Chapter Two

After many days of rest and tinned soup, my health was better than it had been in a while. I could finally walk without feeling faint, and was happy to be up to date on what was going on, much to Robert’s distaste. He cared about me, that’s why he was doing this, but he just didn’t know how to let things go. It was my turn to step up and be of help, and he wasn’t much use now when you take into consideration that the whole army of Demi-Gods were after him. They knew who he was; they thought I’d died along with my mother. That gave me the ultimate advantage.

Even though they’d captured me, they thought that I was just this adopted daughter that Zeus, the ruler of Mount Olympus, had taken from an orphanage when he went into hiding. It was safe to say that they had no idea that I would be their biggest threat, not him, but they did think I knew all about his past life, and any information would have been useful for them. They had no such luck.

I’d come out of my shell since they told me everything, and although it was a huge weight to carry on my shoulders, I found comfort in knowing that somewhere there were others like me, my brothers, who had all under instruction of Gaia had their memories erased. I wondered why Zeus chose me to stay with instead of the others, but I was sure I’d learn things as I went on. Turns out that Robert revealed himself a couple of days before I was captured; he’d fought off some Demi-Gods in order to attain Gaia’s locket which she’d hidden before her death. This locket was the key to everything she had made and also, when placed in the wrong hands, the key to ruling the Earth. We couldn’t let that happen.

“Eden, come in here for a minute,” Shayne shouted through the door of the kitchen. I picked up my half-eaten bowl of soup and walked into the kitchen, stopping for a moment to pour it down the drain and set the bowl on the side.

“Yes?”

Everyone was sat around the kitchen table, looking like they hadn’t had much sleep at all. I’d noticed that they’d spent most of their time discussing different things, but I’d been told that I couldn’t join them until I’d made a full recovery. I guess that time had come sooner than I'd expected.

“We think you’re ready to help us. You understand that we don’t know what’s going to happen at the minute, it’s just a waiting game for now, but you can help with other things,” said Maria who, as Robert told me, was the person he’d fallen in love with when he came down to earth. Completely mortal, I think, but who knows? With the way that the past few weeks have gone, nothing would surprise me.

“I understand, I just feel bad that I can’t do anything and most of this is to do with me,” I sighed.

A small man with spectacles called John, who hardly ever spoke but always visited Robert when we lived at home, furrowed his brow and said, “It’s nothing to do with you, yet. No offense, but we’re not exactly going to reveal you to all the Demi-Gods now that you know who you are. I mean, who you were.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t be discreet and help, does it?”

“Phoebe never was discreet,” laughed John. I squinted my eyes.

“Phoebe?” I asked, puzzled.

“That was your name,” said John. “I thought you told her, Rob?”

Robert grimaced. “I thought it’d be too much to handle for her at the time, she wasn’t in a very good state of mind. I forgot that she didn’t know, I was going to tell her.”

“Well she seems fine now,” Hayley added, who seemed to have perked up over the last few days, but I could still see in her eyes that her demons were on the inside eating away at her. “Eden, you’re not Gaia’s only child. Your name was Phoebe and you’re the only daughter left. You were one of the twelve titans; Mnemosyne, Rhea, Tethys, Theia and Themis were all destroyed. We got you and the others away in time.”

“I know I'm not her only child, but titans?” I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Look, do you want a Greek Mythology lesson or do you want to make yourself useful?”

I turned to face the voice that I didn’t recognize and was shocked to see the person that had been my tutor for 3 years standing by the door, arms crossed. I’d always disliked Mr. Andrews, with his shoulder-length, dark brown hair and his lust for authority. He was still young, maybe around 25 years old, but his eyes told a different story - they were full of wisdom, and now I wondered why the hell he was here. Surely not everyone I knew was put here to protect me; I still didn’t know why Hayley was here, or what she knew that I didn't.

“Why are you here?” My defensiveness towards what he had said showed clearly in my voice, which made me sound like I was accusing him of something.

“Listen, sweetheart, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m here to help.” Despite what he said, I heard no comfort in his voice - only sarcasm.

“We don’t need your help,” I said curtly but less viciously.

“You showed your distaste towards me 2 ago by trying to get me sacked. Do you really think I’m going to leave this time?” I gaped at him, not knowing what to say, and eventually pursed my lips as he laughed, entering the room and sitting on the chair opposite me.

“I’m glad you’re here, Marshall, we need your help,” Shayne said, pushing one of the old maps towards him and tapping a specific area which looked like a drawing of a stream.

“I’m on it.” With that, Marshall picked up the map and strode into the lounge.

I watched him leave in disbelief before turning round to face Shayne.

“Why’s he here?”

“Same reason as everyone else is. To help. I agree with him though, didn’t you want to do something?”
“Of course I did.”

“Well come with me, then.” Shayne picked up his khaki jacket from the back of his chair and walked towards the back door.

“Where are we going?”

“Hunting.”