Irene Vaughn and the Eternal Captive

Demigods

  I ran to the mythology classroom to check if Duke is there. 

"Duke!", I called out. Duke turned and saw me running to his direction, "Empousa!" 

"Are you okay? How did you know I'm here?", he asked.

"I just kinda felt it. Anyway,there is an... Empousa!", I said.

"What? How did you escape? And how did you know what it's called?", he asked

"Well, I've read about her. She's being controlled by Hecate.", I said.

"What exactly happened?", he inquired. 

"I went to the library to finish my research then the library went silent. I saw a reflection of the Empousa on my computer screen. When she's about to attach, I grabbed her arm. Then out of fear, I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I was out of the library. I went in to see what happened to the creature. She was rubbing her wrist and she looked scared. Then she evaporated.", I explained. 

"Did she say anything to you?", Duke asked. 

"Before she evaporated, she said 'The Dark lady values your power'.", I said.

There is a moment of silence. 

"Uh... Duke? Can I ask you something?", I said. 

"Sure.", he said.

"I was just wondering. In Greek mythology, there are gods and goddesses. They are immortal and if they exist, is it possible for them to have children with normal people?", I queried. 

He went silent, then he looked around. "I'm guessing that you know the answer to your question.", he said. 

"Just tell me. I think I deserve to know soon enough, and I... I'm ready.", I said. 

"It's possible, and we're the ones they call DEMIGODS. It means half god. Some people call us Half-bloods. We are half god and half mortal.", he said with hesitations. 

"And let me guess, I'm a daughter of the goddess of magic?", I asked. 

"All I know is that you're a demigod. You could only tell who your godly parent is if you've been claimed already. Many half-bloods are claimed when they reached the camp. Anyway, how could you tell that the goddess of magic is your parent?", he said. 

"Aside from my experiences with the mist, the spells, and other people thinking I'm a witch", I said, "I also had this dream. It was just a few days ago when a lady that looks a lot like me appeared in my dream. She called me her child and she said that I should learn to control my abilities. She also said that I'm powerful and I shouldn't be afraid of changes because it will happen to my life soon.", I explained. 

"That's weird. We usually have those kinds of dreams once we're claimed. Before that, our dreams are just glimpses that we couldn't understand.", he said. 

"One more question. Do all demigods have dyslexia or ADHD?", I inquired. 

"Most of us. It's because we have more advanced reflexes for fighting off monsters than regular mortals, and our brain is usually hardwired to read Greek letters.", he said and I nodded.

"Okay, okay. One last question, who's your godly parent?", I asked him. 

"Who do you think?", he made me guess, "Now that you know you're a demigod, you should be more careful. I couldn't bring you to camp, we should wait for a satyr to be sent here. See you tomorrow!"

"You haven't told me yet who your godly parent is.", I said.

"You're smart. I know you could easily guess with the inductive knowledge of yours.", he said.

"Where do you live anyway? Do you go back to that camp everyday?", I asked. 

"I live with my mom for a while.", he said.

"Oh...", I thought.

"How about you? You're still with your dad?", he asked.

"No, I'm a foster child. I never met my real parents.", I replied. 

"It's getting late. You should be home.", he said. 

"It's only five.", I complained.

"When the sun sets, it's harder to see monsters", he said. 

"Fine. See you tomorrow!", I walked away and realized something. The school bus left ten minutes ago. I looked back and saw Duke smiling at me.

"You forgot something.", he said.

"I know", I thought.

"The school bus left minutes ago.", he said.

"Maybe I could do that teleportation thing I did a while ago. That might work", I said worriedly.

"You could lose a lot of energy in teleporting without proper training.", he said, "Let me show you something". He grabbed his bag and we went out of the school.

We stood by the entrance of the school and he warned, "I hope you're not afraid of heights. Hold on!".

We soared high into the clouds to make sure no one sees us. "You could fly?", I asked.

"This isn't technically flying. I could only control the air to lift us up.", he explained. 

"I don't care. It's still awesome!", I said. 

I showed him the way to our house. We arrived in no time. "Thank you", I said, "I'll see you tomorrow and during lunch, you're welcome at our table". 

"No problem. And also, thank you. See you tomorrow", he bid his goodbye and flew away.

It's kinda weird to think about it though. I couldn't believe I FLEW to my house.

As I went inside the house, my foster mother welcomed me with a hug. "How's your day at school?", she asked. 

"It's great and full of discoveries.", I said. 

I don't think I should tell them about my real mom. They might freak out.

I went into my room, placed my laptop on my lap, and searched for more information about Hecate.

The next morning, I rode the school bus to school. Duke isn't in the school bus so I guess he flies to school or maybe he has another way of transportation. 

I followed Duke's instruction, to be more careful especially in public places. I looked around for any suspicious looking person. I know monsters can shape-shift so they may appear as a mortal or sometimes they are covered by the mist. 

I sat at the back. After a few more stops, a guy sat beside me. He's wearing a gray jacket and his hood is up. He pulled it down and I saw his face. "Duke!", I said. 

"Hi.", he said, "Bad news, I can't bring you to Camp half-blood yet."

"Why?", I asked.

"There are three more demigods. It's quite surprising that you're all in one school. That's the reason why no satyr arrived. They said I should find those three and then, they would send someone to help us. It's dangerous to go to camp for five demigods without any guardian. ", he explained.

"How would you find those demigods? Our school is huge", I said. 

"I don't know", he said as the bus stopped, "Let's talk about that later, we've got to go to class".