Half Blood Revenge

Happy Birthday

Once again, my dreams are a bit unsettling. I am in the woods with Alex and we are running from the Cyclops again. We are heading towards a large willow tree. He keeps telling me to hurry. Next thing I know, I see a figure ahead and it looks like the man in the picture with my mom.

“Dad?” I ask in my dream. He nods and runs by taking out the Cyclops.

I wake up startled. What the heck! I am sweating, so I climb out of bed and head downstairs. As I head to the kitchen, Aunt Shelly heard me and joined me in the kitchen.

“Can’t sleep, kiddo?” She asks. I have a really good relationship with Aunt Shelly, so I tell her about the picture I found and about the dream I had. She has a look of shock on her face.

“Was the man in the photo my father?” I ask Aunt Shelly.

“Yes,” she tells me. “However, I don’t think I am the one who should tell you the story. You are 18 now, so it is about time you know the truth. I will convince your mom to tell you everything tomorrow.”

This leaves me more confused and it must show on my face.

“Happy Birthday, Mel.” Aunt Shelly says and kisses my forehead. I go in for a big hug and she sends me back to bed.

I do fall back asleep, but I either don’t dream or remember the dream. I wake up around 9am and head down to the kitchen. Mom and Aunt Shelly are in the kitchen and I can hear Aunt Shelly telling mom she needs to tell me the truth. Just then, I come around the corner and am greeted with a big hug and happy birthday from my mom. She pulls out a donut cake, as she knows how much I love donuts. It’s a long-john donut and two round donuts stacked on top of each other to make an “18” out of the donuts. I laugh and we all take a donut to enjoy.

After some uncomfortable silence, Aunt Shelly coughs and c***s her head my way. Mom speaks up, “So, I heard you found a picture last night and have some questions.”

“Yes, Mom. I saw the picture and I just want to know more about Dad. In 18 years you have never told me much about Dad and always shied away from the topic. I just want the truth on who he is and why we don’t ever see him.” I say with confidence.

“Wow, someone found a new sense of confidence on their 18th birthday,” Mom chuckled. I wasn’t so amused. I wanted answers, but yes I did feel more confident.

“Let’s eat and we’ll chat,” Aunt Shelley suggests.

Mom passes everyone out a donut, we take a celebratory picture that I post to social media and we begin to talk.

I could tell mom was struggling on where to start, so thankfully Aunt Shelly began the story.  She spoke about how her and Mom met this amazing, handsome man. They were at a jazz club and were totally entranced by the music.

“This really good looking man was alone and kept eyeing up your mom,” Aunt Shelly said. “They spent the night flirting with each other.” Mom was blushing.

Aunt Shelly explained how the guy mentioned he wasn’t from around here and was merely stopping by for a visit. 

Mom always talked about her time in NYC. She was working for an architecture firm at the time and was sharing a place with Aunt Shelly. This was before she got into consulting and all the traveling.

Mom started to talk and tell how her and Dad met several times that week, but he told her he couldn’t stay.

“That is when he showed me who he truly is.” Mom said. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that at first.

“When he said his name was Apollo, I thought his parents must have like the Rocky movies or something like that.” She chuckled. “Turns out, his name was Apollo… like the Greek God.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I say. “He likes music, you met him at a jazz club, just like the God of Music, Apollo.”

“Yes,” mom says. “Except he was the actual God, Apollo.”

I started to laugh at her. “This is a joke, right?” Their faces were very serious. “Wait, you are serious?” “How? How is that even possible?” I ask.

She explains how the Gods frequently visit earth and mingle among the people to check in on how they are doing. Sometimes the Gods meet humans who relate very closely to them and can actually form feelings for these humans.

“So, wait…” I tell her. “You’re telling me, that I am half God? Like a demi-God?”

“Well, yes,” My mom continues. “After your father and I found out I was pregnant he told me you were going to be special. He is the one who actually picked your name, Melody.” This made me smile.

“He said since we met over our love of music, you should have a musical name. He also said that because of his heritage, on your 18th birthday, you may show some special…. Well, special powers.” She told me.

“Little, awkward me? I am supposed to have powers?” I said laughing. But then it trailed off and I actually thought a little harder about it. Things were changing about me.

“So, the dream I had about the cyclops chasing me in the woods, are those real?” I asked my mom with a sense of shock?

“Yes, that is why I was asking you to tell me so many details about your dream,” She stated.

“Your father said your powers will start to appear on your 18th birthday and they will continue to slowly develop over the next 7 days. By the end of the week, we will know what you are fully capable of with your powers.” She continues to explain.

My head is spinning by this point. So, I am half human, half God? This is a lot to wrap my head around. And my Dad is the Greek God of Music! Could that be why I am so good at playing any instrument?

“I can tell this is a lot to process. Let’s let this sink in and we can continue to talk later.” Mom tells me.

That’s good because I think I need to be alone right now. I head up to my room and stop in front of the mirror. I did feel more confident this morning, so maybe that is a part of me changing. I still look pretty skinny, as I have never been very muscular. Maybe I will get some super strength from this? That would be cool, as I have always been viewed as a weakling.

“Wait, what am I thinking,” I say to myself. Powers, I have freaking powers!  Since I am only about 11 hours into my 18th year of life, I didn’t expect any drastic changes as mom mentioned it would take a week to fully understand what powers I possess.

I start trying to move things with my mind. Well telekinesis doesn’t seem to be working. I try jumping to see if I can fly. Nope, that didn’t work either. I stare really hard at the wall to see if I have x-ray vision, but it’s still just a wall that I can’t see past.

Ugh, oh well. I guess I will just wait and see what happens. Still tired from last night, I lay down on my bed and decide to take a nap. As I drift off to sleep, I hear a knock at my door.

“Honey, you have a visitor,” my Mom says.

I sit up in bed as she pushes open the door and my jaw drops to the floor.

“Dad?”

“Happy Birthday, my Sweet Melody” he says.