Trials of the Gods (A Percy Jackson Series)

Chapter 3 (Apollo)

The characters; excluding Kyriaki, Anastasia, and Ares' mortal form; are not mine. All rights belong to Rick Riordan. No spoilers for Magnus Chase or the Kane Chronicles; only Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo

A young woman about 16 with spiky black hair and a silver circlet in a punk aesthetic leaped down from the roof and aimed her bow at Apollo. Apollo shot at her, but she dodged out of the way. Apollo went to pull out another arrow when two young women in silver parkas grabbed Apollo's arms and pinned them to his side. Ares gasped next to him, as he was pinned down as well.

The young women chained them together and gagged them. Apollo glared at them, recognizing the Hunters of Artemis. The first young woman smiled maliciously.

"Why, if it isn't my half brother! What'd you do this time to make pops upset?"

Apollo pointed to the gag in his mouth. Thalia rolled her eyes and removed the gag.

"I didn't do anything. I'm here of my own free will. Ares, on the other hand. I gestured towards Ares and he glared daggers at me which, frankly, weren't that scary anymore.

Thalia's eyebrows shot up and she started laughing. "That's Ares? Seven feet tall god of war and bloodshed? That Ares?" Thalia had to sit down, she was laughing so hard.

Ares tried to kick her but failed. The other hunters sat him down and he folded his legs.

Reyna jumped down as well. "Sup, Lester."

"Former Praetor." Apollo nodded towards her in, what he had hoped, was a sign of respect.

Reyna smiled and then whispered something into Thalia's ear. Thalia shrugged and whispered something back.

Meanwhile, Apollo surveyed his surroundings. Three hunters were with him. He recognized the one on his right as Anastasia. He had once chased Anastasia and she had turned into a bear for a few hours and chased after him instead. That attempt at flirting went terrible. The one on his left was Kyriaki, who was one of his children. Her father had been an amazing violinist back in the 1800s. Of course, he never got his big break. Apollo tried to convince Tyche and Nemesis, but no. Always ruining his loves, those two. The one in front of Apollo was Phoebe, which confused him. The last time he had heard from the Hunters, Phoebe had been dead.

"Phoebe?" Apollo looked up at her, confusion written across his face. Phoebe sneered at him, coldly. Of course, there was a reason for that. Back when Apollo had been an idiot, he had tried to remove the vows of hundreds of the Hunters. Phoebe had been around since the beginning and had no doubt seen him pursue and, in some cases, succeed at taking her sisters. Apollo happened to be one of the reasons Phoebe hated men, and he agreed. He hated his past self just as much, if not more than Phoebe did.

Phoebe had bright green eyes the color of leaves in the summer. Her short and red hair hung behind her in a ponytail, which swayed in the breeze. She reminded him, strikingly, of Rachel Dare. They were probably descended from each other in some way. However, something was weird about her arm. Apollo looked a little closer and saw that she had an open wound on her arm as if someone had tried to heal it but couldn't quite stop an infection. He wanted to help her, but also had no doubt she would slap him across the face if he tried.

"Yes, Apollo?" she snarled.

"I thought- well, I saw Orion strike you down? How are you here-? What happened to you in Puerto Rico?"

At the mention of Puerto Rico, everyone fell silent. Reyna looked over at him, stunned and hurt, her bad memories of the place clearly overwhelming her. Thalia bit her lip and stroked her bow absentmindedly. Phoebe's hand flew over to where her wound was and he was reminded of the infection that he really wanted to help heal. Kyriaki and Anastasia both glared at Apollo, while Ares kicked him in the shin. No doubt he knew about Puerto Rico as well.

"Sorry- touchy subject- my apologies." Apollo stared at the ground, embarrassed and ashamed. He should've known better. 65 of the 81 Hunters had been killed in that battle, Phoebe had been severely injured, and Reyna, Nico, and Hedge had barely made it out with their lives and the Athena Parthenos.

Phoebe glared at Apollo even more, but she answered the question. "I nearly died. However, the arrow missed my heart and only got stuck in my arm. That would've been the end of my hunting had I not been able to pull the arrow out and heal up the wound in time."

Apollo nodded, still feeling foolish. No doubt the other hunters thought he was foolish as well.

"So, do you know where Lady Artemis is? She should've been back by now." Thalia removed the sadness from her face and smirked at him. He had the feeling she knew something.

Ares glared at her and managed to remove the gag using a technique involving a lot of tongue twisters and fancy tongue dances.

"What about me? Your other patron that you respect and created a temple for in the Ancient Times?"

Phoebe stared off into the sky, clearly remembering the Temple. She was the oldest hunter in the Hunt and had been there for a long time.

If looks could kill, Ares would be dead in place. The combined glare from Thalia, Kyriaki, and Anastasia would be enough to kill a fully powered Olympian. Ares shrunk away from their gaze.

"You lost patronhood after the 2nd Titan War. The Hunters discussed and decided you were no longer a patron. Your blatant disrespect of Artemis' maidenhood is absolutely terrible and we wished to disown you as a patron." Anastasia spat. She had green hair, one of the signs of a nymph, and was black. She had been in the hunt since the 1600s after the settlers from Europe threatened to kill off her plant species.

Ares looked both shocked and outraged however, as he was mortal, weak, and able to be shot in the heart, he chose not to say anything. Thalia smirked at Apollo, and mouthed, "Mortal Ares is funny." Apollo rolled his eyes at her.

"Alright, I do have a question for you. Where is the rest of the hunt? I know that there are 16 Hunters, but I only see 5."

Thalia shrugged. "If you must know, Chiron summoned us to Camp Half-Blood. Not all of us wanted to go. We were running along the rooftops when Kyriaki spotted you and decided she wanted to play a prank."

Apollo nodded, though something told him there was more to the story. He didn't question it, however, as his acne-ridden face was ugly enough without an arrow in it.

Phoebe tensed up and put her hand over her wound. Apollo's want to help her had become a desire. He didn't want to flirt with her, of course. As previously stated, an arrow in the face wouldn't be fun. However, just fixing up that arm would be nice.

Thalia walked over to Phoebe and straightened her arm out. Apollo saw that there was blood rushing from the wound and it had a strangely green tint to it.

"Thalia, we need to get her to Camp Half-Blood. The cut's infected and poisoned. I know what the poison is, but the cure to it will only be with the Hecate campers."

"No time. This is-" Phoebe tried to say these words calmly, but she gasped and doubled over in pain. Thalia immediately grasped Phoebe tight. "The cut is opening. She won't last long." Reyna was opening a bag filled with ambrosia and a canteen of nectar.

Apollo tried to run over to her, but Anastasia held him back. Clearly, she was about as trusting of him as Phoebe was. Then again, Apollo had seduced many nymphs in the time she had been a hunter. He sighed on the inside, wishing he was able to heal her.

Kyriaki was kneeling next to Phoebe, giving her a little nectar and ambrosia. As soon as Phoebe's face had turned a little less pale, Kyriaki reached down and her hands began glowing. He recognized it as my healing power.

"Stop! What are you doing, don't do that! You'll hurt her!" Apollo yelled.

The Hunters turned towards him. Kyriaki glared at him.

"What do you mean? I'm using my power of healing." she spat.

"In all my years, none of my demigod children, excluding Asclepius, have been able to heal poison. My healing power reconstructs, meaning the poison will still be in her veins. That's why we need an antidote."

The Hunters stared at him, shocked and disbelieving. Kyriaki pulled her hands away to reveal that she had already fixed up Phoebe's veins and was working on her muscle. The poison was taking effect.