"Stephanie is that you?" Fred called.
"Yeah that's me."
"Great." Fred grabbed my hand. "Come on. I wanna show you something. Up there." He pointed to a hill, pulling me along with him.
"Were are we going?" I asked.
"Up that hill." He said. I rolled my eyes. "So, what happened at camp today."
"I thought you knew all."
"I do know all, but I'm gonna be awesome and let you tell me while I pretend not to know."
"Oh-Kay, but anyways our team won Capture the Flag, and girl named Clarisse cut open my arm."
"Yeah, I saw that, it wasn't very nice."
"Your really bad at pretending not to know things."
"Eh, I have my moments. Continue."
"My dad claimed Aaron and I today."
"I knew that."
"You suck at pretending."
"No, I know cause I'm your dad."
"That's impossible. Your what 16? You would have been 5 when my mom gave birth, That's just nasty.
"No, you have to believe me. I'm Apollo. I'm your dad."
"That can't be possible."
"No, you remember the video? How they said Gods can be in more than one place at once."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm in like, 3 places right now. In your dream. In Aaron's dream. Some place in Cabo San Lucas."
"Why are you in Cabo?"
"Its nice there. But that's not the point. Come in here, I'll prove it."
He pulled me to a house that was nestled into the side of the hill. Inside there were marble floors, white walls the had paintings sketched on them my by the owner of thee house. There was a small kitchen, a living area and a hall that probably led to a bathroom and a bedroom. There were stairs that Fred was leading me to. When we reached the top it was a pretty large loft. It looked like a painters loft, there were easels with blank canvases on them, some were painted on, but the walls were what caught my attention. They were long, tall and plastered with pictures.
"Go look at them, but start there." Fred pointed to the right side of the wall. I walked over to it. There were small portraits of kids, each kid had a few showing them progressing in age. Each ad something written on the bottom. I looked at one. There was a young boy sitting at a piano. I looked down at the writing on the bottom, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
"Wait, Mozart?" I questioned.
"Oh yes, a great son, I still miss him. Up there I have some of my other sons, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael."
"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Or the artists?"
"The artists. Keep moving."
I walked farther along the wall. They changed from portraits to black and white photos. Those changed to color photos. I was nearing the edge of the photos.
"Is that Lee?" I asked pointing to a photo of a small boy holding a paint brush in his hand who couldn't have been more than seven or eight.
"Yup. Will is right there." Fred pointed to a photo of a boy about ten who was dressed up like a doctor. "That's during Halloween."
Fred was standing next to me now, hands in his pockets, studying the wall of photos. He simply pointed to the edge and put his hand back in his pocket. I looked at the end. There were four photos. One was of two babies sleeping silently. The next was of a little boy and little girl holding hands standing in front of a Christmas tree. The little boy was in jeans and a red polo, the little girl in a red dress, white tights, black shoes and a headband with a little green bow on it. The third was of the same boy and girl, standing in front of a school with backpacks, both carrying a instrument case. The last photo shocked me the most. The photo was taken this morning by Chiron. It was a photo of Aaron and I. We were walking around camp with Lee and Will. Aaron bet me a piggyback ride that I couldn't beat him in a race on the beach. When we were running I changed course and jumped on Aaron's back. Chiron was walking by and asked to take a picture to send to our mom to tell her we had gotten over safely. My head was on Aaron's shoulder, we smiled the same way, our hair fell the same way, our eyes sparkled the same way.
"Just cause everything is the same between you two doesn't mean you aren't different." Fred said quietly. "You were thinking out loud." I stared at Fred.
"Your my dad." I whispered. Fred nodded.
"Your mother was a wonderful woman. An amazing nurse too. I fell in love with her fast, but she was different. I had to keep bugging her to go out with me on a date. When she finally said yes, I decided to stay around and see where things went. After a few months she was pregnant with you and Aaron. I stayed with her the entire time, neither of us expected twins. When you were born, Zues saw what had happened. He wasn't happy. He knew the power you two would have and it worried him to see what would happen. I assured him that he shouldn't be worried. Hera was the least happy with your birth. She doesn't like my children. She hates me. Artemis was somewhat happy. The rest of the gods? Eh, they focus on their kids. But Zeus always kept a eye on you two. I asked him why, he said he was making sure you were making smart choices. You two impressed him, he still worrys though. But he believes in you and Aaron."
"Mom misses you, why did you have to leave." I asked quietly.
"I couldn't stay. We aren't supposed to favor anyone. I love all my children equally though. Zeus said it would be worse for you two if I stayed, saying that monsters would attack at an early age if they sensed me. The pictures I have of you are from your mom. She writes me a lot. She'll send me pictures. I'm sorry I wasn't around more." He looked over at me. He smiled at me a little and hugged me, resting his head on top of mine. "I'm sorry."