Hunter: Crossroads

Chapter 25

Deimos was looking a lot better than he had a couple of days ago. If I hadn't known everything that happened, the lingering shadow under his eyes didn't give a lot away. I had looked worse than he did for days thanks to a killer hangover and it wasn't as if he would willingly show how bad he was feeling anyway. He had assured me he was fine, it was only Kara's non-stop pestering that was an issue now and with the new moon tomorrow night, I believed he was over the worst of it.

"Sometimes the wonders of your realm never stop surprising me." He mumbled, admiring Blueberry with a similar kind of awe that Cain still had on his face tonight. "Thank you for sharing this. I wondered what had him in such a good mood."

I find Cain, who is looking over something Kara had found in the records. "We have a few reasons to be. You talking to me now is one of them."

"Have I mentioned how thankful I am for that?"

"Only once or twice." I shrug. "Tell me again if you like."

"Thank you, Elise." Deimos put a hand on my shoulder and gave a little squeeze, before going over to the other two.

Kara looks up at him as he joins them, her smile instantly appearing as she moves the chair out beside her for him to sit down. I stay on the throne, watching the three of them, soon four as Artemis appears, and soon enough Hermes too.

"Sitting in the Queen's chair, with your shoes still on." Apollo clicks his tongue. "Hera would be cursing your name from whatever region of Hell she's been tucked away into."

"Pretty sure she would be doing that anyway after the way we ended things." I shrug. "Good thing the Queen who matters doesn't care what I do."

"So what are we in for tonight?" He leans against the arm of the chair, and I wiggle slightly to face him, keeping my legs tucked up underneath me.

"Murder, mystery and mayhem." I shrug. "You know, the usual. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. You?"

"Good. We had the scan yesterday, did you want to see it?" I ask cautiously, knowing the others will be talking about it and wanted to give him a heads up.

I see him hesitate, but he slowly nods so I hand over the photo. Apollo looks at it for what feels like an eternity before he hands it back.

"I didn't expect it to be so human-looking already. How is everything, are you feeling better now you know it's definitely happening?"

"It still feels pretty surreal, but seeing him has helped a lot." But also made everything else harder.

"Not sure I'm buying that, Bunny."

"There's still a lot of other things that need to be dealt with before I can relax," I told him.

"We nearly stopped the Furies and they did have the advantage. Next time it will be different." I loved Apollo's hopefulness but Matt's vision made it impossible for me to believe him so I forced a smile and prayed he bought it.

"You're right. I'm just tired. It'll be fine." His eyes met mine and I could feel the hundreds of questions he wanted to ask. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Thankfully he follows with no further discussion required, and we find a seat as he goes left and I go right so now we're opposite each other as we go to sit. I don't want him staring at me the whole time, so I change seats, and he does the same.

"What are you doing?" I cross my arms, glaring at him.

"Nothing."

I move again and he continues to copy me. "Nothing?"