Child of the Gods

© 2012 by T.J. Carson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/30/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-9450-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-9449-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-9448-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012922351

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Meeting Roselyn

Dr. Requiem Is a Strange Man

Making Things Clearer Makes Things More Confusing

Disbelief and Detest

Relaxation

School Again

From Key to Kingdom

Gods and Demigods

Gate to Gods

Raze Fight Arena

Prepare To Train

Mortal to Fight Immortal

Training Days

Betrayal

Some Gods Don’t Get To Teach

The Search for Requiem

The Journey

Thank the Gods I’m Home

For Kelly: my Roselyn, my Nikhol, and my Liela.

*6/28/94-8/22/11*

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Henry H. Neff, the brilliant author of the series The Tapestry for reading my initial manuscript and giving me encouragement in my writing and to Shellyta and Lora Chatman for the cover art. Thanks to all of my friends for the excited expressions that helped me continue writing.

Extra thanks go to my friends who all helped with story and character ideas as well as editorial services: A.j. Pearson, Alexis Kvested and Kelly Butler—may she rest in peace.

Thanks to my parents for so very much more than just my genetic code, writing utensils, and teaching me how to learn. There is so much more to thank them for but I would need another book to write it all down in.

Thanks to all former teachers, associates, schoolmates, dates, theatre group members, rivals, and any disinterested parties, for your encouragement and even your sneers have made my story into what it is. Keep on keeping on.

Most importantly, though, are the thanks that go to you: the readers. You are the ones who keep the books alive through retelling and living in the world of imagination. Thanks to you for reading these acknowledgments and hopefully the rest of the book!

Meeting Roselyn

It was strange how much Greek mythology my mother pressed on me. She told me every story she knew and bought me every book that she could find on the subject. Well, I guess I should tell you a thing or two about her and myself. My name is Roselyn Ann Elisabeth Aura, I know it sounds strange and I don’t even have the same last name as my mother but she finally explained all of that to me one day.

My mothers name is Christiania Morning Star Fiyerys. She told me that she didn’t give birth to me and she told me that I wasn’t adopted. She never explained any further even when I didn’t stop pressing her for answers. She was just a regular parent with a regular job, as far as I knew, and she always kept me from getting hurt.

I always thought it was strange how I never got cut, bruised or sick, I always got to school on time but I never really could focus well. I mean, I got good grades and all but it was just hard to sit still in a classroom all day. However, there was always one part of school that I really liked, which was recess; I never could wait for recess to come. It was always forty-five minutes before school got out and having it right before we left made it even more fun. Sometimes when we got done with our work in class early we would get to go out up to an hour and a half before we got out of school.

Strange things started happening one day at recess though. One time when I jumped on a patch of grass because I was mad I got tagged in hide and go seek I killed about a five foot radius of the grass around me. Later I stared this kid Rodger—that I liked—in the eyes wishing he would like me back and he followed me around the rest of recess. The worst that happened though was when I built up static electricity and shocked my friend Andrew. He flew about ten or twelve feet but was fortunately okay.

Chelsea was the girl at our school that always tried getting people in trouble to seem like a good child but secretly everyone hated her. Well, she was being a jerk and tried to say that I pushed him but no teacher liked Chelsea either.

Let me tell you a little bit about Chelsea: her parents are rich, which is the only reason she has a so many friends, she liked to show she was rich, and liked when people got into trouble, especially people that she really didn’t like. Me? I was one of those people that she just really didn’t like. One day Andrew said it was because I had so much natural beauty and she had to put on a hundred dollars worth of make-up to do it, I had to turn away I was blushing so much.

So nothing else really strange happened to me at school until I got into high school, in my ninth grade year our school had 12 intruder alerts before Christmas and each time the person tried to break into my classroom. My mom looked worried throughout the whole year but she didn’t take me out of the school despite the fact that about two hundred students had left because of what had happened.

She had said, Sometimes things just happen and since no one got hurt there was no reason to take you out of school.

There was nothing that got my mind off of school during the day now because all throughout middle and high school we had no recess. Chelsea Rattan was more of a jerk than ever and was always trying to get me in trouble from just turning my neck to crack it; she said I was trying to cheat off someone’s paper, to saying that I was carrying a knife when the pen in my hand was pointed down.

She always made fun of me because I didn’t carry a purse—which I did not understand—and because I didn’t wear expensive shoes, or clothes, or wear make-up. One day she went too far and pushed my head down in the water when I was at the water fountain. My mom had always told me just to let it go but I was angry. I turned around to say something when the pipe busted.

Pressured water shot straight at her and her dumb friends, pushing them down the hall and down the stairs on a wave. I didn’t think that there was any way she could get me in trouble, it was just something that was wrong with the pipes, but of course she said that I broke off the top and that it was entirely my fault. Thankfully, a teacher was in the hall at the time and he protested for me, he hadn’t gotten hit with the water, and also it was strange I didn’t get hit either; the water seemed to have arched around me on all sides.

I want her expelled, Principal Vector! She screeched.

The teacher chuckled, Honestly, Tom, do you think a sixteen-year-old girl could break off a water fountain?

It doesn’t sound very probable, my principal said, scratching his chin. Calm down Miss Rattan and we’ll get you healed up.

After we had gotten out of the principals office and the girls had been sent to the nurse the male teacher came up to me. I didn’t recognize the man, but a few teachers had left the year before because of the intruders—he was probably just a replacement.

He smiled, I’m Dr. Hadezeuseidon. I’m the new Latin and Greek teacher here. I also tutor privately. He handed me a business card with some phone numbers on it. Trust me, Roselyn, you’ll need it. It didn’t bother me at the time that he knew my name; a lot of teachers knew the names of kids that they didn’t teach.

Later that night when I was at home it bothered me that he knew my name, I remembered that once upon a time they taught Greek and Latin but too many kids couldn’t grasp the concept. The previous year we hadn’t had the course, and it was already three weeks into my tenth grade year. Although I had heard some talk about the computer teacher not having the grant for the computers anymore.

I finally went to sleep slightly unconvinced that it was as simple as: he had just heard my name in the principal’s office and that he would take Mrs. Taylor’s spot on our schedules. It still bothered me.

The next morning I showed my mother the card. She looked kind of afraid and seemed to mispronounce his name on purpose. Except for the fact that I knew her too well I might have thought that she truly couldn’t pronounce it.

I don’t know who this ‘Dr. Had-e-Zeus-a-done’ is, She gulped, but you don’t need to think too hard on what he said. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears but I tried to ignore it. I knew she wouldn’t tell me why.

I simply said, Oh, I won’t. He’s just the new Greek and Latin teacher, even though we haven’t had one in fifteen years. When he said his name it sounded like it was supposed to be pronounced ‘Haid-zeus-I-done’ not ‘Had-e-zeus-a-done,’ I laughed, You know it’s kind of funny it looks like his name is combined of Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon, like three of the gods that the Titan lord Kronos had in the stories you made me read. She looked even more nervous after that, and a tear came out of her eye.

You remember all of what you read, don’t you?

Yes, mom.

Are you sure?

Yeah, mom, now I have to go catch the bus, I’ll see you when I get home tonight.

Ok sweetheart, be good.

I bolted to the bus and jumped on.

Regaining my bearings I saw that Andrew was back after being sick for a week.

There was one thing I liked about school since we didn’t have recess and that was that Andrew was there to talk to. He had kind of a wrestlers build for a body, rippling muscles from working at his father’s construction sites—even though we were good friends I hadn’t met his dad—about 6' 2", and had a smooth tan and dark brown hair.

The coolest feature that he had were his eyes: surrounded by his high cheekbones a little smaller than normal nose and very stern eyebrows, he had almost blood red eyes that changed color a lot, but the natural state they were in was red. He had a lot of friends and even the twelfth-grade bullies didn’t pick on him. It was probably because they thought he would beat them up, even though he was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

I started to talk to him about what happened at school with Chelsea and Dr. Hadezeuseidon . . . Andrew started acting the same way my mother had. I couldn’t understand why no one else acted this way about the guy, I mean, the principal, Mr. Vector didn’t act that way. The girls also didn’t act that way when were in the office and neither did the nurse when she came to fetch the girls.

I thought maybe both of them had met him before. Although I couldn’t remember before I was six-years-old and my mom started me in kindergarten, mom and Andrew could. I figured the answer would show up eventually so I just dropped the subject.

When the bell rang for class to start we heard an announcement come over the speaker phone, we all listened intently as Mr. Vector said, Children, as you might have heard Mrs. Taylor will no longer be with us here at CABT. Instead we will be graced with the presence of Dr. Requiem Hadezeuseidon bringing back the Greek and Latin course. I expect that you will give him as much respect that you would give me.

Andrew put on a sly smile and said, Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to do nothing.

As if Mr. Vector heard: Also, we need Andrew Stonebriar to come to the office. Don’t ooh and ah, he’s not in trouble, he just needs to get something from his father. The voice that he said it with was spine tingling, it was like he had been hypnotized but was thinking of all the things he was angry with at the same time.

It sounded like he might start yelling at all of the students and teachers he was mad at. On the other hand, Andrew looked excited and scared at the same time. He was definitely glad that his father had come to see him, but was afraid of what he might be there about.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see what his father looked like, so once he left the room I got a pass to the bathroom. I headed toward the office and I heard a booming voice before I even got near the door.

What I heard didn’t make much sense to me but it seemed to make perfect sense to them both. The voice his father was using sounded loud to me but also like he was trying to whisper and his voice wouldn’t go any lower.

-is here, how is that possible Andrew?

I didn’t know he was going to figure it out that fast, Andrew pleaded, but this is good isn’t it?

No, if she doesn’t meet who she is modeled after she will never understand anything, the booming voice came, Her mother hasn’t told her and I would rather her meet us first instead of him!

Dad, lower your voice, people are going to think your crazy and kick you out, Andrew was trying to keep his voice as low as he could while trying to calm his father.

Ha, he thundered, You are one of the funniest children I’ve had in centuries. That was the part I was regretted being there: what was he talking about centuries? No one lived that long, except in Bible times and . . . and . . . in the stories my mom had made me read . . . but it was impossible for him to have been in those. Those stories were told ages ago and they were just myths. Then I heard Andrew sound a little more scared.

Dad! he squeaked, You can’t say things like that, that’s impossible for humans to understand. You’ll be institutionalized.

He laughed a little louder, Humans, oh, they are so great, except for a few bad ones, like the one that stole the fire idea from my father.

You can’t talk about those things here, maybe at your palace or at my house but not here! My heart sank. I didn’t know Andrew was just one of those kids that was rich and could afford seven kids tuitions for this private school. When on the other hand my mother barely could pay for me, yet she wanted to send me to the best school.

His father stayed quiet for a second and I had the guts to look through the small windowpane. I was scared, angry, and amazed at the same time. He was looking down at Andrew and had to be at least nine inches taller.

He was bigger than the biggest biker that you have ever seen—trust me—his muscles were about five times bigger than Andrews were, he had a dark brown crew cut hair style, a little tanner but not quite black. He looked like The Terminator, but scarier.

The giant man also had wrap-around sunglasses that blocked see his eyes but it looked like flames danced on top of the shades. He wore a black skin-tight T-Shirt that showed more of his muscles, a leather jacket, dark blue jeans and black motorcycle boots. When I looked at him I thought of all the bad things that had happened to me. It made me angry and want to hit someone.

Well, he said, I need you to keep an eye on our old pal Requiem for me. I saw the secretary looked scared like she was about to call the police on the comment he just made. He must have known it too because he turned looked at her. He pulled his glasses down a bit to look at her and she fainted.

Dad, you can’t just do that trick whenever you want!

Fine, he said, but don’t worry, she’ll wake up. I started to walk away until I heard this:

Okay dad, Andrew said, I’ll try to get Christiania to tell Roselyn when I go to their house tonight. I stopped for a second and heard his dad say one last thing.

Good. Zeus, Hera, and the family will be waiting on you.

Yes, Lord Ares, he sounded relieved, Father, I will prove that we are not all about war. I’ll meet you all at the counsel house in a few days. After that I was so surprised that I dropped the hall pass; the wooden hall pass.

Andrew, go see if someone is there, Ares said, but I didn’t give him the chance. I picked up the pass and ran back towards Mr. Reeds English 10 Room.

Where have you been, he asked lazily when I came in. I just held up the pass—which he obviously forgot about—to him. I was out of breath and he nodded for me to sit down. I kept looking at the clock and the door waiting for Andrew to come back into the room. It felt like an eternity, but it was really only about five minutes.

When he came in Mr. Reeds asked the same thing but Andrew just reminded him he was called to the office. I kept trying to find a way to sneak Ares into conversation but we were surrounded people and they would have thought I was insane. So, I decided I would wait until he came to my house since Andrew planned on doing that anyway.

Dr. Requiem Is a Strange Man

It was annoying that we had Greek and Latin in the first part of