The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

nine

APOLLO APPARENTLY LIKES TO SLEEP

As soon as they returned to the coffee shop's attic, Apollo and Ariana crashed on the former god's cot.

Meg huffed, "It's still light outside. You slept all day."

"Not turning into a zombie is hard work."

"I know!" she snapped. "I'm sorry!"

Ariana looked up, surprised by her tone. Meg kicked an old paper latte cup across the room. She plopped onto her cot and glared at the floor.

"Meg?" Ariana spoke, gently and calmly.

In her flower box, irises grew with such speed that their flowers crackled open like corn kernels. Just a few minutes ago, Meg had been happily insulting Apollo and gorging on jelly beans. Now... Was she crying?

"Meg." Apollo sat up, trying not to wince. "Meg, you're not responsible for me getting hurt."

She twisted the ring on her right hand, then the one on her left, as if they'd become too small for her fingers. "I just thought...if I could kill him..."
She wiped her nose. "Like in some stories. You kill the master, and you can free the people he's turned."

It took a moment for her words to sink in. Ariana was pretty sure the dynamic she was describing applied to vampires, not zombies, but she understood what she meant.

"You're talking about Tarquin," Apollo said. "You jumped into the throne room because...you wanted to save me?"

"Duh," she muttered, without any heat.

Ariana put her hand over Apollo's bandaged abdomen.

Meg must have been more worried, or more intuitive, than she'd let on. Which certainly took all the fun out of criticizing her.

"Oh, Meg." Apollo shook his head. "That was a crazy, senseless stunt, and I love you for it. But don't beat yourself up. Pranjal's medicine bought me some extra time. And you did, too, of course, with your cheese-grating skills and your magical chickweed. You've done everything you could. When we summon godly help, I can ask for complete healing. I'm sure I'll be as good as new. Or at least, as good as a Lester can be."

Meg tilted her head, making her crooked glasses just about horizontal. "How can you know? Is this god going to give us three wishes or something?"

Ariana considered that.

"I don't know, Meg," Apollo confessed. "You're right. I can't be sure everything will be okay. But I can promise you I'm not giving up. We've come this far. I'm not going to let a belly scratch stop us from defeating the Triumvirate."

"It's not a belly scratch." Ariana mumbled, still laid down on the cot.

Meg had so much mucus dripping from her nostrils, she would've made Buster the unicorn proud. She sniffled, wiping her upper lip with her knuckle. "I don't want to lose somebody else, I nearly lost Ariana."

Ariana frowned, Meg was one to be emotional and it hurt her to see her like this.

"Come here." Apollo held out his arms. "Please?"

Meg hesitated. Still sniffling, she rose from her cot and trudged toward them. She fell into his hug like Apollo was a comfy mattress.

Apollo grunted, and Ariana joined the hug. She smelled of apple peels and mud, but she didn't mind. Ariana didn't even mind the mucus and tears soaking her shoulder.

"Okay." Meg pushed herself away, wiping her cheeks furiously. "Enough of that. You sleep. I'm-I'm going to get dinner or whatever."

For a long time after she left, Apollo and Ariana lay in the cot staring at the ceiling.