Percy Jackson, Son of Olympus, The Titan's Curse

| Chapter IX || The Great Fire of Thalia |

*December 15 XXXX*

*Percy's Point of View*

***

No one wanted to. Drive, that is. I sure didn't – not because of the whole, Zeus-Poseidon rivalry, as some may think, but instead, because I remembered the last time I drove, and I didn't want a repeat of that. Neither did Apollo, it seemed.

The Hunters took up the back of the bus first. Bianca sat with them, obviously, but as much as I understood, I couldn't help but feel bad for Nico, even though he got to hang out with the rest of us in the front. Even so, he didn't seem to mind. Maybe his initial disappointment was fading.

"This is so cool!" He was jumping up and down in the driver's seat, and secretly, I was hoping that he wouldn't actually be driving. Instead, he just continued rambling. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said.

"The Romans started it," I explained so that Apollo could pull Nico out of the driver's seat. "They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they just laid off Helios and Selene; their duties were folded in with the rest of what Artemis and Apollo do. So, she got the moon, and Apollo, the sun."

"That's pretty much it," he agreed, nodding. "It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought that the sun was a big fiery ball of gas! You know, like what they tell you in science class!"

I may have been the only one to notice the slight blush that brushed across Apollo's face, but it disappeared quickly as he laughed it off. "That rumour probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Yeah, she wasn't too good at insults back then, but...oh well." He leaned in. "Seriously, though, kid, it depends on whether you're talking about astrology or philosophy."

"Astrology says that the sun is a star and is billions of miles away."

"What's the fun in that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun! That's so much more interesting! They depend on it for pretty much everything. Warmth, growing their crops, powering their engines. I make everything look, well, sunnier. See, this chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every morning, I drive it across the sky from east to west, lighting up their little mortal lives."

"It's a manifestation of the sun's power and how the mortals perceive it!" I interrupted, drawing their attention to me. "Makes sense?"

Nico shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. Gods, he looked so cute and tiny! "No," he said.

"Just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car, then. How about that?"

"Cool! Can I drive?"

"No. Too young." Apollo deposited him into one of the seats in the second row.

"Oo! What about me?" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no. Too furry."

"That's discrimination!" I stated sarcastically, but Apollo didn't seem to hear me as he turned to Thalia, bright blue eyes focusing on her blushing face.

"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks. I'll just get in the back, thank you very much." She went to climb into the seat right next to Nico, but Apollo's hand on her arm stopped her.