Rome

A sudden jolt went through the little girl’s body and she couldn’t understand the feeling. It was a quick feeling of fear, but also calmness. When she got that feeling she couldn’t help but stare at the sky with hate and anger.
“Lila,” said her nanny, but she did not pay attention to her or to the puppy at her feet trying to get the child’s attention.
The nanny came over, took her hand, and led the girl inside. The clouds began to turn gray and, as it began to rain, the child felt more anger and could not help staring outside.
“It just started to rain all of a sudden, right?” the nanny asked, but the child did not answer or give any attention to her nanny. As the nanny left the room to get the child’s lunch, the room got darker and the shadows started to bend and twist to take on a shape. It was the shape of a man.
“Lila,” said the man.
She turned towards the man with a big smile on her face and walked over to him. She gave him a big hug while watching him with a worried look in her eyes.
“It is alright my child. I will not let him harm you; I came to see if you were all right. I got that exact same feeling of fear. A child just like you was born today that will become your enemy. Fear not, for you are my child and we are bound together. I will train you in preparation for your destiny and the legacy of our story will be known.”

“Remus! Remus watch out!” yelled a voice, but Remus was too focused on the sky to notice the ball about to hit him from behind. He turned around just as fast as lightning to hit the ball and he hit it so hard that he was able to make the goal and win for the team.
“Remus, what’s wrong?” asked a friend.
“It’s going to rain.”
“What are you talking about? The forecast is sunny all day!”
“You can’t always trust the forecast. They don’t always get it right.”
“I know. Every time rain is about to come, you are always right. I’ll trust you; let’s go home.”
Remus lived the life of a normal 17-year-old in the suburbs of Rome. He went to school, played soccer, and went on Facebook when he got the time. He was tall and handsome, as said by his classmates. Every girl wanted to date him, but he had no interest in girls. His friends often made fun of him for this lack of interest and were secretly envious.
He lived in a small house with his elder grandparents. They raised him his whole life after his mother passed away when he was born. His grandparents said his birth was complicated and that the doctors thought both he and his mother would die. But Remus was strong, even as an infant, and so he survived. As a young child, Remus often wondered about his father. His grandparents told him that they didn’t know who his father was and it was not on his birth certificate. After some years, Remus gave up trying to figure out who his father could have been and accepted his grandparents as his parents.
“Grandma! Grandpa! I’m home,”
“Playing soccer again? Look at you! You’re all dirty,” said his grandmother with a big smile on her face.
“It’s soccer. What did you expect?”
“Go upstairs and clean up. Dinner won’t be ready until eight,”
“Is grandpa home?”
“No. He won’t be home until six.”
After taking a shower and putting on clean clothes, Remus opened the shades to his windows to look outside. It was getting dark and Remus could see the lights from Rome, starting to come on. If he squinted a little, he could see part of the coliseum in the city. For some unknown reason, Remus felt like he should be there. In the city instead of the suburbs, as if the city was calling to him. He could not understand this feeling, except that it had followed him his whole life.
“Remus? Did you finish your homework?”
“I just have math, grandma, I’ll be done soon,”
Remus was very gifted in school in subjects such as math, science, history, and English. He had difficulties with Italian, especially grammar, spelling, and reading but he worked hard and found tricks to overcome his disadvantages.
“Remus,” he heard a voice say, but Remus didn’t flinch. He heard his name again, this time Remus started to feel uncomfortable. He got up and went downstairs to the kitchen where his grandmother was cooking.
“Dinner’s not ready yet,” she said and Remus walked into the living room to watch TV.

That night Remus was having difficulty sleeping. He twisted and turned and then woke up all of a sudden. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to get some water.
“Remus,” the voice said, but this time the voice was coming from behind the kitchen table. Remus turned to see a man with a beard and lots of curly brown hair. He looked like a homeless person, but he was dressed in a fine, clean suit. Remus was dumbfounded and could not open his mouth. He started to slowly reach for the phone, but with a flick of the man’s finger, the phone moved away.
“As you can see, I’m not human,” the man said.
“What do you want? I have money if you need it, in my bedroom, I have at least 200 euros,”
“It’s not money I want. It’s time that you understand your destiny,”
“I’m just a high school student. My destiny is to go to college and make a living. Get out of here now,”
“Do you want to know who your father is, boy?” The man looked at his fingers nails, like a really rich man. Remus started to get angry.
“My grandfather is my father and it’s none of your business,”
“Oh, but it is. I can tell you right now who your father is,”
“I don’t want to know old man! He’s never been around so I don’t care about him. It’s none of your business, leave! Now!” The man put his hand down and folded his hands on the table, he looked at the boy seriously as if he was about to gut him with one blow.
“Remus, I am your father,”
“You lie!” Then a loud sound of thunder was heard outside and Remus’ heart jumped, but the man sat still in his seat, glaring at Remus.
“May I ask you a question? Have you ever thought that you could do something that no one else could? For example, soccer. You hit much harder then the other boys, but you feel as if you can control where it’s going after you kick it. As if you can make the wind carry it on your command? I also know you can predict when it’s about to rain,”
“How do you know all this?”
“These gifts are what many of my children before you have experienced. You are not human,”
“What?”
“You are half human, half God,” There was a moment of silence before Remus replied.
“Old man, you’re crazy. This is 2011, many kids like me don’t really care much about mythology from our ancestors or Perseus or whatever.”
“You do not want to anger me,” The boy heard the thunder getting louder and louder outside. He knew he had to watch what he was saying and not make the man upset.
“Remus, you are my son. You have the blood of a god, you can’t turn your back on it. It’s who you are. I will tell you now, there will be many complications in the future, but that is common for demigods. I need you now to destroy evil,”
“Why now? Why didn’t you show up when I was a child?”
“You’re grandparents took good care you. They love you and I do too as I do with all my children. Just like my children before you, I wanted you to have a normal life but from this moment on, you’re life will never be normal,”
“What about my mother!”
“I loved her too, she was very beautiful. But sadly, the birth of a demigod can be very dangerous for a mother who gives birth to such a child. But like you, I miss your mother very much,” Remus noticed a tear in the man’s eye and saw a face of sadness but as quickly as he was sad, he returned to being stern and serious.
“We don’t have much time. You will have to face the ‘other child’ soon and both of you can not be alive,”
“Who is this other child?”
“The daughter of my brother, Pluto”

The audience clapped as Lila enter the stage to play her piano. She wore a beautiful purple dress and her black hair was long and clean. Many said that she looked like a goddess, but for some reason she often took offense from those comments.
She sat down and put her hands on the keys of the piano and began to play a piece she had written. She hadn’t given it a name yet, but many agreed that the music she wrote was beautiful and almost gave a calm and hopeful feeling. As Lila was playing, she felt a surge of peace and tranquility. At the end of her recital, the people in the audience stood up and clapped for her as she bowed and walked off the stage.
“Beautiful as always!” said her teacher. Lila smiled at her teacher and told him that she was going to get changed and go home because she did not feel well.
Once she stepped outside of the studio she noticed that it was raining. Lila hated the rain and just like a child, the thunder and lighting scared her. It made her feel as if she was going to die at any moment.
When she pulled into her driveway, she saw a man waiting for her by the window. She got out of her car and walked inside to greet him.
The man was dressed in a black T-shirt and baggy jeans covered by an oversized brown coat. He sat on the chair as if he was a king and all that Lila could do was bow in respect.
“You’re art is lovely, just as death is,” said the man, looking around the room at her beautiful artwork hanging on all the walls.
“I am a gifted artist, father. I thank you for those gifts,” she replied.
“A demigod with the gift of art. It’s a rare gift, none of my children ever had this gift, only those who were children of the 12 major Gods. Who would have thought that a child of mine would have this precious gift,”
“Would you like anything to drink, father?”
“No my dear. I will make this meeting short. I could not find my brother Jupiter today. He’s not home, which means he’s here on Earth somewhere. Probably revealing the identity to his child. I often do not agree with my brother, as I believe my children should know who they are at birth and feel loved by their father,”
“I love you father and I will do your will,”
“Go find the child of Jupiter and bring him to me,” Pluto disappeared into the shadows and Lila went upstairs and stepped out on her balcony where she could see the cemetery just a few blocks away.
“Awake!” she commanded and out from the grave emerged an army of skeletons.
“Find the child of Jupiter and bring him to me!” The skeletons bowed and disappeared into the mist of the night.

A few days after the meeting with his father, Remus could not get it out of his head that he was a demigod. He discovered that he could control the wind around him and make objects float. He started to distance himself from his friends and refused to play soccer.
“What’s bothering you?” asked his grandmother.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“You haven’t been playing soccer, you don’t see your friends, and you don’t focus on your studying anymore. Why won’t you talk to me?”
“I said it was nothing. Please leave,” His grandmother walked out of his room quietly with a look of sadness on her face. All of a sudden, Remus heard a crash.
“Grandma!” he yelled and found her at the bottom of the steps.

“Doctor, how is she?” asked his grandfather who rushed to the hospital when Remus made the call.
“I’m sorry sir, as of right now she’s in a coma. We put her on life-support but at the current moment we don’t know if she’ll pull through,”
“Do you know what caused this to happen?”
“A stroke? Heart attack? We don’t really know.”
“Thank you doctor,” Remus went into the room with his grandfather, who sat down next to his wife, holding her hand and telling her over and over again, “I’m here,”
Remus felt pain in his heart for the first time. He felt as if this was no accident but like someone was pulling strings to make this happen. All of a sudden, Remus got the urge to take a little walk. His grandfather gave him permission to leave.
As Remus was walking past the cemetery, something grabbed him and hit him over the head, Remus blacked out.

Remus woke up on a cold floor and slowly sat up. As quickly as he was knock out, he started to come back to reality.
“The son of Jupiter,” said a woman’s voice. Remus got up and faced a girl who looked about fifteen, but Remus had the feeling she was older.
“Where are we? Who are you?” asked Remus.
“I am the daughter of Pluto! Where we are is of no matter,” Remus looked around to see that he was surrounded by trees. He thought he was in the woods or a forest, but had the feeling that this was a mystical place.
“Father said he was busy, but he gave me the order,” said Lila.
“What order?” he asked.
“To kill you,” and as she was about to attack him, Remus remember something Jupiter told him as he stood, ready to fight.
“Only one can survive. You can’t live with the other. One of you must die!”