Dear Secrets, Please Fly Quietly

16) Artemis is Bad, Apollo is Worse

Before dealing with Apollo, I went to Delos to talk to Artemis. She was the only one who knew what he would be like. When I arrived, the goddess was staring at the horizon and the ocean in silence. "Artemis?" I said quietly, not wanting to startle her.

"Hermes." She replied with absolutely no emotion at all. Her voice was quiet, near inaudible, and raspy.

Taking her response as a go ahead, I came over and sat close to her, but not touching. I watched her look at the ocean. Her skin was tinted pink and red from the sunburn, and what little movements she made seemed painful. Every inhale was a gasp, every exhale a sigh. Her normally brown eyes were rimmed with yellow and bloodshot, and I guessed Artemis weighted around six pounds.

"Don't-" she gasped. "guess my weight," Another long pause. "Hermes." She might as well have mouthed the words because I didn't hear anything.

"Artemis," I said, putting my hand over hers. Her finger felt like icicles. That wasn't good. "are you sure you're alright? You don't look too good."

She nodded. "I'll be... fine. When I talked to my brother,... he got mad and..." Her eyes fluttered like butterfly wings. She swayed, and I moved to steady her. "and... Super No... va." Artemis fainted in my arms. I moved her into the shade and turned my staff into a fan to keep her cool. After making sure she was in a comfortable position, I left to go see about her brother.

I found in his sun chariot, as to be expected. Stopping a few feet from the fiery pegasi, I hovered using my primary wings. It kept the air flowing around me, making me marginally cooler. "Apollo!" I called.

His hands were clenched on the edge of the chariot in a death grip as he stared at the floor. His blonde hair fell over shoulders, hiding his face. Apollo shook slightly. When he heard his name, his head jerked upward and Apollo stared at me with wide and crazed eyes, bloodshot like Artemis'. The scent of blood hit my nose, making me wary and concerned. Why did Apollo smell like blood?!

"Apollo?" I asked quietly in the way people say 'hello?' when they hear a strange noise in their house.

He responded with a shiver, squeezing his eyes closed as a drop of sweat rolled down his nose.

"Are you okay?" I asked, despite the answer being obvious. It was a curtesy thing. When my fingers brushed his, they weren't hot like I expected. In fact, his hands felt Amelia Earhart's. And she's been dead for almost eight decades, if you get what I mean.

Without warning, Apollo lunged out and wrapped his arms around me, pinning my wings and arms. It was like being hugged to death by a corpse. Apollo whispered in my ear as his nails dug into my back. "Remember this. Memorize it!" He talked faster and more urgently like these were his last words and he had to get through a whole monologue. "Promise me! On the Styx, you'll remember. Verbatim! Verbatim! Please, Hermes, please, don't let me die! Hermes, I don't want to die! Don't let me-"

Apollo abruptly released me, the force throwing me backward as he arched his back and howled in pain. Ichor bubbled up and dripped out of the corners of his mouth. He coughed, spewing immortal blood into the sky.

"Apollo? Are you okay?!" I asked meekly, genuinely scared. "Are you going to die?"

He made no reply, only wheezing as foam now spilled from his mouth. At least foam was better than ichor. I tried to catch what he was saying as he whispered through clenched teeth, clutching his stomach and bending his back the other way, but it was really hard to understand. It didn't help that it was in Greek.

Don't get me wrong, I am completely fluent in Greek, English and many, many, many other languages. But Apollo only said parts of sentences with other random words mixed in. I wasn't prepared to decode and translate and piece the bits of words together all at the same time. The result was less than coherent, and very confusing. Nonetheless, I tried to memorize 'olive... red bird, and... a turkey night bites painful... dies... disease...' etc.

"STOP IT!!" Apollo roared, making my heart skip a beat. Then all was silent, and the god resumed his original position with his hands on the side of the chariot and his head down. His breathing was ragged and loud, and I waited motionless to see what he would do.

When he opened his eyes again, they were no longer blue. Apollo's eyes were blank voids of pale glowing, yellow light. I had never personally seen this, but Artemis had described it once or twice. The excruciating pain, mumbling, and his eyes only added up to one thing: A prophecy was coming.