I BULLY A BULLY

My father visited me in my dreams again. The scenery was the same as before. I get that he's a Titan Lord and all, but would it hurt to turn on the lights in here? I couldn't see a thing, and so my ears were my only guide, although I didn't dare move around.

"Hello, Yiannis." My father's voice didn't change either. It was as ragged and raspy as it always was. "I'm guessing you didn't come just to ask how I was doing. What's up?"

"Well, Ares has done just as you asked. Everything is set. Now all that's left is for Hades to claim his children."

"I have a feeling you know who the children are, so why aren't you telling me?"

"Think of it as a pleasant surprise I have in store. You will be quite shocked. It will be amusing to see."

"So, I'm just a plaything to you?" Father didn't answer. "I will leave you with a warning. Your life will drastically change when Hades claims his children. Brace yourself, and stay by Helen's side." Before I could ask any questions, the dream ended, and I woke up to reality and found Helen gently pushing me to wake up. I got up, and the two of us left the room I was in.

When I got to the Demigod Hotel, Chiron and Julien explained how it was like a haven for demigods like Helen and me. When I asked if there was any other safe zone, both shook their heads. So, in the whole world, a single building was the only safe place? I still couldn't believe that, but I'm pretty sure Chiron knows more than I do. I've been staying here for the past day. I called my dad(my human dad) and told him I was at a special camp for children of the gods. I thought he would laugh, but he sighed and told me to take care of Helen. It made me wonder whether he knew about the gods and their involvement in Mother's death.

Chiron saw us and waved. I could now see the bottom half of him, which was a horse's body. It made me think as to how he hid something so noticeable. "You've slept for a while, Yiannis." I nodded. "Yes. Dealing with monsters makes one quite tired." Chiron smiled. "Well, come with me. I'll give you two a quick tour of the hotel."

He showed me the dining room, which looked like something out of a TV commercial. It had all the fancy tables you would see in those advertisements, and the food on the menu looked great. The gaming room was filled with about everything from arcade hits to modern-day consoles. There was a class for every kind of weapon, and the teachers were either dryads or kids not much older than me. People sparred with each other or practiced with dummies. The library was about the size of my school, with bookshelves ten times my height stacked with thousands of books. Then there was room thirteen.

Unlike the other rooms, this one required a key to enter. "What's in there?" I asked. Chiron looked away. "Nothing particularly special."

"So why's it locked?"

"Well, you see, we only enter that room at certain times. But I wouldn't worry about it for now. Come, there's still more to see."

After showing Helen and me around a bit more, a girl came to us. She had caramel hair that flowed past her shoulders and almond eyes. Her skin was fair, and she wore nothing but a plain white dress. She was quite pretty. Chiron smiled. "Vittoria, would you show these two around? The Archery class starts soon." Vittoria nodded, and she showed us the meeting room. There were just one big round table and a bunch of chairs. "What's this room for?" I asked. "Here, we discuss quests or prophecies, or about any issue that pops up in our world," Vittoria explained.

"Like the missing thunderbolt?" Vittoria's eyes narrowed. "How'd you know about that?"

"Oh, Julien told me about it. I didn't know it was confidential, though." Vittoria sighed. "He wasn't supposed to talk about it, but whatever. Just promise you won't repeat his mistake." I nodded. "I promise." Helen pointed towards a banner depicting the silhouette of a man swirling up water with a trident. "I'm no expert, but is that Poseidon?" Vittoria smiled kindly at my little sister. "Yes, Helen. The banners in the room aren't random. You're assigned to a room with a banner of your godly parent."

So I just need to look in rooms with a banner of Hades, I thought. Then I can find who I'm looking for. But I can do that later. "What happens if you don't know who your godly parent is?" Helen asked. Vittoria shrugged. "Well, as you can see, we have a lot of rooms for demigods. They can pick any that are vacant. Anyway, I'll show you around the forest behind the hotel. We have a capture the flag match next week."

Vittoria led us through doors and stairs while I was lost in thought about what Kronos had said, something about staying by Helen's side. He also told me to brace myself. Does that mean Helen is somehow going to be in danger after Hades claims his children? But how?

The thoughts dissipated when I heard Julien's voice. He sounded mad, which surprised me. Julien was calm most of the time. "It's our chariot! The Zeus team got it first!"

"What! You know your siblings wouldn't have gotten their hands on it if it weren't for the Ares team!" It was a girl's voice. "You know that's true!" The two kept at it for a while until the girl couldn't handle it anymore. I saw her grab Julien's neck, and my jaw dropped. The girl was as beefy as a male football player. She had short, scraggly brown hair. You could clearly see the muscles on her arms. Jeez, I thought. How many steroids did she take?

I walked up to them, but Vittoria stopped me. "Don't get involved."

"But that's my friend getting attacking here."

"Trust me when I say you don't want Anatasia on your bad side. You'll regret it."

I shook her off. "I think I can help Julien without her getting mad at me." Vittoria looked at me with a puzzled expression. "How?"

"You'll see. Just take care of my little sis for a bit."

The girl named Anatasia was dragging Julien to the toilets. Julien tried to shake her off, but she wouldn't budge. This girl was just pure muscle. I won't lie; I'm only about one forty, basically your average kid. Anatasia was at least twice that. I crept up behind them as best I could.

"This will teach you to screw with me!" Anatasia sneered. Julien's face turned pale as the toilet was only inches from his face. Before Anatasia splashed Julien's head into the toilet water, I stamped my foot.

I had frozen time around the bathroom, so I was the only one able to move. I had to pull Julien from Anatasia's arm with all my might. That's likely because I'm scrawny, but in my defense, I'm going to blame Anatasia for being a big jock. I was going to just leave with Julien when I got an idea. I shoved Anatasia's head into the toilet and propped Julien near the entrance. I made sure to keep my distance before letting time flow again.

"Arrg!" Yes, that was the lovely sound of a beefy girl gurgling toilet water. "Huh? I could've sworn I was in the bathroom," Julien said, dazed. When Anatasia finished her business, she glared at Julien with her icy eyes. "How dare you!"

"You're the one who started this!" Julien protested. "Although I swear I'm not the one who plunged your head into the toilet."

"Uh-uh. Just you wait, Julien. Next week, your head is mine."

I walked in as if I saw nothing. "Hey, Julien. Um, what's up? You don't look so good."

"Yeah, I just had this massive argument with this girl," he sighed. I nodded. "I'm guessing the ones yelling were you two? Vittoria was showing us around when I heard your voice."

"Oh, yeah, right, how're things going for you here? Not too bad, I hope?" I smiled. "No, it's normal, I guess. I expected something crazier, but I glad that it's quite peaceful here." Julien chuckled. "Well, you're new, so I suppose you don't know how unpeaceful it can be here. How's Helen?"

"Fine as usual. My little sis wanted to see the forest behind the hotel, so Vittoria's showing her that." Julien nodded. "Cool. Well, I'd better get going. I've got things to do." I waved as he jogged in the opposite direction. "How'd you do that?" I looked around, but I saw nobody near me. I'm pretty sure that was Vittoria's voice. "Woah, you can turn invisible?" I asked. Vittoria made herself visible again. "Yeah." She opened her hand. "These gold bracelets were a gift from my mom. I become invisible if I wear them."

"Your mom must be a nice person," Helen said.

"Yeah, she is." Vittoria pointed at me. "You haven't answered my question. How'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb. How'd you shove Anatasia's head in the toilet? She didn't even defend herself there?"

"Um, It's called a sneak attack for a reason?" Vittoria wasn't convinced. "Yeah, ok. One thing, though. Are you and Helen going to participate in next week's capture the flag game?" I cocked my head. "I might play, but not Helen." Helen pouted. "I wanna play!"

"Helen, you walk with a cane. You could get hurt badly. I doubt they play capture the flag in the normal way." Vittoria nodded. "We play with swords, shields, and battle armor."

"On second thought, you have a good point, Yiannis. I won't play." I rolled my eyes. "Well, if you want to, I can't stop you anymore. You'll need to learn to protect yourself with a weapon eventually, Helen."

"Yep," Vittoria agreed. "Monsters love us demigods. So, are you playing or not?"

"I guess I am playing," I shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," she smiled. "I want you on my team. I think you'll be exactly what we need to win."