The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

twenty one

THIS IS IT...

The way station felt so different for the summer.
Emmie's rooftop garden was bursting at the seams with tomatoes, peas, cabbage and watermelon. The great hall was bursting at the seams with old friends.

The Hunters of Artemis were in residence, having taken quite a beating on their most recent excursion to catch the Teumessian Fox.

"That fox is murder," said Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, rubbing her bruised neck. "Led us right into a den of werewolves, the little punk."

"Ugh," agreed Thalia Grace, pulling a werewolf tooth out of her leather cuirass. "TF spreads destruction everywhere he goes."

"TF?" Ariana asked.

"Easier than saying Teumessian Fox twenty times a day," Thalia told her. "Anyway, the fox runs through a town and stirs up every monster within twenty miles. Peoria is pretty much in ruins."

This sounded like a tragic loss, but Ariana was more concerned with her Hunter buddies.

"Are you regretting your decision to join up?" Apollo asked Reyna.

She grinned. "Not for a minute. This is fun."

Thalia punched her in the shoulder. "Great Hunter, this one. I knew she would be. We'll get that fox one of these days."

Emmie called to them from the kitchen to help with dinner, because the carrots weren't going to dice themselves.

The two friends strode off together, laughing and sharing stories. It did Ariana's heart good to see them so happy, even if their version of fun was a never-ending foxhunt that destroyed large portions of the Midwest.

Jo was teaching Georgina, their daughter (and possibly Apollo's, too), to forge weapons in the smithy.

When Georgina saw Apollo, she looked unexcited, as if they'd just parted a few minutes ago.

"You keep my doll?" she demanded.

"Ah ..." Apollo could have lied. He could have magically produced an exact likeness of the pipe-cleaner figure and said Of course.

But the truth was that he had no idea where the little guy had ended up, perhaps in Delphi or Tartarus or Chaos?

Apollo told her the truth. "Would you make me another one?"

Georgina thought about this. "Nah."

Then she went back to quenching hot blades with her mom. The swordsman Lityerses seemed to be adjusting well.

He was overseeing an 'elephant visitation programme' with Waystation resident Livia and Hannibal from Camp Jupiter.

The two pachyderms were romping around together in the back lot, flirting by throwing medicine balls at each other.

After dinner, Ariana and Apollo got to visit with Leo Valdez, who had just straggled back home after a full day of community service.

He was teaching homeless kids shop skills at a local shelter.

"That's amazing," Ariana said, leaning onto Apollo.

He grinned, biting off a chunk of Emmie's fresh-made buttermilk scones. "Yeah. Bunch of kids like me, you know? They never had much. Least I can show them somebody cares. Plus, some of them are excellent mechanics."

"Don't you need tools?" Apollo asked. "A shop?"

"Festus!" Leo said. "A bronze dragon makes the best mobile shop. Most of the kids just see him as a truck, with the Mist and all, but a few of them ... they know what's up."