Leaving California
"Before she could reply, he gave her dad the keys, let him know that he'd keep everything at the house up and running, and they were officially on the way to New York."
"So, will you tell me what's going on now?" Dani asked. "Or will you be keeping more secrets?" At this, she shot Clove a look.
Both Clove and her dad paused and seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes. Eventually, Clove caved. "Did you make it through the Greek mythology unit yet?"
"Mrs. Morton gave an overview yesterday, but we weren't supposed really get into it until next week." Her arm was starting to throb just thinking about her demon teacher. "What was she anyways?"
"We're getting to that. How much did she tell you?" Clove asked again.
"Well, she told us about the main gods, oh! And she mentioned Hercules!" She felt a little better knowing she had a little bit of background knowledge. "I did see that movie, but what does all this have to do with whatever's going on?"
It was her dad who answered this time. "It's all real. The Greek Pantheon that is."
"What? No. That can't be true! Even if they were real, they've been dead for centuries. They would have died out when Rome took over right?" Danica had come to the conclusion that she was going mad. That had to be it.
"Gods are immortal. They can't die, so they haven't. They've just moved around with western civilization." Clove saw her confusion. "You don't know what that is, do you?"
"No, I don't understand. This is all crazy, do you really expect me to believe that the Greek gods are real?" Danica was getting frustrated, so she looked out the window instead of at the other occupants of the car. She couldn't see the ocean anymore. They were probably halfway to Nevada now.
"Dani, please. I know this is a lot, but you have to believe me." Ignoring Clove was pretty hard, considering the fact that he was right next to her in the backseat. "Western civilization is wherever the most important country is at the time. It started in Greece. Then Rome, it was even in England for a while, and now it's here. In the US. The God's are tethered to the world through it. Mount Olympus is now on the 600th floor of the empire state building."
"What the heck! Someone definitely would have noticed that!" Danica practically screamed at him, turning so fast in her seat that she almost gave herself whiplash.
"Honey bear, listen to Clove. He knows what he's talking about." Her dad was skeptical of everything, but once he comes to the conclusion that it's true, it's impossible to dissuade him. But that's ok. He's always been proven to be right before.
"Ok." If her Dad believes it, it must be true. "I believe you. I'll listen."
Clove let out a breath he'd been holding. He didn't know what he'd do if she didn't believe. "The only reason people don't notice what's going on is because of the mist. A magical force that causes mortals to not realize what's going on. Instead of a sword, they'd see a gun or a stick or something. Instead of a flying demigod, they'd see a large bird. Things like that."
"What's a demigod?" She said she would listen, but she still wanted to know the answers. "And what did you mean by mortal?"
"Mortals are normal everyday people. A demigod is someone who is half god and half mortal. You're a demigod." Clove was very cautious in telling her that. "One of your biological parents is a Greek God."
"How do you know? Do you know who my parents are?" Excitement and panic were starting to rise up in her again. "Have you met them?"
"I'm sorry Dani, I don't know who your parents are." Clove answered carefully.
"Then how do you know that I'm a demigod?"
Clove took a deep breath and said, "I wasn't sure until Mrs. Morton went after you. It's because of a few things really. You're dyslexia and ADHD for one. You have a hard time reading English because your brain is hardwired for ancient Greek. And you can't sit still because of your natural battle reflexes. What really made me believe though, was that earthquake in the courtyard. You were accidentally using your demigod powers. And then your teacher brought you downstairs. I thought she smelled like a monster. You also have a really strong demigod smell. It attracts monsters like nobody's business."
It was a lot to take in. The first thing she was able to get out of her mouth was a whispered "do I really smell that strongly?" As she checked her shirt smell. It smelled normal to her, like roses and shea butter.
"Hahaha!" Clove was laughing at her now. "Humans can't smell it. I can because I'm a satyr, you really don't smell bad though, more like fresh baked bread with nice peanut butter than anything else."
"You're not human?" She asked. "Wait. Is that why you use crutches even though you don't really need crutches?
"Yep. It makes it easier to blend in. My walk would be really funny looking without them, so we satyrs just use mobility aids whenever we're sent to do any demigod scouting." He pulled his shoes off to show his hooves. Not feet. Hooves. Like a cow.
"Oh my goodness you have cow feet!" Was her initial reaction. Clove didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment. It did get a snort out of her dad though.
"Goat feet!" He blanched. "Goat. Not cow! I know satyrs who would trample you under hoof for a comment like that! You're lucky I'm your protector instead of some old geezer goat." Clove told her with more passion than she had seen from him the whole time she'd known him. "Now do you have any more questions?"
Danica took a few minutes to put her thoughts into words. When she figured it out she said, "I've got a whole bunch of questions, but I guess the biggest one is; what the heck did Mrs. Morton turn into?"
"Well, she was definitely a monster, but what did she look like?" That's right. Clove hadn't been with her in the boiler room.
"She had two different legs. One like a donkey I think. The other one was metal. She had these crazy fangs and flaming hair. Even her fingernails got sharper. It was really creepy." This was not a pretty memory for her.
"You fought a freaking empousa for your first monster? I mean that's not the worst possible one, but most people start with a hellhound or something!" Clove was once again, freaking out.
"What did you call her again?" Dani hadn't quite gotten it the first time.
"An empousa. They're daughters of Hecate. The goddess of magic. They are not easy to outsmart, and you are definitely not a daughter of Hecate. Empousai are always friendly with their family." Clove explained.
She was about to ask another question, but her dad got there first. "Alright kiddos. We're about to cross the border into Nevada. We'll get gas and stretch our legs, but we can't stay for too long."