Trials of Apollo: If Everyone Knew

The Fates Are Doing What?

APOLLO'S POV

I was just driving my sun chariot, enjoying life as a god again, when I felt a sudden urge to turn around and head back to my palace on Mount Olympus.

I frowned. I hadn't felt something like this since I was mortal, and I didn't like it. Something was wrong.

I pulled my right arm back, turning my chariot around, and urged my fiery steeds to run as fast as they could back to Olympus.

"What's going on?" I asked my fellow Olympians as I burst into the throne room. They were all pacing around and arguing, which wasn't an unfamiliar sight, but this time I knew it was something worse than Hephaestus trapping Ares and Aphrodite together.

"It seems that the Fates have decided to send us somewhere," my father explained.

"Where?" I asked him. The Fates had never sent any of us gods anywhere, so I had no clue what was happening.

"We don't know," Athena grumbled. She hated not knowing what someone's plan was. Probably because it meant that she couldn't think of hundreds of ways to counteract that plan.

"Well, this ought to be fun." Hermes joked.

Before any of us could yell at him, a bright light built up in the middle of the room.

"Oh, sh-" I muttered under my breath as the light sucked me-and everyone else in the room-to wherever it was the Fates were bringing us.

"Apollo?" Someone asked from right in front of my face. I blinked as the bright light flooded my vision. When my eyes had finally adjusted, I found my twin's face a foot away from my own.

I cursed and flinched away, accidentally whacking my head on what felt like a stone floor.

"Owww," I groaned. Even though I was a god again, whacking my head on stone still hurt a lot.

"You okay?" Artemis's eyes bore into mine, and I saw a rare glimpse of fear. Whatever had happened, it had scared my scared-of-nothing little sister. That scared me.

I sat up, the back of my head throbbing. I tried to stand up, but my head spun, making me stumble a bit. I supported myself on my sister's shoulder.

After a moment, the world stopped spinning, and I took in my surroundings. My fellow Olympians were standing around me, different variations of concern and confusion on their faces.

"What happened?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"The Fates brought us to a cavern... somewhere," Hera turned her nose up as if the mere thought of her being underground was disgusting. The expression on her face was worth being stuck in a cave.

I looked around at the cave, and my breath caught in my throat. "I know this place..." I muttered.

"I took a few steps before it hit me. "Python." I gasped.

"What did you say?" Artemis asked, ever the annoying sister.

"This is the cave where I fought Python last year, in Delphi." I said, louder than before.

I shuddered as memories from my final battle as a mortal came to the front of my mind. I fought them off, not wanting to lose my composure in front of all of the other Olympians, as they would tease me for the next few centuries.

Suddenly, light flashed in the corner of my eyes. I spun around just in time to see lots of people fall out of a portal and into a pile on the ground. They slowly picked themselves up, coughing and wheezing. I could sympathise with them. I had also fallen from a height onto something unpleasant.

"What... on earth... just happened?" A familiar voice spoke up from the middle of the pile.

"Meg?" I asked. "How on earth did you all get here?"

I counted the heads now in the cave, and this was the full list of people who were now in the room:

Zeus
Hera
Poseidon
Demeter
Ares
Athena
Artemis
Hephaestus
Aphrodite
Hermes
Dionysus
Hades
Hestia
Percy Jackson
Annabeth Chase
Grover Underwood
Thalia Grace
Nico di Angelo
Will Solace
Chiron
Rachel Dare
Piper McLean
Leo Valdez
Calypso
Frank Zhang
Hazel Levesque
Reyna Ramirez-Arellano
Meg McCaffrey
and yours truly

So yeah, there were a lot of us.

With another flash of light, three old ladies—the Fates—gracefully appeared in front of us.

"Hello, everyone," one of them said. "We have decided that it is past time that you all read a special book we've written." They all snapped their fingers, and a book on a pedestal appeared in front of me. I glanced nervously at the cover, and felt my cheeks heat up when I read the title.

"The Trials of Apollo?" I wondered out loud. "What exactly is in this book?"

"Just what you think," the Fate on the right replied with a smirk.

"You must remain here until you are all done reading," the left Fate warned us. "Even those in this room who are gods cannot leave."

"I would suggest that you get started," the middle Fate said with a wink. As quickly and gracefully as they arrived, the Fates disappeared with yet another flash of light.

I was getting very tired of flashing lights.

"What do we have here?" Meg skipped over beside me, peering at the book. "This sounds like an interesting story,"

"No, no, it really doesn't." I argued.

"Well, if we're not getting out of here until we've read that, we'd better get started," Percy said with a sigh. "Is it in Greek or English?"

I frowned and double checked. "Greek, why?"

Annabeth nodded from beside her boyfriend. "Because if it was English, half of us wouldn't be able to read it." All of the gods in the room stared at her, so she elaborated, "Dyslexia, remember?"

We all turned away sheepishly, forgetting that part of our children's nature.

"Well, I guess I can start?" Meg offered.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. "Okay, let's get this over with." I eyed my fellow Olympians, specifically Ares and Hermes. "But no teasing me, understood?"

"Fine." My half brothers grumbled.

"Alright, Meg, let's get started."