The Lost Crown

~Violet~ 3

I laid on my back in the beautiful grass of the garden watching the sunset.  The smell of all the flowers in the garden blended together around me, making me feel like I was in a giant bouquet.  I sighed.  As beautiful as the garden was, I was never good at caring for it.  My dad kept it nice for me.  He was a good gardener.  

The sun finished setting and the night drew in slowly.  I heard a door open,

"Violet, time to come in!"  My dad yelled out.  "You haven't had dinner yet."  The door closed.  I sighed and pushed myself up.  The slow walk up the garden path was relaxing, but I felt like I was forgetting something.  When I opened the door to the kitchen, I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Surprise!"  My family screamed.  A big smile spread across my face and ran up to give them all a hug.  It was my birthday, that was what I had forgotten.  It had taken all day to remember.

"This is so sweet!  Thank you!"  I gasped, looking around.  I had been out longer than I thought I had for them to be able to pull all this off.  There were twelve balloons, one for each year of my life, and they were all my favorite color; green!  There was cake, too.  My step-mom wasn't a very good cook, and neither was my dad, so they had probably ordered it, but it was still sweet.  It was all white with little red rose-like swirls circling it's exterior and green writing in the middle that said 'Happy Birthday Violet Green!'  There were twelve candles dotted around the cake.

"Cake for dinner?"  I asked hopefully.  They looked at each other.

"I don't see why not."  They smiled.  I went for a knife hoping I could cut it, but I was stopped by my step-mom's voice.

"Don't you want to make a wish first?"  She teased.  I was really forgetful sometimes.  I quickly changed path direction.

"Oh yeah, thanks Emily."  I made a quick wish in my head for an interesting year and blew out the candles.  THEN I went to get a knife.  My twin step-brothers looked ready to stuff their faces.  They were only one year younger than me, and had had their birthdays last month.  They didn't deserve this cake.  I sliced two really thin pieces and gave then to my brothers, and they ate them in one bite.  I gave a moderate sized one to Emily, and an ever so slightly bigger one to my dad.  Then I shoved my hand in the rest and stuffed it in my face. Ahhhh.  Dinner.

Before I knew it, I was stuffed and on a sugar high, which really wasn't good for my ADHD.  It was somehow already eleven at night, so my brothers had gone to bed.  I was playing a game of Uno with Emily and dad.  A question bubbled up in my mind.  I hoped now that I was twelve, I would get a straight answer.

"Who is my mom?"  I asked, right as I put down a yellow seven.  Emily looked at me and forgot it was her turn.  My dad put down his hand.  I guess we weren't playing anymore.  They looked at each other, and Emily nodded.

"How are your Latin grades?"  My dad asked.

"What?"  What did this have to do with anything.

"Or your History grades.  What have you been learning in History?"  I blinked at him with my mouth hanging open.

"Um.  In Latin I get C's, in History I get B-'s.  Why?"  I was to confused to be mad or suspicious.

"What do you learn in History?"  He asked again.

"Uh, we did the Renaissance, World War II, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Maya-"  He stopped me.

"Are you familiar with the religious beliefs of any of these ancient civilizations?"  I felt like I was having a pop quiz in the middle of summer.

"Um, in Ancient Egypt they believed in multiple gods and worshiped cats, and believed that whatever bodies were buried with-"  He stopped me again.  Grr.

"How about Greece or Rome?"  He asked like he was getting inpatient.  Well so was I, buddy.

"Uh, in Rome-"  This was getting nowhere.

"Greece?  Did you learn about the gods in Greece?"  He finally asked.  I snorted.

"Yeah.  Why didn't you just ask that in the first place?"  He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh.

"Well, they're still real.  They are immortal, right?  So they can't die.  It only makes sense that they are still alive.  Sometimes, the gods have children with mortals, called half-bloods, or demigods.  To answer your question, your mother is a goddess."  I looked at him funny.  Was there alcohol here that I didn't see?  If so, how much had he had?  

"Yeah, sure.  My mistake for trying to ask a serious question.  Never mind."  I shook my head and took the opportunity to cheat and put a second card down to make it a yellow two instead.

"No, Violet.  I'm serious."  He said.  "I didn't want to tell you until you were thirteen, but that was pushing it.  The monsters start coming at twelve.  I should have told you earlier, I just didn't know how.  I'm sorry."  He seemed like he was telling the truth now.

"But-"  I hated being interrupted.

"We should go.  Tonight, or tomorrow.  Just to be safe, we should go in the morning."  And with that he left and walked in the direction of his room.  Emily looked at me and tried a smile.

"I suppose I should explain the rest, right?"  I nodded like 'duh!' and she continued, "Demigods attract monsters, and their -your- scent grows stronger and you start to attract more monsters.  There is a safe place for you called Camp Half-Blood.  That's where your dad was going to take you tonight or tomorrow morning.  You'll have fun there, I'm sure.  There are other people like you there; special people."

"Special."  I grunted.  What was that supposed to mean, that I was crazy?

"Anyway, you should get some rest.  It's late."  She got up and went to bed, leaving me alone at the dining table with the dim light and my Uno cards.  

Happy birthday to me.