Forbidden (A Luke Castellan Love Story)

Chapter 14

Avery’s POV
            While Grey and I took the couch, Grover took the chair to the side and Chiron stood. I was still having trouble believing that Chiron was a half horse, half man. It was so weird.
            “Now,” Chiron said breaking me from my thoughts. “Care to explain what has happened?”
            Grover was the one who explained which I was silently thanking the heavens because I had no idea what had happened.
            “I met Avery about three months ago.” Grover started. “She had a faint scent but I thought maybe she had just been around a demigod so I ignored it, but then I started to ask her questions like if she was ADHD or dyslexic. Everything started to add up to her being a demigod but she didn’t have the same scent! It was so confusing. Then today when we were in history class, this girl was trying to provoke Avery and it… um… worked. Avery stood up and, oh Chiron; I don’t even know what happened! Lightning shot out of her body and completely filled the room and the rest of the school. As soon as that happened, I could smell her clearly. That’s when I knew, for sure, that she was a demigod. The Mist wasn’t working properly so I had to tell everyone what ‘happened’, it ended up getting Avery in trouble.” He bent his head down, feeling guilty.
            “She got kicked out of the school,” Grover sighed, “I knew who she was so I had to get her somewhere safe. She’s a powerful demigod Chiron; I don’t know how I didn’t know before. Then when I finally got to her, she had her friend, Grey, with her and we started to argue because apparently Grey has been with Avery her whole life and was getting upset that I hadn’t taken her to Camp yet.” He started to tremble. “Then we… after Avery stopped us, Grey went to get their packs and we ran into….into a kindly one.” He started to shake and I think I heard a whimper come from him. “She said that they must have hidden her well and started to attack her. I don’t know how, but Avery managed to kill her! It was so weird though. She threw up her hands and yelled ‘protect’ in ancient Greek then Mrs. Gretcher, the kindly one, couldn’t get to her. It was like a shield.” Grover shook his head, “I don’t understand it Chiron. What’s going on? I’ve never seen a demigod like this before!”
            Chiron looked like he was trying to hide fear in his eyes. He made a claw with three fingers over his heart and pushed outward. He opened his eyes and looked back at Grover. “Let us just be glad that Avery is safe now.”
            I raised my hand. Chiron looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, “Yes?”
            “Can someone please explain to me, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?” I yelled. I was so scared. I don’t even know if everything really did happen! I wanted answers and so far no one had done anything to help me! They were just making everything so much more confusing!
            Everyone looked at me sympathetically. “Sorry, child, we probably should have told you who you are before we got into all of this.” Chiron said, “Do you know about the Greek Gods and Goddess’, child?” I nodded my head, “Well, they still exist today.”
            Looking at him like he was crazy I said, “But those are only myths, stories. They aren’t real.”
            “I know this is hard to comprehend, but indeed they are real. Most mortals don’t know about them because of the Mist. The Mist protects eyes of mortals, and sometimes demigods, to see something that only their minds would comprehend. For example, this whole time, Mrs. Gretcher, who you saw as a regular mortal, was a… Fury.”
            My eyes widened. “You mean a Fury like that Hades has. One of the three Furies?”
            Lightning rumbled in the distance and Chiron looked on edge. “Yes. But please speak their names with caution. There is power in a name. We call them the kindly ones.”
            I nodded. “So let’s just say that everything you’re telling me is true, then how are the Gods still here? I thought they died. The Romans conquered the Greeks and took them over.”
            “The Gods follow the western civilization. When the western civilization dies, so do they. The western civilization is still present, therefore so are the Gods. The Gods used to be in Greece and now they have moved, along with western civilization, to America.”
            Nodding my head I looked away trying to wrap my head around everything.
            “You are taking this surprisingly well.” Chiron said sounding impressed.
            “I don’t know, it’s just, Grey always talked about the Gods and stuff, and I don’t know. Everything confusing, but I-I believe you.”
             “I am glad to hear that.” Chiron smiled at me, “Now do you have any more questions that we can answer for you?”
            “Yeah,” I said, “Everyone keeps calling me a demigod, what’s that?”
            Chiron looked at Grover and waited. Grover looked at Chiron then back at me expecting Chiron to tell me. His eyes widened when Chiron was looking at him to explain it to me. He pointed to himself shocked, “Wait you want me to tell her?”
            “I think it will be easier coming from someone that she knows.” Chiron nodded.
            “Um… Okay.” Grover said then turned to me. “So a demigod is half mortal half… well, God. So, one of your parents was a God or a Goddess while the other one was a mortal.”
            I blinked. “What?”
            “I know it’s hard to comprehend but it’s true.”
            “So one of my parents isn’t dead?” I asked shocked. Grover nodded. “But, then why didn’t my Godly parent take care of me?” I asked.
            Grover bit his lip, “That’s the hard part. You see the Gods sometimes like to come down from Olympus and sometimes they fall in love with mortals. They end up having a kid with them but they can’t stay with their kid. The Gods are very busy and they aren’t supposed to interfere with their children.”
            “That’s lame.” I said and thunder rumbled causing us to look up.
            Grey’s eyes were wide. “You might not want to offend the Gods, Avery. You don’t want Lord Zeus to strike you down with a lightning bold do you?”
            I shook my head, my eyes wide as well. “They would really do that?”
            “Unfortunately yes. If they see it fit, they could kill you on the spot.”
            “That’s comforting,” I said pulling up my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.
             It was silent for a while until I spoke again. “So how do we find out who my Godly parent is?”
            “That’s tricky. Usually we can tell if it’s a God or Goddess by who your mortal parent is. You would live with your mortal parent so if you lived with your mom, your dad would be a God. If you lived with your dad then your mom would be a Goddess. Get it?”
            I nodded, “Yeah, I think so. But since I lived at an orphanage, I don’t know who my mortal parent is.”
            “You’ll find out eventually. Once you’re claimed.”
            “Claimed?”
            “Oh yeah, I didn’t mention that.” Grover apologized, “When you’re claimed your Godly parent basically tells everyone that you’re their kid.”
            “Does everyone get claimed?”
            Grover rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “Like I said before, the Gods are really busy…”
            “So…?” I pressed.
            “No, not always.”
            “That’s sad.” I said looking down then I looked up at everyone. “What if I don’t get claimed?”
            “Most demigods do. And I’m sure that you will, it may take some time but eventually you will be claimed.”
            Chiron bit his lip like he didn’t like this subject of me being claimed. That didn’t really help me feel any better.
            “So you kept mentioning that I smelled like something? I shower every day, I don’t think I smell bad.” I said, kind of offended.
            Grover laughed, “Oh no! Not like that! A demigod has a certain scent that monsters can track. We didn’t want to tell you who you really were because then your scent would become stronger.”
            “How did you catch my scent? You’re not a monster…. Are you?”
            He laughed again, “No, I’m a satyr.”
            “Part goat, part human right?” Grover nodded. “But you look completely normal.” I said looking confused.
            Grover looked embarrassed and looked over at Chiron. “IT would be best to show her.” Chiron said.  Grover nodded and turned back to me.
            Fist, Grover took off his hat and I remembered that Grey did that. Sure enough he really did have horns on the top of his head. I hadn’t been hallucinating.
            Next, he took off his shoes. When he took them off I gasped when I saw hooves.  The shoe had some kind of styrophome in it; to keep his food-um hoof- in place. Lastly, Grover took of his pants. At first I shielding my eyes not knowing what he was doing but then I saw little tuffs of fur. My eyes widened when I saw Grover for who he really was.
            “Wow.” I said.  “Is that why you can’t take gym? And why it looks like it hurts to walk?”
            Grover nodded shyly. “I didn’t really want to show you cuz, most people get-ah-freaked out.”
            “I’ll admit that it’s weird,” I said shrugging. “But not as weird as anything else today.” I admitted and Grover laughed.