"What?" Apollo asked sleepily. He didn't think this was his bed in his dorm. There wasn't any sheets and whatever he was lying on was not comfortable. When he opened his eyes to be greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar apartment and his sister, he remembered everything that had happened in the last couple of days.
"I remembered you liked to sleep in late but this is ridiculous," Artemis remarked, "A late sleeper and a deep sleeper? Come on if you're gonna sleep in late at least make it easy for people to wake you up when they need you."
"I'm a deep sleeper so that I can sleep in late without any interruptions," Apollo replied.
"I'm an interruption?" Artemis said as if she was offended.
"Hmmmm come back to me later on that one," Apollo said, "What's the plan for today?"
"New Orleans. I've sent a pigeon to Hecate so she can prepare a good luck potion for us. Not that I think we'll need it but it can't hurt," Artemis answered.
"An actual carrier pigeon?"
"An actual carrier pigeon."
There was an awkward silence save for Artemis clattering about in her tiny kitchen.
Apollo bit his lip. The white walls of Artemis' apartment should have bored him to mortality and then death, but instead they were actually quite calming. The only consistent thing in this whole mess.
"You know, I might go and visit mamá after all this is over," Apollo said.
"I might join you on that one," Artemis replied through a quiet laugh, "I haven't seen her in a while."
"Same," Apollo said, "I feel like a horrible son actually."
"I mean it's not exactly our fault," Artemis said over her shoulder, "But it kinda is at the same time. I don't know. Our schedules are all different and I guess it's hard to get together these days."
"You don't say."
"Toast?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah toast is fine."
Artemis popped a bit of bread into the toaster. "Why do you sound so tired? You literally just got up."
"Running away from a goddess who wants to kill you is exhausting okay?" Apollo countered.
"Okay so you ran away from a collapsing building, came here and then you fell asleep, so much hard work."
"Exactly."
"I was being sarcastic."
"It's hard to tell sometimes."
"Really?"
"Yep."
Artemis squinted. "I really don't think it is."
"Toast?"
Apollo turned to his right to see a sleepy Katherine standing in the doorway. Her eyes were barely open and her soft black hair was tousled and messy.
"You want some?" Artemis asked.
Katherine sat down on the single seat. Apollo guessed he was sitting too much in the middle of the bigger one. "Please."
The toaster popped and Artemis brought over the toast, which actually smelled amazing. Apollo shuffled over a little so that Artemis could sit next to him.
They ate in awkward silence as the birds started chirping outside. Apollo had no clue what time it was, but the sun was just starting to rise over the buildings.
There was a quiet buzzing coming from Apollo's phone on the table next to him. He reached over to find it was an unknown number. He pressed accept, planning to turn down whatever someone was trying to scam him into when a worried voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Who is this?" Apollo replied.
"Look you don't know me, we were at a party two nights ago and I'm looking for a friend. Katherine?" The woman on the other end said, "I've called nearly everyone that was there and I'm scared she was in that building when it collapsed. Have you seen her?"
"Hold on, just a second," Apollo said. He took the phone away from his ear and mouthed "It's for you," in Katherine's direction. She furrowed her brow but took the phone from his hand.
"Hello?" She said into the phone. From the other end he could hear the woman speaking. "Mallory, I'm okay," Katherine reassured her. "It's a long story I'm not sure I can tell you," she said, almost as a question to Apollo and Artemis, who shook their heads. Katherines face fell, even though she was expecting it. "Yes Mal I'm sure I'm okay, no I've not been abducted by someone or any aliens - no not even a serial killer, I am fine," Katherine said. She paused while Mallory spoke on the other end. "Okay, yeah bye." She ended the call and handed my phone back to me.
"Just my friend wondering where I was," Katherine said.
"The one you were with at the party?" Artemis asked, "She thought you'd been abducted by aliens?"
Katherine laughed. "Yeah thats Mallory. She's a little bit of a mad conspiracy theorist."
"I don't think Nemesis is very technologically adept what with being asleep for years so I don't think she can track us via your phone so you should be safe enough to keep using it," Artemis said.
"I think I lost mine at the party so I'll be okay" Katherine said.
"We should probably get going if we're finished," Artemis said.
Katherine and Apollo nodded and got up. They stood in a circle and held hands. With a flash of moonlight and a ray of sunshine they were off.
A/N
HELLO READERS
Readers: who are you?
Cheese: it's me Cheese!
Readers: we thought that you'd disappeared! Gone! Forever!
Yes I'm back.
I have no excuse really. I had exams and I started this writing journey so I've actually not got an excuse. Alas, my school and final exams have been cancelled so it inspired me to actually do something with my life.
My #prolifetip today is purely to wash you hands for AT LEAST 20 seconds. Sing happy birthday twice if it helps. I will include a handy diagram too.
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