Note: This story is dedicated to my friend who loves this story and wanted a dedication. Also it's dedicated to all the people who loved the first one enough to want a second! :)
This is a sequel. It helps if you read the first story but it's not necessary! Enjoy!
________________________________________________________________________
The searing pain inside my skull was so much for me to take that I had to lie down on the nearby couch. I rubbed my temples hoping that the throbbing would subside. I had no such luck just like in the rest of my life.
I was vaguely aware of the person who walked into the room and shoved two round pills into my hand. I sat up and my head protested loudly to the sudden movement. I quickly forced the medication down my throat without any liquid and waited for it to take effect.
It didn’t take long for me to feel the relief and I leaned my head against the back of the couch to let myself relax. The room was silent which was odd. I took the time to listen to my own thoughts which was something that I rarely ever got to do.
Most of the time, my mind was muddied with the thoughts of everyone around me. It might seem really awesome to have the ability to read minds but it seems like a huge nuisance to me. Luckily, over the years I have taught myself how to block out most useless thoughts that people have. I can easily block out day-to-day thoughts about leaving the stove on or needing to drop by the store to pick something up. The only downside is that it takes a lot of my energy especially when there are a lot of people around me.
This drain of energy usually causes my ‘block out’ wall to collapse and everyone’s thoughts come rushing to my mind. It overloads my head causing the most intense headache in human history. I don’t believe any hangover or migraine can beat the pain I get when my brain is overloaded.
I don’t know what medication I took but it seemed to relax my mind enough to take away the pain and listen to the soothing sound of my own voice inside my head for once.
“Are you alright?”
I opened one eye to look over at the owner of the soft voice. I was unsurprised to find my mother sitting beside me with a worried expression on her face. I lifted up my head up and gave my full attention to her. Seeing her concerned about me wasn’t an unusual sight but it still bothered me.
“I’m fine now,” I reply with a small smile. “Thanks.”
My mother’s beautiful sliver eyes searched over my face to see if I was lying. She was really an extravagant woman with long curly chestnut hair, a perfect cream complexion, and her stunning silver eyes. They were always warm and full of expression. She had faint lines of aging on her round face that would never progress. She didn’t appear to be a day over 35 but what would you expect from a Greek Goddess.
That’s right. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough let’s make me the child of the all powerful Athena. You might think that that would have its advantages too but so far in the 22 years of my life, I have discovered absolutely none.
“Zeus will be arriving shortly,” my mother announced sadly.
I sighed as I understood the hidden message in her words. “Yes, Lady Athena,” I hissed as I stood.
My mother stood and grabbed my arm before I could even take a step forward. She was about a half a foot taller than meaning that I had to look up at her beautiful face.
“You know I never meant for this happen,” she began to say and I mentally prepared myself for this speech. “I wish things didn’t have to be like this, Avena, and you know that.”
“Why don’t you tell everyone the truth then?” I already knew the answer.
“You know why,” Athena replied downheartedly. “My actions were a mistake and I wish I could take them back more than anything.”
“So I was a mistake?” I took a step back and out of her grasp.
My mother gave a frustrated sigh before she grabbed me in a tight embrace. I didn’t return the hug but she refused to let go of me.
“I never regret you,” she argued softly. “I only wish everything was easier.”
“Don’t we all,” I mumbled before there was a loud knock on the door. Athena let go and I promptly walked over to answer the door. Upon opening the door I noticed the seven foot, brown hair, blue eyed famous man waiting patiently. I mentally winced as his thoughts entered my head. I don’t know what it was about him. Perhaps it was because he was so powerful or maybe it was because he seemed to scream his thoughts; whatever the reason I could never block him out.
I gave a small curtsy before I greeted him. “Lord Zeus.”
“Avena,” Zeus replied stepping into the house as I moved aside. “How are you doing this evening?”
“Wonderful,” I mumbled with a nod as I led him to the living room where Athena was waiting for him.
Ah, the beautiful Athena, cruel fate had to make her a virgin goddess. That is such a waste of good motherly material, Zeus’s thoughts spoke. He was so load that I always had to leave the room whenever he was around.
“Will that be all Lady Athena?” I played my part and waited to be excused.
“Of course,” my mother agreed glancing at me dejectedly. “You may go to your maid chambers.”
I gave them another curtsy before I practically bolted out of the room but not before I caught Zeus’s last thought: Athena treats her maids much too kindly.
While that was true, she only treated me so kindly because I was her very own child. The only thing was that no one else in Olympus (or the rest of the world for that matter) knew that little fact. It wasn’t obvious that we were related at all. Since I had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, I looked nothing like her.
If word got out that I was Athena’s daughter, she would risk losing her throne on the Twelve Olympians Court. Everyone would automatically assume that Athena was no longer a virgin which wouldn’t true. I know that no one would let her explain before the eighty-sixed her from Olympus. Rumors were such a nasty thing.
I wasn’t created the normal pregnancy way. I was never inside my mother’s stomach and was never born via caesarean section or…the other way. I was just…there one day. I’ve never cared enough to learn all the details of my creation but I know that Athena was lonely and not in the romantic sense. She yearned for some companionship and realized that she could have a child. Her first thought was to create one the way she was born which was literally by thought but she learned that she didn’t have to power to create life like her father, Zeus. She sought out some help and discovered that she could create a child. For lack of a better explanation, Athena brewed my DNA together with some from an immortal, some of hers, and some of a human.
It was like she special ordered me and seven to ten business days later, the stork came with me wrapped in a little blanket. The only thing is something must have gone wrong in the mixture. I didn’t become a demigod, like Athena originally wanted. Instead I became completely immortal just like everyone else here in Olympus. Then came the ‘ability to read minds’ matter which Athena believes has to do with too much of her own DNA. Soon after I was created, Athena realized her mistake. Her mistake wasn’t me personally but it was the fact that she created me without permission. She decided to raise me in secret and pass me off as her maid. I don’t really understand the whole thing. I just know that I would forever be an abnormal immortal and no one was allowed to know who I really am.
I really hated the circumstances of my life.
C’mon Athena, just agree with me so I can get this stupid war started… I groaned as Zeus’s thoughts traveled through the house. I resisted the urge to hit my head against the nearest wall in my room. I sat on my bed and turned on my television in hopes to drown out his voice from my head.
The show that was playing on the TV was the latest program about a group of kids in high school and all their drama. It was a horrible show really but also arguably addicting. It made the viewer just have to find out what would happen in these kids’ lives. Was the main girl really pregnant and if she was then who was the dad of the baby? Would she be known as a slut forever or just in the eyes of the guys at school? Then there was that nerdy girl who wanted to go out with the mysterious guy, what was going to happen with that? Why were their lives so interesting to me? That show was filled with as many clichés as the director could fit into a high school setting.
Secretly, I longed for a life full with simple complications like theirs. How many of them had god parents and the ability to read minds? That would be: zero. These shows were based off of human real life which compared to mine, seemed like a piece of cake. What I wouldn’t give to live down on Earth, go to a regular school, and be normal for once in my life.
Half-way into the show, the main girl found out she was in fact pregnant and was now trying to figure out who the father could be. I heard the front door slam shut in the middle of her admitting her unfaithfulness to her boyfriend. I would have normally left my room and continued to watch television in the living room but I was feeling lazy. I stayed lying on my stomach on my bed.
It wasn’t long before my mother appeared at the doorway looking slightly irritated. “He’s gone.”
“Great,” I muttered without glancing at her. “Now I can come out of my ‘maid chambers’?”
I meant it as a joke since my bedroom was clearly my sanctuary and not just a place for sleeping, but my mother didn’t take it as one.
“You know I hate using terms like that with you,” she said walking over and joining me on my bed.
I gave her a small smile. “I know.”
“Look, Ares has requested my help with some crisis he wants to start in the world. I’m going to be out of the house for the next few hours.”
I paid more attention to the show but I smiled internally. My mother was not very keen on her half-brother. It might have been because he was so violent but I believed it was because Aphrodite was always there. She was quite a handful especially when there was another woman around her lover.
“Can you handle being alone for a little while?”
I looked over at her as if she had spoken another language. “You leave me alone all the time!”
“Yes,” she agreed easily. “But I have no idea how you feel about it?”
I didn’t answer. Instead I returned my attention to the television though my mind was in another place. I was secretly wondering why she cared about this all of a sudden. I let down my protective mind wall to search her mind but she kept her own thoughts scattered. I couldn’t get one clear sentence from her. She was good at keeping me away from her mind.
“I wish I could leave here while you are gone during the day,” I spoke quietly.
My mother didn’t comment but I felt her shift on the bed uncomfortable with the subject. “I can’t take that chance Avena.”
I nodded slowly feeling tears prick at my eyes but I was determined not to let them fall. “That’s fine I suppose. I just wanted to feel…normal for once.”
I glanced back at my mother who was staring at the television but not really watching what was on the screen. I didn’t even bother to read her mind knowing that her thoughts wouldn’t make sense to me.
“Would going to school make you feel normal?”
I thought it over. I was way too old to go to high school but there was always college. I could get out of this house. Shoot, I could get out of Olympus and be around people my age. I sat up on the bed with sudden energy. “Yes!”
Athena studied my face for a few moments before she decided. “It’s much too dangerous. I can’t take the chance that you will be discovered.”
I felt all my renewed energy drain from me as I fell back onto the bed.
“I have to go meet with Ares. I will be back for dinner,” she promised before standing and giving me a kiss on the forehead. “I really am sorry Avena.”
I felt a tear roll down my cheek but I wiped it away before she could notice. The last thing I wanted to do was make my mother feel even worse about having me.
After I heard the door open and close, I let loose and soaked my pillow in tears. I took a few deep breaths and tried to distract myself with the TV show once again. Athena actually considered letting me leave. It was definitely a start. Even though she had said no, there had to be some sort of weakness in her that would let me go.
It was my mission to find that weakness and get out of this place as soon as possible!
______________________________________________________________________
A/N: Welcome to the new story! I hope you enjoy! :)