The next day, I resumed attending my classes as usual. I had to catch up on two weeks worth of classes, projects, tests, and whatever stuff that I missed, which means that I'll be busy for the next few days.

And I even have a training session with the Olympian siblings to go to after class. What a nightmare.

What was I thinking when I signed up for the thing? I totally forgot that I had a lot of other things to do.

Moving on, I have World Mythologies as my first subject for the morning, so that means I'll have to explain myself to the teacher and the class about my whereabouts for the last two weeks, if nobody did that in behalf of me yet.

That also means that I'll get to see Pierre, and I'll have to explain myself.

What will I even say to him? That I accidentally got myself into a fight against rouge Chosens for a Greek goddess' silver bow and got myself into a week-long coma in the process?

Nope, definitely not an option. I have no choice but to make up some fake story, just like what I'll probably tell to all of my teachers. But, honestly, I really want to tell him everything since he's my closest friend in school so far and friends are supposed to not hide anything from each other.

I sighed. I guess I'll see for myself.

I went out of the girls' dorm and headed to the school building where the classes were held. I passed by other students who were also going to their classes or to other places like the campus library. As I walked down the stony pathway to my class, my mind began thinking of a reasonable excuse for my long absence, but I seriously got none.

Soon enough, I was near the doorstep of my classroom when suddenly, a hand clamped on my left shoulder. I turned around and saw Pierre's face smiling in front of me. The sight of his bright smile was so contagious that I felt my lips curving up too.

"Amelia!" he said, his tone oozing with glee. "You're finally back!"

"Yeah, I am!" I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "So. . . you've got World Myths for a class?"

He nodded. "I enrolled for it a few days ago. I heard it's interesting, so I wanted to try it out. I didn't know you also had this for a subject."

"Oh, that's nice," I said. "How are you doing?"

"Well, I should be the one asking that," he said as he pulled me inside the classroom. "When I asked where you were, one of the Olympian brothers—Poseidon, I think—told me that your family had some kind of serious problem, but I felt that he was lying and I wanted to know the reason from you personally."

I glanced around me nervously. "Well, um. . . He's not totally wrong about that. . ."

We both sat down on our seats in the middle of the room, with us sitting just next to each other. Our teacher didn't arrive yet so most of the students who were already there were talking to each other or doing other stuff.

"So, what happened?" he asked in concern. "Do you want to, like, talk about it?"

I rubbed my elbow. "Um. . . no. As much as I want to tell you about the, uh, problem, it's kinda personal, so. . ."

"Oh, okay," he said, his cheerfulness from earlier suddenly dying out, but came back as soon as it did. "I completely understand. We can always talk about other stuff if you like."

"Yeah. . . that would be nice," I mumbled, nodding a bit.

As if on queue, our teacher Professor Mishal arrived, greeting us with a "Good morning". He scanned the room and paused when he saw me, asking me how me and my family was.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

He tilted his head. "Poseidon told me and your other teachers that you were excused for some important family matters. Is that correct?"

The whole class, including Pierre, turned to me, waiting for an answer. Embarrassed, I cleared my throat and answered with almost the same reply I said to Pierre but I added a few. . things to make it more believable.

After my explanation, the teacher nodded.

"That's understandable," he said. "Losing a. . . which object did you said it was?"

"A silver hunting bow, sir," I supplied. "One of my, uh, ancestors used to hunt with it. It was a pretty priceless object."

"I see. That's a pretty. . . unique heirloom to own," he said. "Speaking of heirlooms. . . Please turn your books to page 114. Today, we're going to read about Ares' and Aphrodite's daughter, Harmonia and her cursed necklace. I'm not kidding when I tell you this thing is pure bad luck. . ."

While the class listened to the teacher discussing, Pierre looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Your family used to be a bunch of hunters who lived in the woods?" he whispered.

"Yeah, we were. . ."

"Your ancestors sound awesome!" he whispered. "Tell me more about them later, okay?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, gulping. "Later. . ."

Just like my teacher in History, the other teachers I had classes with were told by Poseidon, that I was absent because of some family problem. Most of them also wanted to know more details about my absence, which made me thought they were a bunch of gossipers, so I just told them what I told my History teacher in the first place:

The precious 'heirloom' of my 'family', which was a silver bow from one of my 'ancestors', was destroyed in a 'house fire'.

Whenever I said those words to anyone, I really thought that my excuse sounded strange, even stupid, and I would get exposed because I didn't think my lie through. Luckily, though, my teachers and classmates were convinced and continued what they were doing.

That's what mattered, right? The deed was done and I got away with it.

Well, not really.

Pierre was still asking me about my 'ancestors'. For some reason, he seemed really interested in them, which was weird if you ask me.

During lunch, when I was asking him about the things I've missed in class, he sneakily diverted the topic to my so-called ancestors and the bow that my so-called family lost in the so-called fire, which caught me off-guard.

When he told me that he wanted to know more, I thought that he was just trying to be nice or something. Well, I was wrong.

To answer his question, I just repeated what I told all of my classes. It was becoming too tiring at that point, so I probably sounded bored in front of him. After my explanation, he just stopped and we continued eating in silence until it was time to go to class.

I knew that Pierre got the wrong idea, but I didn't know what else to say at that time, so I just let it be.

The rest of the day passed by faster than I expected. I guess that happens when you've got a lot of things to do like taking more notes than usual and trying to catch up with what you've missed.

As soon as my last period was over, I quickly headed back to the dorms, left my books and other stuff there and changed from my uniform to some comfortable clothes: black sweatpants, a gray shirt, and a pair of my favorite rubber shoes.

After dressing up, I tied my long auburn hair into a loose bun. I looked around the room and didn't see any sign of Athena so I immediately went out.

Moments later, I arrived at the school gym which was just near the garden. Seeing the doors closed, I slowly pushed them open and a dark, secluded space showed itself in front of me. Closing the door behind me, I stepped in, careful of my steps since I couldn't see anything.

"Hello? Zeus? Athena?" My voice echoed. "I'm here."

Flashes of blue light suddenly appeared from across the hall. I stepped back involuntarily in surprise. They seemed to be coming from two different places, almost close to each other. Electric sparks flew and cackled as they went up to the ceiling and began skipping above. As they did, the light bulbs turned on one by one, revealing Zeus standing from where the sparks came from.

"You finally came," he said, grinning. "How was my little light show?"

I laughed. "How long were you waiting for me to come?"

He shrugged. "Maybe a couple of minutes, I think. Anyways, let's start."