Umbra

Chapter 49

Negotiating with a god sounded terrible.

Emilia tried her best to picture Will Solace, someone much more approachable and less frustrating than Apollo. Though, she did feel bad for him, in the state he was in. She hoped Leo had a plan to deal with him as he was.

"A bargain." Leo's fingers twitched. "Yeah. Absolutely." His hands went to work, pulling things out of the pockets of his magic tool belt– copper wire, some bolts, a brass funnel. Emilia wasn't sure where all this stuff was really coming from or what it was for.

Leo spoke as his hands twisted wire. "So the thing is, Zeus is already pissed off at you, right? If you help us defeat Gaea, you could make it up to him."

Apollo wrinkled his nose. "I suppose that's possible. But it would be easier to smite you."

"What kind of ballad would that make?" Leo's hands worked furiously, attaching levers, fastening the metal funnel to an old gear shaft. "You're the god of music, right? Would you listen to a song called 'Apollo Smites a Runty Little Demigod'? I wouldn't. But 'Apollo Defeats the Earth Mother and Saves the Freaking Universe'... that sounds like a Billboard chart-topper!"

Emilia stood still, trying her best not to make faces. Whatever Leo was doing was stirring something in Apollo, who gazed into the air as if envisioning his name on a marquee. "What do you want exactly? And what do I get out of it?"

"First thing I need: advice." Leo strung some wires across the mouth of the funnel. "I want to know if a plan of mine will work." He glanced at Emilia hesitantly. "Just... hear me out."

She realized then why he seemed to want her gone earlier. He started to tell her things she didn't fully understand, a strange plan formulated from conversations he'd had with Nike. A way of defeating a primordial goddess. A life for a life, one potentially restored by the physician's cure.

It was insane. Emilia wasn't sure she believed it could work. She wasn't sure she wanted to be part of this plan where she, Piper, and Jason helped Leo defeat Gaea just for him to potentially die at the end. No– it was ridiculous. She couldn't just help her brother die.

He pleaded with his eyes, begged her to accept it. To let it be, at least until this conversation was over. Still, he looked afraid. He didn't want this– how could he? He thought he had to, he thought it was the only way. And who was she to deny him that belief if she had nothing else to offer? Who was she to tell him this was wrong, to yell at him that all his time thinking had gone to waste? No, that wasn't what he needed right now, that wasn't why she was here, allowed to listen.

Apollo nodded thoughtfully. "I will give you this advice for free. You might be able to defeat Gaea in the way you describe, similar to the way Ouranos was defeated eons ago. However, any mortal close by would be utterly..." Apollo's voice faltered, "That is, if your friend here doesn't get them out in time. What is that you have made?"

Leo looked down at the contraption in his hands. Emilia couldn't tell what it was. All she saw were layers of copper wires, like multiple sets of guitar strings, crisscrossed inside the funnel. Rows of striking pins were controlled by levers on the outside of the cone, which was fixed to a square metal base with a bunch of crank handles.

"Oh, this?" It was a sort of music box mixed with an old fashioned photograph. "Um, well, this is quite simply the most amazing instrument ever!"

Apollo questioned, "How does it work?"

Leo turned the crank handles. A few clear tones rang out– metallic yet warm. Leo manipulated the levers and gears. It almost sounded like if a machine could sing– if Festus could sing. The melody was familiar and Emilia realized she had heard it before, many times. Xochitl's favorite sad song, Wicked Game by Chris Isaak.