Miss Quinn

46 ~ Back to the Demigods

Emma hurried out the front door of her two-story house. Her mum stood outside on the driveway talking to a teenage boy. The boy had long blonde hair and bright golden eyes. Apollo. He looked the same as he had last summer. It was no surprise, seeing as he was a god. Emma's bag slammed into her shoulder blades as she ran towards the two people on the driveway. Beatrice Quinn looked over her shoulder and smiled at Emma. She grinned back and threw her bag into Apollo's red sports car. Anyone who would see the image would think Apollo was Emma's brother. He wasn't though, he was her dad.

Emma hugged Apollo tightly and then hugged her mum goodbye. Beatrice seemed happy for Emma to go to Camp, but Emma knew she wasn't. Beatrice didn't see Emma all year nor all summer. The only time Emma ever spent with her mum were the few days after she got back from Hogwarts, before she went to Camp, and the few days after she got back from Camp, and Christmas break. Emma hated making her mum feel so lonely, but what could she do? She couldn't just not go to school. She also couldn't skip Camp.

Emma smiled sadly at her mum, told her she loved her, and hopped into the sports car. Apollo got in the driver's side and revved the engine. Then the car sped down the road. Emma looked into the mirror on the outside of the car and saw her mum standing in the driveway watching her daughter leave her once more.

At the end of the street, the sports car lifted into the air and flew over the city. Emma and her mum lived in a small town on the outskirts of London. The highest building in the downtown area was ten stories tall. As they flew over the city, Emma glanced at her dad. He was humming along with a song Emma couldn't hear. Maybe there was an invisible radio? Emma pulled her wand out from her pocket and willed it to change into a dagger.

"So you found out how to do that?" Apollo asked.

"It was an accident actually," Emma said, "I longed for two daggers, and my wand changed. It was much easier to destroy dummies after that."

"Dummies?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Hogwarts has this special room that will turn into whatever you need. I wanted an arena, and one appeared!" Emma said happily. Apollo looked impressed and pleased. Emma grinned.

"You're a good kid, you know that?" Apollo said.

"A good kid? What's this about, dad?" Emma asked.

"I just wanted you to know," Apollo said. "I'm sorry I can't spend more time with you. It's one thing to have one missing parent, but it's even worse to have none."

"None? What do you mean?" Emma was confused. She had her mum, didn't she?

"Well you hardly ever see you mother, and that's not exactly good for a young girl. Most of your friends go home every summer to a nice house with two loving parents. You go home and are immediately whisked off somewhere else. It can't be the best thing ever. Not to mention you have to hide your worlds from the other. And you have to lie to your friends about where you go in the summer. You tell them you stay with me, but you barely spend a few hours with me in reality." Apollo looked sadly at Emma and touched his hand lightly to her cheek.

"It's alright, dad, I've found family in others. I'm not completely alone you know," Emma said.

Apollo smiled and redirected his gaze to the sky in front of them. Emma looked out her window and found that they were nearing the end of the land. Soon they'd be flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

"Dad, I told Venus about Camp Half-Blood and demigods and you, is that alright?" Emma asked.

"As long as you don't tell a whole lot of people. Keep it to one or two and you should be okay," Apollo said.