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We sprinted through the hallway toward the exit. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. The Minotaur grabbed a locker and pulled it out of the cubby and chucked it at us.

"Get down!" Grover cried.

I still was in shock that my and my brother's best friend was a character straight from Greek mythology.

Wham!

The locker hit Grover in the back, and he crumpled to the ground. I heard a few cracks as he fell. Yikes. I think he broke his spine.

"Grover!" Aidan yelled.

Anger erupted in my stomach as stared at Grover's unconscious body. That anger turned to power.

I reached down into my gut and let the power flow through me. The last thing I remember before I passed out was a bright silvery something hurtling towards the Minotaur.

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I woke to the humming of a car. I looked up groggily. Aidan sat the my left, sound asleep. Grover was to my right, appearing to be uninjured but sound asleep.

"You okay, kiddo?" a voice from the driver's seat asked. "I would've been there sooner, but I couldn't. I'm sorry."

I looked up. Orion Theron looked back at me.

"Dad!" I yelled,realizing who it was. "What the Hades is going on?!"

Aidan awoke with a start at my yell. He stared wildly around saw Dad, and his confusion cleared.

"Dad!" Aidan yelled. "What's going?!"

Dad sighed. "Where do I even start?"

"How about the part about the Minotaur attacking us?!" I said heatedly. "Or about all the times we've had to move?!"

"Or all the times we've been expelled from every school we've ever been in," Aidan added.

"Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning," Dad said. "With your mother."

"What about her?" Aidan said in a hard voice. "She abandoned us!"

"No, she didn't," Dad said. "Besides, she had to."

"Oh, yeah?" Aidan sneered. "Why is that?"

"Because..." Dad hesitated. "Because she's an ancient Greek goddess."

It took me a moment to process what Dad had just said.

"I'm sorry, what?!" I exclaimed. "Our mother is a goddess?!"

"Yes," Dad said. "That's what I said."

"That's crazy!" Aidan said. "The Greek gods never existed. They're just myths!"

"No, they're not," Dad said. "They've existed since the beginning of time. They started in Greece and followed the Flame of the West, which was the most powerful country in the world at the time."

"That's still impossible!" I said.

"Is it so hard to believe they exist?" Dad asked wearily. "You just fought the Minotaur, an ancient Greek monster."

Aidan opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. Now I that I thought about it, it wasn't so hard to believe. We had just fought the Minotaur. And there were all those times I'd seen and done things that were unexplainable.

Like the time when I blew up a bus, and I wasn't even sure that had been me. I'd been sure for just a moment that a giant lizard thing had been on the bus, breathing fire onto it. But the next minute, I was sure I'd been seeing things because the giant lizard thing was just a snake.

"I guess it's not too hard to believe," I said.

Dad smiled.  "I always told you were special."

"Why didn't anyone else see the Minotaur?" I asked.

"Because of the Mist," Dad said.

"What's a Mist?" Aidan asked, confused.

"The Mist is the magical veil that keeps the mortals from seeing the magical world," Dad said. "It helps keep our world hidden. Anyway, you can go now guys."

"Who are-" I began, but I never finished the sentence because right at that moment, two red blurs of fur came hurtling from the front passenger seat, landed on me and Aidan, and started licking us furiously.

"Ack!" I said, laughing. "Agro, stop! You're gonna lick me to death!"

Agrotera, my red wolf, stopped licking me.

Sorry, Chief, Agro barked. I'm just excited to see you!

I chuckled. "It's okay."

Aidan's wolf, Pher (real name Pherian), was still licking him.

I'm sorry. I wasn't there to protect you, Chief, Agro said. It's my job, and I didn't do it.

"It's okay, Agro," I said consolingly. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Agro barked-laughed (baughed? larked? blarghed?).

I guess you are, She barked.

I felt the car stop.

"We're home," Dad said, getting out of the car.

Aidan opened his door, got out, and Pher followed him. Me and Agro followed, and I shut the door.

Dad opened the Grover's door, gently lifted the still-sleeping Grover into his arms, and closed the car door. He then opened the front door and set Grover down in a chair in our living room.

"Go pack some clothes," Dad said, a wide smile on his face. "We're going the camp."