ALEXA'S POV

"This isn't the right time for me telling you the truth, huh?" He asked me. I nodded. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Yeah, like, how could you be my father! You look like an 18 year old!" I practically shouted.

"Well, this would be a fine time to tell you the other truth."

"What other truth?" I asked him.

"That you're a demi-god." Another shocker that left me speechless. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Apollo. Son of Zeus and Leto. God of the sun."

"I know you. We studied you in our Greek Mythology subject back at 6th grade! What I didn't know is that you're real! Anyway, how can you prove that you are real and not messing around with me?" I asked him and he smirked. He took something out of his pocket and it shone like the sun. It was too bright for me to stare at. Too hot for me to hold.

"Enough evidence for you?" He asked me and I nodded. "So back to our original topic. Sorry I left when you were a kid."

"Why did you leave?"

"I had to. Your mom told me to leave her alone once you were born. But I never did, just so you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember your piano recital when you were 7? I was the one who gave you that little gold ribbon that you tied on your hand for good luck. Remember that?" Then I remembered it. I was really really nervous that day and a man came up to me and tied a ribbon on my hand, saying that it would bring me confidence and that I wouldn't be scared anymore.

"I remember you!" Once I said those words. His face lit up.

"Of course you do. Nobody ever forgets their families."

"But how did you meet mom?" I asked him and he sat down next to me.

"I met her when she was only 16 years old. She had an arguement with her boyfriend, George. She told me all her problems and asked if I could help her with her problem. I asked her how and she told me to go with her at her room. Then, it happened. That was how she also found out that I was Apollo."

"So, I'm a demi god?" I asked him just to be sure.

"Yeah. Just like your friend Connor."

"Connor is not a demi god." I corrected him.

"He is I'm telling you. Behind that geek figure is a god waiting to be unleashed. He's the son of Hermes. And I'm telling, I hate that fellow."

"Son of wha?"

"Son of Hermes. Of course, it was sort of weird when I saw him. I always thought that Hermes's kids were good looking just like him. But I guess, I thought wrong. I bet 95% of Connor is from his mom and 5% is from Hermes's. The 5% would probably his smart and witty mind."

"Okay, not only was that insulting. But that was also wrong. You can't just talk about Connor like that. Especially, my Connor." It was weird to admit that I owned Connor. I never had the courage to admit that to my dad, let alone my REAL dad.

Apollo laughed and tilted his head sideways to look at me. "Really?" I nodded and he threw his head back in laughter. "I thought that you would at least have good taste, but clearly, clearly not enough."

"Whatever, I don't need this. I'm going home." I stood up and he caught my wrist. I turned to face him. He had a strong grip and it was burning. A warm burn, not enough to hurt me.

"Not yet. We need to talk."

"Haven't we talked enough already?" He shook his head. "Okay, so what do you want to talk about?"

"Its about Daphne."

"Daphne? What about her?" I asked him and he smiled.

"Daphne. Well, how do I put this, I sort of own her myself." He giggled and it also made me laugh a little. "Seriously, I love that nymph."

That was the first time I heard the word. "Daphne is a nymph?"

"Yeah. Oh, crap, you don't know what a nymph is, do you?" I shook my head. "A nymph is a female version of nature. Like water and earth. Daphne is a water nymph. Her father is a river god."

"Holy-"

"Us gods, and demi gods, don't speak of the Holyness things. It's quite disrespectful to Zeus."

"Wait, so, is the God that I grew up knowing real?" I asked him. He nodded.

"But we live in a different dimension or different world to put it much easily and we don't interfere with other's business. So now that you know about yourself, you should know that he doesn't own you anymore. You should only pray to the gods and godesses that I grew up with."

"Wait, so, is if you say Gods and Godesses are real? Does that mean that Aphrodite is real?" When I asked him, he let go of my wrist and groaned.

"People just love her don't they? Even my own blood wants her more."

"I'm guessing you guys don't get along well?"

"Get along well? I'd rather be eaten by a bunch of minotaurs than be next to her for more than 5 minutes."

"That much?"

"Pretty much."

"When you said about your twin sister... Did you mean Artemis?" I asked him and he smiled.

"Yeah, do you want to meet her? She's here at New York right now. She's staying with me at Ares's Condo. If you want, we could go right now," he suggested. I reluctantly nodded. I never had an aunt, and maybe it would be cool if I did have one.

We rode in his car. As soon as I saw his car, I was taken back. It was my absolute dream car.

"What?" He asked me.

"Ah, did you know that this is my dream car?" I told him. He smiled.

"I'll buy you one after we meet Artie."

The Lexus GS 250 looked even beautiful on the inside. I rubbed the seat with my hands. It was so smooth.

"Are you okay?" His question made me jump. He laughed a little. "Love it that much, huh?"

Instead of answering his question, I asked him instead. "What should I call you?"

"What?"

"What should I call you? Since your my father and all. Should I still call you Paul or Apollo or Father or, something?"

"Well, you can call me anything you want. You could call me father, if you wish." I recognized the quote. It was from the movie clash of the titans.

"Can I just call you Paul when we're around people? And maybe I might call you father if it was just the two of us."

"Sounds great," he smiled. I smiled back. I never had a father figure in my life, and now, for the first time. My life felt complete.

"Can we turn on the radio? Its kinda boring in here and I like music," I told him. He used his free hand to turn on the radio.

The song was Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away." I instantly thought about Daphne and him. Maybe he didn't went to New York for me, maybe it was for her.

"Why did you come here?" I asked him. He turned his head so that he would be facing me.

"What?"

"You heard me, why did you come here?"

"If what you meant about your question is why I came down here on earth, well the answer to that is that me and the other gods want to live a civilized life and since there are only a few believers that we are still real, we might as well make the best of it. Because you see, we live on the peoples prayers, but since the world is changing and we only have about 10% of the population praying to us, we learned to adapt. And part of that adaptation is living in the human world."

"What I meant is, why did you come here to New York. There must be a specific reason why right?" His answer wasn't really what I expected it to be, but I liked that he was being honest with me.

"Oh," he said. There was a long pause before he spoke again. "The reason I came is because I needed to get Daphne back. She got away from me, I don't know how she turned back the way she was before and how she got away from me, but I intend to find out."

"How are you going to do that? She hates you. You must've mistreated her wrong or something."

"I never mistreated her. I treated her like a queen. She was everything to me. And when she got away, I had the feeling that I needed to find her. You wouldn't understand. You're still just a kid."

People had always called me a kid, but hearing that from him, made me furious. Must be a father-daughter thing. I'm going to try to take no offense in it since I missed so much on the experience of having a dad.

"Are we there yet?" I asked. It was getting boring and I was pretty bored.

"Yeah, we're almost there. Just, sit back and relax okay?" I nodded. I looked outside the window and thought about what he said about Connor being a demi god like me. I had never noticed it before. He didn't look the part, didn't act like it too. So what made him be a demi god? I would've asked Apollo more questions but, I think he had too much for today.

I dozed off for a few minutes. Then someone shook my shoulder gently. I looked up to find Apollo waking me up.

"We're here," He said. I straightened up and got out of the car. We enetered the building in complete silence. "Just stay calm, and keep it cool. You'll get surprised if you noticed how human we are."

When we entered the building, it felt like entering a castle. The building itself was old school style, but still has that something in it.

We rode on the elevator in silence. It felt kind of awkward riding with him in silence. When we stepped out of the elevator, Apollo walked over to a big door and started reaching for his key.

"Alexa?" A squeaky voice called my name.

"Oh no," I whispered to myself.

"Alexa what are you doing here? I thought you'd be busy and have other plans?" Pauline asked me. I turned to face her. "And, what are you doing here with him?" She pointed to Apollo. He looked much more guilty than me. Then Pauline smirked. "Cheating off on Connor. Cool."

"Oh, please. I'm not cheating on Connor. Especially not with him," I pointed out. Apollo looked insulted. "What?" I mouthed to him. He shrugged.

"Pauline! What's taking you so long out there?" An unfamiliar voice called. "Pauline wh-" A red head came out of the door. "Who are you?" she asked me.

"I might ask you the same thing," I told her. She just looked at me, then at Apollo. They have that look on their eyes of recognition.

"I'm Mazie," she said without even looking at me. She was still locking eyes with Apollo when Daphne came out with Pauline's brother, Patrick.

Daphne's eyes widened without ever saying a word. She looked at me then at Apollo. Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something, but closed it again. Daphne blinked rapidly before talking.

"Paul?" Daphne said.

"Daphne," he said. His stare was surprisingly different. As if he was looking at her soul. Then the elevator door opened and the staring contest stopped. Out came 3 tall figures. 2 blond girls and 1 black haired boy. They were all beautiful and I could tell that those are gods.

"Whoa! Did we intterupt something?" The tall one asked. She was wearing channel all over her body, except for the Dior 3 inch stilhetto heels.

"Aphrodite," Apollo said.

"Aphrodite?" Patrick asked out of nowhere.

"Yes?" Aphrodite turned her head to face him but her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Daphne. "Daphne?"

"Hey," Daphne answered.

"Hey back," the boy said.

"Ares," Apollo said again.

"Who?" Mazie asked.

Apparently, everyone is confused.

"How about you, who are you?" Ares asked Mazie.

"I already told my name!" She protested. "Its Mazie!"

"What a temper," the shorter blond said.

"Well, what's your name?" Patrick asked.

"Artemis?" Daphne half asked/ half said.

"Well, now that the introductions are over. Can we all get inside right now?" I asked. They all nodded and Daphne was the one who was really in a hurry to get inside.

"Are the mundane's gone?" Ares asked.

"What?" Apollo asked.

"Mundane's. My, my, Apollo. You're so slow," Aphrodite said.

"Look, it means humans," Mazie answered Apollo's question. "Which by the way, I am one. So, I'm leaving."

"No," Aphrodite caught her wrist but Mazie tried to fight her way out and Aphrodite threw her back to the couch and she fell hard. "You stay!"

"Ouch!" Mazie said out loud.

"Aphrodite. No need to be hard on her," Artemis said.

"But Artie, she has a strength that would be capable to take me down if I didn't fight back!" Aphrodite protested.

"Hey, I promise that I'll keep my mouth shut if you just let me leave," Mazie tried to bargain.

"Don't bother. They won't let you leave, they know that you're not human," Daphne said. Apollo looked at her and sighed.

"Daphne's right. We can't let you all just leave. You should know about your parentage," Apollo said. "Mazie, you do know who your dad is right?" Mazie shook her head. "Well, he's still alive."

"Okay, but I really don't care about him," she said.

"Oh, but you should. You see, your father is a god," Ares informed her and Mazie only laughed.

"Yeah. Wow! My father, A god? What a laugh trip!" Mazie kept laughing and Aphrodite took her by the arm and dragged her up to stand.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Aphrodite seemed to have a tight grip. She glared at Mazie.

"Listen and be quiet!" Aphrodite hissed.

"Aphrodite. I'll tell her myself if you let her down," Daphne suggested.

"Yeah, I bet she'll listen more if it was Daphne rather than you," Artemis agreed.

"Okay," Aphrodite said and she let go of Mazie's arm. I could see the red marks that was turning violet already. Aphrodite sank down on the seat next to Ares. Mazie sat back next to me and Daphne.

"Mazie, you have to listen to me okay?" Mazie nodded. "Your father is a god and your mother is human. You are a demi god. Like Alexa."

"But I couldn't be. And If I am, then who's my father?" Mazie turned her head from Daphne to Ares to Apollo.

"Well, guess we'll have to find out. Take off your clothes," Aphrodite said.

"What?" Mazie asked.

"You heard me. Take off your clothes."

"Sorry, I'm not a stripper," Mazie said cooly.

"If you don't take off your clothes, I'll be forced to take it off of you!" Aphrodite hissed again and Artemis put a gentle hand on her shoulder and she calmed down.

"I think its best that you should take off your clothes Mazie," Artemis said.

"Then make the boys go out!" Mazie requested.

"Sorry, they have to look too."

Mazie sighed. "Fine." Then she started taking off her clothes. She only left her bra and panty. I expected the guys to be drooling over her, because she has a rocking body, but they looked like they were observing her. Examining her like she was a science experiment.

"Turn around and hold your hair up," Aphrodite ordered. Mazie obeyed. Then they all gasped.

"She can't be," Artemis said.

"Oh, but she is. Explains the temper and the strength," Aphrodite said.

"What a shame," Ares said.

"You can put your clothes back on Mazie," Artemis said. Mazie hurriedly put on her clothes and turned to look at the gods, who were now whispering.

"What?" Mazie asked.

"We should tell her," Apollo suggested.

"Not yet," Artemis protested.

"Whatever. I'll tell her. Hey!" Aphrodite called Mazie. "Wanna know who your daddy is?" Mazie nodded. "Your daddy is the king of the underworld. And his name is Hades."

Aphrodite started wiggling her eyebrows while Mazie stood there in shock. I remember how I reacted when I found out that my own father was a god.

"But why did he leave me with my mom?" Mazie asked.

"Duh, he's married you idiot," Aphrodite said.

"Sounds like we all have daddy issues," I said and Apollo looked at me with sad eyes. I looked back at him without showing any emotion. I felt like I could read the expression on his face, like he was apologizing to me or something.

"We should all get some rest. I believe we have had enough confusion and confession for one day," Ares suggested and everybody agreed. I saw Apollo stand up and walked towards Daphne and offered to have a talk with her at the corner. Daphne sighed, but agreed.

I asked Mazie if I could stay over if it was okay with her and she said yes. Mazie took me at the guest bedroom and said that I could stay there. Ares left with Artemis and went inside the condo that I was suppose to go with Apollo. Then Aphrodite walked in the guest room when me and Mazie were still inside.

"Nice place you got here," Aphrodite complemented.

"Yeah, mom told me that my father gave it to me when I was a baby," Mazie said.

"Of course, I could see all the marks that this is Hades's penthouse. Have you seen them?" She asked. Mazie shook her head and Aphrodite smiled. She pointed in the wall and said to us to look closer so that we could see it. "The mark says that this is his property."

"Hey Aphrodite," I called her. "How did you know that Mazie's father was Hades's?"

"Because she has his mark. Every Demi god has a mark which indicates who her immortal parent is."

"Have you seen mine?" I asked her. She smiled.

"Yeah, its in your left wrist," Aphrodite said. I looked at my wrist. I had a mark of the sun. I grew up thinking that it was a birth mark, but now, now I know that it was the sign of the god.

"Well, I should get my beauty sleep. Trust me, you don't want to see me when I don't get it. I look like a freaking grandma," Aphrodite said before turning around to leave.

"I wish I could," Mazie said under her breath.

"Heard that," Aphrodite shouted back. Mazie looked at me and we laughed.