Ashley & Apollo

Chapter 5 - The Interlude

Ashley tried not to linger on the woman's words, but a sick realization had made a home in her stomach, and she couldn't reason it away. 

She returned from the dining hall thrumming with nervous energy and redirected it into rearranging all the furniture in her bedroom. Her desk and dresser ended up crammed in the hallway outside her room, and the remainder of her belongings were shoved into the center of the room, laden with all the drawings and decorations she'd had on her walls. All but the fox plushies and her fluffy white rug, which were ensconced in her closet.

She had entirely covered her floor and the island of furniture in plastic sheeting by the time Katherine interrupted. "Did you even get lunch yet?" Kat asked, poking her head through the doorway to her bedroom.

"Uh..." It hadn't been that long since breakfast, had it?

Katherine marched over and snatched the painter's tape out of her hands, ignoring her yelp of protest. "All right, up. We have the whole day to paint, so food first. I'll take over this until you've eaten." Which was how Ashley ended up alone in her kitchen, staring at her toaster and having an existential crisis.

The giant hadn't waited until the school day ended to kill her—that was the source of it. Instead of waiting an hour to ambush her as she left the building, John and his demigod companion had used magic to blow it up and flush her out, in a theatrical display. Like they wanted to make a game out of her death. Like they were putting on a show.

The thing was, Gods weren't supposed to die. it went against their natural order. The only exception was in the God of Death, Thanatos himself, who could kill a god by claiming their willing soul for himself. However, there are much worse things you can put someone through than death and many ways to make a person beg for it. When the giants who captured her mother returned her to Olympus, she was already dead in all but body. That had been a display, too, and once Ashley was old enough to understand what had happened to her parents, she heard the message loud and clear:

"See what we're capable of. See what lengths we'll go to to destroy you. Know our cruelty has no limits, and expect no remorse from us."

Tch-chunk! She jolted as her bagel finished toasting. She moved on autopilot to grab a plate from the cupboard and begin buttering each side. Her mind felt a lot like the gray static in her marble countertop.

Was it a coincidence that the people who killed her mom to send a message would make her death just as public? It didn't seem likely. Ashley needed to know what their plans were with her, and she could start gathering information by asking around Olympus. The medical staff here would know if any other attacks by giants had occurred in the last nine years while she'd been out of the loop on Earth. It wouldn't tell her what the giants were planning, but it would catch her up to speed on any moves they had already made.

One consumed bagel later, when she left the kitchen it was with the other problem gnawing on her mind; the matter of Katherine and Dan. Kat's parents expected her back in less than a week, which meant Ashley had a matter of days to figure out a way to ensure her safety on Earth. She couldn't protect her herself with this giant target on her back, so the question was who or what could, and no ideas had been forthcoming yet.

Hovering at the threshold of her bedroom, she watched Katherine smooth out her tape along the borders of her wall. "I'm sorry," Ashley blurted out.

Katherine looked at her oddly, then down at her tape job. "It's no problem. I said I'd help."

"No, I mean that you're stuck here because of me. I'm sorry for that."

"Pretty sure you didn't ask those guys to attack you," Katherine said. "I'm the one who jumped in the fight, anyway. You just got me out of it. There's nothing to apologize for."