"Dad?" Haidar said.

Ohhhh no. Somehow during this whole time I had never stopped to think about how this god was my best friends father. I know time worked differently for god's than humans but the idea was still unsettling.

"Haidar," he smiled, turning from me to her.

They embraced each other and others from Apollo's cabin appeared, surprised to see their father.

He warmly embraced them all, before returning to me.

"What happened?" Haidar sat beside me looking at my ankle.

I wanted to tell her the truth but I couldn't muster the courage. Telling her "Well your dad fell in love with me, perused me and when he tackled me he broke my ankle, killed a griffin... and did I mention I kissed him?" just didn't sound like a good idea.

"Just a broken ankle," Apollo chimed in before I could.

"Good," Haidar sighed.

"You keep hunting my children, my blessing will be with you" his voice demanding. "I'll take Dana back to camp."

It was the first time he had called me by my first name and I didn't know if I liked it.

His children walked away slowly and Apollo picked me up. Haidar was nearly out of eye sight when Apollo kissed my cheek...Nearly... but not out just yet. She had seen it, and she would have questions.

We were miles away from camp, how would he get me back? I got my answer fairly quickly. Sitting there in the forest was a red ferrari. "The sun chariot," my eyes grew wide.

Apollo flashed an evil grin as he placed me in the passenger's seat. When he sat in the driver's the whole car burst to life. Everyone in a hundred miles must have been able to hear the roar of the engine and the blasting of the radios.

Apollo reached for his pair of sunglasses and put them on. He glanced over to me smiling in a way that made me nervous. "It only goes west so we got a lot of time to burn." he smirked, "and don't worry, i'll start off slow."

The engine roared as he pressed the petal. We went flying. Literally straight into the sky. The car's hood caught on fire but Apollo didn't seem to notice. He hollered with excitement as the car sped up.

I wasn't sure how the skin on my face didn't get ripped off. We were flying faster than sound, faster than light.

With a sudden slam on the breaks Apollo stopped the car. We were right in front of the big house, Chiron and Rachel watching us from the porch.

"Apollo," Rachel said cheerfully. She was after all his oracle.

"What do we owe this honor?" Chiron asked. He spoke to Apollo but his eyes looked to me fearfully.

"Just helping this maiden," Apollo grinned at me and put a hand on my leg.

I could see Chiron shiver at Apollo's motion and I brushed his hand away. He eyed Apollo, skeptically. He knew there was more to this than Apollo trying to be a helpful guy.

At the this his moment I was grateful for the centaurs scepticism. "I could take her," Chiron offered.

Apollo didn't seem to notice however and came around to pick me up. When I was in his arms he addressed Chiron again, "I'll take her back to her cabin myself," he smiled. "I still need to finish healing her ankle."

I guess Chiron knew Apollo was good with words because he did not argue at all. In fact he went inside with Rachel leaving us alone.

"Iris is your mother right?"

I shrugged in response, "Yup,"

He smiled at me and I wished my brothers could have stayed at camp. Instead of leaving me alone in the cabin with Apollo.

My clothes had dried during the flight here, probably making me easier to hold onto. In all the comotion i never put back on my hunting dress.

Iris' cabin was one of the farthest from the Big house so not only would Apollo carry me quite a ways, others would see us as well.

Despite the fear of my brothers, quite a few guys at camp had made their interest in me known. While they weren't terrible guys I never felt the need to date or even the want. Especially after Artemis offered me a place with her hunters.

No one would have ever guessed to see me with a guy. Especially a god, but here I was, a helpless maiden, subject to dire circumstances.

When Apollo reached the training area I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and buried my head in his chest. Broken ankle or not, I didn't want anyone seeing me with Apollo, especially in Nike shorts and a tank top, too many rumors would emerge. Not that hiding my face would help at all. No one at camp had hair like mine.

Apollo on the other hand took the motion as an act of endearment and not fear. He kissed the top of my head. Everyone just saw that. I thought.

I could hear the wispers as we passed. I could feel Apollo stand up straighter as they grew louder. Almost as though he were proud.

When the ground beneath Apollo seemed to get rough I opened my eyes. We were all most to my cabin. No one could see us once we were inside. An idea that brought comfort and fear.

He stopped at the door and gently put me down. "I can't enter unless you let me,"

"why? " I couldn't help but ask.

"It's another gods cabin."

"alright," I opened the door and invited him in.

He picked me up before I could walk through however. I entered in his arms, eeirly aware of how similar it was to a groom carrying his bride through the threshold.

"Which ones yours?" he asked looking at the four beds in the common room.

I looked around the room myself. Three beds sat on one wall. All of them small twin size. On the other side however sat a queen, alone in its own. It was meant for the head camper but even before they left my brothers always let me use it. They are sweet like that.

I pointed to it and Apollo gently sat me down. I snapped my fingers and the lights turned on. To the normal being the lights all look white. To a child of Iris they were varying colors. Some slightly tinted blue, others green or red.

I sat up in the bed watching Apollo closely as he examined my ankle once more.

He took a small pouch of Ambrosia and offered it to me, "Eat some, It'll help,"

I knew it would but I was nervous, too much ambrosia was deadly and Apollo's ambrosia was probably more concentrated than I was used to.

He noticed my discomfort and offered to water it down a bit which I agreed to, "You know if you married me, the ambrosia would make you a god."

I laughed out loud, but when I saw his face I realised he was serious. I moved my eyes away from him, feeling embarrassed.

He sat on the side of the bed facing me. He held up the cup and let me drink. The caramel flavored liquid sent a warmth through my body and I could feel my ankle began to heal.

"I meant what I said," he smiled at me. I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved or worried by the way he was looking at me.

"You still think that I am Daphne." I had figured it out.

"I know you are, and if your not then, well, I still want you." this time he wasn't flirting or smiling. He was pleading with me. "I've seen you, your gorgeous and smart. You know more about poetry, medicine and archery than my own children. Your special."

His children, I almost forgot that he was a god, with who knows how many children, from who knows how many lovers. I wasn't going to become another women he was toying with. And most definitely I was not going to betray Haidar by being involved with her dad.

"You said you've been watching me, how long?" I knew I didn't want and answer but I had to ask.

"two years,"

"How?"

"You know Simon Smith" he smiled at me.

My heart stopped, maybe he knew what had happened to Simon. "Yes why?" I said cautiously. Simon was one of the older kids in Apollo's cabin. Out of all the guys who had tried to date me Simon was the hardest to refuse. He was smart, handsome, and stubborn. Simon was one of my close friends and I was sad that I hadn't heard from him in months.

"Yer looking at him," Apollo smile widened even more.

"No," My mind spinned.

He leaned closer to me, "Yes."

Then i looked at Apollo closely. That's why I recognized him. It wasn't because he was similar to Haidar, it was because he was Simon. One of my friends, my greatest temptation. But how could that be Simon he wasn't a god, he was normal like me. I had seen him bleed on the battlefield. I had known him for years.

My mind was mush and i'm pretty sure I responded with something really intelligent like, "Uhhh ummm, wha?"

"As I said your special. You deserved special attention" he moved closer to me grabbing my hands. Now I really saw it, the same look in his eye as Simon always had. "be mine, come with me to Olympus" he leaned in closer.

I couldn't move. It was like something in me sprang to life. All today I thought he was a stranger, but it wasn't sitting here with me was one of my friends, someone I had learned to trust. I could be with him forever, his wife on olympus. I thought, but I knew I couldn't.

What would Haidar think? What would people say? What about his affairs with mortals? "I... I can't,"

The glow of his eyes seemed to dim. He put his mouth near my point ear, "I am a god. We don't give up until we get what we want. I've waited two years, what's a few more weeks" he moved himself away from me and stood up. "Goodnight, Dana. I love you."

Before I could say anything back he wiped sleep over my eyes. I didn't dream at this moment, just slept soundly.