Not Just Another God ✓

Chapter 6: I am not allowed cookies

The pancakes were discarded for an early lunch as Apollo, Meg, and I just stood around, not quite sure what we should be doing with ourselves.

"Percy, your mom is so normal." Meg said from the edge of the sofa, where she had plonked down after bouncing several times on the tattered seat.

"Thanks, I guess," I said, picking up a stack of test preparation manuals from the coffee table and chucking them aside, as if that would tidy them up.

"I see you like to study," Apollo said, the adultish tone of his voice not quite matching up with his small stature,  "Well done."

I snorted in amusement. "I hate to study. I've been guaranteed admission with a full scholarship to New Rome University, but they're still requiring me to pass all my high school courses and score well on the SAT. Can you believe that? Not to mention I have to pass the DSTOMP."

"The what?" Meg asked, looking at me through half curious eyes.

"An exam for Roman demigods," Apollo told her, as he nodded, apparent wisdom flowing through his mortal veins. "The Demigod Standard Test of Mad Powers."

I frowned."That's what it stands for?"

"I should know. I wrote the music and poetry analysis sections."

"I will never forgive you for that," I replied, glaring at the pile of work that seemed to loom dangerously in the background.

Meg swung her feet. "So you're really a demigod? Like me?"

"Afraid so." I said, sinking into an armchair. "My dad is the godly one–Poseidon. What about your parents?"

Meg's legs stopped swinging and she started twisting with her rings, the godly DNA public flaunting itself in the form of ADHD. "Never knew them...much."

I hesitated before asking.  "Foster home? Stepparents?"

Meg didn't answer, spinning her rings with a strand of anger threaded in with the nervousness that she made evident by her hesitant, darting eyes.

I raised my hands, a pang of guilt echoing through my body.  "Sorry. Didn't mean to pry."

Looking at Apollo I gave him a careful look, wishing to change the subject. "So how did you guys meet?"

Apollo told me the story, Meg correcting him when he exaggerated a little too much.

As he finished, Mom returned, setting down a bowl of Seven Layer Bliss. My stomach grumbled at the mere sight of it. Hear that monsters? The key to defeating the great Percy Jackson is by bribing him with good food.

"I'll be back with the sandwiches," she said. "But I had some leftover seven-layer dip."

"Yum." I said, munching on a tortilla chip, ignoring the fact that manners somehow still existed. "She's kinda famous for this, guys."

Sally ruffled my hair. "There's guacamole, sour cream, refried beans, salsa–"

"Seven layers?" Apollo asked, staring at my mom in a way that made me kind of uncomfortable. "You knew seven is my sacred number? You invented this for me?"

Mom wiped her hands on her apron. "Well, actually, I can't take credit–"

"You are too modest!" Apollo exclaimed, taking up the tiniest portion of the dip, as if he were standing on the top of the food-taster critics.

I watched his face carefully. If he so much as wrinkled his not-so-godly nose at Mom's food, he would suffer from a broken nose for a second time in a day but he seemed pretty happy with it, going back for a slightly bigger section.