MILES'S POV

"So..." I tried to start a conversation with Andrea. "You're the daughter of Athena."

Andrea stopped walking suddenly. We were in front of what seems like a bar. "Do you have to keep repeating it?" she asked harshly.

"Sorry," I said and she started walking again. "Why are you so sour?"

"What?" she asked. I could hear the curiousity in her voice.

"I said that you're so sour," I repeated.

"I know what you said, what I meant was, what do you mean by that?" she was now looking at me curiously, trying to find the answer in my face.

"What I mean is that you're so mean."

She scoffed and started walking again. She stopped in front of a statue of Athena. The statue seemed to be an older version of the Athena I saw earlier. The one I saw seemed to be in her early 20's, this one, well, this one seemed to be in her early 30's.

"My mom is the goddess of wisdom," Andrea said while staring up at her mothers statue. "That means she expects all her children to be smart, wise, intelligent and etc. Do you get my point, Miles?"

I nodded though I don't really know what she's trying to say. When I looked at her, she was smiling, but not at me. She was smiling at the statue.

"Would you ever believe that I have Dyslexia?"

"Huh?" Now I was really confused. She looked from the statue to me.

"I have Dyslexia, Miles. I've had it since I was born. I'm a disgrace to my mother. That's why I'm so sour. She expects so much of her children. I mean, all of my siblings from my mother are scientists, doctors and lawyers..." she trailed off. She smiled to herself and looked down at her feet then she shook her head roughly.

"Forget it," she said. "Let's just go."

"I thought all demi gods have dyslexia," I said, but then I started to realize how stupid the question was. I never had dyslexia. Truth to be told, I was an honor student.

"You clearly have been reading Rick Riordan's books haven't you?" she said then laughed. "Rick's a demi god. A son of Poseidon actually."

I wanted to laugh, but I didn't know whether she was lying or not, so I just nodded for her to go on.

"He made all those stuff up, Miles. I mean, who would even believe that those stuff are real? But some of it are, like that camp half blood. That one is real. I stay there every summer, but it's not in Long Island though."

"Then where is it?" I asked.

"It's in Las Vegas."

"I though the Lotus Casino was in Las Vegas?"

"It is, but we just ignore it. Only idiots would even enter that thing," she said. We passed a few nymphs who were chugging bears. Andrea made a disgust noise and muttered the word "Nymphs."

"So, is Chiron really the trainer there?" I asked and Andrea nodded. "Does Dionysius really stay there too?" Andrea shook her head. "Why did Rick make Percy fall for Annabeth?"

Andrea stopped and raised her eyebrows. She looked like she wanted to laugh. "Miles. Rick is married to a daughter of Athena."

Well that explains a lot, I thought. As we walked through another set of Nymphs chugging beers, Andrea stopped again and took hold of my arm. She pulled me behind a large statue and whispered in my ear to shut up and listen.

I didn't know what she was trying to make me listen to, but I tried. I heard two voices. one boy and one girl. The guy's voice has an effect on me. I don't know why.

"He's here," the girl said. "I saw him earlier."

"Really?" the boy said. "I didn't see him. Where did you say you saw him exactly?"

"He was talking to Ariadne earlier then he just vanished. I've been looking for you since."

"What does he look like?" I got a sense they were talking about me.

"He looks like you," the girl said and instantly, I thought about my father. I looked at Andrea and she just shrugged. "Not exactly, but enough to make me know that he's your son."

"Okay, thanks Hermaphrodite. You can go now."

"Alright," the girl said and I saw her jog off. She had long golden brown hair, like a mix of blond and brown.

As I walked out from behind the statue to get a better look at the girl, my attention faced the boy who was looking at her direction. He must've been the boy we heard earlier. He had brown hair that was curling, high cheekbones and a perfect nose. He also had blue eyes the same as mine. As I looked at him carefully, his gaze shifted from the girl to me. His eyes narrowed in what seemed like a surprise. I quickly averted my eyes away and flushed. It was embarrassing to be caught staring. I looked back at Andrea who was now looking at me then at the guy who was still staring.

"Andrea," I shouted over the roar of the crowd. She walked next to me and I leaned in to whisper in her ear. "That man is staring at me. Was he the one we heard earlier?" Andrea nodded and she pressed her cheek against mine and I realized just how warm her breath was.

"Yeah, Miles. You should also know that's Hermes."

As she said the last word, I looked at her then at the direction of the boy. He was gone. I walked towards where he stood earlier but Andrea caught my arm and she pulled me towards her.

"Not yet, Miles," she said. "A demi god can't approach his or her godly parent unless the god or goddess approves of it."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, that you can't just go over and talk to your parent. There's a rule you know. Do you know any demi god aside from me?"

I nodded. "Alexa," I said and blushed.

"Okay, whose her godly parent?" Andrea asked.

"Apollo."

"Did she tell you who was the first one to introduce themselves?"

"Yeah, she said that Apollo walked up to her and..." I trailed off. Apollo was the first one to talk to her. Its sad to say that I've never even talked to my father before.

"Yeah," Andrea nodded. "My mom talked to me when I was in a spelling bee contest. I had no idea who entered me there but then a woman walked towards me and said that she was my mom and that she was the one who signed me up. she said that I needed to prove myself to her. That was also the day we found out that I was dyslexic."

Andrea's tone was sad and then, I felt sad. For both of us. "Why didn't my dad want to talk to me?"

Andrea shrugged and I knew she didn't know the answer to my question. She gestured for me to walk ahead so I did, it was after a while when she stopped that I realized I was looking at Mazie.

For the longest time that I've known her which would probably this morning, I've never even spoken a word to her. I felt a little guilty about it. Mazie was talking to Kerington. They were both nodding and using their hands while they talked.

After their conversation, Kerington nodded and walked away. Mazie then turned to my direction and stopped. She smiled and waved a hand at me. I looked at my back thinking it might be someone else.

Andrea bumped with her shoulder. "I'll see you later," she said and I nodded. I looked back at Mazie who was now standing before me.

She lifted something, it was only then I realized it was a camera. I covered my face with my hand and I heard her giggle.

"No fair," she said. "Take off your hand! Smiling won't hurt won't it?"

"Not really, but you'll get hurt if your camera got broken."

"And how would it be broken?"

"Your camera would get broken once it sees my face."

"Aww, it's shock proof you dork," she said and lifted her camera again. This time, I took hold of the lense.

"It's not dork proof, though."

"Whatever," she said and she lifted her hand to her head and pushed back her bangs. "You having fun?"

I shook my head. "Not really. You?"

"I'm having a blast. Been hearing a lot of stories around here, thanks to the nymphs."

"Oh yeah?" I asked and she nodded. "What kind of stories?"

"Like about Apollo's favored kid," she said and started walking away from me. I followed her. She sat next to a sleeping satyr near a tree and gestured for me to sit next to her. I sat crossed legs on the floor.

"Go on," I said.

"Okay," she said and she was using her hands while talking. "There's this girl named Azriel who lived in England some time in the 18th century. She was a demi god too actually. Daughter of Hephaestus. She was very pretty and smart too. One day, Apollo and Azriel met at a masquerade ball and well, you know what happened after. After 9 months, Azriel gave birth to William Wolfe-" Mazie's story was interruppted by a snoring satyr. Mazie shrugged and turned her back from the satyr.

"Anyway, William, better known as Will, was a very beautiful boy. Pale skin, black hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones. Also, he was very smart and charming. But one day, he made a very bad decision and went to the underworld. He made a bad deal with Hades, my dad, and Hades cursed him."

"What was the curse?" I asked.

"Hush, I'm getting to that part. So, Hades cursed poor little Will that anybody who loved him would die. And Hades said that he would start it with his mother."

"How old was Will?"

"12. Anyway, when Azriel died, Will was devastated. He prayed to Apollo for help but Apollo said he can't do anything or more likely, won't. So, Will grew up keeping everybody at arms length. He didn't have any friends. Everybody knew him as a rebel kid. One day, he met Aphrodite."

I groaned. The last thing I wanted to hear was a love story.

"Shut up, okay. So when Will met Aphrodite. He was really taken back and Aphrodite too. They both fell in love with each other even though Will tried all his best to make Aphrodite hate him. He didn't know back then that Aphrodite was Aphrodite. So, when he finally couldn't take it anymore and told Aphrodite the truth. Aphrodite took it upon herself to make sure the curse was lifted."

"And was it? Lifted I mean?"

"Yeah, she said that she was the goddess of love and that any curse related to love would also be in her reign. So when she finally took the curse away, Will proposed to her."

"And?"

"She said no but they did have a kid together. A baby girl. The girl had brown hair and big blue eyes. They named her Jhazriel. And so, when Apollo found out that they had a kid together, boy he was mad."

"Wait, is that the reason why they hate each other so much?" I asked and Mazie nodded. "It still doesn't make sense, why would Apollo be mad? I mean, Aphrodite helped Will, Apollo should be thankful."

"Apollo wanted Will to learn the hard way. He would eventually beg Hades to take the curse away but Aphrodite made it seem like nothing. That's why Apollo's angry at Aphrodite. And as long as that kid is still alive, Apollo's anger towards Aphrodite would never go away."

"What do you mean? If Jhaztine was born in the 18th century or early 19th, wouldn't she be dead by now?"

"Hades wanted the gods to hate each other and when he found out about the Apollo/Aphrodite feud, he made sure that Jhaztine would live forever."

"So she's still alive? Up to this day?"

"Up to this day," Mazie said and nodded. "You want to hear another story?"

I nodded. "Sure, what else you got?"

"Well, rumor has it that Artemis has taken upon herself a lover."

"What? That's just stupid."

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" she asked and I nodded. "Okay, so the story goes that Aphrodite has finally convinced Artemis that everbody needs love and Artemis finally agreed to say yes. So she hooked up with this hollywood actor, I won't say who, and they had a kid."

"I though the whole point of being Artemis was, she'll be pure forever."

"Yeah, but the kid was born out of intelligence, like it sprang out of her head. Kinda like how Athena gives birth to all her kids."

"Cool."

"More like disgusting. You do realize that's an insult to nature. Giving birth through your head is un-natural."

"We're demi gods. We're basically an insult to nature already," I said shrugging. Mazie shrugged too.

"Got any more good stories to tell?" I asked.

"Not anything that's great enough to talk about. Well, do you know about Daphne and Kerington's history?" I shook my head. "Do you wanna know about it?" I nodded. I really was curious as to what the two shared before.

"Well, before Eros shot that magic arrow at Daphne, Kerington had been in love with her, but Daphne didn't return his feelings. Daphne simply liked him as a friend."

"That's gotta hurt," I said.

"Yeah, so Kerington decided to pay Io a little visit. When he did, Io agreed to give him her milk but it comes with a price."

"Immortality," I said to finish her sentence. Mazie nodded.

"Yeah, so Kerington became beautiful, Daphne still didn't love him, and now he suffers eternal pain."

"I don't like that story very much," I said shaking my head.

"Yeah, but just immagine, in a hundred years it'll be just you, Kerington and the gods. How cool would that be?"

"It won't be cool," I said then I stood up. I brushed the dirt off my jeans and started walking away. I heard Mazie stand up and ran towards me. She touched my arm gently enough to make me stop.

"Hey," she said panting. "Sorry about that. I didn't know."

"Nah, it's cool. I'm just over dramatic."

"I know. Tell me about it," she said. I cocked my head to the side and raised one of my eyebrows. When she looked at me, she smiled. "Sorry, let's just go."

I nodded. "Um, I think I need to talk to Alexa."

"Sure, I'll take you to her." Then we started walking, we passed drunk nymphs who were throwing up on the bushes.

We walked in silence until Mazie stopped and pointed. "That's her," she said and I looked at where she was pointing. Sure enough it was Alexa. She was talking to Artemis. "I guess I'll see you later?" she asked, I nodded.

I said good bye to Mazie and looked back at Alexa. She just finished talking to Artemis so I thought I might as well talk to her now.

"Alexa," I called, she looked from behind her and smiled. I jogged to her and hugged her. I buried my face in her hair and inhaled her scent. She still smelled the same, honey with a mix of rose, her favorite cologne. "I missed you," I whispered in her ear.

"Me too," she said. I pressed my cheek against her's and she giggled. "Alright, Cassanova. What took you so long to get here?"

"To you?" I said. "Well, I talked to Aphrodite then to this girl I met earlier then with Mazie."

"Sounds like you're meeting lots of girls," she said pouting. I touched her hands and rubbed her wrists.

"Aww, you jealous?" I asked teasingly.

"Not really," she said. "But that wasn't what I meant. I meant to say is, what took you so long to get HERE."

"Oh," I said. "Well, me and Aphrodite had a conversation about Love and who I should Love." Instantly Alexa dropped my hands and looked down at her feet. She cocked her head and pursed her lips.

"What happened to your shoes? Did you come here with no shoes on?"

"It's a funny story actually," I said. "You see, when I came in here with Aphrodite, I stepped in some who knows what poop and I had to take my shoes off."

"Hmm," she said. Alexa looked back to the ground and she lifter her right hand to rub her left arm. I lifted my right hand to touch it and she flinched.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Alexa looked at her left and sighed.

"We have to end this Connor," she said. I missed everyone calling me Connor so I loved it whenever she said it.

"End what?"

"This," she gestured us with her hands. "We have to end it."

I narrowed my eyes at her and scoffed. "Hey, I know I've been becoming a little distant lately but I promise that's all going to change-"

"Connor-"

"No," I said. "We are not going to brake up and I don't care if your dad thinks its not right for us to date! He's just jealous 'cause he doesn't have what we have!"

"Shut up!" Alexa shouted. I was taken back. I looked at her. I could see the anger in her eyes. "This is harder for me as it is. The reason why we're breaking up because of the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"My prophecy," she said fraustraitingly then sighed. "I asked my dad what my prophecy was and he told me that I would become a huntress. At first I was glad then he told me there was this no dating policy and that would be forever. I asked if I could change that and he said I could but then I thought of you."

"Don't make this about me, Alexa," I said angrily.

"Listen! When a girl becomes a huntress, she becomes immortal. There was no rule when I asked Artemis earlier if I could still admire you from afar."

"But I don't want you admire me!"

"I know, but I do want to be with you forever. I want to see you forever. Maybe we could start to be friends again..."

"I don't want to be friends. You know that I want to be much more than that."

"I know, connor. But I already said yes to Artemis. I'm going to become an official huntress tonight when I pledge my loyalty to her."

"You're not going to pledge to her."

"Didn't you hear me? I said that I-"

"I heard you," I interuppted. "But that doesn't mean I'm allowing it."

"Connor-"

"You don't have my blessing or my permission to join."

"You're not my father," she said.

"You're right, I'm not. I'm just the boy who has been with you whenever you cry at night wishing that your father would take you away from this nightmare!" I hissed.

"Good bye, Connor," she said. I sighed. There really was no getting her back. "Good bye, Alexa," I said.

I watched her walk away from me. I always knew that she was slipping away from me, I just didn't knew that it would be that fast. I looked down at my hands, they were trembling. Then someone put a hand on my shoulder. I didn't turn around to look at who it was.

"What?" I asked harshly. The mystery person didn't respond. "What do you want?" I asked again. Then I turned to look at him.

Standing in front of me was my father. He looked at me with sad eyes. Up close I could see that I DO look like him. Well, then new me anyway.

"Hello, Miles," he said. He was smiling and I could see how white his teeth were. I didn't respond to his smile or his hello. "I see that you've met some pretty girls around here."

"Are you blind?" I asked. "Did you not see that I've just lost the girl I love?"

"They'll come around. They always do," he said.

"No," I said quietly. "This time she won't."

Hermes looked down at me. I could see how tall he was. The exact height as Apollo actually. I'd say about 5'11. "Love," he said with a sigh. "What good does it bring to people? Nothing. It just gives you a bad case of the heartbreak."

"How would you know that? Oh wait! You don't since you're the one who's practically giving it," I said suddenly remembering my mom.

"You're thinking about her aren't you?" He asked me and I knew he was talking about mom. I nodded. "Do you wanna know how we met?" I shook my head.

"I've heard it at least a thousand times from mom. I don't want to hear it from you."