The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

five

A QUEST IS DECIDED

Apollo, being the big baby he is, dragged his girlfriend up to the front with him.

As soon as Apollo started making his way to the aisle, Lavinia tripped him. Ariana and Apollo glared back at her.

She gave them an innocent face, like her foot just happened to be there. Given the size of her legs, maybe it had been.

Everyone watched as Apollo fumbled his way through the crowd, trying not to trip on his toga.
"Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me."

By the time they made it to the rostrum, the audience was whipped into a frenzy of boredom and impatience.

No doubt they would've all been checking their phones- except demigods couldn't use smartphones without risking monster attack, so they had no alternative but to stare at Apollo.

From the back row, Meg waved at them. Her expression was less like, Hi, you'll do great, and more like, Get on with it.

Apollo turned his gaze to lyson, who was grinning at him from the front row. When you find yourself focusing on the Cyclops in the crowd for moral support, you know you're going to bomb.

"So...hi."

Great start, so much that Ariana tried not to crack up laughing as though they were doing a group presentation in class.

"I have some bad news," Apollo said. "And some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

The crowd exchanged apprehensive looks.

Lavinia yelled, "Start with the bad news. That's always best."

"Hey," Frank chastised her. "Like, decorum, you know?"

Having restored solemnity to the senate meeting, Frank gestured for Apollo to proceed.

"The emperors Commodus and Caligula have combined forces," he said and he described what he had seen in his dream. "They're sailing toward us right now with a fleet of fifty yachts, all equipped with some kind of terrible new weapon. They'll be here by the blood moon. Which as I understand it, is in three days, April eighth, which also happens to be Lester Papadopoulos's birthday."

"Happy birthday!" Tyson said.

"I hope you don't die on it." Ariana grinned.

"Thanks. Also, I'm not sure what a blood moon is."

A hand shot up in the second row.

"Go ahead, Ida," Reyna said, then added for Apollo's benefit, "Centurion of the Second Cohort, legacy of Luna."

"Seriously?"

The centurion stood, scowling. "Yes, seriously. A blood moon is a full moon that looks red because there's a full lunar eclipse. It's a bad time to fight the undead. They're especially powerful on those nights."

"Actually..." Ella stood, picking at her finger talons. "Actually, the color is caused by the dispersal of reflected light from the sunrise and sunset of earth. A true blood moon refers to four lunar eclipses in a row. The next one is on April eighth, yep. Farmer's Almanac. Moon Phase Calendar supplemental."

She plopped down again, leaving the audience in stunned silence. Nothing is quite so disconcerting as having science explained to you by a supernatural creature.

"Thank you, Ida and Ella," Reyna said. "Lester, did you have more to add?"

Her tone suggested that it would be totally okay if he didn't, since he had already shared enough information to cause a camp-wide panic.