The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

nineteen

BACK WITH APOLLO

Ariana's first surprise: Apollo woke.

People who have been dissolved into Chaos typically don't do that.

Apollo's second (his first being the same as Ariana's) surprise: his sister Artemis was leaning over him, her smile as bright as the harvest moon.

"Took you long enough." she said.

Apollo rose with a sob and hugged her tight. All his pain was gone. He was a god again. For so long, my deepest desire had been to be restored.

But instead of feeling elated he wept on his sister's shoulder. Apollo felt like if he let go of Artemis, he would fall back into Chaos.

Huge parts of his identity would shake loose, and he would never be able to find all the puzzle pieces.

Ariana watched from the side of the room, not wanting to ruin the reunion between the two siblings.

"Whoa, there." She patted his back awkwardly. "Okay, little fella. You're all right now. You made it."

She gently extricated herself from Apollo's arms. Not a cuddler, his sister, but she did allow him to hold her hands.

Her stillness helped him stop trembling.

They were sitting together on a Greek-style sofa bed, in a white marble chamber with a columned terrace that opened onto a view of Olympus: the sprawling mountaintop city of the gods, high above Manhattan. The scent of jasmine and honeysuckle wafted in from the gardens.

Ariana heard the heavenly singing of the Nine Muses in the distance - probably their daily lunchtime concert in the agora.

Apollo really was back.

"Ariana!" Apollos face turned into a grin, happiness evident.

Ariana grinned, stepping towards him and pulling him in for a hug. "Nice to see you again, Sunshine."

Then the god paused. "Hold up, why is your aura...?"

"Godly?" Mused Artemis.

"Godly." Apollo agreed, observing Ariana. "Hold up are you-"

"Surprise!" Beamed Ariana, giving him the biggest smile she could muster.

The god blinked at her, his mouth opening and then closing multiple times.

It made Ariana grin even more. "Don't say anything."

Apollo examined himself. He wore nothing but a bedsheet from the waist down. His chest was bronze and perfectly sculpted. His muscular arms bore no scars or fiery lines glowing beneath the surface.

Apollo was gorgeous, which made him feel melancholy. He had worked hard for those scars and bruises. All the suffering his friends and he had been through.

His sister's words suddenly sank in: Took you long enough.

Apollo choked on despair. "How long?"

Artemis's silver eyes scanned his face, as if trying to determine what damage his time as a human had done to his mind.

"What do you mean?"

Apollo knew immortals could not have panic attacks. Yet his chest constricted. The chor in his heart pumped much too fast. He had no idea how long it had taken him to become a god again.

He'd lost half a year from the time Zeus zapped him at the Parthenon to the time he plummeted to Manhattan as a mortal.

For all he knew, his restorative siesta had taken years, decades, centuries. Everyone he had known on Earth might be dead. Apart from Ariana, who Apollo had just learnt was now a goddess?