The Grace Curse

Chapter Twenty-Seven

THE DOCKS WEREN'T DIFFICULT TO FIND. I always wanted to take a long vacation to San Francisco as a child and explore the various parts of the city. My Mom never liked the idea. Maybe she knew about the strong presence of the Mist around here.

"Oh no," I gasped out loud.

I spied Apollo at the end of the docks. He was holding an hourglass. The morning sun was reflected in the glass. "Well hello there, miss me?" He said winking straight at me. I turned around and stomped my foot. When was Apollo going to take the hint? I felt him tap the back of my neck. "Oh, hey there,"

I lost it. "You are becoming so f—ing annoying!" I was so mad I used the f word. That was probably the first time in a while, but Apollo had me so enraged and desperate it managed to slip.

Apollo tightened his grip on the hourglass. "No need for foul language, huh? No..."

"Apollo come on, I am so sick and tired of running and fighting you, just give my friends back so I can find my father and get this whole quest over with,"

The Sun God clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer. "No. You don't have to keep fighting me. Just come with me, let your friends find Zeus. Why should you deal with this? What did Zeus ever do for you? I can make your curse go away!"

As much as I wanted to disagree with Apollo, I couldn't. He brought up a very valid point. "I will not argue with you on that one, but family comes first. You haven't done anything for me either so you can stop acting like you are more important,"

He froze. "I knew you'd do this to me, and now it's time to show you what I can do!" Apollo rose up and grew a few feet. He was about as tall as he was in D.C., maybe seven or eight feet. His clothes shimmered until he was wearing a golden Greek chiton with a gigantic lyre in his hands. He started playing it. "MORTALS OF SAN FRANCISCO! THIS DEMIGOD IS YOUR ENEMY! CAPTURE HIM AND BRING HIM TO ME!"

Instantly every Mortal in my immediate surroundings started closing in on me. Apollo smiled victoriously. "Let's see how long you last now Sky Prince," I darted to the left. I tried focusing all my energy. My body fluttered into the air several feet off the ground. It was a weak hover but anything was better than nothing. I felt a Mortal grab onto my foot. I formed an air current but they didn't blow away.

Apollo's laugh echoed across the buildings as if he watched the entire thing. "They are Mortals Chase, your Demigod powers aren't gonna work," I cursed to myself. It did make sense considering the Mist kept them in check, but what if the Mist was lowered somehow?

An idea popped into my head. "Apollo!" I screamed. "Fight me yourself you big stupid coward!"

His laugh echoed. "I wouldn't want to get hurt,"

My stomach knotted. "NO!" I landed to the ground and punched the Mortal who attacked me. They fainted to the ground, hopefully with not too much injury. I fluttered back into the air making my way through the streets. The San Francisco Bay looked ominous, the water was almost black like an onyx gemstone. I wished Blake was here with me so that he could wield the water to his advantage. I did the stupidest thing imaginable, I leapt into the bay and screamed at the top of my lungs. The frigid water chilled my bones, it felt like I was bathing in liquid nitrogen rather than water. I assumed the ocean had not been warmed up yet since last brutal winter. It was only June, not August.

Apollo flew over towards my direction. He spotted me in the water and scowled. He cursed something rather obscene in Ancient Greek and stomped his foot. "Damnit! You are so lucky I can't enter Poseidon's realm! But don't worry I have another trick up my sleeve!"