Olivia Smith and the Titan's Curse

An Audience With Love

Okay, so that question on 'My Father Hits On Girls' wasn't entirely fair - she needs to get to one goddess to get to the other goddess... sooo they are both of equal importance ;)

Meaning the winners are: allyadog and funnierthanu - good job guys!

Song for Chapter: Let Her Go - Passenger

Ch. 9 - An Audience With Love 

    There was hours of silence as we raced across the sky, giving light to the world. Like Apollo had said, the ride only goes west - and since I'd missed my drop off zone because of Thalia's wild ride, I was stuck until nightfall.

    "Don't you think that was a little harsh?" Apollo frowned at me while I sat, arms crossed, in the passenger seat of his sports car, breaking the long silence. "The poor guy was just asking you to see the stables, not marry you."

    "That's not the point, Father." I sighed, resting my head against the window pane. "Those where only the words Artemis had told me." Closing my eyes, I watched the scenes play out like a movie in my head. My statement, Percy's hurt face, Nico's wide eyes as he babbled on about how I was a goddess and how he'd played with a goddess, Thalia's calculating eyes as she tried to piece everything together - she too hadn't known I was a goddess.

    I could feel Apollo's eyes baring into the side of my face, but I refused to open my eyes. "I know... I know," He mumbled and shook his head. "It's just that you sounded a little like -"

    "-Like a puppet, a brain washed pawn of the gods?" I snapped, eyes snapping open to glare at the darkening sky. "I know. Trust me, I do." I cried, voice breaking slightly as I shook my head at him. "I've become the very thing I swore not to, do you know how hard it is for me to function up in Olympus - hard softly I have to tread? It's not easy for me." I vented as my Father clutched the wheel tighter.

    He glared out the window as we began making our way back towards New York. He seemed to be fighting with himself, but eventually he just let it out. "Penelope wouldn't want this."

    "What?" I glared at him, feeling slight anger boiling in my veins. How dare he bring up Penny, he was the reason she needed saving in the first place. 

    Apollo turned to look me straight in the eyes. "You heard me, Penny wouldn't want to be some kind of martyr for your cause of self inflected hurt and conformity to the gods." 

    I yanked my head around from his gaze and out the window, suddenly feeling as if I was going to explode on the spot. Everything was getting too small and dark. "You don't know what Penelope would want from me. It's my responsibility-"

    "No, no, just shut up for a second." Apollo lifted a hand, all traces of joking put aside. "That's where you are wrong. She's not your burden, and you don't know anything about how she'd feel Olivia. You don't know her." He dropped his gaze and begun slowing down the car, to make the sun 'set' for mortals.

    You don't know her. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as his words bounced around in my head. You don't know her. "I-I..." I opened my mouth and closed it quickly. I felt as if Apollo as just shot an arrow into the one tiny hole in my shield, he'd gotten to me and now.. Now my shield was crumbled, and I felt naked and exposed for what I truly was: Naive and blind. Tears slid down my face as I cradled my head in my hands, shivering and exposed as the fraud I was. "You're right." I whispered, tears pooling in my hands.