A Bad Omen - Apollo x Reader

Chapter 7 - Another Terrible Day

Thank the gods for breakfast. You didn't have to sit at the Ares table, as it was open seating. Normally you would have sat with Nico and Will, but you caught Apollo waving you over. With a sigh, you sat next to him and Meg. You noticed the awkward silence between them.

"How are you?" You asked quietly.

"Yeah. Great." Meg muttered between nibbles of her waffle. Apollo didn't give you an answer.

"You are a powerful demigod, daughter of Demeter." Apollo complimented.

"Mm-hm."

Apollo looked to you for assistance. You gave him a shrug. He glared at you before turning back to Meg.

"Your cabin mate, Billie... Is she nice?"

"Sure. All good." Meg mumbled.

"And Peaches?"

She gave him a sideways glance. "Disappeared overnight. Guess he only shows up when I'm in danger."

"Sounds like a good time to show up..." You said softly.

"Sherman Yang had to get seven stitches." Meg said, looking at you now. You felt a little bad for your brother, but he deserved it.

"I wouldn't worry," Apollo said.

"Ares's children like scars." You offered, showing a nasty looking one on your arm. Apollo winced, though Meg was unphased.

"Besides," Apollo said, "Sherman wears the Frankenstein look rather well."

The corner of Meg's mouth twitched, starting to form a smile. But her gaze remained far-off.

"Our cabin has a grass floor-like, green grass. There's a huge oak tree in the middle, holding up the ceiling."

"Is that bad?" Apollo asked.

"I have allergies."

You blinked. A daughter of Demeter... with allergies?

"Ah..." Apollo said, before he blanked out completely.

You and Meg stared at each other for a moment.

"Is he... okay?" You aksed. Meg's face became concerned.

"Apollo?" She said. He was frozen in place. You waved your hand in front of his face. No response.

"Apollo!" Meg shouted. Still, nothing. She continued to shout, tightly gripping his arm. After yelling his name about six times, he finally came back.

"What?" He asked. He seemed dazed and confused.

"You blanked out." You said.

"I said your name six times." Meg complained. 

"You did?" Apollo said with a frown.

"Yeah." You and Meg said in unison. 

"Where did you go?" Meg asked.

Apollo sat in thought for a moment. "I-I don't know. Something about trees..." 

You felt a sense of dread. You thought back to your dream, where you were surrounded by malicious trees trying to tear your brain apart with their words. You shivered. They couldn't be related, could they? Apollo may be mortal now, but he was a god before. And he did make it to Camp Half-Blood, where he met you... Unfortunately, you were probably correct. Apollo's spacing out about trees and your dream had some sort of correlation. A bad correlation. 

You decided to keep that to yourself for the time being. You tuned back into the conversation Apollo and Meg were having. 

"The style you fight in, with two curved blades, is the style of a dimachaerus, a gladiator from the late Roman Empire. Even back then, it was rare-possibly the ost difficult fighting style to master, and one of the most deadly." Apollo was talking about Meg's swordsmanship, you guessed. You had to admit, it was impressive and terrifying.

Instead of answering, Meg simply shrugged. 

"Your swords are Imperial gold," You pointed out. It was something that had been bothering you. Even though you had never been to Camp Jupiter, you knew what Imperial gold looked like.

"That would indicate Roman training, and mark you as a good prospect for Camp Jupiter. Yet your mother is Demeter, the goddess in her Greek form, not Ceres." Apollo chimed in.

"How do you know?" Meg asked. 

"Aside from the fact that I was a god? Demeter claimed you here at Camp Half-Blood. That was no accident. Also, her older Greek form is much more powerful. You, Meg, are powerful."

"I never met my mom," Meg said. You noted her guarded expression. "I didn't know who she was." 

"Then where did you get the swords? Your father?" Apollo questioned. 

"No... My stepdad raiased me. He gave me these rings." 

"Your stepfather." Apollo said. "Your stepfather gave you rings that turn into Imperial golden swords. What sort of man-"

"A good man." Meg snapped. You sat awkwardly watching them. You agreed with Apollo- whoever Meg's stepfather was, he seemed shady. 

"I'm sorry," Apollo said softly.

"Mm-hmm." Was Meg's response.

She tossed a piece of her waffle into the air. In no time, a harpy wizzed by and snatched it out of the air. 

"Let's just get through today. We've got the race after lunch." Meg said. You felt your stomach drop. The race... Oh gods no.

"Don't worry about the race," Apollo said with confidence, "I have a plan for how to win it." 

Meg glanced at you, but you shrugged. You'd heard nothing of Apollo's plan, and you weren't sure if he'd want to share it with you here. You weren't on the same team, after all. 

"Yeah?" Meg asked.

"Or rather, I will  have a plan by this afternoon. All I need is a little time-" 

He was cut off by your annoying brother, Sherman Yang. 

"Morning boot camp!" He bellowed. "Let's go, you special snowflakes! I want you all in tears by lunchtime!" 

"Great." You muttered to yourself. You may be a child of Ares, but that didn't mean you enjoyed boot camp. It was hard, it was boring, and worst of all, it was sweaty. Gross. 

Of course, you thought to yourself, today is just another terrible day...

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Word Count: 919

Hey guys! Again, I'm so sorry this couldn't come out to you sooner :') I have a job now and my boss has been scheduling me more hours since it's summertime. I'll still try and update every week for you guys! Thank you so so so much for all of your support!! I'm sure some of you are tired of hearing that lol. But seriously! Those of you who leave such nice comments and stuff are so amazing. You make my day, honest! I try and respond to you guys as much as possible, and I just shshshghghghsh I love y'all. Anyway this is super long winded- I hope you enjoyed!! <3