Dear Secrets, Please Fly Quietly

12) What Happened at Delos

I healed the lump on Hermes' head in silence. To pacify their curiosity, he had told them the abbreviated version of why his blood was red and what he was doing at Camp Half-Blood. Unfortunately, this tale involved recounting the memory that had gotten Hermes and me into this mess. Naturally, they wanted to hear what happened at Delos.

I turned toward Hermes, all fire and anger lit up in my wondrously blue eyes, making them drift into the red color family. Before I could roast him alive, someone, one of my children I think, asked "What happened at Delos?"

Ignoring them, I spoke to Hermes. "You will pay for this, mortal." I spat. "Don't think you won't."

He frowned, looking away. "Your leg is still injured."

"I know!" I snapped, my blonde locks igniting. Despite my best efforts, a nasty-looking, navy, mangled-up crater of flesh remained in the middle of my shin. I threw my hand up, indicating the sun. "Only Artemis can heal it fully, and she can only do that once she gets rid of the constellations and she can only do that when she can put them back in the sky. The night sky."

"Does it hurt?"

"Stop distracting me!" The flames spread. "You get the entire Camp riled up about this stupid story and now I have to tell them! I hate you, Hermes!"

"Funny, a few minutes ago, you were screaming 'I love you' and you wouldn't leave me alone. That's why I went to Artemis and then you got hurt. And you never would have been here at all if you didn't get drunk. So... really it's all your fault."

I reduced the flames to my left hand and bouncing it like a ball, repeatedly scorching the grass. I glanced at Hermes casually. "I suggest you stop insulting me. Unless, maybe, you want to play catch?" I nonchalantly spiked the fireball at the ground inches from his feet.

When he leapt back with a yelp, my tone turned deadly. "Then I kindly suggest you leave. Because the next time we see each other, we'll play tag-you're-dead." Needless to say, his exit was hasty.

The demigods that had crowded around me were stunned into silence. Frankly, I had forgotten they existed. "Sorry about that." I said to them. "Anyone want to hear about what happened at Delos?"

No one replied, so I took a deep breath and trudged on.

"It was July 11, five days after our birthday..."

Someone I didn't recognized piped up. "You're birthday's July 5?"

I stared at them for a solid five seconds before calling out, "Somebody's from Cabin 6 teach this poor child some basic math! And don't interrupt."

There was some shuffling in the crowd.

"It was sunset, and Artemis and I were doing something on the far side of the island, which really isn't that far. My mother- who is?" I asked. "Everyone from my cabin put your hands down. You there."

"I have a name."

"I didn't ask for it. What's my mother's name?"

"Leto, the goddess of-"

"Again. I didn't ask for that. Anyway, Leto called us in and herded us into a closet." I shakily took a breath. When I spoke again, my voice was monotone and cut up in choppy sentences. "Then someone burst through the door. I don't know who it was. Only that it was a woman. She began attacking our mother. The closet was dark and scary. I discovered I had photo-luminescent skin. It glows in the dark. The fight lasted for hours. Hours of screams." I began talking faster. "Hours of explosions and light and fear and-" I stopped, staring off into nothingness for what seemed like days.

"Apollo?"

I blinked and my eyes slowly shifted downward. They filled with tears. "And then there was silence. Silence for seven hours straight. Artemis and I were too afraid to move, and when we finally did,-" I paused again. "There was no one. The attacker left without a trace, our mom was gone. The only evidence that anything had even happened was the ruined furniture and the ichor everywhere. That was when we smelled the smoke. In minutes, the island was levelled."

"Couldn't you put out the fire?" Asked the same demigod who couldn't do math.

I turned toward them. "1) I am the sun god. Among other things, I make fire, not stop it, and 2) if I could have put the fire out DON'T YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE?! Seriously, how stupid can one person be?!"

Whoever it was seemed to take my insult to heart, but I couldn't have cared less.

"It took months to rebuild our home, still with no sign of anyone. It was Artemis and me, the tiny island of Delos, and the entire ocean."

"Speaking of ocean,-" Someone who was not 'the Idiot' began.

"Poseidon didn't do anything until later. It took him a while to figure out that we existed." I said drily and tiredly. "Keep in mind, no one knew we were alive. We didn't have all of our powers and we hadn't go to Olympus to become 'official' gods yet." There was momentary silence. "We turned Delos into what it is today. Eventually, I met Hermes, we became friends, met my father for the first time in 2 millennia, blah, blah, blah. Fast forward to today." I said, eager to end the story.

"Are you and Hermes friends right now?"

"Currently, we are (literally) mortal enemies." I said sourly. "Ok, bye, I have to go kill him." I disappeared with a burst of golden light, leaving a back starburst in my wake.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Apollo made numerous threats on my life, I left Camp Half-Blood, borrowing Percy's car. I'm sure he could find another way to get home. I drove and drove and drove, unsure of where I was going. Just away. There were only 39 miles between us and I needed more. Yes, I know Apollo can teleport, but in my case, distance equals time.

As I pressed harder on the gas pedal, the New York landscape blurred together, a metaphor for my muddled mind. There was a bang next to me in the passenger seat. I screamed at the noise, jerking the wheel to left. The newfound passenger quickly grabbed the wheel and straightened the car out.

"No. You don't get to die before I kill you. That's cheating."

"Apollo?!" My heart leapt into my throat. All of the zero planning I had prepared for this moment vanished. I gulped. "What are you doing here?" I asked tentatively.

"Was it not clear by the numerous threats I made not half an hour ago?" Apollo tilted his head, in genuine confusion. "By the way, you do not know how hard it is to teleport into a moving car, especially at-" He glanced at the speedometer. "87 miles an hour?! For sunlight's sake, slow down!"

The gauge dropped to 86. "Is that slow enough?"

"You're still speeding." Apollo remarked, raising his voice above the police sirens. "I've been thinking..."

"What?" I asked nervously.

"I don't want to kill you."

"That's good."

"I shall inflict your punishment on the entire earth."

"How?!" I cried, horrified.

"You'll see." Apollo smiled wickedly before vanishing.

'Oh, Styx.' I thought.