The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

three

APOLLO CHUCKS LU

Ariana wished they could have had regular small talk around the dinner table: the weather, who liked whom at school, which gods were casting plagues on which cities and why. But no, it was always about who was trying to kill Apollo.

It wasn't ever even about her and Apollos relationship, which she desperately wanted Sally to know.

The woman, since Ariana had ever met her, treated her like her own child. Sally constantly invited Ariana round their house during the school year.

Meg had no such qualms. She opened up about everything they'd been through.

Ariana didn't think she'd ever heard Meg talk as much as she did at Sally and Paul's dinner table, as if the presence of kindly parental figures had uncorked something inside her.

Meg told them of their battles with Commodus and Caligula. She explained how they had freed four ancient Oracles and had now returned to New York to face the last and most powerful emperor, Nero.

Paul and Sally listened intently, interrupting only to express concern or sympathy.

When Sally looked at Apollo and said, "You poor dear," Ariana could tell he almost lost it again.

"So, Nero is after you," Paul said at last. "The Nero. A Roman emperor has set up his evil lair in a Midtown high-rise."

He sat back and placed his hands on the table, as if trying to digest the news along with the meal. "I guess that's not the craziest thing I've ever heard. And now you have to do what ... defeat him in combat? Another Battle of Manhattan?"

Apollo shuddered. "I hope not. The battle with Commodus and Caligula was ... hard for Camp Jupiter. If I asked Camp Half-Blood to attack Nero's base -"

"No." Lu dipped her garlic bread in her salad dressing, proving her barbarian bona fides. "A large-scale assault would be suicide. Nero is expecting one. He's hoping for one. He's prepared to cause massive collateral damage."

Outside, rain lashed the windows. Lightning boomed as if Zeus were warning them not to get too comfortable with the kind parents.

As much as Ariana distrusted Luguselwa, she believed what she said. Nero would relish a fight, despite what had happened to his two compadres in the Bay Area, or maybe because of it.

Ariana was afraid to ask what Lu meant by massive collateral damage.

An all-out war with Nero would not be another Battle of Manhattan. When Kronos's army had stormed the Empire State Building, entrance to Mount Olympus, the Titan Morpheus had put all the mortals in the city to sleep.

The damage to the city itself, and its human population, had been negligible.

Nero didn't work that way. He liked drama. He would welcome chaos, screaming crowds, countless civilian deaths. This was a man who burned people alive to illuminate his garden parties.

"There has to be another way." Apollo decided. "I won't let any more innocents suffer on my account."

Sally Jackson crossed her arms. In spite of the grim matters they were discussing, she smiled. "You've grown up." She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. "The last time you were here, you were so lost. So... well, if you don't mind me saying-"

"Pathetic." Apollo blurted out. "Whiny, entitled, selfish. I felt terribly sorry for myself."

"All of the above." Ariana hummed.

Meg nodded along with his words as if listening to her favourite song. "You still feel sorry for yourself."

"But now," Sally said, sitting back again, '"you're more ... human, I suppose."