Quest of the Half Gods

Chapter 5: Γαλάτεια

Galatea sat down at a café table where Apollo waited for her. "Nothing." She said frustratedly. "There's nothing here!" She slumped, resting her forehead against the table, "I don't get it! We keep following these spirits around and they're leading us nowhere!"

Apollo hesitated before placing his hand gently over Galatea's to calm her down. She jumped at the touch and yanked her hand away, placing it on her lap. Apollo withdrew his hand and wrapped it around his coffee mug. "Maybe, maybe we need to take a break." Galatea looked at him like he was crazy, "Are you serious? We don't have time to take a break! When we were in the museum I figured out who called to us through Delphi." Apollo frowned, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Galatea grimaced, "We didn't really have much time to chat about other things earlier." Apollo pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away.

"It's Hestia." She said, her fingers tracing the edge of the table. Apollo's gaze snapped back to meet hers. "What?" He said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The home. That's her Apollon." She said gently. He opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. He stared at the table for a second, visibly shaking before he stood and spoke, "I need a minute." He pushed through the door of the café, the bell jingling as he walked across the empty parking lot. Galatea could see him through the window, pacing in the parking lot. She fought herself to go after him as she watched him breakdown in tears.

Galatea remembered the kind goddess who she and Apollo had spent so much time with when they were younger. She was an outsider like they had been, but she'd been happy on the outside, watching others relish in their own joy. Galatea had asked her one day as they watched Apollo flirt with nature spirits in the gardens if she ever missed the time when she'd been the twelfth Olympian, before Dionysus took her place. She'd shaken her head. "My focus is on my family Galatea. I find my joy in keeping the hearth of my family's throne room." Hestia had always been a sort of babysitter for Teia, assigned by Hecate to watch over her young daughter, though she spent more time keeping Apollo in line than Teia. "I just don't see how that could be fulfilling to you." Teia had said, watching the poet chase after a dryad. "I don't see how you could find anything fulfilling Galatea." Galatea turned to her and frowned, "What do you mean?" The goddess eyes the young deity, knowledge flowing in the fire of her eyes, "I know of your curse." Galatea's eyes widened in shock, "I..." Hestia raised her hands, "I won't say anything." "...Thank you." She managed. "The point is, you and I, we will never be able to live out our lives in their full meaning, full purpose. I am okay with that, but you, you never will be, until you learn to move on."

The door of the café jingled as Apollo sat back down in front of Galatea. "What can we do?" He croaked, not meeting her eyes. "We have to follow the spirits." He shook his head and stood again, tears falling from his face, "No! I- we can't just follow the spirits! They're leading us nowhere! We have to save her Galatea." She stood and placed her hands on his shoulders, "We will find the path again. I- I just need some way to enhance the spirits. I alone can't do it without feeling so tired that I can't function. We'll find a way." Apollo threw his hands in the air, "We've been on this quest for over a month Galatea and we've gotten nowhere!" She nodded. "I know."

They wandered around the town in silence for hours. Galatea was too afraid to say anything to Apollo. All she could think about were her conversations with Hestia all of those years ago.

Apollo's brown eyes never stopped looking around everywhere for some sign of the spirits. Galatea finally felt that she should speak when she felt a strange tingle at the back of her neck. A sound, like tiny sparks, or perhaps, one only able to be described as sparkling, tinkled in her ear.

She turned and saw a faint wisp of violet and gold magic undulating in the wind. It grew until it took on the form of a girl. Galatea recognized her apparel as that of a Hunter of Artemis. She had a kind face and looked no older than twelve or thirteen. She smiled at someone Galatea couldn't see and turned, running the other way. Galatea debated saying something to alert Apollo but the girl was moving fast. She turned and took of sprinting for the girl, hoping Apollo would follow.

She shoved her way through townies as she pursued the girl. Apollo huffed as he caught up to her. "What's wrong?" Galatea stopped as the girl paused on a street corner. "There's a spirit here. A new one. She's a young girl, around twelve. She's a Hunter of Artemis." Apollo's eyes widened. "What does she look like?" Galatea opened her mouth to speak just as the girl started running again. Teia followed her, Apollo at her side. "She's purple so it's kinda hard to tell but she has dark hair and pale olive skin, some freckles on her nose and she seems kind."

Apollo stopped at the same time as the girl. "I know her!" Apollo said breathlessly. Teia turned to him. "You do?" He nodded. "I drove her and her little brother to Camp Half-Blood a few years ago. She went on a quest with Percy Jackson and a girl named Zöe Nightshade along with a satyr named Grover Underwood. She sacrificed herself so that the rest of them could survive. She was a warrior, even though she had just became a Hunter a few days before."

Galatea took in their surroundings. They stood in an old Catholic Church graveyard. A thick mist had settled over the town they stood in. Galatea had always felt the most at home in graveyards and cemeteries, she supposed all children of Hades did.

"Was she a demigod?" She asked, watching the girl stand on the corner. She looked around as if she was waiting for someone to come up to her. Apollo nodded, "Actually, she was your sister." Teia raised her eyebrows, "Really?" "Yeah." He answered, his eyes on the girl. "Daughter of Hades. She didn't know when she was alive. Her brother Nico is very much a child of death. He's my son Will's boyfriend." Galatea remembered the couple.

She looked at her deceased half-sister, waiting for no one. So much joy on her face. "What was her name?" Apollo opened his mouth to speak when another voice sounded from across the graveyard through the dark mist. "Bianca!"

Galatea and Apollo whipped around. Through the mist Galatea could make out the shapes of two teenage boys, one with hair the color of ichor, and the other the color of obsidian.

Apollo let out a strangled gasp as he sprinted across the graveyard. At the same time, the golden haired boy ran at him and they met in the middle. They threw their arms around each other, the joy of the family standing out against the darkness of the day like a glowing ray of sunlight.

Galatea remained where she stood, her eyes looking to her brother who's dark eyes stayed glued on the ghost of their sister. The spirit looked from Nico di Angelo to Galatea, smiling. Her eyes lingered on Teia. She gave her a knowing look as if to say I am passing the care of my brother on to you, you better not screw it up. She looked one more time at her brother who watched, tears in his eyes as she vanished.

Galatea pulled her eyes away from the spot where Bianca di Angelo had stood just moments before to where Apollo and his son stood, both catching each other up on what had happened. She looked across the path to Nico, who had silently approached after Bianca left, and felt the usual loneliness in her heart. This time however, she could feel it in his heart as well.

Galatea hadn't known her siblings well. She'd only met them a few times and even then, it had been brief and they hadn't had anything in common besides hating their mother. However, Galatea felt that upon first glance, she and Nico shared the same sense of loneliness and perpetual melancholy. This time, she felt that perhaps, she might have a chance at a family.