Not Just Another God ✓

Chapter 1: The Whole Being (a) god thing

My hand traced the wood of the door, flicking off flecks of old paint as my fingers found their way to the doorknob, finally resting on its cold, metallic texture.

It would be such a simple movement to just tighten my grip on the doorknob and twist, yet somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it.

What if something had happened to my parents?

After dithering outside the door for several minutes, I finally managed to gather up the courage to gently open the door, nervously scanning the room, my hand fiddling with the pen in my pocket.

I exhaled in relief when my eyes fell on my mom, perfectly well and unharmed, the glare of her computer illuminating her face.

"Mom," I breathed, unable to bring my voice over a whisper as I made my way over to her.

She jumped up, shocked, staring at me like I was a ghost, or a tap dancing unicorn. Then, smoothing over her look of surprise with a warm smile, she wrapped her arms around me and enclosed me in a wonderfully perfect, mom hug.

Relaxation washed over me as I breathed in the familiar smell of freshly baked blue cookies. Don't ask how I could smell the color. I just could.

"Percy," she said, refusing to let go of me. And believe me, at that very moment I didn't want her to.

"Mom," I said, my voice cracking in pure happiness.

"I can't believe you're back," she breathed, letting go and getting a good look at me, "and reasonably unharmed."

I ran a hand through my hair with a nervous laugh as I went through the events that had happened that Mom would not be happy about.

She bit her lip with an almost hesitant smile as she exhaled and pulled out a chair and took a seat herself.

Fiddling with the ends of her hair, she took a deep breath and looked at me, with a tinge of sadness in her deep blue eyes.

"When you-" she paused and I knew she was searching for the right word, "disappeared, I started thinking about something. Something I have been avoiding for a very, very long time."

I nodded for her to go on, my heart racing, nervous about what she was going to say.

"I didn't think it would be safe for you to know. Safe for you to be a part of this thing when you were already in so much danger."

Brushing her hands on her old, faded jeans, she stood up slowly and managed to pull out a rusty, metal box from under the table.

She passed the box to me, and with as much carefulness as I could muster, I prised open the lid, curious on what secrets the box could contain.

Inside, was a fragile piece of silver-plated mistletoe, hung on a brightly dyed blue piece of cord, faded with age, but still significantly blue.

I held it up, raising my eyebrows to voice a question I couldn't quite manage to say out loud.

"My wedding gift," Mom said softly, "from my first husband, Odin."

"Odin..." I mused, running the name over in my mind, "isn't he the Norse god of those rune thingys or something?"

"Yes," Mom corrected gently, "but also wisdom, war, and the dead."

"And he was your husband?"

Mom nodded, a short, simple gesture that could somehow mean so much.

She started fiddling with her thumbs, a thing I tended to do when I was nervous, hesitant to go on.

"I used to be someone else," she started, "I wasn't... Wasn't the best person. So I decided to change. To get a fresh start. And there were some things... Some things my ex husband wouldn't agree with me on. And so I managed to make myself mortal."