Chapter Text
Sophia was used to having weird days.
She remembered a time, back when she was in 7th grade, when she could've sworn she had seen a horse fly over her head while she was standing in front of the MET museum in New York. Well, to be completely honest, she had been bored out of her mind, impatiently waiting for all of her classmates to stop fighting over who got the window seat on the way back to school, so she may have let her imagination carry her away for a bit. At least that's what her older brother told her when she told him what she had witnessed.
And sure, she would have believed him if the winged horse had been her only strange or supernatural sighting. However, she also distinctly remembered seeing a pack of wolves on the street after her family had just moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast. She had frozen in place, even letting her vanilla ice cream melt all over her fingers, but the wolves hadn't paid her any mind and had kept chasing after some strange woman with snakes in her hair. LA was just as strange as New York, Sophia thought. Only one of the wolves had locked eyes with her, then shook its head as if to say they did not claim her.
Which was fine, Sophia didn't claim them either.
Sophia was sure she could've thought of more strange moments, if she wasn't currently being chased by her drama class teacher, who had seemed to grow split toed hooves overnight.
Mr Sugihara treated all his students with respect and care, but everyone had thought he had a soft spot for Sophia. Some of her sweeter classmates speculated that it was because she always stayed late to help him clean up the theater after everyone had already gone home. Others, decidedly less sweet, thought it was because they were both a little weird.
Sophia could perfectly recall a time in eighth grade, right before her family had to move, when the resident bully decided to pick on her for something so trivial as having braces during PE class. Sophia had tried doing breathing exercises, the kind that helped her calm down right before stepping on stage for the school production. Four seconds in, hold for four, exhale for four, then hold again. But breathing hadn't helped, like at all.
To this day, Sophia still swore that she had only given him a little push, and that everyone should sooner blame gravity, the wind, or the universe for how the kid went flying across the gymnasium. Chad— because of course his name was Chad— had been so embarrassed by the whole ordeal that he denied Sophia's involvement when the gym teacher asked him how he had found himself on the ground. But there had still been witnesses, so naturally rumors started following Sophia wherever she went.
"Did you see how she made Chad fly? That was so embarrassing for him. Imagine getting shoved that hard by a girl." Some boy had snickered as she passed by him.
"She is kind of a freak though, isn't she? I mean where did she get all that strength from anyway?" A girl had whispered to her friends during lunch break. Not softly enough apparently. "Imagine if Sophia is some kind of Superman alien!"
Her parents had never mentioned knowing any of this, and yet, the Laforteza family moved that same summer. "Fresh air will do all of us some good, won't it?"
Sophia believed with certainty that Basil had told her parents about the bullies. Just like she believed with certainty that she hadn't pushed Chad hard at all, but that it had looked like the air itself suddenly threw him backwards after Sophia had touched him.
So yeah, maybe Sophia was a little weird.
Now that she thought about it, Sophia had never seen Mr Sugihara without his signature beanie before. But like most of her grade, she had assumed he was a little emo, or that the beanie helped him connect to his artistic self.
Open up his third chakra, her friend Marquise would have probably said.
Turns out the beanie had just been a good way to hide the horns that came out of his hair and curled right behind his ears.
Maybe he was more than a little weird.
Screw Basil, I would like him to blame my imagination for this, Sophia thought as she kept running toward the bus stop that would take her home. She really should have listened to her parents and gotten her license when she turned sixteen, it surely would have saved her from all this running.
Sophia didn't really know what she would do once she reached the bus stop. If she was lucky — which she never was —the bus would already be there, and she could hop onto it, hopefully before Mr Sugihara caught up to her.
If she wasn't lucky— Sophia didn't even want to think about it.
"Sophia, wait up!" Mr Sugihara shouted from behind her. His voice was suddenly much closer than it should've been.
Damn, donkey legs are fast.
"I promise I just want to talk, I swear to the gods it's for your own good," he continued.
Come on, Sophia, just a little more, she urged herself to go faster. Her lungs felt on the verge of collapse from all the sprinting, and Sophia cursed herself for coasting through PE all semester. It's not like she wasn't athletic, she was just much more of a dancer than a runner, which is why she had enjoyed speaking to Mr Sugihara so much, as he had been a dancer himself before his injury. Although now, Sophia didn't know how much she believed that story anymore.
Realistically speaking, Sophia knew that Mr Sugihara was harmless. She had always prided herself in being a good judge of character, which is why it didn't surprise her when, in 9th grade, her seatmate and bully Kelly turned out to be some weird vampire/donkey monster who wanted to sink her fangs into her. Mr Sugihara was actually the person who had had Kelly expelled from the school, although she didn't know the details of that story either.
All this to say, Sophia knew that Mr Sugihara wouldn't hurt her. But she had enough to deal with today, especially with the twenty problems her algebra teacher had given them as homework. (Sophia was also pretty sure that woman was a witch, but that was beside the point.) So, if Sophia wanted to save her grades, avoiding Mr Sugihara's nonsense was essential. Her attention span already greatly suffered due to her ADHD and she truly couldn't handle another distraction right now.
Sophia reached the bus stop just as the bus, well, stopped. She hauled her ass into it just as the doors opened then swiped her card quickly before collapsing on the nearest empty seat she found, chest heaving from exertion. The old lady she had sat next to threw her a nasty look, which she responded to with the widest smile she could muster.
Kill 'em with kindness, Sophia thought as the doors closed and the bus drove away, leaving behind a very disgruntled drama teacher. Sophia fist-bumped the air, earning herself another glare from the old woman beside her.
Upon reaching home, Sophia made her way into her bedroom with exceeding care, tip-toeing around the kitchen where she would probably find her parents, and avoiding the living room completely, knowing that her younger brother was most definitely raging at some video game on the TV. It wasn't like she wanted to avoid them, it's just that Oreo would definitely pause his game just to shout that she was sweaty and needed a shower, while her parents would question her on why she looked like she had run a marathon.
Ever since her older brother had gone away for college her parents made sure to shower her with extra attention, already anticipating when she would leave herself the following year. Sophia could protest all she wanted that her junior year of high school hadn't even ended yet, all her complaints fell on deaf ears. Her parents had never neglected her, quite the opposite in fact. Growing up, her brother Basil always said that their parents treated Sophia as if she would disappear overnight, clearly implying that she was the favorite. Sophia always retorted that he could drown in his jealousy for all she cared, while secretly thinking that the constant attention was suffocating more than anything else.
Sophia slipped into her bathroom for a quick shower before finally going to the kitchen to face the music. Just like she had expected, her father was a the stove running a ladle around a big pot of simmering broth while her mom was pretending to help. She was also humming a faint tune beneath her breath which stopped upon seeing her daughter leaning in the doorway.
"Anak! We didn't even hear you come in," she said. "Your dad is making your favorite for dinner."
Mondays were Sophia's father's day off at the restaurant. You would think that he would spend his day off work relaxing, or staying as far away from cooking as possible. Instead, Mondays were reserved for making one of his children's favorite dishes.
Sophia snuck behind him to peer at the huge pot of sinigang. "It smells so good, dad. Thank you," she said before kissing his cheek. Her father responded by pretending to hit her with the ladle which she didn't even bother dodging, knowing that he would stop before it made contact with her skin. Sophia huffed, throwing him a deadpan look before turning towards her mother to ask her about her day.
To be completely honest, Sophia zoned out as soon as her mother started recounting some story about rehearsals. She couldn't help but think about Mr Sugihara. Sophia realized that her reaction upon discovering her drama teacher was part animal was disconcerting. Sure,she was used to dealing with —mostly ignoring— the supernatural events that seemed to love crashing through her life. But she was also self-aware. She knew that she should have been more freaked out by the discovery. Or at least she should've spoken to an adult about it. But her brother was halfway across the country, and the last time she had brought up the freaky monsters with her parents they had gotten so spooked they didn't let Sophia out of the house for a week.
During the wolf sighting a couple years prior, her parents hadn't even reacted to the bigger than average canines crossing the street, which led Sophia to believe she was the only one who could see them. Although, she could've sworn that some kid in a purple T-shirt was running after them.
All this to say, Sophia had learned to manage her reality by herself. She didn't have another choice. Growing up, her older brother told her to stop watching so many cartoons as if the princess movies were responsible for the appearance of one-eyed men on the streets, or women hiding their big feathery arms under coats that did nothing to conceal them. Were big feathery arms just wings? Or were wings just big feathery arms? Nonetheless, no one in her entourage had ever had an appropriate or proportionate reaction to her stories. So, she quit sharing them.
Sophia excused herself from the kitchen, claiming she had an avalanche of homework to get through. Twenty algebra problems, an entire chemistry unit to go through and an English essay she should've finished days ago, Sophia got full-body shivers just thinking about it.
This day cannot possibly get worse.
"Mr Sugihara called earlier, Sophia," her mother said at the dinner table.
Sophia interrupted before she could continue. "Mr Sugihara? What did he want ?" Sophia tried to keep her voice under control. But from the sharp and concerned look her father sent her she had failed. Damn it!
"Well that's actually what I wanted to ask you about," her mother continued. "I hadn't realized I had left my phone on silent since work, so I missed his calls. And it felt inappropriate to call him so late at night."
The digital clock on the wall showed that it was barely over six in the evening, but Sophia wasn't going to argue against her mother's reasoning.
When Sophia didn't answer, her mother sighed before glancing at her with sympathy. Sophia already knew she would hate what would come out of her mouth. "You know we'll always love and support you, anak. If your grades are slipping, it's better that you tell us now that way we can deal with it as soon as possible before the problem gets worse—"
"Wait, what?" Sophia couldn't help but feel a little offended at her mother's jumping to conclusions. Wrong conclusions.
Sure, it was sometimes hard for Sophia to focus in class because of her ADHD. Maybe more than sometimes. And the transition from middle school to high school had been harder than she anticipated but she had dealt with it. It wasn't her fault that words jumped and blurred in front of her eyes when she got tired. Besides, Sophia had only truly struggled with English her freshman year, but she had tried her hardest, she had stayed up late countless nights reading and rereading the same sentences until they registered in her brain, and her grades had gotten better. She wouldn't be valedictorian but she still excelled in math —even though her teacher hated her— and almost every other subject.
So sue her if it hurt her feelings that her mother automatically believed she had neglected her studies when a teacher called them. And the drama teacher at that? Sophia would fail every subject before theater. She loved that class. Well, used to. Now, she didn't know where she was standing with the subject since learning that her favorite teacher was part donkey.
Don't be racist against donkeys, Sophia, they did nothing to you, her very unhelpful brain supplied.
"—Sophia!"
Sophia startled into attention. She had zoned out, again. Maybe she needed a stronger prescription, her concentration issues were getting out of hand.
Her parents were still gazing at her with a mix of concern and sympathy. Meanwhile, her younger brother was tsking and shaking his head in mock disappointment. Sophia stuck out her tongue at him for good measure before focusing back on her parents.
"My grades are fine, mom," said Sophia. "I don't know what Mr Sugihara wants, but it can't be that important." Sophia hoped it wasn't that important. "I had the student council meeting after his class, so maybe it was about that. I don't really know."
So, that wasn't exactly true. Sophia did have a student council meeting right after his class, but she couldn't exactly tell her parents that her donkey-ish teacher had chased her after school until she reached her bus stop.
Besides, Sophia could try to avoid him all she wanted, she still needed to go to school the following day and she wouldn't skip his class just to dodge the conversation he apparently wanted to have. She was above that.
Her parents exchanged doubtful looks. "Well whatever it was about you'll know tomorrow. Don't forget to update us if it's serious though," her father said.
Sophia nodded as convincingly as she could even though she absolutely would not be doing that.
Thankfully her parents changed the subject and started talking about their upcoming summer trip back home to the Philippines.
Sophia could finally breathe again.
This day has just gotten worse.
If waking up in the middle of the night because of a thunderstorm wasn't unpleasant enough, then waking up again due to the unceasing ringing of the doorbell was even more so. Sophia had never minded thunderstorms as a child. On the contrary, they almost always had a calming effect on her. But as she grew older they had stopped lulling her to sleep and instead fueled her with an antsy energy that she didn't know what to do with. So the fact that she had even been able to fall back asleep had surprised her, which made the doorbell even more frustrating than normal.
Sophia was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when her younger brother barged into her room. "Ate, it's your teacher!"
That wiped any trace of fatigue off Sophia's face. "IT'S MY WHAT?!"
Sophia got out of her bed as quickly as she could, momentarily slowing down due to —maybe— tripping over her comforter, and almost face-planting on the wooden floor. Her brother's cackling followed her out of her room. "You must be in real big trouble, ate. It's the middle of the night," he kept teasing.
"Oreo, shut up!"
Sophia took the stairs two at a time, almost face-planting —again. Walking definitely wasn't her strong suit that night.
When she finally reached the entrance, mostly in one piece, she found her parents speaking in hushed and panicked voices to a very distressed looking Mr Sugihara.
"—I tried telling her earlier, but she ran away from me! I swear, Carla, I was going to wait until tomorrow but they're already here and the thunderstorm isn't a good sign. The gods are angry! I don't know what exactly is happening on Olympus but they're fighting and I think it has something to do with SoPHIA—" Mr Sugihara exclaimed as he finally saw her standing there.
Gods?! What the hell were they talking about.
"Sohey, slow down, who is here? And why is Sophia suddenly involved? They left her alone all this time, who is after her now and why?" Her sweet, sweet father Godfrey looked as if he wanted to shake the already shaking poor drama teacher. Sophia had never seen her father In such a state of panic. No, more than panic. Her father seemed terrified.
"Oreo, go to your room and stay there," Sophia's mother said. "It's not a request, it's an order."
Oreo's eyes widened into saucers before he scrambled up to his room. Their mother wasn't usually the type to raise her voice at her children, so when she did everyone knew it was serious.
"What is going on?" Sophia finally said. She hoped her voice sounded steadier to her parents than to her own ears. They were speaking about her like she was some sort of anomaly, some sort of freak.
Which was rich coming from someone who was part animal—wait a second.
Sophia glanced at her teacher's legs for the first time since she went downstairs. And to her surprise, Mr Sugihara wasn't wearing shoes, hooves in full display. In fact, he was even wearing shorts which left his furry legs out in the open.
Sophia sharply looked at her parents to try and gauge their reaction, but they were already staring back at her, paying the drama teacher no mind.
"We always knew we'd have to tell her at some point, Carla." The words seemed to cost something to her father, as if he was heartbroken to even have to say them.
"Tell me what? Dad, you are freaking me out! And what are you even doing here?" She pointed angrily at her teacher.
"I think it truly would be best if your parents explained this to you, Sophia. But let's just start by saying that you are not exactly —well," Sohey searched for the appropriate before settling on, "—normal."
Clearly the wrong thing to say.
"Says the person who's half donkey!" The words burst out of her mouth before she could keep them back.
"Sophia!" Both of her parents reprimanded at the same time, as if calling out a simple truth about Mr Sugihara's nature —specie?— was the most offensive thing she could have done.
"I see donkey, I call donkey! Are we just pretending he doesn't have literal fur on his legs?! But I'm the one who's not normal?"
"First of all, it's goat. Donkeys don't have split toed hooves, theirs are more similar to those of horses… And I realize that's not really important right now," he continued after noticing the three Lafortezas' deadpan expressions. "Also, I never said I was normal. I mean I guess I'm pretty normal among satyrs but definitely not normal according to human standards."
"Among WHAT?!"
Sohey let out a heavy sigh. "Can one of you handle this?" he asked, clearly meaning her parents.
"Sophia, anak, we're sure you remember all the … strange encounters you've had over the years—"
"Which ones? The ones Basil insisted happened only in my head or the ones you kept getting freaked out about without EVER explaining anything to me?"
Sophia wasn't trying to be rude, nor was she attempting to make her parents feel bad. But the truth about Sophia's encounters had never felt closer to the surface. However now, she could feel its creeping closer, closer to the surface, surfacing only to tighten like a noose around her neck.
For years, Sophia had pretended not to care about the origin of the accidents that kept happening around her. The peculiar sightings. The supernatural occurrences. But they had weighed on her more than she ever admitted. A burden holding her down.
It wasn't until now that she realized she had craved nothing more all those years than to finally be free.
Of the lies.
Of the careful glances.
Of the walking on eggshells.
Of the looking the other way.
Of the feeling out of place in her own home.
But freedom, after so many years of being shackled to the ground, sounded like a threat.
"All of them, Sophia. All of them," her father answered. "And not just the reality but the nightmares too. They're all related to—"
"—who your parents are." Her mother's eyes shone with unshed tears.
"More like who one of your parents is," Sohey whispered, not unkindly, never unkindly.
The ground tipped beneath Sophia's feet. "What do you mean my parents? YOU are my parents!"
Her mother seemed to be caught between shaking and nodding her head. "We are, Sophia, we are in all the ways that matter. You'll always be our daughter—" A loud BOOM! could be heard outside. The thunderstorm was only getting worse. "Even they can't take you away from us. Remember that, Sophia, always." Her mother crossed the distance between them to grab her cheeks. "When they try to change you, when they try to tell you who you are, or who you're meant to be, remember that you're ours. And that you belong here,anak."
"Carla, we're losing time. We need to leave soon if we want to reach Phoenix by morning to catch our flights."
Phoenix?! Flights?!
Sophia was about to protest when her father's words halted all of her thoughts.
"Seventeen years ago, Sophia, a little girl was born in our family. And we were the happiest parents in the world," he said. "Until we realized that she was born blue. And even though the doctors managed to give her oxygen, they told us she wouldn't make it through the night—"
"No, no, that's not possible. I'm here! I'm alive, so that can't be true—"
"We buried our daughter, Sophia.
And one week later, someone left you on our doorstep."
"It was a miracle, anak. You were a miracle. A literal god-send gift," her mother said. "You were so small, and so, so perfect. But when we went to the hospital the next day to report how you were abandoned, the doctors looked at us like we were crazy… and then Hermes showed up."
The storm. The storm must have been deafening Sophia's ears. Suddenly all sounds appeared muted. And yet, her mother continued with renewed vigor. Words transformed into birds wishing to be set free, and her mother had just opened all the cages.
"He explained to us, that he had dropped you off under another god or goddess's order. That they knew we would care for you like our own, and that they would protect you and keep you away from your nature for as long as they could. But we knew, it would catch up to you at some point, all of it."
"All of what?" were the only words Sophia could say.
"You are a demigod, Sophia."
So yes, Sophia was used to having weird days.
But this one might've just been the weirdest yet.