As Long As I Live

Festus Is The Bestus

The daughter of Apollo.

He was the Greek god of music, archery, poetry, and so on. I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it before. It was obvious that everyone was waiting for my response.

"What?" I mentally face palmed. So much for a good reply.

"I knew it!" A familiar voice shouted from the background. Leo suddenly emerged from the depths of the crowd. I was still too stunned to say anything.

The nice girl, Piper, who had already been at the front, spoke out in concern. "Umm, Y/n. You don't look so good."

"Well thanks a lot." I said, pulling my jacket over my head. Piper, immediately realizing what she had said, burst out in apology. "No! That's not what I meant! I'm so sorry, just you look a little sick."

Now that she mentioned it, I felt a little sick.

"Okay, okay people! Let's give Y/n here some space!" Fire-boy commanded. "Make a path people!" He began parting the sea of demigods like a Greek Moses. Everyone obeyed mostly because his hair was flaming... again. 

I followed him, grateful for the chance to get away from so many eyes staring into my soul. Once we had put quite a bit of distance between the group and us, McShizzle, as he had called himself before, stopped. "Hey, are you okay? Piper wasn't lying when she said you look a little out of sorts."

I hesitated for a moment. "Well... it's just..." I took a breath, finally finding my voice. "More has happened to me in the past couple of days then what would normally happen in a year. I found an annoying... friend, he deserves it, who's half goat. We got attacked by a mythical monster, I found out I have a dad, which is pretty amazing but also very confusing at the same time, and my mom-" I chocked down a sob. "I don't even know if she's still alive." My voice was barely a whisper.

We stood in an awkward yet slightly comforting silence for a while.

"I know how you feel." Leo's hair was no longer on fire. He stared at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing since the Maze Runner series. For once he wasn't joking or messing around. 

But as fast as sadness had crept to his expression, he shook it off. A smile returned to his face. "I just remembered!" He said, grabbing my arm. "I gotta show you Festus!" 

"Who the heck is Festus?" 

"You'll see." He dashed into the woods. 

A bunch of trees doesn't seem scary at first glance, but I had had enough woods for the week. Also this time, there was no nature-master Oliver with us. I certainly hoped Leo knew what he was doing. 

Eventually, we came to a cliffside-like place. Fire-boy looked proud of the mound of stone, thought I couldn't tell why.

"What do you think?"

"It looks like a big rock." I said.

Leo rolled his eyes and placed his hand on the stone. Suddenly, a ring of fire shot up out of the blue, creating a shape that was similar to a door. The rock slowly moved, proving that yes, I was indeed an entrance.

"Now, what do you think?" 

I was completely flabbergasted. My sense of logic was slowly disappearing. Did demigods always have to expect the impossible? I definitely needed practice.

McShizzle, I had decided to call him that, chuckled at my astonished expression, and waving a hand, walked inside. "C'mon!" He said. "I'll show you around." Having no other choice, I carefully stepped inside. "Welcome to Bunker 9!" He spread his hands wide.

"This place is amazing!" I gasped. Sure, it could've used a little natural light, and it was a little messy, but the vast expanse of it all was impressive. In the middle, there was a giant, shadowy mass. I walked right up to it. On closer inspection, it was mostly metal, with a series of complicated wiring holding it all together. I was curious, so I knocked on the exterior of the mysterious creation. 

"Um, Y/n, if I were you I wouldn't-" He was cut off when the mound of metal began to move. With out warning, I was face to face with a mechanical dragon.

I did what anyone would've done in this situation. I screamed, jumping higher than a kangaroo, and scurried away to hide behind Leo. To my irritation, he just laughed at my panicked state.

"Calm down, Y/n." He said, which earned him a glare in return. "It's just Festus."

"It's just a dragon who almost gave me a heart attack." I muttered.

I looked back at the dragon, Festus. Though I didn't show it, I was pretty amazed. How could one build such a life-like creature?

"Do you want to pet him?" McShizzle asked. I did not want to pet the dragon, but my reputation was already on the line. I walked up, trying to look confident and stuck out my hand toward the metal beast. 

Carefully stroking Festus's snout, I began to feel better. The dragon made an adorable series of clicking noises. 

"He says he likes you." Fire-boy said. 

"First off, how in the world can you understand him? Secondly, tell him I like him too." I smiled wide as Festus clicked happily.

"Morse Code." Leo said.

"You know Morse Code?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup! I can teach you if you want." 

"Oh! That'd bee cool! I wanna know what Festus is saying!"

Just like that, I made up my mind.

Festus is definitely the bestus.

Hey guys! Sorry, it's been a while, but hey, at least I still update! I've decided to put the author's notes at the end because it's just easier. If any of you have read Story of Tonight, my original story on Wattpad, it's almost done. 1 or 2 more chapters. So now, this will be my main focus, but I'll be working on another book also. It's called Whatever It Takes because first of all, its a great song, and secondly, it fits the story perfectly. For those of you who haven't heard, it's based on My Hero Academia. If you haven't seen this show, go watch it right now, but if you have, good for you, you're now my friend!

So, this is all for now. Hopefully I'll update soon!