The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

four

A SURPRISE VISIT

Ariana could tell Apollo was never expected to participate in activities that didn't involve him using his godly powers.

As a god, he could've easily gotten anyone to do what he wanted. Now he was compelled to wash lettuce and chop onions.

"Where does this food come from?" He asked, blinking tears from his eyes.

Looking up from cutting tomatoes, Ariana couldn't tell if his tears were from the onions or just him complaining about his divinity situation again.

Calypso dumped a basket of muddy carrots in front of him. "Emmie's got a garden on the roof. Greenhouses. Year-round growing. You should see the herbs - basil, thyme, rosemary. It's amazing."

Emmie smiled. "Thank you, dear. You definitely know your gardening."

Leo burst through the door next to the pantry, holding aloft a wheel of cheese like a victor's laurel crown.

"BEHOLD THE CHEDDAR!" he announced. "ALL HAIL THE CHEESE CONQUERORS!"

Josephine, chuckling good-naturedly, lumbered in behind him with a metal pail. "The cows seemed to like Leo."

"Hey, abuelita." Leo said. "All da cows love Leo! He grinned at me. And these cows are red, man. Like ... bright red."

Ariana looked at Apollo. For centuries he had a herd of sacred scarlet cattle before cow-collecting went out of fashion. Josephine must have seen the miserable look on his face.

"We just use their milk." she said hastily. "We don't butcher them."

"I should hope not!" He cried. "Killing red cattle would be sacrilege!"

Josephine didnt look properly terrified by the idea. "Yeah, but mostly it's because Emmie made me give up meat twenty years ago."

"It's much better for you." Emmie chided. "You're not immortal any more, and you need to take care of yourself."

"But cheeseburgers." Jo muttered.

Emmie turned to Ariana, who was still chopping tomatoes, and smiled. "Ariana, did you know your mother turned vegetarian when she was mortal once more?"

Ariana looked up, shaking her head slightly. "I did not."

She didn't know much about her mother considering the woman had died when Ariana was simply a baby.

Leo plunked the cheese wheel in front of Apollo. "Cut me a wedge of this, my good man. Chop-chop!"

Apollo scowled at him. "Don't test me, Valdez. When I am a god again, I will make a constellation out of you. I will call it the Small Exploding Latino."

"I like it!" He patted his shoulder, causing Apollos knife to jiggle.

While Emmie baked loaves of bread - which Ariana must admit smelled incredible - she tossed a salad with carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and all manner of roof-grown plant material. 

Calypso used fresh lemons and cane sugar to make lemonade, while humming tracks from Beyonce's album of the same name.

During their travels west, Apollo had taken it upon himself to catch Calypso up on the last three millennia of popular music.