

"Well, what are they?" Tabatha prompted.

"You're not going to like them," Seth warned.

"Come on," Ulysses said. "Just tell us."

"Okay," Seth took a deep breath. "What I'm getting is Morpheus, Ha-"

At that point, something loud happened over on the other side of the room and I lost track of what he was saying. I looked over and found that Mitch had accidentally dropped Mic's bowling trophy. It was large and plastic, so it didn't break, but it had some marbles in it so it was loud as it fell.

By the time my ears stopped hurting, Seth was already done talking and Kitty was yelling something about unpleased gods. She sounded terrified.

So maybe they were part of some religious cult or something.

"They are not going to like any of those answers Seth. Are you sure you would classify her as a 'big three' kid or titan? Are you absolutely sure? Titan would be BAD news. They need any excuse they can get to come back."

"I'm pretty cursed sure Wise girl, I mean it. I didn't mean to scare you I am, only a reporter. Besides, I don't think it's the third, her eyes are black, not green."

At that moment, I got angry. I don't know why, but I did. "My eyes are green." I said from the doorway. "I wear contacts. The tint helps me read better. So what are you talking about?"

Their eyes widened and they all stood up straighter. "Oops." Muttered Seth.

"Nothing, we were just talking about our summer camp and how to classify you there. We wanted to take you there and show you the place. It's safer to talk there." Words kept spilling out of Ulysses mouth, half of them made no sense. But that's the closest I can come to remembering what he did say.

"Wouldn't want the Titans finding out, would we?" I glared at them, my best, evil glare. "Tell me everything."

Tabatha sighed. "Well, we were going to tell her eventually. Might as well be now."

Kitty kicked her in the shin. I thought that was cute. "She was going to find out yes, but not now!" she hissed.

Seth pushed past her and stood in front of me. "What did you hear?" he asked.

"Before or after the marbles spilled everywhere?"

He sighed and rubbed his neck in irritation. He looked to the others for support. They folded their arms at the same time. They both wore matching expressions that clearly said, "You're on your own, bright guy. You make the excuse up." Ulysses just looked scared in the corner. What a wimp.

He suddenly got a brilliant idea. "Our basket ball team is playing the Titans from a school in new Hampshire. We hear that they like to send spies to try to get information on a team's usual game plans so they can take them out better. We don't want them to hear anything. Whether it has to do with basketball or not."

"We hear that sometimes they will blackmail players from a team they already beat, with something they pick up on accident. Like if, a guy is dating two girls at once and they don't know it. Or the fact that they do a lot of drugs or diets to stay skinny." Kitty and Tabatha glared daggers at Seth. He shrank.

Seth looked back at the others with a cry for help in his eyes, then he turned to me with a, "Turn around and walk away, now." look. I obeyed.

We sat on the couch and he fed me more lies. I didn't want to burst his bubble, so I pretended to eat them up like a good girl. But I didn't believe him.

In a way, he was telling the truth though. The teams were real, but they weren't basketball teams. I could tell that it was just a metaphor.

That night, everyone left before eight except Katie, who was spending the night.

And she proceeded to giggle over how Cute Ulysses was all night, and bug me about what a cute couple she thought I would make with 'that Seth boy.'

I told her off as nicely as I could, and she never brought it up again.

It was Friday, the last day of school this year. The entire school was buzzing with plans for the summer. Everyone was going to get together with someone. And I was no exception. Katie and I were planning to go to the movies at some time next week. And the three of us, Mitch included, were going to the Greek festival tomorrow, with our teacher and a group of students.

We were planning to meet in the Venisa's tent. I spoke to Mitch at some point that day. He had left his friends at home today; they were off doing something for their "Basketball game." I had mentioned the fact that his friends had creeped me out.

"Sorry," he had said. "They don't mean any harm. They do creep people out sometimes. Especially since they have a habit of getting in trouble in so many different fashions. A few of the others were even blamed for bombing the gateway arch years ago. There's an almost endless accounts of us all getting in trouble." He explained. "But they're good people, really."

"That was him?" I asked. "The guy who jumped off the gateway arch?"

He shook his head. "No, that was Percy. He got in so much trouble back then. He's what, twenty-five? Twenty-six? I lost count…"

"How could he survive a fall like that?"

"Ask him later. We'll introduce you sometime this week." He suggested. "By then you'll be more inclined to believe what we tell you. So if you don't mind, I've invited the gang to come to the festival tomorrow." He threw in with a guilty grin.

"What? You invited them to our CLASS fieldtrip. Now why would you go and do something like that?" I demanded.

"They are all at least half Greek." He explained. "I thought you wouldn't mind. You seemed to get along swimmingly with Seth, I thought I could set you up?" he shrank away from my gaze.

"You think I need setting-up with someone like that whack-job? He tells me he's a demigod, and then goes and sparkles like a twilight vampire? I don't think so."

Suddenly, the bell rang for the next class. "Saved by the bell," he says, and runs off down the hall. "See you later!" he shouts, and disappears into the throng of kids.

I can't say I blame him. There are many kids at our school that would agree to the following statement. "You could be the scariest person in school, if someone gets on your bad side." This being a real quote from a kid a few months ago. And I'm only a sophomore.

I have to admit that I liked the sound of seeing Seth again, but it was weird too. I liked him a lot, but he had made me think twice about him. And the idea of dating him made even less sense, regardless of how cute he was. I just wasn't into crazies. Although I would probably imagine it tonight anyway because it was brought to my attention.

I was still mad at Mitch after school later that day. Especially when we walked out the front door and little gaggle of new friends was standing out front. A few of the high school kids were gawking at them.

We walked up to them and Katie caught up to us. "Hey guys," she called, grabbing my attention. Seth's face lit up as he saw me. My face suddenly got hot and I looked down at my green Converse, biting my lip. Mitch elbowed me and I slapped his arm. Hard.

"Ow," He complained. "What was that for?"

"Mind your own business." I snapped.

We all walked home to my house together. Stopping at Starbucks on the way home.

Seth and I said not a word to each other that day. But he did say 'goodbye' and hand me a small package as he left.

I have to admit, I was tempted to throw it away, but the insatiable curiosity comes with the territory.

The package had a little note that read "I'm sorry, but I'm not crazy." And there was a small piece of chocolate inside, shaped like a little cartoon sun. It was the most delicious chocolate I'd eaten in a long time.