Chapter 5

               “Hecate?”  Who’s Hecate?  I don’t feel like I’ve heard of this God before.

               “Goddess of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, crossroads, trivial knowledge, necromancy, and ghosts among other things,” Chiron helpfully supplied.

               “My mom is my godly parent?”  Well, I guess that’s one mystery solved.  Damn, I can already feel myself getting pissed.  Calm down, Krishna, calm down.  One day, I will track her down, and I will get answers.  Then I’m going to track down my deadbeat dad and punch him in the face.  Obviously I can’t punch a god in the face, so my dad is going to have to take most of the punishment.

               The uproar slowly calmed down, and people started congratulating me from all over the place.  Apparently, being claimed is a bigger deal than I thought. 

               Once everything settled down, I had a new question for Chiron.

               “So, now that I’ve been claimed…where do I live?  I notice a distinct lack of a Hecate Cabin...”

               “No worries there.  Except for the 12 Olympians, all of the other god’s children stay in the Hermes Cabin.”

               “What?  Why?  Why don’t we have our own cabin?  Or a cabin for all of the other claimed and unclaimed children that aren’t children of the 12 Olympians?  Hove you noticed how crowded it is in that cabin?  We literally have a bunch of empty cabins.  The Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon cabins are empty.  I hear Artemis uses her cabin sometimes, so I guess that’s still somewhat alright.  Yet we are all shoved into that little area?  I swear there isn’t even enough room for everyone’s stuff!”

               Chiron just sighed.  “Yes, everyone who has ever gone through this camp has noticed that, Krishna.  The Hera Cabin has always been empty, but Zeus and Poseidon used to have many more children.  They just don’t anymore.  But, the gods…well…they are busy with other pursuits, and much of the time…well, they just don’t care about the other gods they rule over.”

               “Why can’t we just, you know, build another cabin ourselves?  Compared to the other ones here, we could easily build a simple cabin to fit the rest of us.  It’s not like the gods will help make them anyways.”

               Thunder rumbled in the sky.  Weird.  Yes, I am ignoring you, father of Mr. D.

               “The Olympians don’t feel the other gods deserve their own cabins.”  Chiron looked like this conversation was making him age.  “Also, the gods like to feel superior to others, even other gods.  Although humans may have learned democracy from the gods, they don’t always practice what they preach.”

               Great.  Just…great.  I have to deal with this crap now.  Apparently all people aren’t equal.  So much for Greek democracy.  Turns out it was just bullshit.  “Do as I say, not as I do?”  I didn’t realize that this was just one of many hypocritical things that the gods did. 

               I went back to the Hermes Cabin, and I didn’t realize what was brewing until I got there.  Many of the kids were staring at me, looking sullen.  It was strange.

               “I bet you think you’re better than us now, don’t you, Krishna?” one of the campers, Tori, sneered at me.

               “What are you talking about?”  It was at this moment that I realized that none of the campers in front of me had congratulated me at the strawberry fields.

               “It must be so nice to have parents that want you.  You haven’t even been here for that long, and your godly parent has claimed you.”

               “Why would that matter?  It’s not like anything has changed…” 

               She didn’t even listen as she ranted at me.  “Some of have been living in this cabin for years, just waiting to be claimed.  I bet you’re looking down on us just like the rest of the other campers.”  She walked up to me and poked me on the chest.  “What makes you so special that your mom claimed you?  Dammit!  Why haven’t our parents claimed us?  Why don’t they want us?  If they didn’t want us, why did they have us?”

               None of the others in the room said anything out loud, but their accusing glares said it all.  I had nothing to say.  They knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but they needed to vent all of their frustrations.  I understood.  I didn’t like it, but I understood.  After all, for all I knew, my mom could have had other kids right in this room, and I wouldn’t even know.

               “I don’t know why my mom claimed me.  I’ll tell you what is suspicious though.  She didn’t claim me until after I comprehended the heart of the forest.  Not before.  Who knows what that means?”

               “So you saying we should figure out a way to do something as flashy or impressive as you so our parents will claim us?”  Tori seemed to perk up along with a lot of the other campers.

               “I don’t see why not.  It couldn’t hurt.  Maybe if you do something you’re good at really well, your parent will claim you.  I just want to say something though.  If you have to accomplish something big just for your parent to notice you, do you even want them in your life at all?”

               “What?  Why would you say that?”  Tori was stunned.

“Look, I don’t know why your parents haven’t claimed you.  Maybe they have a reason, or maybe they’re just douchebags.  From what I’ve learned about the gods so far, it’s probably ‘douchebag’. You aren’t mad at me.  You’re mad at your parents.  You’re wondering why your mom or dad hasn’t claimed you.  Let’s look from another perspective.  I’ve been claimed.  So what?  Did my mom come to see me?  No.  Nothing has changed except I know now that I’m probably good at magic, if my performance earlier wasn’t obvious enough.  So really, nothing has changed at all.”  Some of the kids snickered at that.

All of the kids were thinking about what I said and many of them looked like I kicked their puppy.  “But wanting to be claimed is all we have left.  What do we do, if we don’t wait for our parents anymore?”  Tori looked like she had lost everything.

“Live for your family here at the camp.  Live for yourselves.  This is our home.  That isn’t going to change even if you’re claimed.  The gods care about us in general, which is why there is a camp at all—just not enough to spend time with us or take care of us.  Become strong.  Take care of your brothers and sisters.  Compared to the dangers we face, the gods don’t do much to protect us.  We have to protect ourselves.  If the unclaimed know anything, it’s that the gods aren’t that reliable.  We have to protect ourselves.  We’re not just some random kids.  Our story is just beginning.”

I could see that I was getting to some of them, and that others were listening to me, but didn’t want to change their beliefs.  It was time to throw in a little bit of incentive.  “Have any of you tried to figure out who your godly parents are your own?”

“Of course we have.”  Another one of the campers snorted.  “We can’t figure it out ourselves.  We tried asking Chiron and he didn’t know either.  We would ask Mr. D, but…well, you know.  He’s more likely to turn us into grapes, than actually help.”

I rolled my eyes at them.  “Of course they aren’t going to tell you anything!  The gods aren’t going to rat on other gods!  We were all born out of random affairs the gods had!  You think they’re just going to come out and say, “Hey everyone, I cheated on my eternal husband or wife with some random human and had a kid”?  Get real!  You’re not going to get squat from them. 

You’re going have to do things the old fashioned way, with good old detective work.  For example, do what I did, and try different things.  Learn new skills and find out what you guys are talented at.  I went through swordplay, archery, basket weaving, cooking, horseback riding, lock-picking, swimming, canoeing, and all sorts of other stuff before I found out I was good at magic.  Are you guys telling me that you can’t narrow down a list who your parents are based on building up some evidence and process of elimination?  Are you guys seriously telling me that there aren’t books in camp detailing the powers of each type of demigod throughout history?  Try everything out and build a list of who your god could be.  Eventually, you will get the chance to find out.  Even if it take years, it’ll come out.”

Everyone’s eye slowly brightened.  Hook, line and sinker.  I knew this cabin would go crazy for a while, and then they would slowly settle down and feel better.

“Heck, I bet the Athena Cabin would love to help you guys do stuff like that in their free time.  They always look bored.  No doubt, if you get them on board, they’d probably look up a bunch of stuff, and create a process to test out what you’re good at and narrow things down for you guys.” I decided to throw the Athena Cabin under the bus.  Better them than me doing all of this work.  Plus, they would probably be good at it.

For the first time since I’d been in this cabin, I felt like there was some good positive energy flowing.  I didn’t notice it before, but it was stale in here before.  Like, it was nice to be around other people like me and I felt like I belonged, but since things were so new for me, I didn’t notice it before.  The guests of Cabin Eleven were kind of dead on the inside.  They were always pitied and looked down upon by others. 

The difference between before and now was shocking.  It was like everyone had a reason to get up in the morning.  I helped put life back into Cabin Eleven.

Luke approached me smiling. “You did well Krishna.  You did really well.  Normally the unclaimed just go from one day to another like zombie, stuck in their anger and hate.  You showed them hope.  Hope that I could never give them.  And I’m ashamed to say that I never thought to do those things.  No, that’s not true.  The idea always comes up between us every once in a while.  We all thought about maybe doing something along those lines for the other kids, but it never happened.  Something would always come up.”  

He looked around at the excited kids in the cabin and sighed.  “You haven’t been around for long Krishna, but living here isn’t that peaceful.  We have to fight and work just to stay alive almost every day of our lives.  It gets too exhausting for older campers like me to take care of everything.  If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many actual adults here, other than Chiron.  If you somehow can’t tell, Mr. D doesn’t really want to be here, and doesn’t really care about us, or what we do beyond following the rules.  The satyrs and nymphs also aren’t exactly greatly reliable.  Sure, they help with a bunch of different camp functions, but they aren’t exactly qualified to raise demigods.  As for us, well, eventually we all grow up and leave camp sooner or later, otherwise we slowly go crazy.  We should have done what you thought of years ago.  If the unclaimed want something, they need to put in the work themselves.”

Luke seemed to reminisce about something and then his eyes hardened.  “Sometimes, I forget that every single one of us is a demigod.  There’s no such thing as a demigod with an easy life.  In the end, we can only count on ourselves to make it through.  Thank you, Krishna, for reminding me that kids can do things, too.  I had forgotten that after I threw myself into my training.  I’ll go talk to the Athena Cabin, and we can get things rolling.”

As Luke walked away, he did say one more thing.  “There is one thing that you got wrong.”

I was a bit shocked by his impromptu admissions that I almost didn’t register what he said.  “What?”

“Being claimed by your godly parent does mean something.  It means that your godly parent considers you as family.  They might not help with anything and sometimes even ruin your life, but they’re still your mom or dad.”  That last part sounded bitter to me, but maybe I was just imagining things.

Annabeth found me later for a talk.  Needless to say, it was depressing.

“Look Krishna, I know you’re probably feeling really good about being claimed, and trying to help the unclaimed figure out their parents.  I’m sorry to have to be the one to do this but I’m going to have to burst your bubble.”

“What are you talking about?”  Is she always a Debbie Downer?

“Look, what your asking is really difficult.  Just randomly testing out everyone isn’t going to tell us who their father is.”

“I know that it’s possible that it won’t lead them anywhere, but isn’t it better than doing nothing?”

Annabeth hesitated.  “Look, you’re new so you don’t really know things around here.  Luke should have told you, because he knows the real reason why we don’t usually try too hard to figure out their parents.  He just decided to ignore it because the unclaimed stay in his cabin, and can’t take their attitudes anymore.  I don’t want to be the one to fill you in, but I’m one of the senior campers here so I’m going to do it.”

“Alright.”  Their attitudes?

“You know how if they were a child of one of the Olympians, they would have been claimed fairly fast?”

“You mean one of the Twelve Gods?”  I had been learning a lot of stuff over the last month.  The twelve Olympians consist of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus.

“Exactly.  Since they weren’t claimed, they’re more likely to be child of a minor god.  You have to remember, gods aren’t like us.  They don’t really get ashamed of their affairs.  They might have fights about them with their spouse, but they don’t feel ashamed.  So if a minor god doesn’t claim their child soon, it’s probably because they don’t care about them. 

As a result, when one of those demigods do get claimed, it’s usually for one reason.  It’s because they need something.  They need us to perform a quest or help them with something in their domain that they can’t handle themselves.  It’s usually ends up tragic because these demigods, our family, don’t usually survive their so called quests.  None of us really said anything out loud, but we all just decided on our own unanimously to protect them from their parents.  To us, it is better that they never know who their parent is, than have our family die attempting to please them and earn their love.”  Annabeth patiently explained it all to me.

We were silent for a while.  I thought hard about what I wanted to say. 

“That’s bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Annabeth was surprised at my response.

“You heard me.”  I sneered at her.  “You don’t really get how it feels to be ignored.  Sure, you and me don’t really meet our parents, but that’s where the similarity ends.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Annabeth, Daughter of the goddess of Wisdom.  You should know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Enlighten me.”  Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest.

“…I see.  Seems like you’ve avoided the truth.  Look at the camp.  What do you see?”

“I see the camp.  Duh.”  She rolled her eyes.

“No, what you see are the homes of the twelve Olympians and the campers that live in each of the cabins.  What you all have seem to have forgotten about is the rest of us.

“What are you talking about?  We always remember you guys!” Annabeth denied.

“Yeah, you always remember us when it’s time to play capture the flag or do chores.  I haven’t seen it happening at other times.  Forget it.  That’s not the point I’m trying to get across.

We are children borne from the minor gods.  Most of us are unclaimed.  You don’t what it’s like.  As a demigod, we are forced to come here because we have no choice otherwise we’ll be eaten by monsters.  That’s everybody.  I get it.  You get it.  Everybody here gets that.  Then we get shoved into Cabin eleven.  I’m sure you’ve been there.  The thing is, you go to leave.  You live in your nice cabin and have your own fancy area and space, knowing that your parent, even if they don’t ever come see you, still know that you exist and accept you.  You guys are so lucky.  You all avoid thinking about one major thing.  The unclaimed don’t ever get to leave.  No one has their own space.  They’re all crammed in there sharing the space to the point where no one actually has space.  Not only are we stuck in this little camp bubble, but we are stuck in that place with no space or privacy.  We can’t even consider it home!  We are the guests of Cabin Eleven.  We weren’t even given the courtesy of having our own place in this camp!  On top of it all, their parents don’t even want to accept responsibility for them.  But for you guys, it’s out of sight, out of mind. 

Hell, even if we do get claimed, we don’t get to leave.  Look at me!  My mom claimed me!  I still have to stay in cabin eleven!  We don’t ever get to leave and have our own place in camp.  We live like second class citizens in this camp!  So don’t talk to me like you know what it’s like here for us.  You don’t know anything!”

“I see.”  Annabeth stared at me impassively.

I felt a little bad yelling at her, but she needed stop pretending like everything was okay the way it was.  This was our lives they were messing with.  It’s one thing if the gods disregard us, but when our fellow campers ignore the difficulties we are going through, that’s unacceptable.  They should know what it’s like to be ignored, and how bad that feels.

“I still think it is better to try our hardest than live like they are, hopeless and in despair.  You can warn them about pattern of behavior that you’ve noticed about their possible parents.  If they don’t believe you, let them discover the truth on their own.  Eventually, everyone will know.  You won’t have to say anything.

At the end of the day, even though they might hate their divine parent, at least they will know. They need a reason to live rather than wallow in anger, hatred, and despair.  I reminded them that regardless of who their parent is, the camp is their family, and we need to stick together and protect each other no matter what.  If they break because of this, then they break.  There’s nothing we can to but give them hope and try.”

Annabeth sighed.  “Alright, fine.  Have it your way, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Please.  We both know why you really told me that.”  Does she think I’m an Idiot?

“Oh really?”  Annabeth was surprised.  “And what might that be.”

“My mom is one of the minor gods, who just happened to claim me recently.  You’re worried about what she might want me to do.”

“Your mom just “happened” to claim you right after you were able to connect to the Heart of Nature.  That doesn’t seem like a coincidence to you?”

“Of course it does Annabeth.  But I can’t stop living my life.  My mom hasn’t asked me to do anything yet, so maybe it’s fine.  Or maybe she’ll ask me to do a quest for her later.  Who knows?  Just because she asks me to jump off a cliff, doesn’t mean I’ll do it.  After all, they did abandon me.  I don’t owe either of my parents anything.”

Annabeth just stared at me impassively.  “Who knows?  Gods are strange.  What you think to be the truth might be completely different.  Or it could be exactly like you thought.  Regardless, just be careful.”

“Will do.”  I nodded.  Annabeth might be terribly depressing at times, but she cared for everyone at camp.  Her warning was also well intentioned.  I guess a lot of the older kids also knew about that, but didn’t say anything.  I guess they felt they didn’t have the right to crush people’s hopes. 

The next day, Athena’s kids approached us all with a gleam in their eyes.  I’m just going to say it right now.  I don’t like those mad scientist crazy eyes.  Apparently my idea was more popular than I realized.  I gave a bunch of brainy people the ultimate puzzle.  It was like giving crack to an addict.  Pretty darn stupid.  They got Chiron to cancel the non-essential activities for the day, so they could test everyone in camp.  Apparently, they needed a control group from the currently claimed demigods for their experiments to build profiles, and then they would go from there.

The testing lasted for about a month.  Needless to say, I sucked at everything except for magic.  Archery, canoeing, swordplay, spear work, blacksmithing, sensing emotions, prophecy, farming, elemental powers, and others were all a bust on my end.  For others, it was enlightening.  Apparently, even among demigods with the same parent, there were some differences in abilities.  It was a bit more difficult to characterize groups because of this.  On the other hand, many of the unclaimed kids had a better idea of what they were good at, and narrowed down their list a little of who their godly parent could be. 

At the end of the testing, the Athena kids promised that they would analyze the data, and look into more tests that they could perform to narrow things down further.  They scurried off to go research all of the different gods and demigods and create a comprehensive flow chart to figure out the identities of the godly parents.  All of the unclaimed went as well, as it was their request, and they needed to put in a lot of the work.  The Athena Cabin could only help out, as they had their own responsibilities as well.

One day, I woke up to a surprise visitor waiting for me outside.  Luke quickly woke me up and took me outside to meet the visitor.  It was a middle-aged African American woman with a square-jawed face, and buzz-cut gray hair that shimmered like frost.  She was muscular with broad shoulders and dark, well-sculpted arms.  I’d never seen this person around camp before.  I wondered what she wanted.

“Hey there!  How are you doing?”  She greeted me pretty enthusiastically.  “I’m Josephine!  Nice to meet you!”

“I’m Krishna.  Nice to meet you too!”  Ugh.  Morning people.

“I bet your wondering who I am!  I’m your half-sister!  Surprise!”

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“What?” Half-sister?  What rock did she crawl out from?

“Yup!  I currently am at the Waystation in Indianapolis!  If you’re ever there, stop by!”

“No! No no no no no!  Let go back to where you’re my half-sister!  Which parent?  Are we talking magic goddess or dad?”

“It’s Hecate of course!  I’d never have been able to find this place if we had the same dad!  I’d be mortal then!  I mean, unless your dad hooked up with more than one goddess, but that’s super unlikely.  Even gods don’t go there.  Probably.  There’s no absolutes with the gods.”  She seemed really nice and happy.  I wonder if all children of Hecate are like that.  I think I would like to have siblings like that.

“There’s a couple of us all over the world.  We can usually survive outside of camp because of our magic, unlike many of the other demigods.  If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll run into some of the others!  We’re…an interesting bunch.  Let’s leave it at that.  Mother sent me because I’m the most normal of the rest of us.”

“Hecate sent you?”  What?  Don’t expect me to call her mom.  She’s got a lot of explaining and making up to do before that happens.

  Josephine looked at me reprovingly.  I could tell she knew exactly what was going on in my mind.  “Mother sent me here to go over some very important business with you.  What we talk about will change your life permanently.  I hope you’re ready.”

That got my attention.  Man, she’s just gonna lay it on me there, huh?  “What business does Hecate have with me?”

She frowned.  “Address mother appropriately.  You are being extremely rude.  Mother deserves your respect.  She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

I scoffed at her.  “She hasn’t done anything wrong?  Where has she been my entire life?  Why didn’t she come herself, instead of going through you?  I don’t know what your life was like when you were younger, but my life hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns.  If mother really cared, she would have been there for us—“

It was at that point that Josephine slapped me hard in the face.  To say I was stunned would be understating the matter.

“You stupid little brat!  Stop being so spoiled!  Everyone here has had a shitty life before they came here!  You think my life was great?  I was born before the Great Depression!  You think life was easy being black?  We were treated less than dirt!  Don’t talk to me about having a tough life!  You don’t know what it truly means to live a hard life!”  The Great Depression?  I didn’t even know what or when that was.  How old is she?

“You can’t be that old!”   I pretended to know what she was talking about.  No need of a history lecture.  She didn’t buy it and rolled her eyes.

“Nice try.  Great Depression was back in the 1930’s.  Look it up later.  And, yes, you can live to be that old if you’re a hunter of Artemis.”  She looked at me proudly.  Stop looking at me like I’m supposed to know what that is.

“What’s that?”  There was no getting around it, so I asked.  Plus, knowing a place where I could live a longer life couldn’t hurt.

“Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and Hunt, looks for girls to join her entourage.  We gain limited immortality when we become hunters, in exchange for following her and hunting some of the worst monsters out there.  We learn some crazy combat skills over time.  It’s pretty awesome!”  Darn, she only takes girls?  That sucks!

“Why’d you leave?”

“Found myself a great girl, and we wanted to start a family.  We left the mistress on good terms and are going to live the rest of our lives out as mortals.”  She’s gay?  I have a gay half-sister.  That’s new. 

“How does your family work?  Is your wife a demigod too?  Can two demigod women have a child?  Is that some sort of magic demigod thing?”

She looked at me like I was crazy.  “Errr…I’m really not ready to go over the whole ‘birds and the bees’ thing with you.”

“Learned it already.”  I corrected her.

“Thank god…”  She looked extremely relieved.  “Oh no.  We are going to adopt when we are ready.  Hemithea is a former princess turned minor goddess turned hunter of Artemis.  Basically, she’s way older than me.  She’s the best—Hey! I was busy yelling at you!  You sidetracked this conversation, you sneaky little brat!”

Aww busted.

“Look.  Mother is a god.  You can’t treat her like she is a human.  Gods don’t take care of their demigod kids.  It just doesn’t happen.  If they did, they would slowly go insane.  We die.  If they love us too much, they’d try everything they can to make us immortal or gods.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad to me.”  I’d be a god!

“Yeah, until you remember that our parents wouldn’t stop having children with humans in the future.  There would be more and more people who don’t die.  On top of that, all of us would have children too, and then we would want them to live forever, too.  Basically, that cycle would go on and on.  It was decided very early that mortals stay with mortals, otherwise it would lead to strife.” 

I nodded.  “I guess that’s true. As if this world needs more and more gods, especially if it means becoming like them.  But that doesn’t excuse Hecate for never being there for me.”

She looked at me strangely, and then grinned.  “I won’t pretend that all gods take care of their children, but do you really think that mother hasn’t been watching out for you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you think you would have survived out there if mother wasn’t watching over you?  Who do you think was moving you house to house?”

“That was her?  Why would she do that?  Most of those places sucked!”

“She had to keep moving you because of your use of magic.  Apparently you would use it all the time.  And then you finally started manifesting as a demigod and were releasing your scent to monsters during that incident with the football players.  You had to extracted and brought to camp.”

“But did they have to be all of those places?  All of my foster parents…”

“Yes, the worse those humans were, the more they could cover up your scent, if necessary.  Mother has been watching out for you since you were born.  When those monsters finally caught up to you, who do you think sent O’Riley to you?  It was mother!  Otherwise, how could a satyr find you so easily in the city?  You made grass grow nearby and mother attracted him over with some fake scent of Pan.”

She’s…been watching out for me?  That…that can’t be right.  Everyone here said that the gods don’t really care about us.  It’s so unexpected after everything.  I don’t know what to think.  Who should I believe?

“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.  Mother cares about all of us, and does as much as she is able to without breaking the rules.  She has claimed most of her children in the past that have made it to the camp and discovered their heritage.  She claimed me and others that I have seen.  If you’re mad that you’ve never seen her, join the club.  Most demigods rarely see their parents and talk to them.  I’m much older than you and I’ve seen her like ten times, and eight of those times I was with the Hunters and mother came to see Artemis.  She talked to me a little as an afterthought those times.”

I hesitated.  “But if…mom… needs to talk to me about something, why didn’t she come personally?  Why did she ask you?”

“That’s a good question.”

HOLY CRAP!  That startled me.  A woman dressed in white robes with lavish silver designs that looked like weird symbols walked out of some mist.  Her dark hair barely came down to her shoulders and there was a green shimmer that surrounded her like an aura.  She was also holding two torches that she slowly let go and they floated around her.  They looked just like the symbol that was over my head earlier this week…could it be?

“Hello, mother.”  Josephine smiled.  “Planning on taking over, now that Krishna has accepted you as his mother?”

Hecate looked somehow both exasperated and lovingly at Josephine as the same time.  “Yes, I’ll take it from here, dear.  Feel free to go back to your…machines.”

“Machines?  But isn’t she a—”

“Yes dear, she is my daughter, but with the way she acts, you’d think she was one of Hephaestus’s kids.  She’s pretty good at building things with her magic, so if you ever need help learning that, she’d be a great teacher.”

Josephine nodded her head.  “I may not be that good at magic, but when it comes building stuff with it, I’m pretty good.  Anyways, I’m going to take a walk.  You guys talk.  I’ll come back once you guys are done.  Call me if you need any help!”  She hugged us and left.  For that 20 minute talk, she travelled all the way over here from Indianapolis.  I have a great sister.  I’m not sure I would have done that for her.  I owe her big time.  She set me straight big time.  If she didn’t tell me the truth, I might have always thought no one cared about me. 

I was alone with Hecate now.  The irony was that I literally gave a speech about how it didn’t matter whether your godly parent actually claimed you. I had said nothing changed because I’d never met her- and now she literally appeared a few weeks later.

“You created a bit of a fuss back home you were staying at when you left,” she laughed.

“Should I call them or send them a letter saying I’m okay?”  I just realized that life was still going on outside of this place and I never checked if everything was considered resolved with my situation.

“No need.  I took care of it.  I do that for every demigod that makes it here.  They think you were rescued by someone and brought to a special home to accommodate your needs, which is true, just not what they believe.” Hecate chuckled to herself.  “Also, don’t worry.  All those people are going to get exactly what they deserve.”  Wow, that sound a little dark when she said that.  I wonder what she’s planning for all of them.

Then she got serious, looked at me solemnly and started talking.  “Let me start from the beginning.  I am the goddess of magic, the mist, sorcery, witchcraft, crossroads, trivial knowledge, necromancy, and ghosts.  I also represent the dark side of the moon, or the Harvest Moon.  I am also associated with childbirth, nurturing the young, gates, walls, doorways, and sometimes even change.  I am one of the few beings that can stay on the sky, earth or sea. 

Krishna, I’ve come to you today because you have some choices to make.  The decisions you make today will directly impact your fate.  I cannot choose for you, even though I’m your mother.  I am the Goddess of Crossroads and I can’t work against my nature.  It is in my nature to make everyone make their own choices, no matter where it may lead.  I’m sorry, Krishna.”

I made a face. “Any hints?”

“Depends on what it is.”  She smiled.

“So what I am making a decision on?”  Just give it to me straight.

“You, Krishna, are very special.  You know how you had strange things happening around you since you were born?  That wasn’t from your demigod abilities.  Demigod abilities manifest later in life, around the time you hit puberty.  Sometimes it happens even earlier if you’re a very powerful demigod, like a child of Lords of the Sky, Sea, or Earth, or if something traumatic happened, like with your recent event.  Those strange events occurred because you’re a wizard Krishna.  Your father is a wizard, too.”

“A wizard?  Um…ok.”  Her reveal was anticlimactic. 

“That’s it?”  Hecate was surprised.

“Well, I guess, I just don’t know how being a demigod of the goddess of magic is different from being a wizard that can use magic.  I mean, I can already do magic…so…yeah…”  I shrugged.

“I see.  Of course.  As one of my children, you can manipulate the mist and learn divine magic.  As a wizard, you can learn mortal magic.  They have all sorts of interesting and convenient magic that you can learn and use.  Some of the magic they do, we can’t, and vice versa.  They have their own fascinating world.”

“So, what you’re saying is more magic?”

Hecate sighed.  “Yes, it means more magic.”

“Cool.  So do I get that from you or my dad?”

“From your father.”

“I see.  So…who’s my father?   Can you tell me about him?”  Tell me woman!

Hecate just looked at me and sighed.  “One thing you have to understand, Krishna, is that my job is really stressful.  I take care of many different functions for both the gods and mortals.  I control the mist which separates the divine and mortal worlds.  I also watch over the boundary between the living and the dead.  Those are just two of my bigger jobs.  I also perform other crucial tasks for the other gods.  After all of that hard work, sometimes I need to blow off some steam and I go partying hard at some clubs.  I was attracted to your father on one of those nights and we had a great time.

I know you demigods believe that gods will have kids with just about anyone, but that isn’t true.  Having kids with humans is a part of our natures.  We don’t have children with just anyone.  It can only be with someone that resonates very strongly with our domains.  We don’t get attracted to any random person.  Your father was decisive and knew a lot of trivial knowledge so we were attracted like magnets.”

“Aren’t you the goddess of magic?  So you didn’t hang out with him because of his magic?”

“It’s rare for a wizard to resonate with my domain.  Although they have magic, it’s different from my godly magic.  I am not the god of their magic.  Wizard magic actually somewhat repels me, strangely enough, instead of attracting me.  Because I am a goddess of magic, I can feel all of the magic that they cast, and I know what’s going on there, but that is the extent of my reach there.  If not for the simple fact that they use magic, I wouldn’t be able to even see what they are doing.  The other gods can’t even take a look.  That’s why you’re special, Krishna.  I’ve only had a child with a wizard twice in my entire existence.  Even with all of the other gods combined, there have not been many demigod wizards.”

I remained quiet.

She continued.  “Anyways, after that night, I had you nine months later and left you with him.  He was unable to accept that he was your father and left you on that street corner.  Your father…well…he was young when we had you, and there are things about him you don’t know.  Don’t blame him too much.”

I didn’t realize it until I felt the pain, but my fists were so tight that I cut my palms with my nails.  I was just the product of a one night stand.  My parents didn’t love each other at all.  Hecate casually healed my hands. 

She looked at me lovingly. “Although I didn’t intend to have you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.”

I felt the tears threatening to come out.  “But he didn’t want me.”

She opened her arms to me.  “Just let it all out dear.” 

I’m not ashamed to say I went into her arms and cried like a baby.  In my heart, I was hoping for a different reason.  Like maybe he lost me, or I was kidnapped, or maybe he was dead.  I wished he was actually dead so I wouldn’t feel like this.  I knew I should be happy that he exists, but I wasn’t.  I wished he wasn’t out there.  I wished he was gone.  I hoped he hurt as bad as I hurt now.  Hecate just kept holding me and trying to comfort me, even though I was ruining her dress.  Eventually I was able to stop sobbing and calm down.

She looked at me and tenderly asked, “Are you feeling better?”

I nodded.  “Yes.  I’m sorry for ruining your dress though.  You came to talk, and you got me crying instead.  Boys aren’t supposed to cry.”

“Don’t worry about the dress, dear.  I’d be a poor goddess of magic if I couldn’t fix that in a split second.”  The dress became clean with the bat of an eye.  “Sometimes, you just have to let it out, even if you’re a boy.  Otherwise it leads to unresolved issues, and you’ll get enough of those as it is.  No need for anger over daddy issues as well.  I want you to move on with your life.  You’ll be happier for it.”

I didn’t know if I’d actually move on, but now that I knew the truth, I wouldn’t dwell on him as much.

“So if I’m a wizard, now what?”

“Now you make your first decision, Krishna.  You have to decide whether you want to be a wizard or not.”

“I can choose?”  I didn’t realize that was an option.

“You can choose, only because you are a demigod.  Normal wizards don’t have a choice.  It’s in their genes.  You, however, are also a demigod.”  Hecate snapped and a glowing blue potion appeared out of nowhere.  “This potion will allow your demigod genes to “consume” your wizard genes.  You can become 100% demigod if you want.”

“Why would I want to do that?”  What’s the point?

“Other than my selfish desire for you to only be my son?  If you take the potion, your demigod power will become stronger.  If you were another god’s son, it would just slightly strengthen their corresponding abilities.  You, though, are my son, and that makes all the difference.  Putting it simply, your wizarding blood will “eaten” by your demigod blood and your magic abilities will become more powerful.  Your magic abilities will make you into an overnight celebrity in the camp and by all kinds of people in our world.  You can stay in the camp all year around, and learn from the best instructors I can send to you.  Perhaps, if you ever reach a high enough level, I might even teach you myself.  Another advantage would be that you won’t have to worry about the wizarding world, either.  The mist will completely protect you from them, and vice versa.  Your life will also be less complicated and I think you’ll be happier for it.”

“Sounds great.  What’s the down side?”  There’s always a downside.

“You’ll always feel that a part of you is missing.  You’ll never get to see the wonders of the wizarding world.  You will be fully tied to our world.”  She looked at me and sighed.  “You’ll also never have a chance to meet and speak to your father.”

“My father?”  My eyes widened.

“Yes, your father.  Like I said, the mist helps to perfectly separate these worlds.  If you drink this potion, you will never be able to step foot into the wizarding world and you will never meet your father, or any other wizard for that matter.  I know you care about that a lot.”

“I don’t…No…That’s…I…”  I blindly tried to deny it, but I couldn’t.  Why was this affecting me so much?  He abandoned me!

“I know, Krishna, I know.  I’ve watched you throughout your entire life.  You think I don’t understand how you feel?”  She looked at me sadly.

“No, I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t…”  I whispered to myself, as if saying it made it true.

I could…never meet my father if I took that potion?  I thought I was okay with never meeting him after finding out that he clearly abandoned me on that corner.  I thought that I wouldn’t feel anything for him anymore.  That I would be free of my feelings for him.  I’m such an idiot.  Hecate easily tore my belief down with a few worlds.  If mom didn’t specifically mention that I’d never get to meet that man, I’d go on believing that I was in the process of moving on. 

What is wrong with me?  I just…hate myself right now.  I hate myself so much.  I hate myself for wanting to meet him.  I hate myself for wanting to talk to him.  I hate myself for wanting to have a relationship with him.  Most of all, I hate myself because, in a corner of my heart, I thought it would all come true—that I would have a happy ending.  I keep forgetting what everyone keeps trying to tell me.  Demigods don’t have happy endings.

Hecate just watched me impassively as I struggled with my thoughts and feelings. 

“Yes, if you accept this chance, you will become a very powerful demigod, your life will be less complicated, and your life will probably be happier overall, but you will always be filled with regret.  Regret that you didn’t meet your father, and never told him how you feel.  Regret that you didn’t get to experience the wizarding world and all of its marvels.  Finally, you will feel regret that you didn’t have the courage to leave camp and spread your wings.  You will always wonder, ‘what if—' for the rest of your life.”

“Why am I like this mom?  What is wrong with me?”  Tears started rolling down my eyes.

She just hugged me. “He’s your father, dear.  Everyone wants to know their parents.  It’s not something you can help.”

We just sat there in silence until I was able to continue.

“Are there any other reasons why I shouldn’t take the potion?”  I have to know.  I can’t hide from this forever.

“Other than possibly meeting your father, there are some important advantages and disadvantages.  If you decide to remain a wizard, the most important rule is that they can never know about our world.  Just like wizards hide their world from mortals, we hide our world from both mortals and wizards.  They don’t know about our world, and they never can.  Keeping the truth from them usually requires actively lying about it and that can be draining.  The mist takes care of demigod related problems with mortals and wizards, but you may have to watch out for the occasional person.  They have Seers too and they might be able to see the truth about you—no, you don’t have the gift.  Don’t bother trying to learn it in the future.  Anyways, you’ll have to be careful.”

I could understand that.  I don’t really want to be known as the only demigod among wizards anyways.

 “What’s the downside?”  Like I said before, there’s always a downside.  “Keeping secrets can’t be the only downside.”

“One of downsides is that I won’t be able to help with the wizarding aspect of your life as much as I would like.  At most, I can give you some resources.  You will have to do most of the learning yourself or through other means and will probably have to learn the practical side of wizard magic from them.  You’re also a demigod, so I’m not sure whether you’ll be able to easily overcome your dyslexia.”

Oh crap.  I didn’t even think about that.  Will I really be okay?

“On top of all of that, there is a much bigger problem.  You have wizard blood and are capable of wizarding magic.  You are extremely dangerous because wizarding magic can harm us.”

“So what?  You guys are gods!  That shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s not like you guys will die from it…”  I don’t understand why this was a problem.  A god should be able to survive anything thrown at them.  That what makes them gods.

“You’re dangerous because you can harm us, and we can’t harm you directly with our godly powers.  Your wizarding blood protects you from direct punishments from us.”

“What?  How is that bad?  That sounds like a great deal to me.”

“It’s bad because Zeus thinks you’re dangerous. And because of that, he wants you dead, and doesn’t mind raising a horde of monsters to make that happen.  The only reason he hasn’t done it yet is because I told him if he does that, I will retaliate and make it so the mist believes that every child of Zeus is a mass murderer.  I’ll make it so they have no place in the world they can live outside of the camp.  He won’t be able to stop me either, as he is the God of Honor and Justice.  The Fates will demand a price for acting against an innocent.  In this case, all demigods of Zeus will be known as criminals for the unknown future.”

“That seems a bit harsh…”  I know the guy wants to kill me, but all of his kids taking the punishment that should belong to him seems both unfair and extreme.

               “He is our king and must lead by example.  Should he betray his domain, the price exacted is numerous times more than normal.  Just as I will suffer if he ends your existence, he must he suffer for ruining all of the lives of his children.”

               That is really unfair to them.  I’d just rather Zeus suffer if he kills me unjustly.

“This problem is the reason why my other demigod child that was also a wizard chose to drink the potion without hesitation.  Why choose a life where the king of gods wishes to kill you?  Instead, she chose to be a powerful sorceress respected by all, with numerous resources at her disposal.  At her peak, she easily rivaled demigods of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.  Why bother with a world she might never truly fit in with?”

“Yeah, I can understand that.”

“On the bright side, you will be a part of a third world.  You’ll be able to learn both divine magic and wizarding magic.  You can learn to use magic in a different way from what we do here, and do different things.  Your demigod abilities might make learning wizard magic easier, but that’s unknown at this time, as my domain does not cover their magic.  I’m not sure how your abilities will develop, but I’m sure it will be interesting and powerful in its own way.

 You will see things that you would have never suspected, just like in our world.  You can gain precious resources to things we don’t have here.  The wizards are quite ingenious in their own way as you will learn.”

I sat there thinking about what I should do.

“Have you made a decision?  There’s no other advice I can give you.  I can’t tell you more about the wizarding world either because it might influence your decision in a particular direction and to prevent any leaks about the wizarding world to the demigods at your camp.  Sometimes you kids do stupid things and I bet someone will just try to seek out wizards just to see if they can.  Of course, I’m always the one doing the clean up after these major headache-inducing incidents.”

In my heart, I already knew what I was going to choose.  Taking the potion was tempting.  Very tempting.  I think it was made to be that way.  In exchange for all of my dreams coming true, like being powerful and respected, all I would have to do is give up my wizarding half.  Too bad, it isn’t enough.  I don’t want to live with any regrets.   A big part of me wants to meet my father, and another significant part of me wanted to learn another kind of magic and see more of this world.  I could learn two different kinds of magic simultaneously, and maybe in the future, I would be able to truly protect myself from monsters and the gods. 

I took a deep breath before I relied to make it official.  “I don’t want to drink that potion.  I want to be a wizard.”

Mother looked at me impassively. “Are you sure?  There is no going back.  Once you are exposed to wizard magic that isn’t your own, the potion will no longer work.  You won’t have a choice at that point.”

“No, I’m sure.”  I was certain of my choice.

She looked at me with both sadness and a hint of pride.  “I knew that you would choose that.  You can’t help it.  You are too much like me.  Although I know you want to meet your father, if that was the only reason, you would never have chosen it.  The prospect of learning new unfamiliar magic excites you to your core.  You also have your father’s decisiveness.  You have the ability to make a quick judgement and stick to it.”

I was happy to be like my mother, but I had mixed feelings about being compared to my father.  On one hand, it was a compliment, but on the other, she said I was like my father.  It’s like a backhanded compliment—nice, but not really.

“Since you decided to remain a wizard, you don’t need to hide it among campers.  I’ll just make the mist protections even tighter, so that that worlds don’t meet.”

I was glad.  If I had to hide the wizarding world from demigods, and the divine world from the wizards, I think I would have gone crazy quickly.

“Now that you’ve made your first choice, it is time for you to make another choice.  Had you drank that potion, you wouldn’t have to make another life altering decision, but since you didn’t, here we are.  Thankfully, this one should be much simpler. 

For your information, most wizards don’t know how to control their magic, and have random bouts of accidental magic, just like you did as a child, when they get emotional.  As a result, they have to go through an official school to learn how to use their magic and get certified.  Wizards mainly learn magic in different boarding schools around the world if they want the best education. 

You have the choice of going to two different schools.  The first one is Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.  You are an American, so you are already scheduled to join this school at the beginning of the next school year.  It starts within a few weeks.  It is a fine institution to learn wizard magic and all that it entails.  Your other choice is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  It’s located somewhere in Scotland, Great Britain, on the other side of the Atlantic.”

“What?  Why is that one of my choices?”  It seems kind of random.

My mother looked at me expressionlessly. “Your father is from the Isles.” 

Ah.  That would explain it.

“If you go to Hogwarts, you have a chance of meeting your father.  If you don’t, it doesn’t mean you can’t meet him, but your chances will be lower.  Don’t forget, even though we keep talking about your life in terms of a wizard, you are also a demigod.  You will naturally be busy.  On top of which, international travel is dangerous for a demigod.  The skies are Zeus’s domain, and he isn’t above shooting a plane out of the sky, just to kill you.  And sea travel…even if Poseidon is ambivalent about your existence, your scent will attract countless monsters from the sea.  Travelling will just be too difficult.”

“Can I get a pros and cons list for these please?”

“Sorry, dear.  No hints or explanations this time.  This choice is tied deeply to your fate as well.  I can’t tell you anything else or the Fates will have my head.  I was able to explain more for the first choice as it pertained to the effect you would have on the Greek world.  The things I told you are general knowledge.  As a wizard, you can learn wizard magic.  If you drink the potion, you’ll be a powerful demigod.  The only truly extra info I gave you is that Zeus wants to kill you for being a wizard and you could meet your father, neither of which is really breaking the rules.”

That was true in its own strange way.

“There’s no need to do that here.  Either you go to Ilvermorny, and have a minimal chance of meeting your father in the future, or you go to Hogwarts and have a much greater chance to meet your father.  This choice was left to you, in case you wanted to be a wizard, but did not want to meet your father.”

AHHHHH!!  Why does he have to live so far away?  This already sounds like a huge pain.

“If I decide to go to school at Hogwarts, how will I get there?  You just said that Zeus will shoot me out of the sky, and sea monster will eat me.  How am I going to get to school without dying a horrific death?”

Hecate looked at me smugly.  “I have a simple plan for that, so there should be no worries.  Now, what do you say?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “If you know it’s going to be Hogwarts, why would you even ask?”

She looked at me with the most serious look I’ve ever seen on her so far and said, “The choices you make are important.  Everyone deserves to know their options and make a choice, no matter how obvious it might be.  No matter what anyone says, your destiny is based on all of the choices you make, not something that is predestined.  Even the Fates acknowledge this.”

I’ve only talked my mom for like an hour throughout my entire lifetime, and she’s already lecturing me.  Jeez.

“Alright, alright.  I choose Hogwarts.  Is that good enough?”

My mother just grinned at me.  “Yes, sounds good to me.”