Silenced (Demigod Story)

Not the one to talk

Cade directly took me to the big house.  As we walked, pink-haired girls kept glancing at us and giggling.  I instantly had a disliking for them because they reminded me of all of the kids back at school that would make fun of me when I couldn’t speak.  The clacking of hooves got my attention because I always admired horses.  I looked in front of me to see a half man, half horse thing walk up to me.  I ignore his horse half and looked in his eyes.

“My name is Chiron, are you blind?” he asked.  That was a really rude question.

“No, why do you ask?” I answered offended.

“I mean, can’t you see what I am?  Usually newbies stare at my horse half.”

“Oh, I barely noticed it,” I joked.  “I don’t see why I should treat you any differently just because your lower half of the body is structured differently.”

Chiron smiled, probably not expecting that answer.  “Come,” he gestured to the big house, “Cade, you can come if you’d like.”  Cade nodded and we went into the house.

“So, have you been claimed?” Chiron asked.

I looked at Cade for guidance and he slightly nodded his head.  “Yeah,” I answered.

“By who?” Chiron wondered as he started drinking water.

“By Gaea,” I said, feeling the need to run away so I didn’t feel the rejection any more.  Chiron spit out the water from his mouth and I summoned a huge leaf to block the water that was spat at us.   Chiron stared wide eyed at me, not knowing what to think.  I had the leaf shrivel down through the crack that it created in the floor.  “But I am not like her!”

“You can’t be here.  We don’t know if you are a spy or not,” Chiron stated.

“What?” I asked.  This kind of rejection just kind of hit me hard.  “I just came all the way from Florida, fought Niobe and her flesh eating horse, and some desperate girl kissing a guy in front of me for two days to get here.  I don’t think that it is fair to just shoo me away like that.”  I looked at the wall and noticed a picture of Hercules.  I thought about how nice it would be to have my parent be the ruler of the gods, and everyone thought that you would become a hero.  Instead, everyone thought that I would become a villain like my mother.

“You know about Hercules?  Just about everyone does.  I was his trainer,” Chiron took great pride in him.

“Wait, you are that Chiron?” I started seeing the whole picture being painted.

“Yes, did you think that I would look tougher or something?”

“No,” I looked him up and down.  “I thought that you would be shorter, have two goat legs and horns, and be chubby like in the movie.”

Chiron laughed at my description.  “The mortals do not know how to make a Greek movie.”

“Mortals,” I remembered Chloe, the last mortal that I saw.  She just ruined the reputation of all mortals for me.  “Anyway, if you are that Chiron, then you should understand.  I hate to use this against you, but your dad was Kronos.  During the war, you were always on the side with the gods even when your dad was the head of the other side.  Right now, I am the one in that position.”

Chiron took a deep breath.  “Okay, I see your point.  Sorry, but I don’t think that anyone else will so you will have to say that you are the daughter of Demeter if you want to fit in.”

“Yeah, I think that I am up for the job,” I smiled.  I felt like I was intruding on someone else’s life, as if I was trying to be someone that I wasn’t.

“I trust you, but what is in your bag?” Chiron eyed my ratted bag.

“Supplies,” I answered slowly.  Chiron held out his hand and I gave him my bag.  He went through the big pocket and took out the book that Apollo gave me.

“What is this?” he asked as if he found some weed.

“A book,” I shrugged.

“Did you steal it?”

“No,” I sighed.  “Apollo gave it to me.”

“Why?”

“Well,” I took the book out of his hands and flipped to the first poem.  I turned to book toward him so he could read it.  “I made a deal with Apollo.  When I was five, he took away my voice.  So about a week ago, I met him and he made a deal with me.  If I write a poem in here every day, the next day I will have my voice.  If I miss one day, the next day I will not be able to talk.”

“Why did he take away your voice?” Chiron questioned, thinking that I was cussing at age five.  That would be funny, but no.

“My dad offended him in a poem, so he got revenge by taking my voice,” I answered, getting a little tired of having to answer questions.

Chiron nodded, “Cade, go ahead and show her around.”

I had forgotten that Cade was there, he was staring at the wall.  As a child of Athena, his mind was probably piecing together events to try to figure out a problem and strategy.  He nodded when he heard his name and snapped out of his deep thoughts.  “Okay,” he smiled and walked with me out the door.