Gods of Olympus

Chapter 15 - Annabeth's POV

I don't know why, but I got up really early the next morning and got dressed in my MOH uniform. I stared at myself in the mirror for about fifteen minutes. I started to notice all the things that Apollo and I shared. We had the same nose and sandy blond hair. We had the same smile. I was really annoyed that we looked so much alike. Like father like daughter, I guess.

As soon as I got downstairs, I saw him. Apollo. My father. I quickly spun on my heel and was prepared to run upstairs. Maybe scream into my pillow for a couple of hours or at least until I lost my voice. Definitely skip school that day.

"Annabeth, wait," Apollo said. I stopped in my tracks.

"What?" I asked angrily.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way..." Apollo started.

"Stop. Your other daughter and your son already made that speech and I don't want or need to hear it again. I just have one question." I interrupted.

"Sure. Anything," He said.

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you give me up? You didn't give Carys up. So why did you, the great god Apollo, give your second-born daughter away?"

"You wouldn't understand. It wasn't safe to keep you on Mount Olympus with Carys. The war that Carys told you about, has been going on longer than you were born. I saw a prophecy..." Apollo said.

"Don't do this. Don't say 'I saw a prophecy that I have to fight a war and it isn't safe to keep my newborn daughter in the safest place in the universe so I had to turn her mortal and now I'm going to send her to live on Earth with a fake family and hope she doesn't get killed by all the monsters lurking in the shadows.' Did you know that for seven years, all I heard from my 'father' was how disappointed he was to be stuck with me? How I was the burden put upon him by Athena. And when the spiders started coming, my stepmother told me to be quiet and that I was making everything up just to get attention." I said.

"I'm sorry," Apollo replied.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," I told him.

"What's going on?" Percy asked as he and the other boys walked into the room dressed in their MOH uniforms.

"Oh nothing. Just having an amazing conversation with my dad." I said as I walked away.

As we walked to school that day, my friends knew that Apollo was my father, but they didn't know anything more. The rest of the school day was a blur. I barely talked to anyone if I could help it.

I didn't participate in advanced weaving class. I didn't even look at my mother once when she was teaching the class even though she was sending me all of these worried glances. PE was pretty annoying just like every PE class that I've ever been in. But PE was extra hard because it was a way to practice your immortal powers. After lunch was advanced combat training. We learned how to handle lots of different weapons,

I was dreading going home so much and having to face my father. Carys assured me that Apollo really wanted to have that father-daughter connection with me. I told her I would try to make amends but it was very hard to stare into the face of the man that abandoned you.

I was also kind of suspicious about the fact that Apollo wanted to spend more time with me, one of his daughters when he probably didn't even think about his other kids. The only child of Apollo that he actually cared about was Carys. I saw some of Carys's old memories of her growing up when I was practicing how to read minds for homework. In Carys's memories, it looked like Apollo was an amazing dad. But I knew for certain that it wasn't like that for every one of Apollo's children except her.

When we got home after school, I tried to get to my room as fast as possible so that I didn't have to talk to Apollo or Athena. Unfortunately, Apollo was waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

"Annabeth, I know you feel very hurt and mad at me right now and I understand that I have been an awful dad, and I know you don't want to listen to me, but I need to tell you," Apollo said.

"So what, you just expect me to accept your apology for abandoning your own daughter?" I said. I didn't know why, but tears were in my eyes.

"You hate me. I get it. I just wanted to let you know that I love you and I will always be here for you." Apollo said. He hugged me and I just broke down. Tears were streaming down my face. I had never felt this before. I was used to always hiding my feelings deep inside and never letting them out.

"I love you, Dad," I whispered.