The Battle of Olympus | III

9. Note To Self: Don't Leave The Garden Of Eden

There are some things I introduce in this chapter that wasn't introduced in the first draft version of TCOA, so you might want to read the beginning of the AN at the bottom to understand.

Also, this chapter title will make no sense until you get to the end, and it also still won't make too much sense, so that's why it sucks, but honestly... I've given up. It's too much. Sigh.

Also, I'm updating SO FAST??? AMAZING. REVOLUTIONARY. Y'ALL ARE SO LUCKY.

"I've got to hand it to you," Paris admitted twenty minutes later, "you've got terrible taste in men."

"I was under an enchantment," Ella snapped back, the disgust in her voice apparent. "Gods, that vile, little—" she broke off. "He killed them all?"

"Apollo and I killed them, but they were dead long before that," I said, though it didn't stop the guilt from creeping in.

As soon as they had made to attack us, Apollo hadn't hesitated; his sword was in his hand and he was slashing down those soldiers with deadly speed, and when they came after me too, I was forced to follow. In less than a minute, we had killed all two score zombies; they were hardly trained and thus didn't put up much of a fight, though I had sensed their power and their skills, even untrained. If Claudius managed to wrangle a whole army of them and actually train them...

"So that's his army? The undead?"

"And the primordials. The ones on his side."

Without warning, Paris picked up a glass vase and hurled it across the room. It shattered into about a thousand pieces, and Apollo stood to protest, but a glare from Athena made him sigh and simply snap his fingers, the vase reforming itself, though it wisely didn't fly back to where it was originally, where Paris could throw it again.

"I have had it with that royal prick ruining my life," he growled. "I'm going to kill him, and I'm going to make him feel all the pain I felt. He's mine."

"Like you're the only one who has a claim to that," Ella retorted.

"Look." Apollo rose. "As much as I agree that Paris—or whatever stupid name he goes by—absolutely deserves to die, he can't be our main priority. He's a coward, he won't show his face unless he knows for certain it's safe. He gives Claudius no advantage other than your distraction—Paris has no abilities except being a phenomenal whiner. He's meant to distract you from Claudius—that's his true purpose, though I'm sure Paris doesn't know that."

"Well, it's working," Paris said impatiently. "I'm ready to wring that little coward's neck—"

"Stop it," Athena ordered. "We have to think about this logically. Going to Paris was stupid, but I get why you did it. You were always blind when it came to... you know." Apollo looked offended, but Athena continued, "The one good thing about that was we understand their plan now—false trails and distractions. They're just trying to waste our time by stirring up chaos and hoping we won't be able to stop them until it's too late."

"So what, Claudius needs a year to train his stupid zombies?"

"I don't know," Athena said, her tone pricking with frustration. "I always hated your family. You're all so chaotic, so unpredictable. I never knew what you wanted or what you were going to do. Besides, all of you went mad in the end, save the ones who broke off from the... you know. Literal family line. You can't really understand the mind of a madman. It's near impossible to predict."

"We need to do something—"

"I'm trying," Athena said desperately, "but it's difficult, don't you understand? There are so many laws in place, so many unaccounted variables in this equation; every realm is in disaster and it's exactly what our enemy wants. Look, you know Gai—Claudius better than anyone. You lived with him for sixteen years. Where would he be, if you had to guess?"