We made it to my house in record time, having rode in pure silence. I had managed my goal of not thinking about my powers extremely well, and was in a slightly better mood than before. I had even begun to face Luke again.

Have you ever heard that saying, 'Home is where the heart is'? Well for me that is one hundred percent true. At school I did have my good friends Rachael and Caitlin, but we were never close enough for me to consider them truly family. Same with the gods, who I have just had the pleasure to meet and hence do not know well enough to care for them as family. Indeed, the only person in this world that I truly cared about was my mum. My sweet, amazing mum who has sacrificed so much for me, who had always truly cared about how I felt, who had asked "How was your day?" to me when I came home from school. Knowing that my house was the only place that housed someone who I loved and who loved me back made it, in a sense, my safe haven, even if it also included my step-siblings and my step-father. They could not remove all the good memories that I have of that place.

So it made complete sense that in this time of mental and control struggle my first response was to go to my safe-haven and tell the one person who would listen. However, in hindsight, going home was the worst decision that I had ever made. As soon as I walked up the driveway, I knew something was wrong.

The lights were off.

My step-father is completely and utterly afraid of the dark, a fear that originated from a particularly horrible prank that was pulled on him involving pure darkness and a manikin wielding an axe. Now he does not allow the house lights to be switched off, even if the sun was shining as bright as can be. Ironically enough, he also does not like surprises. The irony lies in the surprise that I felt when mum suddenly announced that the two were engaged. That just figures.

I was hopelessly afraid of going inside. Call me a coward, but how would you feel if you knew your family may be in trouble? If you could not help but imagine all the different scenarios that had occurred, and what may be waiting for you as soon as you enter? Thought so.

However, I was saved from my own fear by a certain war god's blessing, which allowed me to unconsciously take my wring off, transform it into a spear of dangerous proportions and walk right in the door, my eyes bottomless pits of hate and my body aglow in the colour of blood. In fact, I felt bloodthirsty. So hungry to kill something, to have victory. These thoughts scared me more than any of the blessing that had shown themselves to me before, because it showed me my extent of hatred that I had not only to any strangers who had entered unannounced, but also my anger towards my step-dad for not caring about me. Towards my step-siblings who have never known hurt or pain. Towards Luke for never bothering to get to know me, as well as the entire student body. Towards the gods for keeping my destiny a secret for so long. Towards my dad for never having the decency to show himself. Towards my step-mum for never telling me what she knew. But most of all towards myself, for being an absolute failure as a friend, a daughter and a powerful metahuman. And that thought scared me most of all, knowing that if I was never able to control my abilities, then they would control me and cause me to do things that I would never ever do. Like harm someone without having reason, causing them pain that they will carry for the rest of my lives.

Needless to say I was very shaken when I entered the house. And what I saw did nothing to console me.

The house was an absolute mess. Broken glass covered the floor, the table had obviously been thrown by the looks of things and the carpet had been ripped up. But it was the blood that got to me more than anything. The house being a mess could be reasoned as a massive temper tantrum where the lights were broken due to items being flung in all different directions. But, as my smart brain told me incessantly that the blood was a sign of a fight between at least two opposing forces, where one had become injured in the proceedings. Which meant that one of my family members could be in serious danger. Without any hesitation I followed the trail of blood down the hallway and into the kitchen, where I was met with a sight that I still wish I would desperately unsee. For there was my stepfather surrounded by what I can only describe as really large hairy humanoid monsters. I am pretty sure they are Laistrygonian Giants, for they look like the illustration in the mythology books I used to read, which makes me wonder if they were written by half-bloods. However, from what I knew about them was that they were cannibals, which may explain why they are staring at my father in a way that says 'Oh you look so delicious' while drooling. Or they had smelt the rabbit that made its home in our garden without an invitation, to which I say go ahead. Though I am pretty sure it was the first one.

Seeing the carnage and the monsters my Ares blessing went into full attack mode. Using the element of surprise, I quickly and efficiently thrust my spear into the closest Laistrygonian, piercing it through the chest and turning it into a pile of dust before it could even cry out. Luckily, the rest of the Laistrygonians were too invested in their soon-to-be meal to give me a second thought. Which made it so much easier to kill them as well, I marvelled as my body speared one after the other with such grace and agility you could almost mistake this for a dance. The death dance. After they were all gone I knelt down and checked my step-father for a pulse. One, two, three minutes passed as I refused to see the truth, refused to believe that he was really gone. Four, five, six passed. Even Luke taking me into his arms did nothing to change my frantic hope, even as my brain accepted the inevitable.

Luke knew that I would just hurt myself going on like this. Gently he told me, "There was nothing you could have done to save him."

No, no, no, no. The only thoughts going through my brain, and I answered Luke, "No, he can't be. He can't be…" I could not even say the word.

At this point what I am sure you are expecting is that I will become aggressive, fighting Luke as I denied reason and refusing to leave my step-fathers side. Then I would calm down and things would go back to normal. That's how death is often dealt with in books. But I did not do this for three important reasons.

One: He was my step-father. I have made my distaste for this childish, replacement-of-a-man clear. So I did not care for him in a way that could create that amount of denial.

Two: There was no way that things could ever go back to normal. I am the jewel for goodness sakes!

Three: My blessing by Hades made sure that that was not that case.

Having been blessed by the god who deals with the dead, I knew that I could send his soul into the underworld with my guarantee of how great a man he was. So I did. However, this blessing was different in the fact that I actually had control of my actions. I decided that I would not say much, and ended up simply whispering "May good fortune hold your soul forever" in Ancient Greek. Having given the man my favour I proceeded to send the soul down into the earth, past the River Styx and towards the judges, while at the same time I pushed the body into the ground as a sign of respect. Talk about multi-tasking. According to Luke I was wreathed in black light with dark hair and more unnerving facial features, while my eyes had taken on the qualities of precious jems: beautiful, but hard and soulless. It pretty much unnerved him.

Yet I was proud that I was able to show respect to the man who had indeed allowed me into his home, and family, no matter how much I may have hated him. As went to my room and packed the essentials into a small backpack, I began to wonder and even to accept the large amount of power and responsibility that I was given, thinking that perhaps I can deal with it after all. I mean, this had to be a good start to gaining control, right?

Wrong.