Heroes of Olympus (The Throne of Stone)

Chapter 51 The Child of Apollo Barters With Tangerines

Chapter 51

The Child of Apollo Barters with Tangerines

Piper

Who knew Sam could do that? Seriously? Manipulate people/gods emotions? That is really cool, actually. But wasn’t cool that happened was that he totally zoned out after talking to her. He just stared into space, looking pretty close to the setting sun.

“Earth to Sam! Man. dude wake up!” Jason shouted. We stood back, at least 10 yards away from Niobe, she was still violent and anxious like a caged animal. But she was doing the same thing as Sam, staring at the sun, without even blinking. Jason glanced at Niobe and then ran and pulled Sam further away from her. Sam finally blinked.

“Oh.” he said, as if he was just realized that Jason had grabbed him. Reyna rolled her eyes but her face still had a mask of pain. Sam blinked and then ran over to me. I put my hand on his shoulder, right above his heart.

“That might be the most stupid or brave thing I’ve seen in a really long time.” Sam smiled.

“I think you were right the first time.” I smiled back. No wonder Autumn likes him. He’s cute, boyish, not meant to be a leader like Jason is. His country accent is kind of awesome. He has golden brown hair and really needs a haircut. His humor is kind of in between Leo and Percy. He seems like a brother to me though, very similar to how I feel about Leo.

Niobe finally looked back at us, taking her eyes off the sun. “Maybe the small human is right. Maybe there is a bigger plan for us, maybe I don’t have to be like this anymore.” She looked back at Sam, “Gaea will be difficult, she was no doubt take drastic me-” Niobe stopped suddenly. She sent a frantic look at all of us then she collapsed. At least that’s what it looked like from far away, she actually was turning into sand.

“Niobe!” Sam yelled. Niobe had completely dissolved into sand. The breeze had already started to scatter the giant pile of sand. Sam ran to the pile of sand, closed his eyes, and then looked back at us. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Jason said, his face squished in confusion. I was just as confused as him. “That voice, it was Niobe’s voice, but like a whisper....I’m starting to go crazy aren’t I?”

“We are all just a little nuts. What did the voice say?” I walked over to Sam, Jason following only a few steps behind helping Reyna by really awkwardly holding her arm, which was probably more painful than helpful. I stood next to Sam in the shadow of the giant sand pile.

“It said something like, ‘The child of Apollo holds all the answers’ or something.” Sam said. That just made me more confused.

“Maybe you’re a child of Apollo?” Jason suggested.

“No. He has 2 living parents. That can’t be right.” I countered.

“You forgot the fact that I hold literally no answers at all. That doesn’t fit either. So where do we go from here?” Sam said picking up a handful of sand. He let the granules of sand fall between his fingers.

“We all don’t have any answers. But does anyone sound up to a trip to the city?”

I miss the city of New York, it was so bustling and loud, filled with lots of irritated New Yorkers. It doesn’t sound like something that you would miss, but I missed it. I miss the taxis, the shops, the lights of the city illuminating everything for miles. It’s kind of like the North Lights, but I can’t really compare because I’ve never seen the Northern Lights. Most of all I miss camp. It has really started to feel like home to me.