Quest of the Half Gods

Chapter 1: Απόλλων

Apollo stared at Galatea's motionless face, her open eyes looking up at the sky. "Galatea?" He asked, his hoarse voice a whisper.

His hands shook as he reached his hand to her wrist to check her pulse. He closed his eyes tightly when he felt none, his entire body shaking with grief. It can't be true! It isn't true! She was just here! 

He heard a voice behind him but didn't turn around. He knew what hearing that voice meant, and he couldn't accept it. "She's gone," Icarus said. Apollo couldn't help but deny, "How do you know?" He snapped. "She told me she'd let me out of the necklace the day that she died..." He said. His voice sounded exhausted as if he'd rather live his life out as an ethereal spirit than see Galatea die. 

Apollo let out a single ragged sob, realizing that he could no longer fight the truth. He took a shaky deep breath and fought to pull himself together. "Apollo?" Icarus asked from behind him, his voice filled with caution. "Flowers," Apollo said, wiping his nose. "We need to find flowers." Icarus hesitated, "I think all of the flowers are dead." Apollo whirled around, "FIND SOMETHING! ANYTHING!" He yelled, practically screaming. "We- we can't just leave her." His voice broke and he turned around. He could hear Icarus start walking in the other direction. 

He looked down at Galatea. He knelt down gently next to her and closed her eyes with his shaking hands. The air he breathed in felt cold and harsh as it rattled into his lungs with each breath he used to keep himself together. 

"Why?" He choked out, his hand around hers. He stood up, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He opened them and noticed something shining in the moonlight next to Galatea's hand. He reached down and held up Galatea's Strophalos necklace that she was never seen without. He stared at the necklace in his hand. Why did she take it off?

"Such a shame," an unfamiliar voice said behind him. Apollo jumped and turned around. A cold feeling settled over him as he recognized the three women standing in front of him. "Yes," said another, "The good ones always die and leave the worse behind." She said, looking Apollo up and down. He stared at them, his jaw clenched in anger. The Fates had just come to laugh at his misfortune. "Did you just come here to disrespect Galatea?!" He yelled, his sadness turning to rage. The third Fate smiled cruelly, "Not to disrespect her, never. We came for you. Another one of your exploits was lost to a fate that you couldn't prevent. How sad." Apollo could feel a hot lump forming in his throat, trying to force him to cry. He wouldn't let it happen. "How dare you!" He spat at the sisters, "This- wasn't- she..." His voice caught on the word, "She wasn't an exploit! I- I loved her." He said. He realized that this was the first time he'd ever said it out loud. The first sister shook her head, her sisters joining her. "Such a waste then." Apollo furrowed his brow, "What do you mean?" He glanced at Galatea and then back at the sisters, only to realize that they were gone. He looked at the necklace in his hand, his confusion coming to a peak as he fastened it around his own neck.

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Apollo didn't know how long he sat there holding Galatea's hand, all he knew was that he couldn't bear to leave her alone. He closed his eyes as he felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder. "Apollo, we have to go." Apollo shook his head. He knew Icarus was right, but he couldn't make himself move. "We can't. I can't leave her." Icarus knelt beside him so that he could see his face, his gray eyes searching Apollo's. "I know." He said gently, "That's why we aren't going to leave her alone. I gathered some dryads and they will watch over her." He pointed behind them and Apollo turned to see several evergreen dryads standing around a bed made of wood and winter plants, waiting expectantly. Daffodils grew at the base of the bed like a rug. Apollo looked at Icarus and noticed that the boy carried a bouquet of the winter flowers. 

Apollo slowly let go of Galatea's hand before he gently scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He fought his emotions the entire time. It wasn't like him to be so closed off, but he couldn't deal with his feelings. Not today. He stepped back as Icarus placed the bouquet in Galatea's hands.

The whole thing looked like a scene from a fairy tale. Except, in a fairy tale, the princess would be awakened from her enchanted sleep by a kiss from the hero. This wasn't a fairy tale. Apollo was no hero. Galatea was dead, and she wasn't coming back...

A thought occurred to Apollo. He was stupid to have not thought of it before. He stared at the nymphs around him and then at Galatea except, that wasn't Galatea. Her soul was in the Underworld. Now the person dead in front of him wasn't her, it was just a body. I can bring her back. He thought.

His grief turned to determination as he turned on his heel and began walking out of the forest in the opposite direction of Camp Half-Blood. "Apollo?" Icarus called from behind him. "Where are you going?" Apollo kept walking as he answered, "I'm going to bring Galatea back." Icarus ran to his side, his confusion evident, "What do you mean? You can't do that!" Apollo stopped and hired to face Icarus, "Oh, can't I?" Icarus shook his head, "It's not natural!" Apollo laughed coldly, "Oh! So it's okay for you to be brought back to life and for Nico to be brought back to life, but when I do it to get the very person who saved your life, it's unnatural?" Icarus struggled to keep up as Apollo broke through the tree line and stood on the side of the woodsy highway, his thumb extended to signal a car. "Apollo, this isn't a good idea. You're the last hope the world has and besides! No one has ever even made it out of the Underworld alive! You should know! Orpheus was your son!" Apollo scoffed as a car came approached, "You've been dead for quite a while now Icarus. People survive the Underworld all of the time now. Percy Jackson did it when he was twelve. And you're right about the bit where Orpheus didn't make it out of the Underworld, that's exactly what I'm counting on." 

The car pulled off to the side of the road and the driver rolled down the window. "Where can I take you, boys?" a guy in his thirties asked. "Central Park in Manhattan," Apollo said with a smirk.